Chapter 25. Marry Me, Please!
On Monday, the bell rang, and from Professor Vega's room, Alberto went straight to the cafeteria to buy the food he liked and to buy cold water to calm his brain, which was already dizzy because of the very difficult material in the Human Anatomy and Human Physiology lessons. Meanwhile, Professor Vega went straight to Alberto's class to meet Alberto. There was something that she wanted to say to Alberto, but she forgot to say it to him before. Even though she taught Alberto's class that morning before the bell rang, somehow Professor Vega forgot to convey her purpose. Arriving at Alberto's class, Professor Vega's eyes immediately looked at Nicolas, who was the only student in the room because the other students were taking a break.
"Nicolas!" called Professor Vega suddenly.
"Yes, Professor." Nicolas immediately stood up from his chair. Then, he walked closer to Professor Vega.
Once near Professor Vega, she immediately conveyed her orders. "When Alberto comes, please ask him to come to my room!"
"Okay, Professor." Nicolas nodded his head.
"Oh, Nicolas. "Not only that, where do you live, by the way?" Professor Vega attempted to change the tone of the conversation. Nicolas immediately mentioned the address of the boarding house where he lived.
Professor Vega remembered the street where the boarding house is located, which is not far from the campus. Professor Vega nodded her head. "Oh. There."
"Yes. Many of my university friends live there," Nicolas explained.
Hearing this, Professor Vega immediately asked about Alberto and whether he had joined the boarding house or not. "Does Alberto live there too?"
"No. He lives in his house. His house is far from here." Nicolas immediately told Professor Vega the address of Alberto's house.
"Okay. Thanks, Nicolas!" Professor Vega immediately thanked him.
"You're welcome, Professor."
"I'm sorry! I must go to my room first, Nicolas! See you later!" Professor Vega left as she waved her hand at Nicolas.
"See you later!" Nicolas immediately waved his hand at Professor Vega.
Not long after, Alberto had returned from the cafeteria and arrived at his class. Then, he walked to his seat. As Alberto was walking to his seat, Nicolas immediately called Alberto's name. Alberto immediately looked at Nicolas.
"Alberto, Professor Vega is waiting for you in her room!" Nicolas told Alberto
Hearing Nicolas' words, Alberto immediately frowned because he was confused. On a break, it was unusual for Professor Vega to invite Alberto to her room. Professor Vega had only asked Alberto to her room once since the beginning of the lecture.
"What's the matter, Nicolas? Why did she call me?" he asked suddenly.
"Hmmh... I don't know. Earlier, Professor Vega just asked me to tell you that she is waiting for you in her room. So, I think you should go to her room!" Nicolas proposed it because he couldn't figure out why Professor Vega did it. Nicolas was hesitant to even ask Professor Vega why.
"Oh. Okay." Alberto immediately left the classroom for Professor Vega's room.
Not long after., he arrived at Professor Vega's room. He immediately took off his shoes and put them on a rack that was located next to the room. Then, he knocked on Professor Vega's door.
"Enter, please!" Professor Vega's orders. Not long after, the door opened and Alberto entered Professor Vega's room while Alberto closed the door. Alberto walked slowly.
"Good morning, Alberto!" greeted Professor Vega.
"Good morning, Professor!" Alberto greeted him again in a friendly manner.
"Sit down, please!" Professor Vega's orders made Alberto take a chair and he sat in front of Professor Vega.
"What's wrong with me that you called me during break, Professor?" Alberto immediately asked the reason Professor Vega called him during break, because he was confused about the reason Vega called at that time.
"Nothing. There's just something that I want to talk about with you, Alberto. I don't want anyone to know about this. I want only us to know about this conversation." Hearing Professor Vega's words, Alberto immediately thought about what they were going to talk about.
About assignments? Of course not! because Alberto never collected Professor Vega's assignments outside of the specified deadline. About his score? May be! Alberto's grades have been bad recently in Human Anatomy and Human Physiology. Because of that, Alberto immediately guessed that this matter was about his score.
"About my grades, Prof?" Alberto frowned and looked at Professor Vega inquisitively.
Hearing Alberto's words, Professor Vega immediately wanted to laugh, but she immediately held back her laughter. It's because, according to her, Alberto's reaction is very funny.
"Alberto! Alberto! How can you think that I will complain about your grade? You're so funny, Alberto." Professor Vega said it to herself in her heart.
"Ah!" She said it at the time, but she couldn't stop laughing. Alberto looked at Professor Vega with a sharp gaze and a suspicious look, because he felt even more confused because of Professor Vega's attitude that suddenly changed like that.
"Of course not, Alberto! Just call me 'Vega,' right now and in this condition!" Professor Vega implied that they would talk about private matters because Alberto always calls her "Vega" when there are only Alberto and Vega.
However, even Alberto did not understand the meaning of Professor Vega's words. He immediately scratched his head, which didn't itch, because he saw Professor Vega's strange behavior. Why does Professor Vega even want to be called "Vega"? That was the question that popped up in Alberto's mind. A moment later, Alberto thought that, innocently, Professor Vega wanted to be called "Vega."
"Hmmh... Maybe he wants to be called "Vega" again! Vega is her nickname. So she can request that I call her with whatever she wants." Alberto concluded.
Alberto could only comply with Professor Vega's request because it was impossible for Alberto to ask Professor Vega. Because Professor Vega could be angry if Alberto asked her why.
"So, is it correlated with my tasks, Vega?" Again Alberto asked Professor Vega about something else that might have caused Alberto to be called to the room.
"Supposedly, from the time I asked you to call me "Vega," you already know where this conversation will go. But because you're an innocent man, you don't know, and I pity you for continuing to guess. So, it's about a personal matter." Professor Vega wanted to know her real reason for calling Alberto, but Alberto immediately cut her words off because he was very surprised to hear the words "personal matter."
His brain immediately thought that the personal problem in question was the problem of Vega's pregnancy, which was his. Alberto's heart immediately skipped a beat. His eyes immediately bulged. After that, he suddenly confirmed what he had been thinking. "Personal matters? Is it about your child's problem?"
"Yes, it can be. Obviously, I need your help." Professor Vega said hopefully that she needed Alberto's help. Hearing those words, Alberto felt even more shocked.
His breath seemed to have stopped. Alberto's brain immediately thought that he needed to recognize and declare the child in Professor Vega's womb as his child, but he didn't really understand what Professor Vega meant. Therefore, he reaffirmed Professor Vega's words. "Are you asking me to admit, recognize, and take your child from me?"
"Yes, that's one of them that I'll ask you." Professor Vega nodded her head.
Alberto's heart was beating fast again. His face immediately paled. He really didn't expect that Professor Vega would ask him to recognize, admit, and declare his son. He felt trapped.
"What? Does that mean you're asking me to admit, recognize, and declare that's my son?" He couldn't believe it and didn't even realize he'd said it to Professor Vega.
"Yes. That's one of my requests." Professor Vega explained the meaning of her words.
That's just one of Professor Vega's requests. Nothing else. What is Professor Vega's other request? That's what Alberto thought.
Alberto felt disapproving of Professor Vega's words. As a result, he complained to the professor. "Why do you do this to me right now? Don't you want to be responsible for your child, even if you ask me to make you pregnant? Why are you now forcing me to take responsibility?"
"It doesn't like that." Vega immediately threw the suitcase of money at Alberto. Vega opened the suitcase and Alberto saw a suitcase full of money.
Seeing all the money, Alberto was even more confused. "Then, what? Are you asking me to admit that your child is mine?"
"Of course not!" Vega immediately shook her head while she laughed.
"There's something more important here!" Vega said so excitedly.
Hearing this, Alberto immediately frowned because he was curious about other things that were more important than his child's confession. Alberto asked afterwards. "What's that?"
"You know, right, I don't want to get married, and I just want to be a career woman?" Vega confirmed that Alberto knew he wanted to be a professional woman.
"Yes." Alberto nodded his head while confirming his words.
"However, my parents continue to inquire about my future husband and request that I bring him to my parents this week. I don't know who else is suitable to be my future husband besides myself. I think that you're the only man who is suitable to be my future husband." Vega explained the problem first.
"Then?" Alberto frowned because he was confused about the meaning of Vega's words. Alberto predicted that Vega and Alberto would have to come up with another plan if Alberto agreed to Vega's plan.
"My plan is that I will have a contract marriage with you for two years. As long as we have a contract marriage, we will stay at my house. We won't have sex unless we both want to have sex. So you can't force me to have sex when I don't want to have sex with you." Vega explained her plan.
"Besides, while on campus, we will act as students and lecturers like today. Not only that, you have to take care of my child when he/she is born! Don't force me to take care of my child! Allow me to work as usual!" Vega explained her plan again.
"You also have to admit that he/she is your child. Because this baby is your child too." Vega pointed at the baby in her womb.
"So I want to ask you to help me. It doesn't matter if we break up in the middle of our love journey or divorce later. My parents can understand that. The clear thing is: help me now! Please, help me! Marry me, please!" Vega said hopefully.
"If that's your request, I won't do that." Alberto immediately rejected Vega's request outright.
Then, Vega gave me a lot of extra money. "I know that you're in need of a lot of money. If you want to help me, this money will be yours. So, do you want to accept it or not? It's up to you! It's your choice, Alberto!"
Knowing that, Alberto felt confused. On the one hand, he still loves Lorena very much. He doesn't want to hurt Lorena's feelings, but he doesn't want to hurt Professor Vega's feelings either.
What if Lorena finds out that he accepted Professor Vega's request for a contract marriage? How will Lorena feel if she knows that Alberto accepted all that money and they broke up because of all that money?
Of course, Lorena will feel very sad if she finds out all these things. Alberto couldn't imagine how devastated Lorena felt or how broken his relationship with her was.
On the other hand, he needed all that money to pay for college tuition. If he doesn't get all that money, how can he pay his semester arrears?
Yes, indeed, Alberto can work overtime to pay his arrears. But won't it be better if someone paid for their tuition while he saves his earnings for future needs?
Alberto wanted to get the money right away. Even though he knew that, the biggest risk is that his relationship with Lorena is breaking up.
However, it was okay if he had to break up with Lorena. After all, Lorena never helps Alberto pay for college tuition. Instead, Lorena asks Alberto for more money to cover all of her expenses.
But if he gets married to Professor Vega, must he give his money to Professor Vega and provide all their necessities and all their wants later? Alberto doesn't want to give his money to Professor Vega and provide all of their necessities with that one suitcase and the extra money from Professor Vega.
Alberto is already struggling to make ends meet in order to cover all of his basic needs. Because of that, he must work, and sometimes he must do extra work.
Especially later, he will have to pay for Professor Vega. Of course he can't! Therefore, he gave up his intention to take all the money.
Meanwhile, Professor Vega saw Alberto felt doubtful to receive the money and immediately understood that he did not want to provide her necessities. As a result, she said right away to give Alberto peace of mind and remove Alberto's reason for refusing her request at the time.
"Oh. I forget. For the problems of our lives after marriage, you don't have to panic!"
"I will pay for our living expenses, our wedding expenses, and your expenses that you need every month. You will stay at my house."
"You will receive money from me every month without having to spend any more. You can save the money I give you every month."
"I will do this until our marriage contract is over, Alberto! After that, please get out of my house and pretend that we were never married! In addition, I will never give you money again!"
Alberto felt as if Professor Vega had given him a big happy surprise when he heard those words. His eyes immediately lit up. What else should he doubt? He doesn't have to worry about tuition fees.
Professor Vega has already prepared everything by marrying her. He doesn't have to pay for Professor Vega. All costs when they get married, including the cost of the wedding, the costs they need after marriage, and the costs he needs during their contract marriage, will be borne by Professor Vega.
What about him breaking up with Lorena? It doesn't matter. Lorena has never helped Alberto so far to pay for his tuition. Even to provide a loan, Lorena doesn't want to do that for Alberto.
"Come on, Alberto! What else are you bothering about? What are you thinking again? Come on! Marry me, please! Please, do this for me!" persuaded Professor Vega hopefully as she unbuttoned the two buttons of the blue shirt she was wearing and made Professor Vega's big chest visible to Alberto.
"Yes, I want." Quickly, Alberto agreed to Vega's request because he needed the money to pay her tuition fees. After that, Alberto received the money.
"This is our agreement!" Vega gave their agreement letter, and Alberto immediately read the contents of the article in their agreement letter.
"Please read it carefully, remember it carefully, and then sign it!" Alberto wanted to sign immediately after he finished reading the entire contents of their agreement letter, because according to him there was no strange article. All of Vega's wishes and conditions had been mentioned earlier by Vega, although there was the addition of a free bonus of learning lessons that Alberto didn't understand whenever he wanted except when Vega was busy or tired.
Vega, on the other hand, said, "You don't need to be so hurried! Think it through first! It will tie you up in two years' time. You may ask any questions you have and express your dissatisfaction with any of my requests in this agreement."
Vega's words made Alberto feel doubtful until Alberto felt he needed to read their agreement again and again to convince himself, and after that Alberto put his signature on the two agreement letters. Then, Alberto gave the two letters of agreement with the same contents. It is possible that one would be kept by Alberto and the other would be kept by Vega.
"It's for you!" Vega gave one of the agreement letters to Alberto and Alberto kept the agreement letter.
"And it's for me!" continued Vega as she held one of the agreement letters. Meanwhile, Alberto immediately folded the agreement letter and she put it in her trouser pocket.
"Oh. Not only that, don't forget to bring my parents too! On Sunday, you and your parents must come to my house to propose to me. We will engage on Sunday." Vega mentioned her next request as she paid Alberto's tuition bill by wire transfer.
Vega knew the virtual number for Alberto's tuition bill because she got it from Leon, the Director of Finance at Brittle University, who is her friend. Meanwhile, Alberto's eyes immediately bulged when he heard this because he did not expect that Vega would ask him to bring his parents to propose to Vega so soon.
"So, it has to be on this Sunday?" asked Alberto suddenly.
"Yes. What do you think? When will we do our plan?" Vega rolled her eyes because she was annoyed with Alberto's behavior, as if she thought that they would delay the contract marriage any longer.
"Maybe next month or later." Alberto said what he was thinking.
"No! I need it urgently!" Vega got mad.
"Do you want to accept my request or not? Otherwise, we can cancel this agreement!" Vega got straight to the point.
"I want to accept it, but my parents live in the village. "The trip from the village to this city takes seven days if using public transportation, and the problem is that they won't definitely be able to arrive on Sunday," complained Alberto, because that was the problem at that time.
"Your parents can take a flight, right?" Professor Vega immediately rolled her eyes because she was lazy with Alberto's words.
"Airplane tickets are very expensive! My family and I certainly can't pay for it, especially since Sunday is a weekend. Of course, the ticket price will be more expensive than the ticket price on weekdays," complained Alberto again, because he couldn't afford to pay for the plane ticket.
Professor Vega immediately took the money, and after that, he gave it to Alberto. "In that case, is this the fare for your parents to come from the village to your house by plane or do you want me to buy the tickets?"
"No need! just the money! I'll order it right now!" Alberto immediately received money from Professor Vega. Then, he ordered tickets for his parents' departure from his village to Alberto's house by plane.
"Your parents can stay at your house before Sunday and on Sunday, don't worry! You don't have to panic. I'll pick you up from your house later and take you to my parents' house. You still live in your house, right?" Then, Vega mentioned the place where Alberto lived, where they used to often have sex.
Indeed, Alberto has lived alone since he was in high school. This was intended by Alberto's parents so that Alberto could become an independent child.
"Yes, I live there." Alberto confirmed Vega's words.
"Okay, Alberto. Regarding the technical implementation, I will explain in more detail later! The clear thing is that you simply wait for information from me and comply with all of my requests!" said Vega firmly.
"Regarding the proposal later, should I prepare the money or buy something?" Alberto asked Vega again.
"No need! I will buy things for my engagement later and my dowry later. You don't have to pay anything. You just have to pretend that you bought that for me. But if you really want to buy me an extra gift for a later proposal or my dowry, that's fine. I will be very happy to receive a gift from you, Alberto." Vega mentions his plan.
"Okay." Alberto just nodded his head.
"Is there anything else you want to talk about? Otherwise, I will go straight to class!" said Alberto firmly.
"No. See you later!"
"See you later!" Alberto immediately left Professor Vega's room. Once near the door, he immediately opened the door and closed it again. After Alberto left, Professor Vega immediately sighed heavily as she smiled widely.
"Finally, this matter is over as well!" said Professor Vega in her heart.
She felt very happy because her strategy worked. She could bring her future husband to her parents on Sunday, and of course her parents will be happy to know that. She really couldn't wait to have a contract marriage with Alberto. Yes, even if it's only a two-year contract marriage. But it's very pleasant for her because she can live with Alberto, the person she loves very much, and she can also be free from her parents' questions about when she will get married.
"I hope that I'll get married with Alberto after this contract marriage!" Professor Vega said to himself expectantly.
Professor Vega can think about the real issue of marriage after the contract marriage at a later time. The clear thing is that for the next two years, Professor Vega can know Alberto deeper, and Alberto can know her life deeper.
Professor Vega feels that Alberto will definitely know herself better. As a result, she must be the best wife in the world for him so that he doesn't regret his contract marriage with Professor Vega and instead desires a genuine marriage with her. But if Alberto is an asshole man and still prefers Lorena over her, Professor Vega can break up with Alberto after two years.