Chapter 16 Unexpected deterioration
Ophelia’s POV
“Wait, let me get this straight. Your employer proposed a juicy offer for you to be a live-in caregiver to him pending the time his daughter comes to get him but you are considering it. Why?” Ava asked as she stood up from where she was previously seated to sit next to me and place a reassuring hand on my back.
Yeah, you guessed right.
I had formulated another great lie to Ava to ask for her opinion on Ryan’s offer to me. Technically, it wasn’t really a lie because I was likely going to move into Ryan’s mansion if I accepted his offer, and I’d be a caregiver to his cock, so yeah, it was a sort of white lie.
Currently, Ava and I were inside the dressing room at the strip club.
I conversed with her as I watched her get dressed in front of the mirror. I had an off day, so I was free to sloth around for a while before I left for the hospital to pay my dad my usual daily visit.
“Yes, I don’t really know about it. I mean I’ve paid up dad’s medical bills and I don’t need the huge amount of money that he promised to pay me if I accepted his offer, so I think it’d be sort of pointless to accept it,” I said, and Ava just shook her head and scoffed as she tucked a stray strand of my hair behind my ear.
“No, Lia. It’s not going to be pointless. It’s going to be quite beneficial to you if you accept it. You just have to wake up, tend to him, eat to your fulfillment while earning a lot, and honestly, that sounds a lot like my dream job,” Ava sighed as she turned me by my shoulders to look at her.
“Let me put it this way, you won’t have to work as a bottle girl anymore since you are going to make the peanuts we earn in six months while getting harassed by those ugly, old men in just a few days. From your description, the man sounds filthy rich to me and it seems he has also taken a liking to you, he’s surely going to pay you a thousand dollars a day just for cleaning his urine, I’m sure,” Ava paused, which made me laugh, momentarily forgetting about the guilt which had settled in my mind, ever since I started this conversation with her.
“Right? Maybe I should just accept it,” I said, fiddling with the sleeves of my sweatshirt.
“That’s the spirit, girl. Accept it. It’s not as if it’s an illegal occupation, I don’t know why you’re so hesitant about such a great opportunity,” Ava scoffed at me, and my heart literally sunk to the pit of my belly in guilt as I swallowed harshly, and averted my stare from her face.
If only she knew her “innocent” best friend was literally considering being a sex slave to a billionaire, she definitely wouldn’t say that. I thought to myself with a gloomy sigh.
“What is the sigh for, babe? If you don’t want the job, you can tell him about me. I will gladly be a caregiver to an incontinent old man than be a bottle girl to those perverts who won’t hesitate to grope my ass at any chance they get,” Ava teased me, poking my sides as she wriggled her brows in a silly manner.
For an unknown reason, Ava’s words made me feel slightly possessive of Ryan.
I didn’t want her or anyone else to be Ryan’s sex slave, even though she literally had no idea about my latest lying habits and secretive lifestyle.
“I may end up accepting his offer though. I could make a lot of thousands by just being a literal sl-” I slammed my lips shut as my eyes rounded in horror when I realized that I had almost slipped up my secret.
Ava just raised a suspicious brow at me and tilted her head sideways.
“A literal housekeeper. That’s what I wanted to say,” I nodded as I grinned sheepishly at her, and clapped frenziedly.
Those actions of mine only caused Ava’s suspicions to rise.
“What are you hiding, Lia?” She asked me in a stern voice, which made me chuckle nervously.
“Nothing, of course. What do you mean by that?” I lied.
“You seem off to me lately. I noticed that you are always tense whenever you have to speak about this billionaire boss of yours. Is there something you are not telling me? By chance, are you-?” She clasped a hand over her mouth as she gazed at me, with her eyes widening as if she had just discovered something atrocious.
I gulped fearfully as I waited for her to complete her statement, while desperately hoping inwardly that she hadn’t figured something out.
“Are you being molested by him? Is that why you are so reluctant to accept the offer?” Ava gasped, and instantly, I released the breath I didn’t even realize I was holding before letting out a sigh of relief.
Ava still didn’t have the slightest idea about it. Perfect.
“What? Of course not. I’m not being molested, why would you even think that?” I scoffed.
“I don’t know. I guess I was just worried about why you always seem so stiff and awkward whenever you talk about your boss,” Ava shrugged and got up from my side to put some finishing touches to her makeup, which already looked perfect to me.
“Trust me, if that was happening, I’d have informed you about it a long time ago,” I assured her, and she nodded.
“So, as I was saying. I think I’m just going to accept his offer, so I can save up soon to enter culinary school by the end of the year,” I said, and Ava cheered and grinned warmly at me.
“Exactly, babe. That was what I was trying to reason with you. You can decide to work for him for about four months and you’ll make enough money to afford some semesters in culinary school. That’s the perfect plan!” Ava replied, to which I nodded and beamed at her.
It was settled. I had decided to become Ryan’s sex slave.
There was nothing worse that he could do to me other than waking me up in the middle of the night for sex but at least, he’d wear protection and I’d be free from STDs and pregnancies.
I would get a good dick for a hefty amount of cash and he’d have me all to himself for a while.
It was a good deal to me, no matter how my conscience tugged with guilt inside me.
I started again, Yeah, so I’m j-” My phone chose that moment to ring which made Ava dart a stare at me before she turned to the mirror, and continued dolling her face up.
I smiled when I saw that it was from dad’s doctor, dad probably missed me and had called me through her phone, like he usually did sometimes.
I hadn’t gotten the time to purchase a phone for him after his old one got spoiled.
I picked up the call and was appalled when I realized that it wasn’t a dad who had called me, it was the doctor.
“Miss Ophelia,” She spoke, and I sighed.
I put my fears away, not wanting to alert Ava and cause her to worry.
“Yes, doc. Good evening,” I greeted.
“Can you come over to the hospital now?” She asked, and my heart became heavier with dread as I got an eerie feeling of deja vu similar to the one I felt a month ago when she asked me to come over for an urgent matter.
“Yes, sure. But I hope all is well, did something happen to dad?” I couldn’t help but ask which got Ava’s attention as she dropped the makeup brush to stare at me.
“No, I will discuss it in person with you, just come over,” She said, but that didn’t alleviate the frightening feeling in my heart.
I nodded anyway, “Alright, I will be there in a few,” I replied before I ended the call with a sigh.
“Did something happen at the hospital, Lia?” Ava asked, and I feigned a smile at her as I shook my head in negation.
“No, everything is fine. Dad asked me to come over,” I said, and Ava slowly nodded.
“Okay, then. That’s a relief,”
“I’ll be on my way now, Ava. I will call you to inform you about any other thing,” I patted Ava’s shoulder after I retrieved my satchel from the dressing table.
“Alright, babe. Take care,” Ava waved at me, to which I nodded before I quickly exited the room and sprinted to the bus stop.
+++
“Dad has a what?” I asked as a cold shiver raced down my spine.
I couldn’t believe the doctor had lied to me and told me that there was no cause for alarm.
“You need to calm down, Miss Ophelia. Mister Alvarez has kidney failure, and he needs a kidney transplant as soon as possible. We thought everything was fine since we didn’t detect any abnormality in his system during the comprehensive assessment. We are sorry for the inconvenience,” She politely explained, and I sighed deeply and palmed my face.
“So, what’s going to happen now?” I whispered in emotional exasperation as tears clogged my throat.NôvelDrama.Org owns all content.
“As I said earlier, he needs a kidney transplant as soon as possible before his other kidney also fails,” The doctor said, to which I nodded.
“How much is that going to cost now?” I asked.
“About a million but you will be given the liberty to pay thrice,” The doctor said which made me heave a miserable sigh.
“Okay, I’ll try to get the money as fast as I can. Thanks for your help,” I got up, nodded at her before I trekked out of the office, and fished my phone from my bag to place a call to Rodrigo.
The die was cast and now, I had no other option but to accept Ryan’s offer.