Chapter 5 Billonaire proposal

"You want to save your brother right?" Nathaniel asked, his voice cold but calm enough not to sound intimidating.

"Y...yes" she sniffled, the twist of the situation had made her unable to continue crying.

"Then marry me and I will provide you with everything you need to save your brother, not that, I'll be you're the 'Good luck' you never had." He said trying his best to sound reassuring, but unfortunately, it came out as him being haughty.

Although Nathaniel coupled with the way he looked at her sounded as if he was calling her a golddigger, but she didn't care. Nathaniel's words echoed continuously in her head but still did not make sense. She thought that she had finally gone crazy with her imagination and that it felt real, but, even if it was just an imagination, she wouldn't miss such an offer.

"Looks like you're not interested," he said staring blankly at her. Anyone could see the mixture of emotions in Cordelia's eyes, but she would be useless for the plan he has for her if she couldn't even organize her emotions. He had already concluded within himself to dump her if she didn't prove her worth.

"I'll do it." She said with a firm tone, "I'll marry you and in turn, you would help me save my brother." She added. Cordelia didn't want to think about it, she couldn't afford to waste too much of his time which might lead to him changing his mind.

*Even if this isn't real, I can't afford to hesitate* She thought to herself, she didn't want to consider the idea that everything happening was real. If it did, her story would sound exactly like those from the web novel. She read them a lot and after her hallucination, it was time she gave up on them and focused on reality.

While she was still noting down mentally to stop the habit of reading web novels before she slept, she didn't notice Nathaniel's stare at her.

Nathaniel, after seeing how determined and desperate she was looked at her while thinking of whether to withdraw his proposal. She needed reworking if she wanted to be his wife and survive by his side.

What's the fun, of not seeing my perfect wife grow from scratch? Let's see if she can break easily." He put his hand into his breast pocket brought out a business card and handed it to her. His friend made him carry one just in case he encounters any potential business partner.

*Here is a potential business partner.* He was sure Zach, his friend would facepalm at the situation before screaming his ears off.

"Here, call me when you've thought about it." He said as Cordelia collected the card

"But... sir," Confused about how to address him, though without much care she continued,

"I don't need to think it over. I'm ready to become your wife." She said reluctantly. Nathaniel understood that nothing that had happened had sunk in, that's why he allowed her to think about it, although he was sure that he wasn't going to be rejected.

"Don't call me before noon tomorrow and don't call me after midnight." He said as he continued walking

"One more thing!" Cordelia said catching Nathaniel's attention as he turned to look at her.

"Where do I go...?" She asked and Nathaniel raised an eyebrow. "... For the painting I mean." Not wanting to be misunderstood, she added.

"Oh..." He smirked, finding her question amusing for someone who was supposed to be dumbfounded. "Just go ahead into that building." He directed vaguely and left.

She didn't know how to react and was not sure of what she was feeling, emotionally, she was a complete mess.

~Paa!~

"And... What the hell just happened" she whispered to herself after slapping herself to confirm that she wasn't dreaming. She left the thought of processing what had happened until after she got home.

.........

"Dammit, I should have increased the price." Cordelia who was now in an Uber cursed. "It was still a good sale though, the best I have ever sold."

She was so used to selling her paintings at cheap prices that when she was asked to name a price by the butler who attended to her, she kept ranting, unsure of what reasonably high price to pin.

It was her first time having to tell her clients her price tag. Her other clients just go ahead to call a price after taking a glance at her paintings. She would end up selling it after negotiating a bit higher, plus she had to meet their constant high demands or requests.

Meanwhile, the butler didn't make any demands and complimented her painting, although in a sentence. He also easily agreed to the price she called at first which made her reconsider her customer's status and began increasing the price, until, she felt she was being too unreasonable by mentioning 100,000 dollars. The glare from the man was enough to make her fall back to $50,000.

"Sigh... I wish I could borrow more so I can complete it a hundred thousand dollars..." She paused as she immediately remembered the event with Nathaniel. It had skipped her mind but in her exhausted state, she didn't want to think about anything until she got home.

.........

"You did what!" Zachary, Nathaniel's friend and business partner spat out his drink after Nathaniel summarized the story to him in a single sentence. He was sitting on Nathaniel's couch while Nathaniel prepared to make lunch.

Nathaniel didn't want any servants, so he did the cleaning and cooking by himself and sometimes with the help of Zach. But Zach was feeling lazy and Nathaniel was feeling generous so he let the young man enjoy himself while he did the dishes.

"Stop being so dramatic," Nathaniel said as he tied a yellow apron.

"How can I be so dramatic when you just told me that you walked up to a pitiful girl crying in the hallway and asked her to be your wife? And also how many times do I need to tell you to change before going to the kitchen? Who the heck wears an apron over a tuxedo to cook?" Zach complained as he dropped his glass of Champaign.

"When you make two different points in a go, I wouldn't know what to reply to," Nathaniel said as he washed his vegetables and started to chop them.

"Let's ignore your dress code and focus on the proposal matter at hand. Dude, are you insane? I know you don't like the idea of getting married to Katherine but choosing a pitiful girl like you said over her is going to be disrespectful to her. Not only that you're also putting the poor girl in an unfavorable position. You know what she would have to go through right?

"That's why I'll train her, also the flame of determination In her eyes is not something a bully can quench, no matter how hard it is in her."

"What about Katherine?"

"Katherine? She's..." He couldn't finish his sentence when the doorbell interrupted him.

"Here." Zach completed the sentence for him.