Page 1 of The Marriage Deal
Prologue
From:[email protected]
Sent: May 26, 20xx, 1:03 AM
Subject:Marriage Deal
Dear Professor Phantom
I heard you are looking for a woman to merry you. I want to submit myself as candidate. I am a single, health, and available to marry you at the first possible opportunity. But some stipulation first:
For the privilege of marrying me, I want 860 000 dollars available as soon I sign the marriage certificate.
We can live separate lives. You don't have to wary about me trying to grab your juicy asss. I am imune to your handsome farce and your irresistible charms, so a marriage between the two of us would be a breeze.
I hope you will take my application into consideration.
Yours sincerly,
Elvira Edwards.
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From:[email protected]
Sent: May 27, 20xx, 9:04 AM
Subject:RE: Marriage Deal
Dear Miss Edwards
Please come to my office.
1
Elvira
A few months before
I CHECKED THE CLOCK. He was running late. Going on about dead kings and entitled nobles. He took his time explaining the details of an old document. When I looked around the lecture hall, I didn't see any bored students. Instead, everyone focused on the screen. He had achieved the impossible, as always.
Levi Hawthorne, a wordsmith of unparalleled skill, held every student in the lecture hall spellbound, including me. The man in front of us had our attention. He was lecturing on King John, one of the worst Plantagenet kings. King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta. He turned a dull, sleep-inducing topic into a gripping story of political intrigue, rebellion, and human rights.
But I didn’t care about any of that. I had a dinner to attend, and Professor Hawthorne was running fucking late. I wondered what the dinnercouldbe about. Wyatt said nothing more than,“Let’s go out tonight,”but I sensed it might be significant. I didn’t want to jinx it by assuming he would pop the question, but my heart couldn’t help leaping to that conclusion.
"Oh, my god."I jumped at the whisper and turned toseeJess standing in the aisle. She shuffled into an empty seat beside me, her razor-pleated yellow skirt swishing as she moved. Her silk blue blouse matched the skirt nicely. However, the purple cat-eye glasses made her look older than her thirty years. Jess's stylewas uniquely her own—thrift store chic, as my roommate Billie once called it. She meant it derisively, but I thoughtit wascute.
"How does he do it?"Jess whispered."I can'tgetthis generation, with the attention span of a goldfish, to listen to me. And look at them. They are awestruck, watching boring images of washed-out tapestries as if it were a superhero movie."
"Careful. That's my PowerPoint you're dissing."
"I'm not. It's a perfectly good PowerPoint. The best PowerPoint I've ever seen. No wonder he’s gone viral. Did youknowthat one of his lectures now has a million views?
"It's a talent,"I said, answering her earlier question.
