Pay With Your Heart

Chapter 139: Negotiations

Hei-Ran gaped at the man seated across her desk. It seemed like she has been struck by a lightning bolt as she gazed at him unblinkingly.

‘Wh...what did he just say??’ She asked herself over and over again in stupefaction. She was too stupefied to understand what he had just said. Did he just ask her to be his girlfriend?

What sort of consequence was that?

Jinhai smirked when he saw her reacting like that.

“You should close your mouth before a fly goes in,” Jinhai said amusedly, as he took another sip from the coffee and lolled himself on the seat. Hei-Ran realizing she has been gaping at him, suddenly clamped her mouth shut and blinked her eyes rapidly.

“Mi...ster Song?” She called out dumbfoundedly. She was yet to whip herself out of the shock Jinhai had just put on her with his words. Jinhai cocked a brow at her when she called out his name, silently urging her to continue, but she was still too dumbfounded to react accordingly.

“You didn’t plan on getting away with this did you?” Jinhai asked with a serious look on his face.

.....

‘Tsk’ He sighed and looked away for a moment before looking back at her face.

“Being my girlfriend is the consequence for doing what you did. You stole my first kiss, so you should pay appropriately” He told her in a firm voice.

‘What? First kiss? What sort of lie was that?’ Hei-Ran asked herself in her head.

“Mr. Song ” Hei-Ran called out in a low voice, finally breaking off the hold of astonishment and stupor which Jinhai’s words had placed on her.

“What you don’t like it? You don’t be want to take responsibility?” He cocked his brow at her in a challenging manner.

“No!” She immediately shook her head in denial. That wasn’t what she was saying. She wasn’t trying to avoid taking responsibility for her actions.

But wasn’t being his girlfriend too much of a consequence for just stealing a kiss? For Pete’s sake, It was just a kiss. A mere kiss!

So what if it was his first kiss? Someone also stole her first kiss too, but did she go about making him date her? What sort of weird logic was this? But Hei-Ran didn’t dare voice her discontent out to him.

“Mr. Song that’s not what I’m saying” Hei-Ran denied, her voice was small and gentle, almost as if she was pleading with him. Of course, she was.

“So you don’t want to do it? You stole a kiss from me and made a marriage proposal in front of so many people, the news might even get leaked and I might end up being in the tabloids yet you don’t want to take responsibility for it?” Jinhai feigned a frown on his face as he stared at her accusingly. Hei-Ran swallowed nervously when she saw his countenance change into a grave one. His psychotic nature was slowly coming out now, she panicked.

Jinhai noticed how shaken she had suddenly turned. He sighed in his head, he was overdoing it. He eased the look on his face but he maintained a straight face and sighed deeply.

“Ms. Hei-Ran there’s no need to be shy, I know you like me and as a benevolent boss, I’ll do you the honors of being my girlfriend that way you also take responsibility for publicly harassing me and also you don’t get to lie to your mom that I’m your fake boyfriend” He remembered to add that last part to mess with her emotions.

Hei-Ran looked at him in stupefaction. Fine, she was embarrassed for her unruly behavior, but she didn’t like him. Where was that coming from? And why was he acting out of character? He was being too cool about the situation. There was something wrong with his behavior. Hei-Ran reasoned to herself.

“Mr. Song I think you have it....” She paused. ‘all wrong’ was what she had wanted to say, but she stopped herself from saying so. From the foreign way, he was acting she was sure series of questions were going to emanate from it.

Hei-Ran took a deep breath to calm herself. “Mr. Song, I’m truly sorry for... for.... for” She stuttered when she couldn’t bring herself to say the next word.

“Kissing me” Jinhai willingly helped her since it was too hard for her to say.

“Yes that, I’m sorry for that. I deeply regret my actions, but can you please ask me to do something. This one is ....” Preposterous!! She screamed in her mind. How was she going to start dating her boss? Not just any boss but Song Jinhai, simply because of a kiss?! On what planet was that done?

Author’s answer: Web?

Jinhai tilted his head to the side so he could have a clear view of her face from all angles. She was trying to escape this, wasn’t she? But there would be no escape route for her today.

“Tell me what consequences you’d want,” Jinhai told her. He wanted to hear what she had in mind, just to humor her of course.

“Sir?” Hei-Ran was taken unaware by that.

“Tell me how you’d like to take responsibility for kissing me” Jinhai repeated. Hei-Ran gave him a helpless look. She wasn’t expecting him to ask her that. She had nothing in mind.

She pursed her lips into a line as she racked her brain for something...anything. But no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t come up with something tangible. She couldn’t find a befitting punishment for kissing her boss. The thought of resigning came to her mind, but she quickly discarded it. She loved her job so much and she didn’t think this Song Jinhai seated in front of her would let her go.

“So?” Jinhai asked after several minutes of waiting with no response from her. His lips curved upward when he saw her like that. He was going to be victorious in the long run. He came fully prepared.

“Kiss me back” Hei-Ran suddenly spluttered out, making Jinhai who was sipping on the coffee choke on it. He removed the cup from his lips as he coughed but his eyes were looking at her incredulously.

“Sorry” Hei-Ran quickly apologized, seems she had startled him with her response. Wasn’t that a better consequence than dating him? What sort of reasoning was that?

How was dating him taking responsibility for an action she did under the influence of alcohol? His request didn’t make any sense to her.

Jinhai looked at her with widened eyes. ‘Kiss her back?’ Was she crazy?! That was the best she could come up with?.

Hei-Ran looked away from him when she noticed how he was looking at her.

“Su Hei-Ran aren’t you being too bold?” He asked making Hei-Ran look back at him.

“Are you that desperate to kiss again? Are you perhaps in love with me?” He asked her with a straight face. He knew it was the other way round but she didn’t know that.

“Huh??” Her eyes widened to the fullest. What nonsense was he spewing now? She cried in her mind. Something was definitely wrong with her boss today. How did she land herself in this mess?

Jinhai ignored her reaction and continued, “Isn’t kissing you the same as having you kiss me again? Do you think I’m that cheap I kiss anyone?” He asked stoically.

‘Anyone?’ Hei-Ran narrowed her brows in confusion. How was this kissing anyone? He was kiss...ing her’ she stuttered at that thought. Her eyes suddenly narrowed at his lips, she couldn’t believe she had kissed those lips. She closed her eyes in mortification. How could she have been so stupid?

Henceforth, she was never going to go close to any bottle or substance with alcohol. She should have kept her distance away from it in the first place. Now she had to face this embarrassment.

Jinhai observed the way she was peeking at his lips without being discreet about it. He could tell what was going through her mind at the moment, with the way her cheek was flushed and her lidded eyes were staring at his lips.

Shameless girl!

“You should look at me properly,” Jinhai said, prompting Hei-Ran to open her eyes fully to stare at him.

“I don’t kiss every girl except someone I’m dating. Kissing is considered being intimate, and that’s what you did. You violated me without my consent” He furrowed his brows when he realized how his words might have sounded. But he continued anyway.

“So for that, you’ll take full responsibility. And I’m not negotiating with you.” He said with a tone of finality.

Hei-Ran kept quiet as she sunk into her seat. This was too much of a consequence. Dating him just because of a kiss? Why was he acting like some sort of virgin? He wasn’t one, was he? She narrowed her eyes on him. He must have been with a woman before right? If he has, why was he making a mountain out of a molehill?

“Ms. Hei-Ran” Jinhai called snapping her out of her line of thoughts.

Hei-Ran looked at him and suddenly asked, “For how long?” Jinhai lifted a brow at her. What does she mean by how long?

“What do you mean by how long?” Jinhai couldn’t help but ask.

“You don’t expect me to date you forever? You’re only trying to punish me for acting the way I did with you, even though I don’t see the reason. You don’t intend to do it forever do you?”

Jinhai was tempted to say ‘yes’ but he refrained from doing such. Instead, he replied, “How long?”

“One week” She declared.

She wasn’t being serious was she? One week?! What the hell was that?

“Six months” He bargained. That was enough time to make her fall for him.

“No two”

“Months?” He asked suspiciously.

“Weeks” Hei-Ran replied.

‘She has got to be kidding?’

“No way! 3 months” He negotiated.

“1 month,” She said with a tone of finality.

Jinhai kept quiet for a while as he thought about it. He hasn’t been really certain that she’d agree with his silly proposal, but who knew she fall for it. But he had no intention of dating her for just one month. But this was going to be a start to slowly winning her heart, he’d make sure of it. With that in mind, he said,

“Deal”