After a few minutes, a limousine moved closer to us. It slowed down and then stopped right next to our car.
A man dressed in a butler's suit got out with great grace. He greeted us and introduced himself. He was Evan, the man who had hit me earlier when Darius was transformed.
"Follow me, Miss," he said politely.
We followed the limousine to the north of where we were. The fog gradually descended and thickened. Only the car's headlights could penetrate it although not much. When the gate opened automatically. An old mansion, where I was once almost killed, appeared in front of our eyes.
Our car was still following the limousine. We parked next to it in a huge car garage, similar to a hydraulic car park that could fit many cars.
I don't know, all this modern-looking technology seems to collide with the mansion's very classic medieval design. Yes, I can understand that Darius likes the latest technology. But he doesn't have the right aesthetic sense. It's like a customized Chevrolet Tavera with a Bugatti Veyron engine.
Evan guided us into the mansion. Thankfully, this time I didn't have to open or push the heavy door again. In the living room. I don't know how long ago there was a luxurious and modern chair. Strangely, the position of the chair was higher than the other chairs as if it was a throne, which I didn't remember before. There, Darius was sitting with his feet up, shaking his glass of red wine.
"Finally, you show up after running away and making a mess!" Darius said while looking down at me.
"What do you mean? I didn't cause any trouble here. But it was you!"
"Do you know how many of my things you threw to the ground?
"Are you crazy? None of that would have happened if you hadn't suddenly turned into a werewolf!"
"Nonsense! Didn't I give you that dagger? You should just use that, no need to touch anything else!"
My eyes locked onto Darius' sharpened gaze, and for a few minutes, we locked gazes. I slowly lowered my head and closed my eyes, then took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Trying to regain the common sense that had almost left my mind.
'Calm down Clara, this is not the right time to argue!'
"Okay, I admit that I lost control and the dagger was thrown far away. I panicked at the time, and you- were too big and I got hurt. It was survival instinct!"
"Is that how you compensate? Or at least apologize?" Darius alluded.
"Sorry."
"No, you still have to compensate! Especially the ALE prototype you threw!"
"ALE?"
"It's a kind of mini audio system that I'm developing with a smart personal assistant program in it."
"You mean that black mini speaker? Is it like Jarvis?"
"Jarvis is only useful in the human world, ALE is more than that!"
Darius' face was getting serious, I knew this was no joke. As if, Darius wanted my life to compensate for his loss.
"Alright, I'll try to be responsible for that"
"Good! You have to reimburse the basic costs first. About 800,000 euros for now," Darius said casually while finishing the wine in his hand.
"Wait, did you say 'currently'?"
Darius nodded, both eyebrows raised while his right hand was busy passing the wine glass to Evan.
"I know, you don't have a job right now after leaving the Falcon group. I'm just giving you a waiver."
"Are you crazy? 800,000 euro waiver you say?"
"Wait a minute! How do you know I used to work at Falcon Group?"
"That's easy, you just need to look on Linkedin. You're the former project manager with a double degree at Falcon who also handled product development."
"You're stalking me? That's very rude!"
"Yeah- or do you want to pay me in full? That's also unlikely, isn't it?" Darius changed the topic.
My anger was about to explode in the face of this creature. But I kept trying to stay on track. I finally tried to make an offer to recreate the prototype by combining it with a system similar to what was in the BELDA project.
He wasn't interested at first, but I was able to convince him. Given that the development of the BELDA project in Falcon group is currently stagnant after the company went through chaos, and then I moved the blueprints before clearing all my stuff on the desk. Although the implementation was already above 50% in the Falcon group, honestly it wasn't worth using because the system wasn't perfect.
"You must know, they have not yet launched the product of the actual BELDA project and have only conducted internal trials."
"I can help your company be the leader in this. Because I designed the product in the first place!"
"Hmmm... but do you understand what ALE is?"
Although I didn't understand the details, I seemed to understand the big picture. Considering that it looks like Jarvis. That's not a big thing for me.
"Sure!"
"This is interesting, you can bring the design to me within 12 days from now"
"Before that, I have a request for you."
"What else? You should be making restitution, not making requests Miss!"
"Sorry, Mr Darius, but the brains of people who owe you money are expensive!" I said arrogantly
Darius sighed while massaging his forehead slowly "Say it!"
"You have to be my boyfriend!"
Darius looked very surprised by what I had just said. His face which was originally serene looked blank. I was too shameless indeed, asking for a favor from someone who you could say- you owe him so much. But I have no choice here, it's as if my world is very small, and the only man who lives in my world is Darius.
"I know it's crazy, but I'm just asking you to pretend to be my boyfriend for the next week. Nothing more!"
"You know what you're doing right now?"
"Yes, I do!" I replied confidently.
Darius' face tightened, he sat in silence for a while after our previous argument. He continued to stare at me without saying a word.
"Alright, I'll do what you want."
"But you have to keep your promise Clara and accept the consequences!" he continued.
Then, Darius asked Evan to prepare the equipment to make the agreement letter. Apparently, he was afraid that I would run away at any time in the middle of completing the project. We wrote down what we could and couldn't do during the agreement, then we read the contents to each other.
I didn't ask for much, I just wanted Darius to pretend to be my boyfriend when Susan's wedding arrived, I didn't want any unnecessary physical contact in our pretense, plus I wanted that while working on the project, I could still get my rights as a worker as it should be, even though my salary was not paid.
On the other hand, Darius wanted me to complete the 'ALE' project according to his wishes, he wanted me by his side for the duration of the project, and there was nothing specific he asked regarding being my fake boyfriend. It was just that it was written that I had to obey the rules and laws that he believed in. I don't know what that meant. I asked, and he just said it was a common law in the werewolf race, nothing unusual.
Evan immediately copied our writing and printed several sheets of paper that had been given a seal spell that was sold freely in their world, then gave a copy of the agreement we made, we read the letter carefully to make sure everything was appropriate. We signed it then exchanged sheets of paper and signed it again according to the column of names. We shook hands like a businessman and an investor doing a funding deal for a big project.