After gathering her courage, Irina finally said what she needed to say.
DUAK!
Ryan, who was standing tense, suddenly fell to his knees, unable to believe what he had heard.
"Hmmm, please repeat again?"
The man immediately stood up and patted his knees to clean the dust and dirt from falling earlier. A moment later, he fixed his gaze at Irina and said,
"Okay, let's go through this one by one. Is your name Irina Hagrim? The leader of the great Avalerion Company? Even if it's true, you try to pay attention to me for a moment. My clothes are perfunctory, all day long I've been selling noodles under the sun and sweating so hard that I smell awfully drained. Me? marrying you? Isn't that even more ridiculous than the story Beauty and the Beast?"
Ryan tried to say that their world was very different. One was in a large company, the other was on the curb. One was a beautiful woman walled in wealth, the other was only a penniless ordinary man trying to improve his life by working hard every day. Where would Ryan put his face if what this woman did turned out to be some kind of mockery or punishment that Irina got after losing a bet?
Irina couldn't hear Ryan's explanation clearly because she was originally too lazy to do this. After Ryan fell silent, Irina looked back at this man and then somehow a feeling of disgust rose up on her face.
Face? How could a lowly man like him say something like a face? It should be her who wanted to bury her own face in the ground and hoped that she'd soon wake up from this nightmare.
But for the sake of her company, she had to do this. After all, Irina Hagrim's ideal man was clearly far from what this man looked like.
"All I need from you is the certificate. Of course we're not getting married for real. You can enjoy your life after I finish getting it. And of course, if you will grant my request, I will compensate you with a lot of money." Irina said.
"You mean contract marriage?" Ryan asked.
After hearing Irina's explanation, Ryan immediately understood that this woman wanted to use him as her fake partner to get proof that she was married.
"Right."
"Huh?? Are you stupid or shameless? Even though I am poor and you lure me with money, sacred events like getting married is important in life especially for women and you should know about it. I don't wanna do it! Find someone else there!"
Ryan's benevolence stunned Irina and made her face even paler. A leader of a large company in the City of Avalerion and known as the most beautiful woman had been rejected and humiliated by a chicken noodle seller.
A woman like Irina had high self-esteem and was used to looking at everything from above but now she had been lectured and humiliated by a cart chicken noodle seller? With her background, the one who should feel this kind of feeling was the man in front of her and not her!
"Five hundred million. I'll give you five hundred million when all this is over and we'll get divorced after three months. How?"
Irina, who was trying to hold back the anger she had never felt before, seemed to be biting her lip as she spoke tolerantly. There was no other way. The person told her to do this. Thanks to this sacrifice, the sustainability of the company would be guaranteed.
She didn't know why the other party chose this chicken noodle seller as her partner and strangely, why would he bring this problem of borrowing money to marriage?
Seeing the sacrifices made by Irina, it was clear that the company was in a difficult condition. The bank began to stop providing loans to the company. If the Avalerion Company did not receive funding soon, the kingdom that Irina Hagrim had painstakingly built would collapse. Therefore, Irina must comply with the request of the money lender. Even though this man was annoying and rude, she was willing to swallow her pride for the sake of her company.
"Five hundred million?"
After hearing the amount, Ryan's eyes started to glow, but unfortunately it was cunning that filled her eyes as he said, "Only 500 million? My worth is only 500 million, huh?"
"One billion. One billion I'll give you and once the contract is over we won't meet again and don't expect you to see my face again."
"Wow, unfortunately I'm not that kind of man. My pride is worth nothing!"
"Two billion, that's my deadline. Don't try to pull this any further!"
Irina started dripping blood in her mouth. She was biting her inner lip because she was getting annoyed with this man who was starting to put up a price and take advantage of the situation. She had agreed to pay him 2 billion, the amount of money that he would never get even if he worked all his life! How could this man be so cunning and up his price?
"It's not about money. This is a problem…"
"Five billion. I can't give you much more than that. If you don't want to, I have my own connections that will keep you from sleeping well or setting foot in this city again. Whether you believe it or not is up to you!"
After saying this, Irina's body slightly trembled. Her face clearly showed that she was ready to unleash her anger but this man was still pretending to be innocent. For the first time in her life, Irina felt that there was not a single person on earth that was as shameless as Ryan.
"Okay, I agree! I want the money now!"
Ryan couldn't stop thinking, he'd only been selling chicken noodles all day and now he was earning 5 billion by doing nothing? Wasn't this his best achievement? Five billion was a lot of money, especially for him who had just returned home to Crimea and was struggling financially.
But now? A beautiful woman would give him a big house to live in, a soft mattress where he would have sweet dreams plus herself as a very beautiful and sexy wife.
"Now? That was clearly impossible. I will pay you after our contract has been completed and especially after I get the guarantee that I won't see your face again. "
Irina didn't wait for the man to say something back because she was really fed up. Moreover, she could not give this man the space to say no because she really needed to borrow money from the other party.
"No, I want the money now." Ryan insisted.
"No, I won't repeat my words again." Irina replied.
"When you buy an apartment, you usually give a deposit so that if something happens there is money that can be used as collateral. If you want to buy me, give me at least 1 billion. Think of it as a guarantee of what you say." Ryan said, bargaining his own price.
"Only 100 million, not more and I will give another 100 million for 3 months. I can't afford more than that!"
Hearing men's buying words, Irina's heart ached a little. She was a woman with high self-esteem and had rejected rich and handsome men from all over Crimea and now she had to buy a man.
"Hmmm but I have one condition."
In the end, Ryan made a compromise. After all, he only needed 3 months and he would be very rich.
"What are your conditions?"
"During those three months I will stay at your house. Because my rent is running out and I have nowhere to live so I want to stay in your house. What's your house like, by the way? Is there a swimming pool?"