CHAPTER 2

They stared at each other for a while like they were having a staring contest, that was till Lily's eyes got teary and she had to blink. "Sorry." She chuckled, trying to ease the tension in the environment. "I don't believe I heard you right. Become your surrogate? Or did you mean another word?" She believed he had said something else, and it was just the anxiety affecting her hearing. Because she didn't believe it was possible that a multi billionaire, who is incredibly good looking and popular to just ask her to be his unborn child's surrogate. How was that even possible? At the same time, she thought of the possibility of it being true, that what if she actually heard the right thing?

"No, you heard me correctly." Her eyes popped out as he said that, but he did not pay attention to this. He looked down at his hands, flexing his wrist before looking back at her. "So, what do you say?"

"What do I say? Listen, before I say what I truly want to say, I am going to ask, just to be sure. You are joking right?" She chuckled nervously. "Please, you have to be joking, please be joking." She had to add that last part because he didn't look like he was joking. Seeing that he actually might not be joking, she got even more nervous. Why would he want someone like her as his surrogate? She thought.

"No, I am not," he told her, his green eyes twinkling. There was something in the way he stared at her that made Lily wonder if she was in a test. She did not know if he was trying to see how badly she wanted the job, or he was actually being serious about it. If it was about the job, she was desperate for it and would be really glad if it was a test for it.

"And if I say I am not going to be your surrogate, what happens?" She decided to ask. If the consequence wasn't so bad, then she would refuse immediately, she thought to herself.

"Simple. You don't get the job, and you can go back to helping your Father." He looked down at the book on his desk, picking it up. "I'm sure he would need an extra hand to help him around. Though I doubt those delicate bones of yours can do much work." He added, feeling no hint of empathy on his face. He looked very unbothered about the fact that she was not ready to accept the offer. He knew quite well that of she did not accept, he would check the other applicants for another one.

Lily gasped, offended. "You can't say that, you can't. This is not fair." She stomped her foot stubbornly on the floor, forgetting that she was in front of Cross, in his office specifically. "Is this how other applicants were treated?" She blurted that sentence out and only after she blurted it out did she realize that she had said it already. A part of her wanted to know of that was how he treated everyone else or he just meant to be harsh to her specifically because of some reason she had no idea about.

"No. But you should know Life is not fair darling." The way he called her darling made her blood curl, but at the same time a sick part of her liked it. Though mean, Mr Cross had the type of rich voice that would make a really good ASMR. "Listen, I don't have all day, if you don't want to, there are other ladies waiting out there, I am sure I can find one to carry my child."

Lily knew what he said was actually true, but she felt very offended with it. But then, she needed the money badly but this condition came as a shock to her, so she had to first think it over and let Millie or even her parents to know about it. Although, if she even later accepted, she could tell that her parents would never be in support of such thing. "You can't just say something like that and expect me to just give you a reply immediately. This is not a yes or no question." She brought her fingers to her lips to start biting her nails. That was something butshe constantly does whenever she was bored or anxious and it had turned into a manner for her, but remembering that was bad manners she placed them back on her laps, also remembering that she didn't have nails to chew because she already chew the ones chewable.

He dropped his book, relaxing back into his seat. He closed his eyes. "Fine. Take your time, you have five minutes though. I have a meeting soon, I can't be here all day."

"Five?" Lily scoffed in disbelief. She was going to say more, but the hard look from Cross glued her lips together. He didn't say anything, he just kept looking at her. She tore her eyes away from his, staring at the frame behind him instead. The silence was loud, and the only thing that could be heard were the ticks from the clock and Lily's heavy breathing. "Can I have a week instead?" Lily cleared her throat, hating how weak her tone was.

He peaked one eye open, taking a look at Lily's pity state. With a small groan he leaned forward, elbows on BKS desk. "How about this. I will give you two days and that's it. You can leave, see you on Wednesday, be here by one." He smiled, though it came out more intimidating than comforting. "You can leave now, Miss Collins."

"Oh, okay." She jumped up and ran away, but remembering he was probably still watching her retreating figure, she slowed down and tried her best to walk at normal human pace to the door. Once she closed the door behind her, she rested her head against the door, breathing heavily in relief. The guards who sat at each side of the door watched her, but she ignored their stare. Catching her breath first before she moved on, her mind drifted to everything that happened in the office and the condition he gave her. She sighed and closed her eyes for about a minute before opening and then, she began to walk away. On her way, she ran into Angie again.

"Oh good. You are alive then, how did it go?" She asked.

"Uh, not how I expected." Lily replied.

~~~

Lily hurried into the apartment building once the Uber had dropped her outside. There was a heavy downpour going on and she wasn't with an umbrella. Her cloth was already wet within the little period she got out from the Uber. She got to her door, she used her key and walked in. "Millie are you home?" She called out, though she already knew Millie was in from the whole ruckus coming from where she suspected was the kitchen. The whole house smelt like something was on fire, although she could not tell what exactly it was.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Her voice came down. "I'm trying to make lunch."

Lily laughed. "Oh no, please don't set the apartment on fire!" She shouted back. She then walkied to the living room, and she collapsed on the chair. "You should have waited for me." She yawned. She didn't mean that last part though, because although Lily was a good cook, she was a lazy one and she only cooked if Millie was busy, sick or she just really wanted to eat good food.

Millie stepped out from the kitchen, rubbing her hands on the apron. "So, how did the interview go? I expected you to come back dancing in joy with bottle of wines." She said as she walked to meet Lily in the sitting room.

"You have high hopes in me Millie, I admire that." Lily said and gave her a small smile as her cloth gave her chills from its coldness. She was supposed to immediately go in and change it when she arrived, but she was too tired to do so. She just dropped on the poor chair she sat on.

Millie giggled walking over to her. "Well don't just sit there looking at me like that, you lazy sloth. Tell me, did you get the job." Lily didn't know how to break it down to Millie, she knew who her best friend was, she was going to freak out, but she had no choice anyways. Millie had been her best friend since forever and they never kept anything from one another, so if anything, she had to break it down for her, in any possible way she can.

"Ok, I am going to tell you, but promise not to freak out." Lily said and looked at Millie with a look of plea written all over her face. "Please, don't shout in my ears, I have a headache and I'm tired, you know I didn't get any sleep last night," she added.

"Well, I can't promise that, but I'll try." She placed her hands on her hips, waiting for Lily to breakdown whatever she said she wanted to breakdown. She had a hint of hope that she got the job but she wondered why her face was not filled with the type of excitement she had expected to see when she arrived. Soon, Lily was afraid she was going to start tapping one foot on the floor, so she quickly spilled what was on her mind.

"Ok, here it is. Is being a surrogate for someone a big deal?" Lily said and waited for Millie to get the hint about why she asked the question out of the blue. She moved back a little from her, in case anything came from the shock that Millie would soon go through after she knows what and why she was asking that question.

Millie looked taken aback at the question Lily asked her. "Surrogate? Where is that coming from? I am asking about your job and you are talking about—"

"He wants me to be his surrogate." Lily blurted out. Whatever was going to come from Millie, she was ready for it.

"Who wants you to be his surrogate?" Even though she understood what Lily meant, Millie still asked once again. She really hoped her assumption was not real and that maybe Lily was trying to prank her or joke with her.

"Mr Cross." Lily blurted out.

"Eh?" Millie said, a look of shock obvious on her face as she was taken aback by what Lily just told her.

"Mr Cross wants me to be his surrogate." Lily repeated herself again.

"And? Don't you just give me a one sentence reply when you're dropping something so serious. Or are you just playing with me and you really got the job? In that case, I'll go get the champagnes." Millie said, now seriously hoping Lily was joking. "You're joking right? Please tell me you're joking, Lily." Millie said and a pleading look appeared on her face.

"I'm not joking, Millie. I went for the interview, which didn't really go well, because at some point I already said to myself, there was no way I was going to make it. I nearly peed on myself. Then just when I thought he was done with me, he asked. Well, he proceeded to say he would only hire me on one condition, if I be his surrogate and at first, well, now I'm considering it." She said the last part slowly and more silently, although, loud enough for Millie to hear. She was already scared for what Millie would say if she agreed to being his surrogate.

"Are you drunk? Or did you smoke pot?" Millie exclaimed immediately. Millie knew her best friend makes stupid decisions sometimes and she was going to tell this was one of those numerous times.

"No. You know I don't take alcohol and seriously, pot? Of all things?" She turned to her. "Now, don't be crazy. Why do you ask though?" She knew she asked because of what she told her, bit she just needed to know if she supported her on doing it or she was against it. She knew already that she was going to be against it though. That was how her best friend was.

She walked up to her and flicked her forehead harshly. "Ow!" Lily cried out in pain, though it wasn't painful at all, even though Millie wanted it to be painful.

"Lily, you want to willingly get pregnant for another man who has no intention on marrying you. Who do you look like to him, a baby carrier? You want your womb to be like an apartment for babies? Or don't you get what surrogacy means?"

"What does that even mean?" Lily asked like she did not understand what Millie was talking about.

"Your womb is the apartment and the tenant is the baby. You own the apartment, but not the baby. You want to be like a warehouse for babies?"

"Stop comparing me to buildings, Millie." Lily said as she rolled her eyes at the interpretation Millie used for her. She was not a baby and she knew what surrogacy was, so she felt it was totally unnecessary what Millie was doing.

"I'm sorry, I can't help it. I don't know what to say." Millie finally said as she removed her apron and dropped it on the chair. She then sat beside the apron on the chair.

Lily sighed, hugging herself as she had no idea what to do next. "Well, I don't have to decide now. I have two days to think about it."

"Two days? You don't need two days. Simple, no. I'm going to go prepare food, go change your clothes." She turned to walk away, but Lily's words stopped her.

"Calm down Millie, let's think about this. He says if I do this, I will be rewarded handsomely. Just think about it Millie, it would make life much easy for us, I could use the money to help raise my Father's business. All I just need to do is give birth to his child, and that's it, nothing more than that. I wouldn't have to be a mother," Lily said, trying to convince her, even though she knows that it was not so easy to convince people like Millie. She was strong-headed and only whatever she feels she wants to do or whatever she feels is right is only what she would do or agree to do.

Millie sighed, palming her forehead. "You have been thinking about this, haven't you? Since you're already speaking like this about it. But have you thought of all the consequences that might come with it?"

Lily shrugged as if she was not bothered even though, deep down, she was seriously bothered about it. "Yes, what other choice do I have?"

"You have other choices, Lily. You have pretty much many other choices. Even applying somewhere else? That's a choice that is open to you, donm not forget that you did graduate from college." Millie reminded her but Lily only rolled her eyes in return.

"Millie, this is Mr Cross, he is a multi billionaire, when he says he would pay me handsomely, do you know how much I can get? And I also still have my job." She ran her hands through her head. "I don't know, I don't know, and if I refuse, no job. I can't spend months looking for a job again." She said as she thought about the offer once again. If she understood him well, what he tried to tell her was that if she accepted to do the surrogacy, she would work as his secretary and when the severeness of the pregnancy starts, she would stay home. When she eventually puts to bed the baby, she would then continue her work as the secretary.or his personal assistant, and that is after getting the huge okay for the surrogacy she did. He said a ring like it would be made private and nobody would know about it so I would not need to be concerned about getting interviews from TV stations and newspapers or articles being written about me and his baby and all. As long as it really does not leak, then there's no issue whatsoever.

"So, you are going to take it? You are ready to get pregnant?" Millie questioned in disbelief. She shook her head as she stared at her best friend, Lily. She did know how much she needs the money but she feels she did not have to do something that bad before she could get the money she needs.

"Please, don't say it like that. So many women out there do this, sometimes to help gay couples who want to raise their own child. It's the same thing, just think of him like an ordinary gay man." Lily knew someone who had done the same thing for a gay couple, and it did not backfire as long as each and every one of them signed the deal to keep it the way it is. She did not know the girl well, in fact, she had no idea who she was, but she was younger than Lily and seemed to have handled the pregnancy well. What else of Lily that she would not be able to handle a baby when she's even way older than the girl that did theirs? She thought.

"Have you even thought about going through childbirth? You know a baby is going to come out of your vagina? Like a creature with head and legs?" Millie said, using her hands to dranatize as she spoke.

Lily facepalmed herself because of how Millie was dramatizing and talking about childbirth to her like she was only a baby. "I know how childbirth works. My mother gave birth to five children, she is still very much alive, it's no big deal. There are women who have eight children, if it was so terrifying, they wouldn't be getting pregnant that much." Lily said, trying so much to sound unbothered, even though it did not quite work well cause she still sounded bothered still.

"You never know. Fine, forget childbirth. What about the media? When the news goes out that you are carrying his child. Do you think you are going to get any rest? They are going to bombard you with questions and no privacy. You are going to be in the news, front cover of every magazine, the talk of the town." Millie said as her eyes went wide open as she tried to explain to her best friend and as she also tried her best to discourage her from doing it.

"Don't worry about that, he said it wouldn't get out, and everything will be done in secrecy." Lily said. She had obviously determine herself already a d nothing was going to change her mind anymore.

"Really? He said that?" Millie asked, acting surprised. Of course, he will. It was like a normal reassurance that any normal human would do when he or she wants to persuade someone to do something for him or her. That was what just happened. Or course, Cross would try to reassure her that it would not get leaked but how was that even possible? Even if they kept it better than that, it one day would leak and the whole world would know that Lily was carrying a baby for the famous billionaire, but then, she had no way to convince her since obviously, she was not ready to listen to her.

"Yes." Lily nodded. "I'll get pregnant, nine months will pass, I will deliver. He gets his baby, I get my money and a good paying job, everybody is happy." Lily said and shrugged like it was not a big deal afterall.

"Why you anyways? Why not other women, why did he choose you?" Millie asked again. She still wanted to try all means possible to discourage her friend and until she finds her way, she would not relent.

"I don't know." Then she remembered something. She remembered the fact that it was one Mr..Joseph that was supposed to handle her interview until Cross came.in and met her at the receptionist desk and suddenly, it changed to him handling her interview. She still did not have any idea why though. "You know someone else was supposed to handle my interview. Up till I got to the receptionist desk, it still remained the same person. Then he arrived—"

"Who arrived?"

"Mr Cross. He saw me at the receptionist desk and minutes after that I was informed that he was the one going to interview me. I think it was then that he decided he wanted me as his surrogate." Lily said. She also thought about what Millie asked her. She wondered why Cross had suddenly said he would do her interview after he saw her at the desk.

"That's crazy. I mean, it would have been better if you got to at least have sex with him, but no, all you get is his sperm and someone else's egg injected in you, for you to help them carry their baby in their womb." Millie said, trying to make it make it funny and it did not turn out that way.

"Shut up!" Lily laughed at that. It did turn out funny. "You are crazy Millie, why don't you just announce it to the whole world what I am about to do?"

"Oh please, like you haven't thought about it." She wiggled her eyebrows mischievously and you could tell she had unholy thoughts running through her head. "Anyway, just think about it quite well and know what you are doing before trying anything. And make sure you let your parents know what you are about to put your legs in." Millie added and Lily just nodded as she thought about her parents. She had totally forgot that she had to let her parents know about it too, but deep down she already knew what their reply would be. They definitely would not allow her to do it but she had no choice but to do it anyways.