The Love Clause | ✓

02. on the road

The air-conditioner of Mr. Henderson's SUV was the only audible sound inside the car. The freezing and silent breeze was relaxing, but Alia only sighed truly relieved when Mr. Henderson drove down the street, getting as far as possible from her parents' house.

The day was unbelievably hot for 10 a.m., and a lot of happy children were running in the parks, playing beneath the trees with their nannies and mothers. The day was beautiful, but Alia Nazario was about to set herself on fire.

Alia couldn't even look at his face, to be honest. Not with that red lipstick mark there, facing her. She ignored his right cheek, trying to think about something else, but her evil mind kept pushing her eyes to that lipstick mark like a strong magnet. As soon as the car stopped in the red sign, Alia swallowed dry.

"I'm sorry about my mom," she said, and the lipstick mark glowed on his well-shaved face. Mr. Henderson gave her a quick look before turning his attention to the street, raising his eyebrows. "I mean, the whole hugging and kissing and... asking about our future babies."

"Your mom is a nice woman, Alia. And your father—" he laughed.

"I'm sorry about him, too," she said before he could go on. "I mean, he's very... I'm sorry."

"Oh, don't be. I wish my parents were like yours, actually." Alia thanked him with a brief smile. Mr. Henderson furrowed his eyebrows and passed the green signal. "Although I must say I thought your father was going to kill me."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." Alia bit her bottom lip, face flushed. "He's a little... overprotective sometimes. If it wasn't for the plumbing problem in my apartment we wouldn't have to, you know, lie to them or... talk about babies. I'm really sorry, Mr. Henderson."

The plumbing system of her bathroom went down yesterday, just when Alia decided to take a hot shower after a long day of work. She called her parents — almost crying — asking if she could spend the night, and they welcomed her with open arms and a delicious plate of Dominican quipes.

And when Mr. Henderson showed up at their front door to pick Alia up, her mother was so happy to meet her daughter's new boyfriend that she couldn't stop staring at Mr. Henderson, asking questions about their relationship and his family. Her father, on other hand, kept gazing his new son-in-law from across the living room, with crossed arms and an awry expression. Mr. Henderson held Alia's hand the whole time, smiling and being kind, but she just wanted to dig a grave and die.

Especially when her mother couldn't shut up about how Alia's never introduced them to her boyfriends. Or how pretty Mr. Henderson would be in a groom tux.

"It's ok, really." He laughed, holding the steering wheel. With a glance, he shrugged. "We're dating for a day and I already met your parents to talk about our babies and marriage."

She hid her face in her hands, mortified. Mr. Henderson laughed and Alia shook her head, smiling and trying not to look at her boss.

"I really don't know what to say. Only that I'm really, really sorry about them."

"Your father almost broke my hand when he greeted me, but he seems a good man," he said and smiled. His brown eyes glanced at her before turning back to the streets. "Oh, and I must say you're—"

"Wait, let me just..."

Alia reached out and cleaned the lipstick mark off his cheek with her thumb, letting an annoyed sigh escape through her lips. Mr. Henderson kept looking forward, his back straight and his brown eyes fixed on the streets. He smelled like Hugo Boss' last fragrance and mint tea.

Which was... nice.

"My mom loves to leave lipstick marks on people! This is so annoying," she grunted, still rubbing his cheek. "She used to do this while I was in college, and one time—"