Girlfriend for a Day [Job]

Leila has already tackled with contracts. They weren't exactly too much of a challenge... but some of them were a bit odd. But this one, this one deserves to be the cherry on top of the cake. Whilst looking for a job, Leila found request from a young boy. He was asking for a female mage that would play the role of his girlfriend for a single day. Anyone normal would probably completely ignore a request like this. But Leila was hardly someone normal. She had absolutely no experience with relationships and this intrigued her. For the sake of finding out how it feels to have a boyfriend for a day, she took the contract. And now she was standing in front of this boy's home. According to the information provided, his name was Frederick. He lived alone in this house, but his parents were still keeping their eye on them and nagging him about not having a girlfriend. And to silence them, this little mission had to work out. But all things considered, his house was rather big for a young man that lived alone. It had a nice view to the street and a canal that was going through considerable part of the city.
Looking around once more, Leila confirmed for herself that this was indeed the correct house and knocked few times. After few seconds, a loud stomping was heard as someone raced down the stairs inside. And in the next moment, the door opened. Inside was her client, the one who would be her partner for tomorrow. He actually looked a bit older than she imagined him. "Greetings. Name's Leila and I'm here about the... girlfriend contract." She was a bit unsure of how to call it. But it was probably correct, given the fact that the boy instantly turned his gaze away from her and blushed. He was more shy than she expected, too. "I see..." He answered, not taking any action for a moment before he finally looked at her again. "Come in." He finally offered and took a few steps back. Leila nodded and entered the house as Frederick closed the door behind her. The room was cozy, with a big table pressed against one of the walls. Plenty of paintings decorated the rest of the space, flowers adorned the corners and few shelves were creating a small kitchen across the room of the table. Frederick seated himself and pointed at the other chair nervously. "Make yourself at home." Leila smiled and sat down as well, placing her hands on the table while looking around. "You needn't be so stiff. We won't convince anyone like this." She told him, already starting to prepare. "You'll also need to tell me quite a bit about you." Frederick nodded and sighed right after.
"To start with... I'm 18 years old, I like the color black and I have a great interest in magic. That's why I told my parents that I'm dating a mage, you know? But I'm not one myself, never had any talent. Um... would you mind me asking about that?" He suddenly pointed at her chest, more specifically at the gray skin that was slightly showing from beneath her shirt. "Oh..." Was Leila's immediate reaction. She didn't expect him to notice it. "It's... an aftereffect of my magic. I've recently used a powerful spell, it will go away in few days." She lied to him a bit. There was a chance he would throw her out if she told him that those were simply part of her body. But like this, he only became excited, almost shining. "R..really? What kind of magic do you control? Please, tell me!" He was leaning towards her on top of the table eagerly. She simply smiled and after looking around some more, she simply caressed the small flower that was on the table. Activating one of her spells, the flower started growing until it was in full bloom. The boy was simply staring at it for few seconds before he jumped back onto his two feet, shouting: "That was awesome! You can control nature?" Leila nodded with a small mental sigh in her head. She tried to calm him down, since they still had a lot to discuss. After she obtained all the necessary information, they tried practicing for a bit too. They had to remove his embarrassment if they wanted to convince anyone. And all things considered, Leila was surprisingly fine with being near a boy in the same age category as her. In the end, they practiced all the way until night. Frederick then offered her to sleep in a quest room that was close to his own bedroom. She quickly accepted the offer, remembering how bad the beds in hotels can be. She slept until a knock on the door of the room woke her up.

It was morning of a new day and Frederick's parents would arrive in few hours. They both had to prepare themselves. And make themselves look normal after a restless night. And finally, someone knocked on the main entrance door. Frederick instantly became way more tense but still went to open. "Sonny!" Was the first thing Leila saw. She quickly got to the entrance as well to see what was happening. And what she saw was a stern looking lady hugging her 'boyfriend'. And behind her, his father. And as soon as they saw her, they showed their son aside and rushed inside, their gazes scanning her from bottom to top. "H..hello there. It's nice to finally meet you~" She greeted them with a smile, looking straight back at them. The father was quick to smile too, scratching his head and turning towards his wife. "See? I told you he wasn't laying to us, he wouldn't do that." But his words were clearly not enough. His mother was still piercing Leila with her gaze, possibly trying to see into her very soul. "Let's have a chat." She finally spoke and started going towards the table. Frederick sighed and looked at Leila, hoping she was still alright after meeting his mother. She was taking it... somehow. The table was prepared for four people, two ordinary wooden chairs on one side and a small couch for two on the other. Parents took the chairs while Frederick moved to the back of the couch. Leila, who slipped in right behind him, slowly embraced his hand and leaned against him, smiling as warmly as she possibly could. The situation was a bit awkward until father finally spoke. "So... what's your name? We heard that you're a mage." It was a good start for a conversation, since it actually worked. worked. "Ah, my apologies! I completely forgot to introduce myself." But before she could start talking, Frederick took the lead. "This is Leila. And as I said, she's a mage. A powerful one at that!" Though mother gave him a suspicious look. In attempt to save the situation, Leila did pretty much the same thing she did yesterday. There was already prepared flowerpot with a flower seed inside. She took it and used her time commandment to make the seed burst into a beautiful flower. And with that, mother's expression finally changed from that stern look. She was surprised. "I command nature." She said and smiled again, her determination to see this through not wavering for a moment.
Father was surprised too, as he even started clapping. That made Leila feel a little embarrassed, it was rather unusual to have her skills praised like that. But it didn't last long, as the mother started with questions. "What guild are you part of?" Leila feared this question. There was a chance they would start doubting their relationship if she told them that she was nothing but a wandering mage. But she still tried her best to come up with a good answer. "I don't belong to a guild. I'm an independent mage that takes contracts from all guilds in the area. I's way more profitable than being tied to a single notice board." It was the kind of answer that parents want to hear. Their son didn't have a job of his own and a girl that was making a lot of money would be perfect for him. "How did you two get together?" Father suddenly asked. Leila pressed herself against Frederick a bit more, making him and herself blush a bit. "We met at the market once. I forgot my money at home and had no way of paying for the food I needed to buy. Thankfully, Frederick was there and he saw what was happening. He paid for me and from that time, we started seeing each other. Eventually, we became more than just... acquaintances. Way more~" She answered, hoping they would buy it. It seemed like they did. The questions continued for quite a while with Frederick and Leila both answering them. And finally, evening approached. "Oh, it seems like it's time for us to go." Father reminded his wife that it was getting late. She simple nodded, her expression as stern as it was in the morning. But they never asked anything that would indicate that they don't believe them and in the end, they left without indicating anything either. The fake lovebirds waved them a goodbye and went back inside, both of them sighing quite loudly. Frederick smiled with a blush still on his face as he looked at Leila. "Thanks. I really appreciate this! And well... it was fun. Heh, maybe we could do this again sometime?" Words that Leila was afraid of hearing from the very start. Her posture changed, one of her palms covering portion of her face as she looked back at Frederick with completely different look. More sinister one. "Sorry, but I have no intentions of becoming your girlfriend. Now, my reward." He was clearly shocked by her sudden change in behavior, almost as if she was a completely different person. Starting to shake slightly, he simply handed her the reward in jewels and with that, Leila left the house. It was unfortunate, but it also necessary for her to do one of her 'personality changes'. If she wouldn't have, Frederick would probably get the wrong idea. It would be probably better if she started to avoid that house from now on. And hopefully she didn't scar him for life...