“It means that you’re going to London next week,” he drawled. “I’m getting you a ticket.”
“We’re flying on the same day? On the same plane?”
“Of course we are. You don’t know your way around there yet. Then again, discretion is compulsory once we get there.”
“By discretion…?”
“We can’t be seen together in London. I have to meet up with family.”
She began to wonder if this was true, him seeing his family and all. He didn’t seem like a family man. Having a happy family meant he should be smiling all the time. He wondered if the rest of his family was as indifferent as he was when it came to sentiments.
“I-I have work,” she said, landing her thoughts of a London escapade into dust.
“Well, you’d better find some excuse. Have you ever taken a leave of absence before?” he sneered.
“No,” she quickly said. In the two years she had worked there, she had never taken a leave of absence, let alone a vacation leave.
“Well, I think it’s high-time you take this opportunity.”
“I’ll do my best to think of something.”
“Think,” he told her. “I’ll need confirmation by tomorrow morning.”
“Okay.”
“Did you check your mail?” he asked all of a sudden.
“No, well, I just grabbed the envelopes from the box.”
“Check it. There’s something there for you. Do you have it now?”
She frowned, wondering what it was. She scanned through four junk mail letters and found one envelope with an international bank’s logo on the corner. She opened it and found a letter of gratitude for banking with the establishment, and a shiny, new platinum credit card.
“What is this?” she gasped.
“What does it look like?” he said, impatiently.
“You got me a credit card?”
“Your credit score is fine, but you need a card with a higher limit.”
The moment their “relationship” ended was the moment she would lose all the perks she didn’t want to get used to. Apparently, this came with the sex he demanded of her. She wondered how much the credit limit was and if this was another means of bullying her into submission.
“You didn’t have to do this,” she murmured.
“Buy something useful with it. Shop for coats, raincoats if you must. England’s weather is bipolar in some aspects.”
“After work tomorrow, if I can get to the mall on time.”
“You will if you leave on time.”
“Justin?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
“This is all part of the contract. Don’t forget.”