Contract Marriage: The Replacement Groom

Once the light disappeared, he slowly opened his eyes to the large screen and computer equipment in front of him. He looked around; all his men had the same equipment, just that Maverick’s own was more significant with additional gadgets.

"Once you put on the headset, your consciousness will travel into another world. If you died there, you are dead here. Are you ready?"

"Yes, boss!" they chorused.

"One more thing, abort the mission if you can’t protect your life... Matt will give you the antidote to the poison in you."

"We will live and die for the boss!!" their thunderous voices almost shook the roof.

Maverick didn’t speak after that and put on his headset. He took out the chip he collected from Damien and inserted it into its plate before his fingers started flying across the keyboard, and a series of codes began appearing on all the screens in the room.

It took more than three hours of unending coding before he got what he wanted and soon, fifty-one of them suddenly went dead...unresponsive!

...

Jeslyn stirred awake with a smile on her pale face. She moved her hand and patted the space beside her. Her hand touched someone, and her smile brightened before she went back to sleep while cuddling the person.

Valen’s heart ached even more at his mother’s action. But what can be done? He snuggled into her embrace and hugged her tightly.

Today’s Thursday and they have a school test, but he decided not to attend and spend the day with his mother.

By noon, Jeslyn woke up and stretched. Her body was aching very badly, but she knew she had to get up. She left for the bathroom and when she returned, Valen was setting the table for her in her room.

"Valen? No school today?" she asked while drying her hair with a towel. Good thing that she wore a bathrobe before coming out.

"They have another boring test today, and I don’t want to participate," he replied without looking at her.

"Ah? Is that an excuse?" She picked up the dryer and wanted to blow her hair, but Valen hurried to her and helped her to the seat. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"I have been thinking of doing this," he took the dryer and started working on her hair.

Jeslyn smiled as she observed her handsome son in the mirror. After a long while, she spoke up;

"You’ve grown taller, stronger, and more handsome. I’m scared that you’ll soon fall in love," She sighed.

"That’s not true. You’re worrying too much," he dismissed her.

"Oh ho, I saw a sly smile flicker past. Have you started seeing a girl?" she teased.

"Mom!"

"Hahaha...my son is so cute!... That reminds me, that girl, what’s her name again... the one who caused a fight between you and Zack Lu."

"Mia?"

"Aha...correct! How is she?"

"I don’t know what you are talking about." He put away the hand dryer and took a little amount of hair cream in his palm, robbed them together, and applied it on her hair. Even though his small hands couldn’t do much, he tried to make sure the cream got to the critical places.

"Ok, I won’t tease you anymore if you tell me what has been happening in school."

Valen knew that she had lied, but he liked it. It’s been ages since he last sat with his mother to talk about silly things.

"She has not stopped bothering me, but I ignore her each time... other annoying girls have joined her too."

"Hahaha... you are giving me a ’school heartthrob vibe," she laughed out loud.

Valen sighed and shook his head. Every day, he gets to see a different side of his mother.

"Did you behave like them when you were a kid?"

"Of course! We girls like cute kids from both genders and wish to befriend them."

"Did you have a crush on anyone? If so, how did you do it?"

"No, we kids didn’t know what a crush was. We only wanted to be around those other kids and play around. Sometimes, they reject us... not me though, cause I’m gorgeous. Hehe," she chuckled.

Valen and Jeslyn continued to keep each other company until that evening.

She thought her husband had gone to the office, but it was getting late and he hadn’t arrived.

She called him numerous times already, but his number was unreachable. Dismayed, she tried his office number and his friends’ numbers, but nobody saw him.

However, when she called Matt, he told her Lolita wasn’t well. Jeslyn kept her husband’s matter to the back of her mind and went to see Lolita. Who was receiving treatment at Doc Matt’s house.

Jeslyn was surprised at first, but when she learned of the reason Lolita was sick, Jeslyn immediately concluded.

"You and Matt are together now?!"

Lolita nodded shyly.

"...And he wasn’t easy on you?" Jeslyn asked again, and Lolita nodded.

"We are married," she whispered.

Jeslyn gasped before she screamed and slapped Lolita gently on the back, "You bad girl! You couldn’t tell me about it?!!"

Lolita chuckled, "It just happened; it wasn’t planned. I wanted to tell you when I got to the company tomorrow, but this happened." she sighed.

"Serves you right; both of you were wild. Hope you didn’t break the poor bed?"

"Hahaha... don’t kid me. But I wish we did before I got injured." she lowered her voice and added, "he was too strong."

Jeslyn sneered and rolled her eyes. Talk about strong and merciless guys in bed, my husband will top the list. She thought.

Thinking of her husband, an ominous feeling swept past her mind and a chill ran down her spine...

"Hey! Rosa!"

"...yes," Jeslyn snapped back to reality.

Lolita frowned, "What’s wrong? Your eyes looked dead a moment ago."

Jeslyn shook her head, "I’m fine, I guess I’m a little stressed from work."

Lolita nodded, "Indeed, you need some time off work... that reminds me, have you heard anything about that blockhead, Ruben?"

"No, I haven’t. What did you hear?"

"I spoke to my Manager who helped me inquire about Ruben from his Manager on the phone yesterday and he denied ever sending Ruben anywhere."

"What?!"

"Suspicious, right? I never liked him. He looked too sneaky."

Jeslyn frowned. "Don’t assume anything yet, I’ll talk to my husband when he returns tonight."

"Great, keep me posted. I want to be there when his mask falls off. Hmph!"

Jeslyn shook her head and sighed. Lolita will never change.