Ten minutes before the meeting time, Lim Yi Sheng together with his assistant arrived at the Century Hotel, a five-star hotel frequented by the wealthiest people of City A.
Upon arrival, they went straight to the private meeting room booked for them.
"You're quite early, President Xi." he offered a smile at the lady who is confidently seated on the other side of the coffee table. The lady smiled and gestured for him to seat.
The woman is wearing a knee length black dress that shows off her curves very well even though she is seating.
He'd seen his fair share of women from celebrities to aristocrats, but this is his first time seeing someone who he finds attractive at first glance.
'gorgeous'
That is only thing that came into his mind when he saw her.
"Have a seat Young Master Lim." the man smiled and sat in front of her.
"You didn't even give me the chance to pull the chair for you, President Xi." he said as soon as he's seated.
Xi Ana offered him a smile before answering, "I'm quite used to pulling my own chair Young Master Lim, I hope you won't take it to heart."
Lim Yi Sheng chuckled, "I'll try to be a little earlier than you next time."
The assistants beside these two people can feel the strong presence that each person give off. They both know that behind those calm smiles hid a ruthless and merciless ruler that could take down a company without even lifting a finger.
"Shall we start? I prefer getting straight to the point you know. We're both busy people and I don't see the point in prolonging a talk that we can actually finish in a couple of minutes." the woman said in an elegant demeanor.
The man in front of him doesn't seem to be fazed by the directness of the woman he's speaking with. He chuckled a little which made the woman raise her left eyebrow.
"Then, will you marry me?" now it's the woman's turn to let out a heartfelt laugh. He pushed a small box in front of her.
"You sure live up to your reputation, Young Master Lim." even though they were not given any specifics about their meeting for today, they both know that their families intend to marry them off.
"I don't think I have any reason to refuse marrying you, right? You're beautiful, sexy, intelligent, wealthy, and independent. You're a woman every man would dream of marrying." he said this as a matter of fact. It's not like he likes her, he's only stating a fact.
"Sure, I'll marry you. But I hate rings with big diamonds nor any kind of big precious stones. I prefer a simple ring, if by any chance the ring inside that box is not up to my standard then it's better to call off this arrangement as early as now." the assistant of Lim Yi Sheng who's standing beside him almost dropped his jaw upon hearing the woman's statement because that is exactly what his boss told him yesterday while picking the engagement ring.
His exact words were: 'If she prefers a flashy ring with an expensive stone or diamond, I will not think another second to decline this marriage.'
"You never seize to amaze me, Ms. Xi Ana." Xi Ana opened the box and picked the ring to inspect it, she realized instantly that this a personalized ring which means there is only one in the world, there are small bits of diamonds on the rings which looked like a sprinkled glitter.
She wore it on her right ring finger as an answer to the man's proposal.
"I'll take that as a compliment Mr. Lim Yi Sheng. Before we end this discussion, I think we need to finalize everything first." this comment from the woman alerted the two assistants.
This serves as a cue for them to start preparing themselves for documenting the entire talk without missing anything.
If there is someone else hearing this conversation, they would think that what these two people were talking about isn't about their marriage but rather a business deal that needs to be settled right away.
"Ladies first." he said indicating the woman to state her conditions first.
"Very well. First and foremost, to avoid any conflicts, anything that regards to both our companies will be out of the marriage but all other legal assets under our names will be bounded with our marriage." as a matter of fact, this is indeed a good suggestion because problems may arise if they made a single mistake that follows their companies.
This thing is actually not a big deal, being married to each other's family is already considered a big thing, it will already result into influx of investors once they found out.
"Not a problem. Is there anything else?" he asked nonchalantly.
"I'm still thinking, go ahead and state yours."
"For the legal aspects, I think we've already covered the most important thing so that's fine for now. If we were to get married, we need to live in the same house. I'm a man of my words after all, this is a legal marriage that's why we must uphold to the vows of married people." he's looking straight into her eyes, if this is only another woman he's staring, she would have felt as if she's being melted by his gaze but, this is Xi Ana after all.
The woman did not immediately answer.
"Of course, we will be the same as normal couples anyway. We're getting married, it's our responsibility to act as one, but there are still some lines we should not cross. And there are some questions better left unsaid." in short the woman doesn't want nosy people.
The man understood this very well because he himself doesn't like other people sticking their noses in his business.
"Well, you've saved me from the trouble of saying that."
"So, when will we register our marriage? I don't want to hold any event. It's tiring, we arrange the marriage ourselves, we move in the same place, and we will continue with our lives. I don't want any official announcement regarding this. Do you have any problem with that?"
It's not like she's suggesting that they would keep it a secret, and it's not like the main reason for their marriage is for them to benefit from each other anyway, their families' only intention for this is to simply marry them off so that they won't stay alone for the rest of their lives.
"Give me a month and I'll prepare so that after registering our marriage everything is already settled, I don't do things halfheartedly. For now, these rings will be placed on our right ring fingers since we're already engaged. This is a marriage we're talking about; I don't want to make my future wife stay at a place that is not good enough."
Xi Ana didn't see anything wrong with that, so she simply nodded as a response.
"That ends our discussion then, Young Master Lim." she stood and extended her hand. The man followed suit and accepted her hand. After all, the discussion is over.
As soon as they shook their hands, Xi Ana's assistant blurted something that made her laugh.
"What is it?" he asked. The smile from her lips is still there.
"She's asking why we don't have an end of contract. Really, it's nothing to worry about you'll never know. I might be dead after this year." she willingly joked about her own death, what a strange woman, he thought.
No one knows that behind that joke might be a deeper meaning that no one else have an idea about.
But seriously speaking, Lim Yi Sheng didn't consider an end of contract as well because he's willing to make this work out and if by any chance it didn't, they can just file a divorce, and everything's settled. There is nothing to fuss about.
"Oh and expect me to visit Chairman Xi with my Grandfather and Mother some time this week."
"Okay, just give a call so that I can free my schedule."
And that's how their marriage meeting ended.