by Claire Adams
The problem with borrowing money from Escabar was that his interest rate was steep. For a $100,000 loan, my rate was twenty percent a month. That added up quickly, and I currently owed almost $200,000.
Normally, that kind of money would have been easy for me to come by. But since my father started tightening his wallet, it had been tough. I couldn’t even make the last interest payment. That’s when Escabar started with his threats. I promised to get caught up by the end of the month, but things were looking pretty grim. There was no way I would be able to make an interest payment this month, and that was going to be horrible.
“What do you mean you wondered if it would work for your dad?” Carlos asked.
“Oh, if I got a relationship. I wondered if that would make my dad feel like I was responsible.”
“Just order one of those hot Russian brides and get married. Your dad would have to see you as responsible, if you were married and shit,” Mathew said jokingly.
“I know you’re joking, Matt. But seriously, Chase. If you want to show commitment and that you can be responsible, getting married might be a good idea. But I wouldn’t tell him you bought her over the Internet,” Carlos said seriously.
We all laughed at the idea, except Mathew seemed a little serious when he started to pull his phone out and show us an app.
“You don’t buy them. It’s an actual dating website. You just meet nice girls that live in the middle of nowhere and really want to have a different life.”
“Mathew, you seem to know an awful lot about these mail-order brides,” I said as I punched him in the arm.
“I was on a few of those dating websites before I met my girlfriend. There are a lot of really nice women there. At least, the ones I talked to. You have to avoid the ones that are asking for your money and want you to send it over to them. But other than that, you should totally check out OK Love. I bet you’d find some smoking hot women on there.”
I punched the website into my phone to check it out. What would it hurt to take a look at it? I really had nothing to lose.
For the next hour, we continued to drink and set up my profile in search for the perfect woman. Well, the perfect women that three drunk guys could describe. I made a mental note to go back into the website in the morning when I wasn’t drunk and re-read everything we put in.
“You might just find the ideal woman in Russia. Those girls are quiet and love to listen to their men. She’ll be at home making dinner for you. Ready to fuck you every night. Maybe I should exchange my wife,” Carlos joked.
“I don’t think I need a stepford wife. I’d just take a nice, cute girl, though. We could get married and put on a little show for a bit, then, divorce in a year or two down the road. She’d have her green card, and I’d have my company.”
“This actually seems like a really good plan,” Carlos said.
“Yeah, sometimes I come up with good ideas,” Mathew added.
In our drunken stupor, we added a ton of women to my favorite list. There were some seriously smoking hot women on that website. I’d be happy with most any of them. But there were a couple that stood out for me.
“Are you sure none of these are fake profiles?” I asked. “This girl says she lives in Liechtenstein. I don’t even think that’s a real country.” We all laughed.
“It’s somewhere by Switzerland, I think. Really small, like the size of Washington D.C.,” Mathew added.
“Well, I might send her a message later or something. She seems halfway interesting, but fake.”
“Send them all messages and see who can speak English. That was my biggest issue when I was on there. I saw a lot of super-hot chicks, but not too many of them could speak English well enough to communicate,” Mathew added.
“Well, if you’re just wanting to bone them, I guess that wouldn’t matter,” Carlos said.
“The problem is, with them being so far away, you really do need to be able to talk to them. You can’t even see if you get along if they don’t speak at least a little bit of English.”
“Give it a go. Send her a message,” Carlos said as he grabbed my phone and started to type a message into the phone.
“No! I’ll do it.”
I grabbed my phone back and typed in the most ridiculously short message: Hi, I’m Chase. I’d love to talk.
Meeting women online had never been a necessity for me, so I just didn’t know what to do or say. Part of my appeal was the in-person conversation and flirting. I wasn’t sure that would be able to portray who I was over the limited capacity of the Internet.
Chapter 6
Jordan
The morning after Ana left was one of the loneliest I had ever had. Without work to keep me busy, I just lay in bed and stared at the ceiling. My whole life had changed in the last couple of weeks, and I felt like I was on the edge of a big change to a new life. The problem was I knew that new life couldn’t possibly happen if I stayed in Liechtenstein.
Most of my day was spent doing absolutely nothing. I lounged around in the emptiness of my apartment. It felt emptier than it ever had before. I had even been home for a week without my mother before, but I always knew she was coming home soon. This time, it was different.
I lay in bed for the first few hours. Then, I got up and cleaned my tiny apartment and made some lunch. There was no motivation at all inside of me. I hated my apartment; I hated my life without Mom and Ana around.
Before they left, I thought of myself as a confident and outgoing woman. But that day spent alone in my apartment, I suddenly realized I wasn’t the person I thought I was. A confident woman would be ready to move forward, even if she was alone. For me, that confidence had totally disappeared, and all I could think about was finding someone to keep me company.
Reluctantly, I logged back into OK Love and looked through my messages. I groaned at some of the guys and how hideous they looked. Of course, looks aren’t everything, and I was totally willing to give a nice guy a chance, but a 300-pound, sweaty guy who didn’t even clean himself up for a picture – that was just not going to happen.
Then, I ran across Chase.
He described himself as a bored billionaire who needed a partner by his side.
Fake.
But for fun, I continued.
“I’m twenty-nine, single, with blue eyes, and I’m six feet tall. I party way too much and use my father’s money. I live in Atlanta, Georgia, and, despite my current lifestyle, I would love to meet my partner and see if settling down suits me.”
At least, he was honest enough to say his money came from his father. Surely if someone was going to make a fake profile, they would say the money was their own. But money wasn’t all that important to me. Obviously, I didn’t want to be homeless when I got to America, but a small, one-bedroom apartment like the one I had at the time would be suitable.
His message said that he wanted to talk. So, I figured the best way to see if he was real or not was going to be talking to him on the phone. If he was fake, he would make some sort of excuse not to talk on the phone. If he was real, well, if he was real, he would have no problem having a phone conversation.
“Hi, I’m Jordan. Call me if you want to talk.”
I gave him my phone number and suddenly felt more confident than I had all day. I continued to go through some of my messages and replied to a few other guys. I was browsing profiles, when a very long number called my phone. It was a US country code.
My whole body froze as I looked down at my phone. It had only been a couple of hours, and I had not expected Chase to call me. I stared at the phone and then, finally, answered it right before it went to voicemail.
“Hello,” I said in my best English.
“Is Jordan there?” a man’s voice said.
His voice was velvety and sweet. My whole body tingled when I heard it, and I instantly felt like he was exactly who he had said he was on his profile. It was weird that someone’s voice could or couldn’t match the picture they had on a profile. But for whate
ver reason, Chase’s voice did seem to match.
“Yes, this is her.”
“Wow, you sound beautiful,” he said.
“Is it possible to sound pretty?” I giggled.
“Oh, yes. I think it is. I’m going to stick to my guns and say you sound beautiful.”
My whole face flushed, and I felt my knees get wobbly as I heard him talk. His deep voice was seductive even though he wasn’t saying anything that was particularly enticing. It was how he drew out his words and took his time with each sentence. Chase sounded like the kind of southern man I heard about in movies.
I had to sit down.
As much as I wanted to talk to him, I couldn’t think of what to say. My nervousness had overcome me, and I just sat quietly, waiting for him to keep talking. But apparently, nervousness had gotten a hold of him, as well.
We sat in silence for a minute, and I had to pull his profile up on my computer so I could remind myself of the things he had said about himself in his profile. His profile pictures were very handsome and his voice matched – so far, things seemed to be leaning toward this guy was actually real.
“Thanks for calling,” I said quietly.
“Thanks for giving me your number. You know, I thought you were a fake profile. You seem too beautiful to be on any dating websites.”
“Wow, that’s a good line,” I said as I laughed.
“No line. Total seriousness.”
“You can’t tell me you haven’t said that exact same thing to every girl you’ve talked to from that website?”
“Oh, that’s true. I’ve said it to every girl I’ve talked to from OK Love. But the thing is, you’re the only girl I’ve talked to.”
I was stunned into silence and quickly scanned through his profile to see when he joined the page. To my surprise, he had literally just joined the day before and, like me, was totally new to the OK Love world.
“You haven’t talked to anyone else?”
“Nope. By the way, why is your English so good?” Chase asked me with suspicion in his voice.
“Oh, I’m really a suburban housewife from the States and just pretending to live in the tiny country of Liechtenstein.”
Many times people asked me about my English and why it was so good. The truth was, I really liked English from the moment we started to learn it in school. Plus, I was a big fan of all the American culture television shows, movies, and music. Most of the things I watched were in English, and I really felt like it was a solid second language for me. I didn’t even have to think very much about what I was saying before I said it.
The silence that followed my little joke made me very uncomfortable, though. I really hoped he didn’t think I was being serious. I liked to joke around a lot and anyone who knew me would say that it was one of my best qualities, but I wondered if Chase thought I was being serious.
“It was a joke,” I said.
“Oh, I know. I was just busy feeding my catfish.”
I laughed way harder than I probably should have laughed. His reference to the MTV show Catfish was something that made so much sense to me. MTV was one of my favorite things to watch from America, and I watched every episode of Catfish.
The show was about people on the internet pretending to be other people and then, when they finally got to meet them, they were surprised. It was the perfect comeback to my comment, and I loved that Chase had a good sense of humor.
“Very funny,” I said through my laughs.
“You might think I’m a total pervert when I say this, but would you mind if we Skyped?”
At first, the idea seemed like a good one. I could see him and see if he really looked like he did in his pictures. But then, I realized he would get to see me, as well, and I had spent the day cleaning and lounging in bed. My hair was hideous my face all oily; I needed some time to at least take a shower.
“I was just about to hop in the shower. Could we do it in an hour or so?”
“Definitely, but I’m going to actually call in an hour, and you better answer.”
“I’ll answer.”
We both sat on the phone for another couple of seconds before I just decided I should hang up. It was awkward and I probably should have said goodbye or something, but I didn’t. The whole idea of talking to someone as a first date was really weird. I wasn’t sure it was going to work out for me. I liked to see someone, touch them, and feel the chemistry between us. It wasn’t going to work that way with a guy from across the world.
As fast as humanly possible, I finished cleaning up my apartment and got into the shower. I thought about how I should wear my hair and how I should dress to meet him for the first time. I knew he would want to see my apartment, and I would have to show him around via the camera, but I hated that he would see just how horribly I was living.
My nerves were going crazy as I dried my hair and put just a touch of makeup on. I didn’t want to look totally done up and like I was trying to impress him, but I also couldn’t look like a slob, either. My heart raced as I waited for him to call me.
I finished getting ready and logged into my Skype account on my phone. It wasn’t the best connection over the cell service towers, but it was the only internet I had that could Skype. My internet in the apartment complex went out constantly, like every couple of minutes. I had tried to Skype with my mom from my laptop, and it hadn’t worked at all.
I stared at my phone as the call came through. My nerves felt like the same as they did when I had gone on first dates before. I tried to take a few deep breaths and relax before I clicked to answer the call.
My heart pounded in anticipation, and I slowly reached up and clicked to accept the call. I sat there and stared at my phone as I waited for his picture to come across, and then I saw my own reflection and repositioned myself so I didn’t look quite so crazy.
“Oh my God,” Chase said, as our pictures came in and we could see each other.
“What?”
“You are so beautiful. I didn’t think you were, really. And, I really didn’t think you were that beautiful in person.”
Instantly, I became deathly shy. He was so handsome. I couldn’t believe I was talking to an American who looked like a movie star and wanted to talk to me. Chase had brilliant blue eyes that were ten times prettier in person than they were in his pictures. His skin was tan and his face looked like he took care of himself. I couldn’t see much of his body, but I assumed that was just as delicious as his face. My eyes looked at his lips and focused on them as he talked.
“I love your eyes,” I said like a total dork.
Embarrassment had overcome me and I found it hard to look at him. He was dressed in a dress shirt that was unbuttoned a little in the front, as if he just took his tie off to relax. His face had a little bit of a scruffy beard on it, which I loved. It was trimmed up and matched his chestnut brown hair.
I kept peeking up at him and then had to look away when I saw his huge smile and eyes looking back at me. It was insane just how handsome he was. He really did remind me of those movies stars I saw from America. I couldn’t figure out why on earth he was on the OK Love app.
“Thank you, Jordan,” Chase said very sweetly. “I really don’t know what to say. I thought all the women were fake on that site. I’m still in shock at how beautiful and real you are.”
We continued to look at each other and both of us smiled. I felt it, and I know he did as well – an instant connection between the two of us. There was chemistry even thousands of miles away. Guys like Chase just didn’t exist in my realm. I had never met a man that was as handsome as he was anywhere in my country. Oh, I’m sure they exist; I just wasn’t around them in any of my day-to-day life.
Originally, when I became a nurse, I thought I would find a doctor and marry him. I quickly learned that no young doctors come to Liechtenstein. They go to Switzerland or one of the other, larger countries in Europe. The only doctors who stayed in Liechtenstein were ones who had families or were retiring soon.
/> “You look like you just got done with work. What time is it there?” I asked him.
“Actually, I’m at work right now. I just really wanted to talk to you. Here, this is my office.”
Chase turned the camera around so I could see his office. It was huge! It was at least three times bigger than my apartment. I couldn’t believe that he got to work in a room that was bigger than where I lived. There was a large leather couch in the corner and a sitting area around it. In front of his desk, he had two smaller leather chairs that people could sit in across from him. Then, on the far wall, there were about six bookshelves filled with books and other knick-knacks.
“Wow, I could live there.”
“It’s a little excessive. But when your father’s the boss, you get lucky.”
“What kind of work do you do?”
“My father owns Foster Industries. We manufacture parts for all kinds of things like planes, cars, farm equipment, and other industrial equipment.”
“That sounds boring.”
Chase busted into laughter. My English was something I was never confident with when I talked to someone who spoke English as their primary language. I thought I might have said something wrong.
“I’m sorry, did I say it wrong?” I asked.
“No, no. You are exactly right. It is very boring,” he said as he smiled at me.
His smile melted me into a million pieces. I felt my body warm up as I looked into his eyes with that big grin on his face. If he had been anywhere close to me, I’m sure we would have kissed right about that moment.
“So, why do you do it?”
“It’s a family business. None of my brothers wanted to get into it. I actually like it, but I have so many changes I think should be made. Anyways, that’s enough about me. I think we need to talk about you.”
“What would you like to talk about? Should I show you my apartment?”
“Yes, I’d love to see it.”