A minute later, Lars who had disappeared before with a messy head of hair reappeared prim and proper like a well-behaved private school head boy.
"Make the mentioned amendments and bring over three copies," said Leif and Lars nodded his head ignoring Quinn like she was invisible.
It was best that he kept a straight face while dealing with her, especially in front of Leif lest he steps on a hidden landmine.
"Oh and bring her a pen," he said again before Lars disappeared behind the door.
Leif seemed to have relaxed considerably as he stood up wordlessly going back to his desk. Just like there was no one else in his office he began to continue with his work seriously. He could be described as a highly focused person but he was more on the extreme side. Once he starts a chain of work he won't be easily extracted from it until he was done.
Quinn could see his current state so she didn't mess with him anymore. She took out her cell phone wanting to play a game or something when she noticed several notifications on top of her cell phone screen.
Her mother had been messaging her one after the other curiously asking about her and Leif. Questions like 'you kid, when did you two hook up' and accusations like 'like you don't trust your mother enough to tell me' flew around on repeat and paraphrased.
Quinn sighed before opening the chat interface. If she didn't say anything to her mother she might brag to her circle of crazy friends and expose this big secret to the world thus before that happened she had to cool her mother's jets.
QQ: Mum, it's still a secret.
QQ: Just don't tell anyone or have you already done so?
Her response came after a very long time. That's because she was guilty but she wouldn't tell her daughter otherwise Quinn will never share anything with her again. She hurriedly deleted the message she was about to send to her group chat before replying to Quinn.
AmalieRose: I didn't. Who do you take me for?
Seeing her response Quinn's heart settled and she smiled sweetly while responding.
QQ: I will come to see you tomorrow.
QQ: We can go out and have one of our special dinners.
AmalieRose: We can't afford it. That's for special occasions only.
AmalieRose: Wait. Did something good happen?
Yes, of course, something good happened. Her daughter had stumbled upon some money so how could it not be worth an expensive dinner as a celebration? Quinn's smile grew bigger and bigger only for a low pitch and slightly hoarse voice to startle her.
"It is clearly stipulated in the contract that for this year you can't like anyone. If you have a suitor it's best you shut that down," said Leif sounding a few degrees colder than before.
Quinn whose smile was mistakenly misidentified as that of a girl chatting with a boy looked at him confusedly. Didn't this person investigate her before? Where on earth would a suitor spring up from?
"I don't have one. Wait... where would you get such an absurd idea?" she asked but Leif shut his mouth refusing to answer the question.
His mouth was sealed but his gaze intentionally or unintentionally glanced at her cell phone and Quinn was suddenly enlightened.
She chuckled softly before saying, "I was talking to my mother. Wait, does that count as a personal question."
Leif who had covered all his tracks confidently responded, "I didn't ask you anything. You said it of your own volition," while lowering his head as though to get back to work. The heavy air pressure surrounding him reduced drastically but even he didn't notice.
"Oh," replied Quinn having realised it. She lowered her head and continued to message her mother that she didn't realise Leif's abnormality.
In his heart, he was curious about how a normal pair of mother and child would behave. Could one also show such a smile when their mother was talking to them? With his mother, there was a strange alienation between the two as they didn't see each other eye to eye. When they met it was either they are arguing and or treating each other with a cold shoulder. This was why he was a little surprised that that smile on Quinn's face was for her mother.
Leif didn't get time to delve deeper into this issue because Lars returned with the amended contract and placed it in front of Leif. He then proceeded to bring over a new parker pen that looked expensive at a glance and placed it in front of Quinn.
Looking at this well-behaved little quail, Quinn couldn't help but find it very amusing. It seemed in front of Leif, Lars was well-behaved to a fault which was very incredible, to say the least.
The secretary walked in and took away the teacups and tray and like Lars, she left as quickly as she came. Leif came back and sat opposite her before placing the contract in front of her.
"Read it again and let me know if there is any problem," he said and Quinn who had been forced to read the contract for business deals by her grandfather ever since she could read began to scrutinise each detail.
Satisfied she took the pen and asked, "Do I sign here?"
Leif nodded his head and just like that Quinn signed an entire year of her life to him. Leif had always treated this like any other business deal but at this moment he couldn't help but feel some type of way. It is a subtle yet hard to understand feeling but like a wisp of smoke. It was fleeting.
Leif realised that he was in a daze thus he hastily recovered and took his pen before signing.
After Quinn was done she swapped papers with him and also signed the second contract. With all three contracts signed, Quinn suddenly said, "Congratulations president Carnell. You now own me for an entire year. Make it count."
Leif, "..."
Why did her words sound very wrong? There was no owning someone. He didn't own her just her time.