Maid for Me (9 page)

2. During this time, she will not have to do anything romantic with him. As they are not a real couple, they will only have to act loving in the presence of others-this act will only extend to hugging, hand-holding, and fake kissing like actors when absolutely necessary. (Pressing the sides of their faces together)

3. If neither party breaches The Contract, and they convince Madison Helwick to leave Jaiden Daniels alone, then Mina will receive $50,000. If the act fails, however, Mina will only receive $5000. If Mina breaches The Contract or tells anyone else (the paparazzi, her friends) about this act, she will receive no compensation whatsoever. She may even have to compensate Jaiden for any psychological, physiological, mental, and physical damage she may cause from breaching the contract.

Mina reread the contract, scratched out the last line, before she signed it. She shook Jaiden’s hand and realized she had just signed a contract with a handsome devil.

“So, starting today, you’re my girlfriend, Mina Lin.” Jaiden rested his chin on his hand. “First, you’ll have to look the part.” Jaiden touched Mina’s hair. “This style has to go.”

“First of all, I’m your pretend girlfriend. Secondly, I’m not getting a haircut.”

“Right. Even my pretend girlfriend has to look the part.” Jaiden gave Mina a cocky grin, tilting his head.

“But I like the way I look.”

Jaiden waved the Contract in Mina’s face before he folded it. “This Contract is legally binding. Breaching it means you get zilch off the bat. If I’m unhappy, then you have to pay me.”

Mina sighed. “Who do you think you are, my fairy godmother? I don’t want a makeover.”

“I’m sorry to say this but you’re no Cinderella, Mina.”

Mina blew a raspberry.
He’s right though. Prince Charming would never fall for someone like me.

Jaiden chuckled. “Meet me out in the front in half an hour. Wait for me by the car that almost killed you.” With that, he threw his wet towel at Mina and walked into the manse.

Stupid brat,
Mina thought, staring venom-dipped daggers at Jaiden’s sculpted back.
Sheesh—he has muscles I didn’t even know existed.

Forty minutes later, garbed in a lavender short sleeved collar shirt, black slacks, and his favorite designer shades over his eyes, Jaiden found Mina baking in the sun next to his red Maserati.

“You said half an hour,” Mina said, tapping her right foot, arms crossed, and face scrunched.

“The sun’s good for you and your cute freckles,” he replied.

Mina’s cheeks turned rosier. She looked away. “Are you sure you want to go out? You’re not afraid of whoever’s sending you the threats?”

“Not at all. Besides, She-Hulk will protect me, right?”

Mina grinded her teeth and tried to turn the tables on Jaiden. “When does a girlfriend protect her boyfriend?”

“When she’s a pretend girlfriend. Get in,” he said.

Mina took her time before she obliged, entering the sports car and buckling her seatbelt. In less than a minute, Jaiden zoomed out of North Uptown. Mina’s legs shook and she grabbed onto the leather seat. Blood, heights, spiders-none of that scared her. Jaiden’s crazy driving, however, made her bladder want to cry.

Jaiden rolled down the windows and harsh wind whipped at Mina’s hair and face. When he parked in front of a hair salon ten minutes later, the wind had already styled Mina’s hair into an impressive afro.

Wobbly, she stepped out of the car and almost hurled out her breakfast. “No wonder you almost ran me over-you drive like a hyper cabbie.”

“You were jaywalking.” Jaiden tried not to laugh at her new hairstyle. “Let’s tame that crazy hair.” He ushered Mina into Magic, the only hair salon in South Uptown he frequented. A simple wash, cut, and blow-dry procedure cost three hundred dollars, not including tip. For Mina’s hair, a Magic stylist would charge at least five hundred bucks.

Magic, the owner of the salon, ran over to Jaiden’s side the moment the young billionaire walked through the door. Magic adjusted his thick black-box frames and fuchsia tie. He clapped his hands. “Jaiden, you’re here!” he squealed.

“Hey Magic, meet your biggest challenge.” Jaiden pushed Mina toward Magic.

Magic’s hazel eyes almost popped out of their sockets, looking at Mina. “She’s a lost cause! But Magic loves challenges! Leave her to me.”

Two hours later, Mina left Magic’s salon with redefined curls like a doll’s. Her lustrous hair was thick and springy, falling past her shoulders. Mina thought she looked five years older and didn’t dare touch her wig-like hair.

Jaiden spent the past two hours in the salon getting a facial-his pore-less, flawless face glowed. Mina squinted.

“Did you just get your eyebrows done too?” She arched her brow. “Are you sure you don’t just want to tell Madison you’re gay? Magic would also be very happy.”

Jaiden ran his fingers through his silky hair. “Unlike you, Miss Unibrow, I’m straight. Besides, how else was I supposed to kill two hours?”

Mina narrowed her eyes. “I’m straight too.” She touched her crumpled brow and felt some stray hairs. Plucking and waxing scared her-she’d rather break her arms fighting people than have her hair pulled out. She had the utmost respect for women who got Brazilian waxes. “You could have hit the gym or go for a walk in Middle Park.”

“Why walk when I have my Maserati? I don’t need to hit the gym-I hardly use the one at home. This body is au naturel.”

Mina pretended to gag.

He checked out her new hairdo and smiled. “It’s passable. Next, let’s get you a new wardrobe.”

Mina refused to budge. “I hate shopping.”

Jaiden crossed his arms. He hated shopping too, especially shopping for others, but this was a mission.
Mission Almost Impossible
. “Are you sure you’re a girl and not really a guy in disguise?”

“Want me to prove to you I’m a girl?” Mina tugged at her shirt.

“I’d rather not be blinded. Listen, let’s just get you the clothes and call it a day.”

“Fine.”
The guy’s paying me to get a makeover. Why not? Besides, I can’t wait until Kit sees the new me.

Mina convinced herself dating Alyssa was only a phase for Kit. Mina still believed she had a sliver of hope in winning her best friend’s heart. Her new hairdo and nice clothes would definitely help.

Jaiden drove two blocks down to Fifteenth Avenue, where all the designer boutiques of the Uptown were. He stopped in front of Mungo, the chicest of high fashion boutiques in the city. Through the wide glass windows, one could see a plethora of slim mannequins dressed to impress.

MUNGO

The golden sign in script-font glittered as it reflected the morning sunrays.

Jaiden double-parked his car. “Okay, let’s go.”

“You’re just going to park here like that?” Mina gave Jaiden a funny look. “Aren’t you afraid it’ll get towed?”

“Of course not. Government officials and their families can park anywhere they want.” Jaiden pointed to a silver card he placed on the dashboard. He grinned and hopped out of his car.

Head shaking, Mina walked into Mungo like an impressed and intimidated tourist-she had never dared to even window-shop around Fifteenth Avenue in the past. She figured people would think she were a shoplifter if she stepped into a designer boutique. The treatment she had received at Trendy Star was nasty enough, and Trendy Star was a boutique for the middle-class.

“Are you lost, Miss?”

Mina turned to face a pretty shop attendant in a light pink uniform. The attendant stepped into Mina’s personal space and stared her down as if Mina were a petty thief.

“I… no.” Mina prepared herself to turn around and leave, forgetting for a moment her billionaire boss trailed behind her.

The attendant scowled. “You know this is Mungo. Celebrities shop here. We don’t allow loitering or soliciting.

Jaiden walked up to the attendant and smiled. “My girlfriend and I are here to shop, not to loiter or solicit.” He removed a shiny onyx credit card from his wallet and handed it to the attendant. “Charge everything she purchases on this card please.”

“Alright,” the attendant said, taking the card and recognizing it to be a limitless Onyx credit card. The card didn’t impress her as much as the Daniels’s name—Jaiden Daniels, the youngest and most eligible bachelor in all of the Uptown was shopping at Mungo.

She swallowed a lump of pride in her throat, disappearing to the back counter before returning with a smile. Her cheekbones reddened like two small apples.

“What are you looking for in particular, Miss? Mungo has everything from purses, jewelry, shoes, to dresses and jeans.”

“First, she’s looking for an apology,” Jaiden said, planting his arms across his chest.

The attendant bit her bottom lip. “Right. I apologize for my rude behavior earlier.”

Mina scratched her neck and raised her shoulders in a shrug. “Apology accepted.”

“Next, she’ll need a handful of different outfits, party and cocktail dresses-just turn her into a princess.” Jaiden grinned at Mina, who felt like she had become Eliza Doolittle overnight. At home, her wardrobe consisted of hand-me-downs from her mother and clothes she had worn since she was eleven.

“Right away, Mr. Daniels. Please follow me, Miss.”

About three hours later, Mina left Mungo with ten orange shopping bags in each arm. She had never tried on so many clothes before-lacy and sparkly cocktail dresses, shimmering party gowns, high heels, five-hundred dollar jeans, and hundred dollar leggings with holes. She felt just like a model-a size ten one with large calves and no butt. Leave it to the wealthy to spend hundreds on clothes that looked like rags. The total cost for Mina’s wardrobe today: eighteen-thousand dollars. The satisfaction of Jaiden watching Mina endure makeover-torture: priceless.

“You looked like you had fun,” Jaiden said, wiggling his eyebrows. Jaiden couldn’t believe it, but he had more fun shopping with his employee than with Madison.

Mina also would never admit it, but she really did enjoy herself. Whenever she had looked at her dressed up reflection in the mirror earlier, she actually felt pretty.

I looked like one of ‘em socialites.

Jaiden’s cheerful demeanor did a three-sixty when he cursed and bolted toward his car.

“The hell.” He circled his car, hands fisting his hair.

Mina looked at Jaiden’s completely butchered sports car. All four tires were slashed flat. Glass shards and bits from the smashed windows surrounded the car on the street.

“Told you not to double-park.” Mina dropped the shopping bags on the ground and inspected the car. “The person threatening you is also a stalker, Jaiden.”

“No really, Sherlock?” Jaiden took out his new cell phone and called Bunion. “Arrange for Driver to take me to Father’s office. I also need a tow truck to Twenty-Eight on Fifteenth Avenue.”

They waited by the street side for about five minutes before the silver-white limo arrived. Jaiden’s gruff-looking, hairy chauffeur exited the limo and opened the door for him.

Driver looked like a wild man. He had brown hair everywhere, bushy eyebrows, and a long beard, just like a lumberjack. Bunion the Butler looked like a bald wrestler. The Daniels had strange looking help, Mina included.

“Let’s go,” Jaiden said, entering the limo. Driver helped Mina put the shopping bags into the trunk before she took a seat next to Jaiden.

If the limo were taller, it could resemble a lounging area at a club with its leather seating, carpeted flooring, flat-screen TV, and mini-bar to the side. On the ride to the D.L.P. main building, Jaiden brooded in silence. He pressed his lips together.

Mina cleared her throat. “Do you have any idea who would do something like this?” she asked.

“A psycho. Who else would destroy my beautiful baby?”