Adeline tried to fathom the situation though it was crystal clear to her. She knows that the man standing before her wants to confide in her giving the file in her hand but she still kept pondering to his words after she opened the file in her hands.
It was a contract. A contract that will be confidential between Adeline and Augustus and no other person can know about it except Sejin.
As she continued to read further of the contract, she understood in which situation she was getting herself into.
She smiled wickedly when she read about the profits she will be gaining after signing the contract which will provide her with more as time passes by and with a double when the contract ends. It was a golden opportunity for her but was she ready for it?
She was somewhat dumbstruck and doubted her determination to overcome her failure for the first time in her life by signing a contract with an unknown but wealthy man who is ready on his one foot to provide her with Luxury if she signs the contract.
The luxury in both living and work that she has ever dreamed of getting after working her ass off for 20-30 years in the fashion industry, she was getting it in just two years.
But the greed of wealth wouldn't bring her any good either. As it is said, Greed Is A Great Curse, Adeline is afraid that she will be digging her own grave in the greed of the luxury she will get within two years of signing the papers.
Clearing her throat, she finally decided to speak her confession reading the contract. "Mr Dumas, I'm sorry that I'm not ready for signing the contract. The contract offers me well-"
"It's okay Ms Elsher, I don't need to know why are you refusing this offer. I hope you change your mind later and come back to me. But remember that you have only two days and you can not tell about this contract to anyone " he stated as he glanced at his watch before taking back the file from her hands.
"But, I guess you should listen to party B too" Adeline held back the file, not letting Augustus take it.
Augustus tilted his head a little in confusion but stayed silent and gave her a chance to express what she wants to.
"You are giving me enough money and many opportunities that I could have hardly gotten if I didn't meet you. But Mr Dumas, I don't want myself to get pregnant with your child. You can have it through surrogacy if you want, I will act well" she offered.
Augustus pulled back the file forcefully from her hands and looked up at her with a sharp glare. "After the marriage, we will be having a lot of encounters with my family Ms elsher. I don't want them to know that we are having a baby through surrogacy. Even though it is a contract marriage, you will be their daughter in law and a part of our family " he clarified.
"Don't worry Ms Elsher, the billion dollars opportunity I'm giving you will not have any impact on your career life. You will have enough fame and money that no one will dare to talk down to the owner of the owner of a luxurious make-up brand" he added.
Adeline's face crossed with confusion. "Wait, me being the owner of some company wasn't stated in the contract "
"I added it right now" he smirked. "Ms Elsher, I can give you more if you want but as stated in the contract, you will have to cut all your connections with my family and me once the contract ends"
"But why are you choosing me for this? you will get many more girls for this work-"
"They aren't you" he interrupted her in midsentence. "You fit well in my ideal contract wife, unlike others who are greedy standing out there in line"
"How do you know I'm not greedy?" she chuckled in puzzlement.
Augustus smiled at her as he stepped closer to Adeline. Leaning his face closer to her face, he travelled one of his hands on the side of her body until it reached her breast. He smirked seeing her glaring at her and when he was about to press it, she hit his hands away from her body and stepped back from him.
He laughed. "Did you get the answer?" he asked. "If it was some other girl, she would have made me fuck her right here under the open sky and said yes to my offer because she knows what I'll be giving her in return. And you know, such girls are dangerous for me, who knows what will they do to betray me in the end and not give me my child?"
There was some good reason for him to say this but Adeline was deciphering through her thoughts if she even fit to his ideal contract wife? the child will be her's too, why will she give it to him as he said about other women?
"Don't ponder too much" Augustus snickered. "You aren't like any of the girls I'm talking about. and if you still want to compare yourself with them, then think if you have ever been a slut to sleep with men for their money? No? right?"
"But I will become one if I sign those papers " Adeline mumbled. "Don't worry Mr Dumas, I will not tell about this conversation to anyone and you can trust me for that"
"I already do" he quickly replied to her. He knows her next words too and he can't force her even if he wants her to accept his offer at any cost.
Adeline nodded to him but sighed, she can't do it. "But I'm sorry, I can't sign the contract. I'm not ready for it"
she quickly picked up her handbag and mobile phone before taking her steps away from him.
Augustus was disappointed, she rejected his offer. No one dares to ever reject anything he offers and a girl rejected him on his face.
He couldn't help but laugh at himself as he loosened his tie and ripped the file into two parts before throwing it away and chasing Adeline furiously.
"Ms Adeline Elsher!" he groaned as he abruptly held her arms and made her turn to look at him. His sharp stare pierced into her eyes giving her goosebumps and helping her blood to run a little faster in her entire body.
"I am not going to do anything bad to you for rejecting my offer but I give my words that you will be back to me within a week. Do you know why? the entire media standing out of your apartment with their questions won't let you live in peace with the rumours that your boyfriend has spread around about you!"
He spoke up each of the words in pure resentment but that left Adeline in more bizarre. As much as she knows it wasn't Jack but her colleagues to spread rumours about her, she trusts in Jack that he will never do that.
"What nonsense are you blabbering?" she grumbled while trying to get rid of his tight grip on her arms but he didn't let her go.
"Do you even know who is the girl who turned out to be taking your position? She is the true love of your boyfriend and if you don't believe me, you will be knowing it soon in a few months "
Tears rolled down through her eyes and she abruptly jerked his hands from her arms, ending up slapping him hard on his face. "Just because of your status, don't think that you rule other's life. Don't dare to accuse someone I love with a thought that I will come in your words and get ready to sign the papers in rage. Stay away from me and people I care about "
She stormed out of the backyard leaving the outraged Augustus behind. He only glared at her as she walked out of his sight, she got on his nerves today with nothing but slapping him in the end.
Adeline was outraged as she left. She didn't even glance at Sejin or the watchman and aggressively started the car engine to go back home. However, it was falling night too.
The sun was about to set and the darkness was about to rise again. The road that joins the city and Augustus's farmhouse goes through the protected national park which means Adeline would have to drive home across the forested area in the dark at night.
It was creepy to drive as the darkness aroused but Adeline was too much into her thoughts that she didn't focus on the empty dark road that only enlightened through the help of her car's headlights for a few distances.
"How can he just say that? Asking me to sleep with him? Make a baby? Am I a factory of producing a baby or machine or a robot under the legal terms?" she grumbled. "Only if I could slap him more then he would have never dared to repeat that gibberish again before any girl," her emotions were heightening.
Adeline was driving fast in rage, it can be also said that her rage didn't let her know what she was doing. It was getting over her mind.
A silent road with no cars passing by made her drive faster than before as she kept recalling what Augustus's offer was to her.
But then, suddenly her eyes caught something making her scared out of her wits. She lost her control over the speed of her car.
There were two elks crossing the road when Adeline's car was almost going to hit the pair but she turned the wheels and quickly stepped on the brake pedal making her car slip on the road and hit a large tree by the roadside.
Adeline's heart raced faster than it has ever been before, she was frightened and she believed she hit the elks. But thankfully, the elks were safe and ran quickly into the forest.
Meanwhile, Adeline's forehead hit abruptly against the steering wheel and she felt unconscious right in her place. Her head was bleeding while the bonnet was badly crashed against the tree letting out all the white smoke through the engine.
Thanks to Ellen that she suggested Adeline to take an old car with not much grip on the tires but with extremely tightened breaks meant for an emergency. Adeline must have possibly learned a lesson through this, to not drive fast, no matter how empty and silent the road is.
Just then another car passing by quickly pulled the breaks while seeing a car badly crashed against a tree.
The people inside the car didn't waste any moment and quickly got off the car. They were no one strangers but Augustus and Sejin.
"Isn't it the car of that weirdo?" Augustus mumbled as he looked at Adeline's car in shock while rushing to her.
They coughed as they got closer to the car, the smoke coming through the engine wasn't good to inhale at all.
Augustus peeked through the window of the driver's seat to see unconscious Adeline with a bleeding forehead.
"Look what you got yourself into, baby girl," he rolled up his eyes before breaking the glass and opening the door only to get her out into his arms. "Call the doctor at home, tell him it's an emergency."
August informed to Sejin before stepping towards his car and carefully placing Adeline on the back seat while sitting beside her.
"Take it as your punishment, Love" he smirked taking his mobile phone out from the pocket of his blazer and dialling a number.
"It will sound weird for the first time, but I want you to make tomorrow's morning a little hot and spicy for me."
Augustus talked over the call with all of his nasty and devilish grin while combing his fingers into his soft hair of Adeline. For Augustus, it was finally his time for some revenge for her slapping and rejecting him.