Chapter Two

Emma folded her coat, placing it over her lap as she looked up to the man standing across from her. She was in a rather strange position, she never imagined breaking an expensive crystal swan would lead to her being invited out for lunch. It felt as if she had fallen into a hallmark movie.

However looking around at the fast food restaurant they were in, it did semi break the fairy tale illusion a bit. They were still in the shopping mall after all so it wasn't like she should have expected he would take her, a strange blunderous woman, to an upscale place at another location.

After all it was probably better this way with the crowd that sat around them in such a public open space, it would be considered safer for the both of them. She didn't even know his name and yet he had an offer for her that she in a simple minded way followed to know what it was.

He looked her over while placing the food from the trays down down to the table then moving over to the trash can he placed the tray down on the top. "So, you're not eating something small on purpose are you?" he questioned while sitting down in front of her.

"Uhm… no" She muttered coming out of her daze looking down at her soda and chicken salad before her. Though she lied, it wasn't because of what he had thought, honestly after how much she had already cost him she didn't want to order anything at all but he insisted while they were in line claiming that they were only in a fast food place. As if that was supposed to ease her guilt of ordering while he paid.

"I have a question" She claimed moving her salad aside for a moment as she wanted to know what he was planning by treating her so well. Even though she had allowed her fantasies to carry her this far her skeptical nature wouldn't allow her to keep day dreaming.

The man before her scoffed knowing it was coming, she was bound to eventually ask about his motives, "Go ahead" he encouraged while picking up his meal.

"Okay, first off... I don't know your name." She responds openly, only having one question on her mind.

This caused the man before her to chuckle a bit almost thrown off by her only question, that wasn't even placed in the form of a question, "Nathan" He responds then thinks about it a little more giving a slight grin, "Nathan Klaus, but you are probably more concerned with what the offer is." He adds giving his full name just as she did when they met.

She felt her face grow warm as he slightly mocked her from before. "Yeah, that was a concern too." she responds pulling her salad back in front of her, preferring to eat now so that she could distract herself.

Silence fell between them for a moment while they each indulged in their meal for a bit, "So... Nathan, what is this offer?" she asked, growing concerned with how he wouldn't directly say it after bringing it up as if he wanted her to ask.

"I am glad you asked." he cheered, showing he was waiting on her curiosity the entire time. He wiped his face of the oils with a napkin and sat back in his chair looking her over, "I need a girlfriend." He informed.

This outright comment almost caused Emma to spit her salad out as she ended up forcing herself to swallow taking a sip of her drink. She arched her brows shocked by this blunt of a comment. "And… I am sorry what does that have to do with an offer, I'm confused." She stuttered out unable to comprehend why he would claim it as an offer when if he wanted a girlfriend he could easily just ask her out in a normal way.

"Let me explain" He claimed while fixing himself before he went into detail.

"Please do." She expressed truly wanting a reason for his unusual offer.

"I need a girlfriend that has been with me for at least six months for the rest of this week up until Christmas and I don't have one" he claimed getting straight to the point as to why it would be an offer, "You see I was supposed to be bringing home a girlfriend that I had been with for a while but because I work so often, three months ago I was dumped and I have been too busy to find another." He continued giving his reasons as to why he would need a girlfriend on such a late notice.

Emma huffed to this explanation shaking her head finding it to be a bit unreasonable for him to need a random stranger to bring home. "I don't see why you need to bring a girl home, just explain it to your parents or whoever you are going home to that you were dumped. They can't be mad, it was an uncontrollable thing." she claimed, still trying to process where his mind was at. Unable to understand what would be so important about having a girlfriend that he'd be willing to bring home a complete stranger just to pretend he had one.

"Look, I get it but I sort of had something I promised us to participate in and now it's too late to go back on it." He countered knowing this was a long shot himself he really needed to convince her. Seeing as she was less enthused as before to follow along with his offer he decided to tell her the entire thing, "Remember I mentioned that my home town was sort of obsessed with swans?" he questioned as he waited for her acknowledgement of what he claimed.

"Well we have this thing called The Christmas Swan festival it's like a pageant but for couples. Seven couples, seven days of making it to the next round until one couple is left on Christmas for that woman to be claimed the Christmas swan and that household will get all the acknowledgment that comes for the year until the next swan is found. Since I don't live in town it would be my mother who gets the rewards but we don't have to win. It's just I never told them I wouldn't be able to participate so they will only have six couples this year and that would mean six couples and seven days..." He groaned letting his explanation be self explanatory from there.

"One day short of a festival, I see where you are getting at.'' She finished it for him, understanding what he meant. Though her gaze on him wavered as she looked off to her drink, still not feeling the idea all too well. "What are the rounds like? I wasn't much of a pageant girl growing up" she adds knowing she wasn't going to be very fit for the job.

He looked over to her and gave a soft smile, "Nothing troublesome just some couple activities, like cooking and depending on each other. It's silly games honestly but it's tradition, you know." He informed with a shrug.

"Wouldn't they notice I am not your ex from six months ago?" she questioned not understanding how she could possibly pretend to be his girlfriend after all, she doubted they would have looked the same.

He smiled seeing as she was coming around to the idea of helping him, "That's the beauty of it, I never had a chance to send a photo of her. I have been just too busy with work." He explained moving his food aside.

Becoming serious for a moment Emma looked him over wondering what he was about to say having assumed there was going to be a catch for her to go along with it. "So why me, are there no women you work with or friends with you can ask?" She questioned, still curious about his choice being a complete stranger.

"I have no friends and none of the women I work with are single. I also doubt they would willingly play along." He countered picking his phone up from the table as he checked a message. "You also broke my apology gift so you'd really be paying my back if you could help me on this. My mother would prefer a chance of Christmas swan over a crystal swan any day." he adds implying he wouldn't let her off that easy.

Emma sighed hearing the crystal swan brought up again. She knew he was going to use that against her. After all she ruined a very nice gift that he likely was going to use to apologize for not participating in the festival. "You just had to remind me, huh?" She grumbled looking up to him.

He gave a small smirk, "I'm a lawyer so..."

Emma huffed, "Well thank you Nathan, for presenting all of your evidence. Will I have a choice or am going straight to jail?" She countered wondering if she would even have a choice now or if he would try and take legal action for the swan.

Nathan chuckled to her claim, "I wouldn't say straight to jail, think of it as installments by civil service" he countered trying to lessen the sound of the deal, "Look, if you have plans please don't think I am trying to make you. Here I'll give you my card. I'll be flying out there in two days. You can just forget about breaking the swan, only let me know sometime tomorrow so I can prepare for two people to leave if you decide to join me." He informed while he stood from the table. Pulling out a card from his coat pocket he places it on the table by her drink.

Emma looked down at the card as she picked it up. He wasn't lying about being a lawyer but this only intimidated her more. The fact that she had broken his swan and then he bought her the dress she was feeling like he was trying to persuade her to go from the very beginning using guilt. It all seemed like he was very desperate, even so she had no plans this holiday and it was a rather strange arrangement that she couldn't help but be slightly intrigued by it all.

She looked up to him as he was about to leave knowing if she didn't say yes now then she would eventually talk some sense into herself, and allow the guilt to get to her later causing her to start actually paying him back till she was broke. "I'll go!" she exclaimed in a louder tone as she forced herself to speak.

He paused for a moment looking down at her with a smile, "That's great," he pulled out a pen as he instructed her to flip the card she had in hand over, "Just give me your number and I'll contact you." he instructed, handing it to her. Emma wrote down her number and handed it back to him not realizing she was giving him back his number as well so she would have no way of contacting him later if she wanted to back out.

"Great, I'll see you in two days then" He declared with a wave as he took the card and pen back. Looking at his phone yet again he was clearly in a hurry as he barely gave her time to respond while walking away to throw the remainder of his food in the trash.

Emma gave a half wave quickly realizing he wasn't going to see it since he walked away right after throwing his food away. Sitting there still not realizing what she had truly signed herself to, she could at least tell his charm only went as far as getting her attention but his main focus was clearly the ultimate goal. "I can see why he's single" She grumbled to herself as she was left to finish her food.