Chapter 5 A Deal to Marriage Contract

"Marriage contract?" Nora's voice came out almost in a whisper looking dumbfounded at the paper in front of her face.

The dining room was silent. All eyes were on Nora, except for one man in a casual suit sitting beside her. I don't know how many times Nora heard the sound of heavy breathing from the side. But Nora didn't care about that. All she could think about was the paper in front of her right now.

Really, Nora hadn't even had time to digest why she was suddenly in the middle of seven people at the dinner table. What she imagined was meeting the CEO of her company and discussing the declining level of customer satisfaction with their product.

Now why did she have to deal with this piece of paper that froze her entire body?!

Not to mention that the CEO of her company was the guy who gave her a handkerchief at the airport!

"What's this contract for?" Nora asked later.

Keano who was sitting next to her nodded. "Right, what's such a contract for? You didn't agree to it, did you?"

Nora looked at Keano with a questioning expression. "That's not what I meant. I'm asking what is the purpose of this contract?"

"Of course you have to take responsibility for your actions," said Langit from the far right seat, facing the entire family.

"The problem is, what did we do?" asked Nora. True, she had only just met this man. What did they do-

"You don't know about the video circulating on social media?" Another woman's voice interjected, distracting Nora's gaze. The woman seemed to scroll through the phone screen and then uttered, "What a scandal! A CEO of Adirga's Company allegedly had sexual relations with a woman. Who is that woman?"

Nora immediately turned to Keano with an incredulous look on her face. This CEO turned out to be a pervert?!

"Exaggerated news, a habit of the media," Keano replied, eating his food casually.

"Keano, you don't feel guilty about what you did?" asked Langit. "You imagine this news has already reached the ears of investors, company relations, and other Adirga's Company people!"

Keano looked at Langit, uninterested. "Pa, it's the media's fault for making the news. I didn't cross the line!"

"Who cares if you crossed the line or not?" Langit raised his voice no less. "They only care about what's spread, and what's spread shows you crossing the line with this woman!"

Nora gasped when Langit pointed at her. "Wait, me? How could... me?"

Keano looked away from Nora. "You were drunk yesterday."

For a moment, Nora tried to recall what happened yesterday.

Nora only remembered when she woke up in the VVIP room, but before that she was still at the bar table. That means there was a break in her memory that was interrupted when she was in the VVIP room. Could it be... could it be that by the time she woke up in the VVIP room, she had already lost consciousness from drinking five glasses of alcohol?

Nora suddenly stiffened in place. Her breath caught. At the same time, a 14-inch television screen in the dining room lit up. A video was playing. It was exactly like the video she had seen from Vina's post. While the video was playing, Langit pressed the button to pause the video.

The scene when the video was paused was the scene where Nora's face turned to the side and was caught on camera. Although the background of the room was rather dim, Nora's face was exposed quite clearly. And it provoked tension in Nora's face.

"Meaning..." Nora muttered, then turned her head to the side, looking at Keano in disbelief. "You-I mean, Mr. Keano..."

Keano nodded his head. "Yes, you did that with me," he replied casually as if he felt no guilt.

Nora sighed and looked down at the contract in front of her. For a few seconds she couldn't say anything. Everything happened unexpectedly and unexpectedly. Her memory replayed the moment she met Keano at the airport, then discovered the fact that Keano was the CEO of her company. But the most shocking thing was that Nora discovered that the person in the video was Keano, the CEO of the company she worked for!

Suddenly Nora laughed sarcastically, audible to Keano. "Ah, it was that night," he said between sardonic laughs.

The sky looked at Nora in astonishment. There was no panic on Nora's face at all. She even watched the television screen with a relaxed, carefree gaze.

"Do you remember that night? Did you ask her?"

Nora turned to Heaven. Just as she was about to answer, Keano immediately snatched, "Me. I was the one who asked her. I was just feeling tired because-"

The sound of forks and iron knives being placed slightly slammed was deafening and jerked Keano away. The sky was looking at Keano, his breathing was ragged. Keano exhaled very slowly because Langit finally started again: not wanting to listen to his explanation.

"Did Papa raise you to be someone like that?!" Langit asked in a high-pitched voice, then his gaze turned to Nora. "You too. Why were you drunk that night? Did you intentionally seduce Keano into having sexual intercourse?"

"Papa, I told you we didn't cross the line...."

"SHUT UP!" Langit's voice now snapped echoing in the room, making Keano instantly snort with a sardonic laugh coming out. "Tell me what your explanation is," said Langit to Nora.

Nora was still dumbfounded as Keano suddenly confessed. She really disliked someone who pretended to be self-sacrificing, while his treatment behind was really sickening. Nora already knew Keano's rottenness, so there was no melting or smiling when Keano defended himself.

"I... I was the one who asked him," Nora said, looking away from Keano. "Believe me, I was the one who asked first. I was so drunk at the time, I don't even remember what happened."

Keano replied, "Why did you-"

"There's no need to defend me, sir," Nora said directly, glaring at Keano. Her gaze made Keano instantly silent. "Your defense doesn't make you a hero at all."

Keano finally chose silence, but his jaw hardened. Nora continued her explanation. "I did invite him, so... I should be responsible. If there's going to be a contract..."

"There will never be a marriage contract," Keano said firmly, cutting Nora off. "I'm not willing to take on a life other than my own."

Heaven pounded on the table. "What can you do? You're carrying the company's good name! Papa has worked hard to build the company from scratch, and you want to destroy it with your scandal?!"

"It's the news that's destroying the company, Pa!" Keano was provoked to raise his voice. "Don't you understand that if there weren't media outlets making a big deal out of things, no company would be ruined?!"

Nora stiffened at Keano's words. Something sparked in her head. Memories of the past few years played back: the endless news cycle, the crying of a man, the anguished screech of a woman as a group of men in black suits arrived, the yelling of each other, the crying of a girl.

Everything played like a musical recording in Nora's head. For a few seconds she was stunned, feeling the pain suddenly radiate. Her chest was tight. An overwhelming feeling of hatred made Nora's breath catch.

"There would be no news if someone didn't make a mistake! People who make big, costly mistakes should be punished accordingly!"

Nora's heart skipped a beat. Her head snapped up, glaring at Langit whose face hardened. Nora really hated hearing Langit's sentence. Couldn't that sentence be something that should be said by someone who destroyed other people's lives?

Nora's cynical laughter came out. No wonder Langit didn't feel guilty, because his mindset was like that.

"Enough!" Nora snapped in a high tone after feeling unable to hold back. Her breath was ragged as she watched Langit and Keano.

After a moment of silence, Nora nodded her head. "Okay, I agree to this marriage contract."

Yes, Nora had to do this. For Ariwijaya's sake. To avenge the pain of what happened a few years ago.