A Piece of Your Heart

Ever since that day, I felt like I had been living a dream.

That night, Nathan – “Call me Nathan, okay?” he told me with a smile – and I exchanged phone numbers. He told me that he would contact me tomorrow when I was sober so that we could talk about the terms and conditions of this arrangement.

He even asked if I wanted there to be a contract, but I felt that a contract was a little too formal for my taste just yet, so I responded by saying that I would try this out for a week first.This belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.

He nodded in understanding and escorted me to the bus stop, watching as I got on. When I returned home, I texted him that I arrived safely, to which he replied that he was glad I remembered to inform him since he was worried.

It all felt so foreign to me. I couldn’t believe that I had just impulsively agreed to a friendship agreement – rather, a transactional relationship – with some stranger in exchange for money.

Even if that stranger was the same man who rescued me a couple of nights ago.

It was still a little weird for me to process.

Not to mention the fact that he insisted I text him whenever I came home so that he’d know that I returned safely. Tom never asked me of that before. Ben did, but only because he wanted to make sure that I was following curfew.

It felt so strange. Was this really what Nathan wanted in return? My friendship?

I fell asleep that night while pondering about my decision. When I woke up the next morning with a hangover, I didn’t remember what I did until the headache finally passed an hour later.

I felt like an idiot, but there was a small feeling inside of me, a subtle hope that there might be a way out of this stressful situation that I was in. It was too good to be true.

I began to wonder who Nathan really was. He was surely wealthy since he didn’t seem to have any problem with giving out a large amount of money, but what was his identity?

Was he a successful businessman? A spoiled kid who got inheritance from his parents? An employee with a very high position in a company? Or perhaps a hardworking entrepreneur who found success with his products?

There were various possibilities. Not only that, but what kind of man was he? Was he perhaps the manipulative type? Was he normally this calm, gentle, and polite kind of person?

When he saved me from those thugs back then, he seemed to know how to fight and defend himself. Was he perhaps someone who worked in security, or someone who was skilled in martial arts?

My thoughts stopped short the moment I realized where it was heading.

This was bad. I was starting to get curious about him.

I needed to detach my heart from this arrangement in order to prevent myself from getting hurt in the end. I was only expected to be his friend and listen to his worries, nothing more. Just someone he could vent to…

But it would also be a great problem if he turned out to be a terrible man. Tom was a playboy, while Ben was an abuser. Was Nathan the man that was different from both of them, or was he also another person who would only ruin my life in the end?

It was driving me crazy. I shouldn’t have accepted that agreement!

I let out a heavy sigh and rubbed my temples slowly. Even though I was regretting it, there was nothing that I could do about it now. I understood that, but it was still hard to swallow.

‘I am never drinking with a stranger again,’ I thought to myself bitterly. Bad things always happened whenever people got drunk. I was no exception.

At that moment, my phone vibrated with a new message. When I glanced at the screen, I saw that it was from an unknown number.

‘Good morning. It’s Nathan,’ the text read.

I froze in place, feeling my heartbeat drumming in my ears. This was really happening, wasn’t it?

At that moment, I remembered last night, with that gentle, charming smile of his as he spoke in a soft voice.

–

“You can consider me as a friend and tell me everything, and I won’t say anything or judge you,” I told him solemnly. “But I can’t give you my heart.”

“That’s okay,” Nathan said softly. “I can give you mine instead.”

–

That memory started to haunt me suddenly, and I had to fight to keep the hot blush off my cheeks.

Gosh! What was I, a schoolgirl? I couldn’t possibly be blushing at some man’s flirty words!

‘That smug guy must be an experienced playboy or something. Like Tom,’ I thought to myself bitterly. ‘I can’t get tricked like that again.’

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. Anyway, there was still the problem of that ‘friendship’ arrangement.

I had to be realistic about the situation. In truth, I could benefit from this. As long as I listened to his worries and acted as his friend or confidant, there was nothing for me to worry about.

Then again, like he said, this was only a tryout. It was all up to me.

‘Okay, Julia,’ I told myself as I took another deep breath. ‘Let’s just try! Reminder, don’t get fooled!’

I pressed the call button and waited.

The phone rang only once before Nathan’s voice came from the other end of the line.

“Hello, Julia?”

The sound of his soft voice made my heart jump in my chest.

‘This damned traitorous heart!’ I cursed internally.

I needed to calm down for a moment. ‘You don’t know anything about this guy, Julia,’ I reminded myself sternly. ‘Don’t get too ahead of yourself.’

“…Yes. Hello,” I said stiffly. “Can we… meet somewhere private? I believe we need to talk properly about what happened last night.”