Chapter 10: An Agreement
When Odelia had just returned from work, she was surprised by the appearance of Sean who was waiting for her at Rihanna's house. She hadn't expected him to be there, because how could he find her?
"I finally found you, I've been looking for you all this time but I couldn't find you," Sean said as he approached the ginger-haired woman.
"How did you end up here? How did you know I was in this place?" she asked in confusion then she turned to Rihanna who was definitely the only woman who knew about what happened between her and Sean.
"It's true that I told him, I can't see you getting tired of working when you're pregnant like that," said the dark-skinned woman.
She massaged the bridge of her nose after learning about it, even though she had asked not to tell this but Rihanna did it anyway. He then took her hand making her turn to him.
"Sit down, I've heard everything from your friend. But I want to hear it from you too..."
They both sat next to each other on the couch, trying to talk about what happened and the child Odelia was carrying.
"Is it true that you're carrying my child?" asked Sean in a voice that was soft but still sounded firm and serious.
"Yes, I'm pregnant with your child. I can be sure because the last man I had sex with was you. So this child must be yours," Odelia replied while looking into Sean's eyes trying to find an answer as to whether the man was angry that Odelia intended to hide the child.
However, she did not find a look of anger or disappointment in his eyes, instead he looked gentle and smiled at Odelia.
"I see, why didn't you tell me from the start? How many weeks pregnant are you?" the man asked again while holding Odelia's hands.
She replied that she was now 13 weeks along, and would soon be entering her 14th week. This made Sean quite happy to know clearly about the development of his child.
"Are you going to accept this child? Even if you don't I don't mind, I can raise them myself. I won't demand anything from you even the cost for their future," she said.
But Sean just shook his head and looked seriously.
"I will accept this child, this is my child. That's why I came here to take you to live with me, and become my wife," Sean told her.
Hearing the sudden proposal, made Odelia feel a bit awkward and confused to answer the question. She really wanted the child she was carrying to have a father and it was their own biological father, especially since Sean was ready to accept the child.
However, Odelia still could not forget Vincent, who had been with her for years. Even their separation was not because of anything bad between the two of them but coercion by the other party.
She was worried that if she married Sean, she would still keep thinking about her ex-husband.
Seeing the confusion on Odelia's face, Sean realized it and asked her to say what she was thinking at the moment.
"Just be honest with me what you are thinking right now, I will help you find a solution so that we can both benefit from this decision. So what is it?"
"I'm just worried that I won't be able to love you after our marriage. We haven't even seen each other since that night and today we just decided to get married. I'm worried that there will only be awkwardness and confusion between the two of us at the wedding," Odelia explained to Sean.
Sean seemed to nod in understanding of Odelia's current situation. He began to look for solutions to be mutually beneficial. Until finally Rihanna opened her mouth by giving advice to the two of them.
"I'm sorry I interfered. If I may have an opinion, what if you two get married contractually first? That way Odelia's status will be the wife of Mr. Sean?"
She explained that this contract marriage was just to bring them closer together, like dating but living in the same house. But if the baby is born and nothing happens between the two of them, then they can break the contract.
Hearing Rihanna's suggestion, Sean got the idea of the marriage contract. He agreed with the suggestion and said that if Odelia was still not used to him after the baby was born, they could break the contract and Odelia could live freely.
"But on the condition that I am still allowed to see my child, and I will still pay all the expenses until the child grows up. Do you agree to that?"
Odelia thought about the contract Sean had said, it was indeed quite favorable for their child who was currently in her belly.
She was only worried about the child and did not care about herself later, she could still find a job to fulfill her savings as long as there was help for their child.
After thinking for a few minutes, Odelia finally agreed to the marriage contract. She would be contractually married to Sean until the child was born.
"Alright I agree to it, I'll be your wife until this child is born and we'll see how it goes. I'll let you keep seeing this child if things don't work out. I want your relationship with the child to be good even though we are only friends," she agreed to the contract.
The man smiled then breathed a sigh of relief and shook hands with Odelia. He would draw up the contract after they returned to Zondalia, and Rihanna was a witness to the contract they made.
That same afternoon Odelia packed her things to go with Sean to the man's house. Rihanna helped organize her friend's clothes.
"Thank you Rihanna," Odelia said and then turned to her friend.
"Hmnn?"
"Thank you for contacting Sean for me. I wouldn't have had the courage to do it and I probably wouldn't have known he wanted this child without you. Thank you so much," she said and hugged Rihanna.
The short-haired woman smiled and rubbed Odelia's back. "No problem, I'm just happy to have helped you. Learn to forget Vincent and love Mr. Sean."
She pushed Odelia slightly so that she could look at her face.
"He is so kind that he even wants to make you his wife right away, but he respects your feelings for not being able to accept his proposal by still letting you live with him in this marriage contract," she continued to advise.
Odelia was hesitant about this, but she tried to learn to do so. After all, she did have to forget Vincent and move forward leaving her past behind for her future.
Finished packing her things, she then said goodbye to Rihanna and got into Sean's car which was taking her back to North Zondalia.
In the car, Odelia glanced at Sean who was sitting looking at his cell phone. Realizing he was the one being watched, he turned to the woman.
"Do you need anything?" he asked.
"No I don't need anything. But can I ask you something?"
"Of course, tell me what you want to ask."
"Do you have a partner? If you do, wouldn't it be a problem if she knew about me carrying your child?"
Odelia's question was enough to make Sean laugh then he rubbed the woman's head.
"If I did have one, I wouldn't have asked you to be my wife, but would have let the child be born and paid for its life," he replied.
He explained that Odelia didn't need to worry because he wasn't close to anyone or into anyone. He just wanted to be with Odelia during her pregnancy, but if she decided to stay together afterwards, then Sean would gladly take care of the child with her.
"Take it easy, I don't have a bad family like your ex-husband. I just have a little sister who I'm sure she'll like you a lot."