It wasn't enough to establish things verbally, so I requested that everything be put down in a contract.
After signing it, Calvin immediately took me to the mall and bought me several outfits. He paid for everything.
Before long, it was New Year's Eve. I went back to his home with him.
After becoming a successful CEO, the first thing Calvin did was to buy a massive villa and have his mom move in.
The two of us stood outside the villa. He took a deep breath before saying, "Prepare yourself, Ms. Sheraton."
As the door opened, the elegant interior I'd imagined was nowhere to be seen. Instead, cardboard boxes and empty plastic bottles were piled everywhere.
A faint but unmistakable stench lingered in the air.
My smile froze on my face.
This old lady was still hoarding trash despite living in a villa. She truly had some unique hobbies.
"Now you know how terrifying my mom can be," Calvin whispered.
"Cal! You're back!" His mother, Anne Thornton, hurried out from deeper inside the villa moments later.
She was dressed very plainly, with a free promotional grocery store apron still hanging around her neck. She looked more like the housekeeper than the owner of a villa.
"Mom, this is my girlfriend, Beryl Sheraton," Calvin said.
I gave her a polite smile. "Hello, Mrs. Hearth. I brought you some gifts."
"Oh, you shouldn't have! An old lady like me has no use for fancy things. Come on in!" Mrs. Hearth led me inside while saying, "I'm sorry the house is such a mess. I hope you don't mind."
It was such a waste for a villa this huge to be used entirely for storing recyclables.
Unable to tolerate it, I went along with what Mrs. Hearth said and shot back, "Yeah, it really is a mess. If I didn't know better, I'd think I'd just walked into a recycling center."
I turned to look at Calvin. "It seems like your family isn't exactly thrilled to have me here. This entire place is filled with junk. Are you trying to humiliate me or something? Don't make me call my dad later."
We'd planned this out. I was posing as the daughter of one of his business partners. That way, his family would take me seriously.
Calvin turned to Mrs. Hearth. "What's going on, Mom? Didn't I already tell you to stop bringing junk into the house?"
"What do you mean by junk? All of this can be sold for money! They're valuable! You young people just don't understand how to save," she muttered, sounding aggrieved.
"Call someone to clean this place up. I'm not spending New Year's in a garbage dump!" I pulled out my phone immediately to book a cleaning service.
"You can't throw these away! That's all money!" Mrs. Hearth rushed over to stop me.
Calvin stopped her and said, "She's Mr. Sheraton's daughter. Her dad could easily bankrupt me if you upset her. We'd have to sell this villa to pay off debts, and then you can spend the rest of your life collecting junk!"
The cleaning crew arrived quickly and even brought a truck. The whole team worked tirelessly, and by the end of the day, every pile of junk in the house was gone.
Mrs. Hearth stood listlessly by the side, staring blankly at the now-empty villa.
I glanced at her and decided to add more fuel to the fire. "I'll let it slide this time, Mrs. Hearth. But please don't bring junk home again. This house needs to stay spotless when I marry into the family in the future. I can't stand clutter."
"I can't believe she's bossing me around before she's even married Calvin," Mrs. Hearth muttered under her breath after shooting me a look.
I pretended not to hear her.
This was only the beginning.
