26 ~ More

(Raya’s POV)

“I'm sorry, what?"

I laugh. "I'm just kidding. You were supposed to laugh."

He frowns. "How is that funny?"

I clear my throat awkwardly. "Uhm, because…you know…it's a silly request. It's outlandish. Unthinkable. Did you hear me right? Five million dollars. In cash. It's absurd. It was a—" I stop mid-sentence, feeling my cheeks burn. "Oh god, you can't actually give it to me, can you?"

He purses his lips. "Well, it would be a bit more complicated than a bank transfer and I would need to pull a lot of strings and do a lot of explaining about why it has to be cash, but it's not impossible. I'm just wondering how you plan to hold all that money while we're here and why you need it all of a sudden—"

I wince, thinking how mercenary it must have sounded. "I was kidding, Kaan. I swear. It was supposed to be funny. I just wanted you to smile a little. You were supposed to tell me ‘Don’t be absurd, Raya. I don’t carry around that much change in my pocket.’ And I was going to answer