"So, what's your position at Coskun Company?" Claire looked lazily at the man sitting across from her. His name was Erick, the son of one of her mother's social circle friends.
At first glance, Erick was quite handsome. He had a tall stature, fair and clean skin. His face was free of acne or any scars, which Claire suspected was the result of regular visits to a beauty salon. His clothing also hinted at affluence.
Of course, Claire's mother mentioned that Erick's father was a diamond entrepreneur, making him undeniably wealthy. On a scale of one to ten, Claire rated him a nine based on appearances alone.
However, that was just the external assessment. For the past half hour, Erick hadn't stopped talking about himself and his family, boasting but consistently belittling others. He commented on every person who entered his field of vision, offering unnecessary judgments and excessive self-praise. Now, it seemed he was evaluating Claire.
If it weren't for the need to uphold her mother's reputation, Claire would have loved to splash the cold drink in front of her on Erick. If not for her mother's request, she would have wanted to leave this place within the first five minutes of her arrival.
"I'm just a regular staff," Claire replied truthfully.
"Staff?" The man asked with a condescending tone that was evident to Claire. "Isn't your late father the owner of a cement factory?"
"Yes," Claire replied briefly.
"Then why aren't you working in your father's company?"
"Isn't your father also a diamond entrepreneur?" Claire retorted. A sweet smile played on her lips. The man answered Claire's question with an enthusiastic nod and a visibly proud expression. "So why are you unemployed and not working as hard as your father?" Claire continued, her smile freezing the man.
"W-who said I don't work hard?" The man stammered.
"Well then, if we were to get married, how much monthly allowance would you provide me?" Claire asked challengingly. She leaned back, resting her back against the chair and folded her hands in front of her stomach. "I need funds for the salon, for facial and body treatments. Looking beautiful like this isn't cheap. The cost of facials, whitening injections, botox, and even a medi-pedi is not cheap either."
"Plus, there's clothing and handbags. You must know that the price of a set of branded outfits is not cheap. How much was your watch, a hundred thousand dollars? Shoes? Especially for us women, our outfits are obviously more expensive than that.
"And yes, I like changing phones. I always have to have the latest release. I won't use a phone under fifteen million. For household chores, I have a housekeeper and a gardener of my own.
"I might just be a staff at Coskun, but my income as an investor in several companies and my inheritance in the bank are not small. So, I want a husband whose bank balance is more than mine.
"It's okay if he looks like an unemployed person, but he must bear my living expenses. Because I won't spend a penny of my money to support my life with my future husband.
"Yes, at least, my future husband should have a balance twice as big as mine. But it's even better if it's multiple times," Claire said, leaving Erick speechless with a pale face.
Claire straightened up again, leaning her shoulders forward over the table. She rested her elbows on the table and extended her right hand towards Erick.
"Let me see your balance. You have mobile banking, right? I want to see how much is in your ATM." Claire asked with an interested expression, raising an eyebrow and demanding Erick to show his phone silently, but he seemed flustered by the request.
"My balance is significant; you don't need to doubt that," the man said nervously.
"Yeah, I know your balance is big. You're the son of a diamond entrepreneur after all. So, show it to me," she said with a sweet smile on her face. "If it's bigger than mine, I'll tell Mom that I want to be your future spouse," she continued, still with a seductive and teasing tone, making Erick swallow hard.
"I-I'll go to the restroom first," he said as he stood up from his seat. Claire continued to smile and nodded. Her eyes kept watching him, occasionally turning his head to look at her. After Erick disappeared from view, Claire sighed. She knew that after this, she would receive a barrage of angry phone calls from her mother.
Sure enough, two hours later, just as Claire had stepped out of the bathroom, she saw her phone screen light up with her mother's name displayed.
"What on earth are you doing?" Claire responded to her mother's anger with a nonchalant tone.
"Where are you?" The loud shout made Claire wince. She wanted to move the phone away from her ear, but upon seeing the flat square object on the bathroom sink, Claire realized she had a Bluetooth headset in her ear."Why? Missing me?" Claire retorted, waving her hand gently to reduce the water on her hands before placing it under the hand dryer."Missing your fleas! Damn it!" The girl on the other end snorted. "Where are you now? Don't tell me you're in the restroom!""Do you have a GPS on me, or are you monitoring me from your favorite basin?" Claire chuckled. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror, adjusting her hair before grabbing her phone and leaving the restroom."Say whatever you want. Just tell me where you are. It's Monday, Claire. Are you heartless enough not to go to work and add to my workload? Just last weekend, I praised you, and now you're burdening me with all this?" Her friend complained again. Whether she liked it or not, Claire couldn't help but laugh."Sorry,
"Can I help you with something?" greeted a woman whom Claire was sure was the receptionist for that floor."Where's the meeting room?" Claire asked after shaking her head a few times to clear her mind of inappropriate thoughts."Are you from the branch office?" the receptionist asked again. Claire nodded affirmatively. "Please go straight ahead, pass through two doors. The meeting for all branches is in the third door." Claire nodded in understanding and followed the instructions from the receptionist named Selin.The first room she passed had thick transparent glass walls. Inside, people were engaged in serious discussions—clearly an internal division meeting. She continued walking while observing. The second room also had thick transparent glass walls with an oval-shaped table inside, but this one appeared empty.While the third door had black-tinted glass, probably the type that allows one to see outside but remains opaque from the outside. Claire forgot what it's called.She knock
Antony was taken aback when he stepped out of his apartment lobby and found a beautiful woman in a sexy red dress waiting for him. The stunning model, currently serving as the brand ambassador for his company, waved her hand adorned with expensive diamonds and greeted him with her signature smile. Instead of returning the smile, Antony gave her a sharp look.Lately, this woman had been crossing boundaries, much to Antony's annoyance. Despite explicitly instructing her not to invade his private space, Anastasia seemed far more stubborn than he had anticipated. Should he instruct his apartment security to blacklist her as a visitor? Of course, he could do that; he paid handsomely for their services."What are you doing here?" Antony asked flatly."Today, I'll be signing a new contract with Coskun Company. So, why don't we go together?" The woman inquired with a teasing manner. Antony merely raised an eyebrow and, without saying much, walked away, leaving her behind.His chauffeur was al
Antony chose to fold his hands in front of his chest. Suddenly, he felt irritated but also empty at the same time.Who is that girl? He asked himself, curious. His mischievous thoughts somehow surfaced spontaneously. It seemed he had to find out who she was. And he had to get the information. Not now, but later. A promise he made to himself. Because right now, there's still a lot of work to be done.The elevator then stopped on the nineteenth floor. Antony walked out of the elevator, ignoring Anastasia calling his name. Let the woman handle her own affairs because Antony had already decided to terminate his contract with her, no matter if he had to pay a penalty. There was someone else he wanted to pursue right now, and it wasn't Anastasia.Antony entered his own office, the largest and most luxurious room on the floor. Not because he had a penchant for luxury, but once again, it was all about maintaining his image as the CEO of the company. His secretary opened the door after informi
The classroom was starting to empty as some of its occupants had already gone to the cafeteria for lunch. Abigail remained seated at her desk with an open book on the table, lamenting the math grade she had just received."Darn it!" the teenager muttered with a hiss.Her friend sitting beside her glanced over from the corner of her eye. "Bad again?" she asked, grinning teasingly.Abigail turned to the face of the beautiful Italian-descendant girl and then squinted. "Are you satisfied because I got a lower grade? Are you satisfied because you can mock me as you please?" she retorted, annoyed.Flavia, the golden-eyed, pretty girl nodded happily. "At least I know there's something an Abigail can't do. And that's math," she chuckled gleefully. Once again, Abigail just squinted. "Abby," she called."Hmm..." Abigail replied as she put her book back into her light blue backpack."My grandparents invited me to spend the weekend in Manhattan. Do you want to come?" she asked, pouting playfully.
KansasMonday came around again. But for some reason, this Monday wasn't like the usual Mondays filled with sour faces and a bit of grumbling from the employees feeling bored with the routine. This Monday seemed more chaotic. Claire, walking in from the front door, already noticed how the office boys and cleaning services team were bustling around with their tools in hand. And not only that, even the security guards seemed busy cleaning their guard posts.Claire ignored them and continued walking towards her office. And it turned out, it was just as chaotic in there. Claire placed her bag in the designated drawer under her desk and glanced at Bella with confusion. "What's going on?" she whispered to her friend. Her eyes scanned the room, observing her colleagues busy sprucing themselves up.Bella looked back at Claire with an incredulous look. "You don't know?" Bella asked Claire, who responded with a raised eyebrow. She looked back at Bella with a puzzled expression. "The owner of Co