When Gage returned to the dining room after an hour, he was already holding the contract in his hand. It was all nicely printed out and bound in a clear folder.
“Alright, I told Mr. Park to wait for another hour.” Gage said as he sat across from Eva. “Well? Still no change of mind?”
Eva’s instant reply to him was accompanied by a fierce and unrelenting gaze. “No,” she answered firmly, causing Gage to smile.
“Alright, then. Why don’t you take a look at this first?" He handed the papers over to her. “I am giving you a month to decide whether or not you will marry me. And even if you do not accept my main bargain yet, I will still accept Mr. Park’s offer now and give you what you wanted. However, within that one month, I have my own conditions. It’s all written out in there.” He pointed at the clear folder that she held and nodded at her, indicating to her that she should have a read.
Eva nodded back, then looked down at the papers in her hand. She was a little bit nervous, but she calmed herself and silently read the contract. She was pleased with what she had read of it at first, but she knew it was too early for her to celebrate. She had not yet reached the part where the clauses for his conditions were stated.
Finally, she got there.
[Condition #1: Party A must present to Party B one kiss every night.]
Eva felt as though her brain had screeched to a halt. She lifted her gaze and peeked at Gage over the edge of the paper. She wanted to ask if he was even serious about this section.
“One kiss…when you say one kiss…”
Gage nodded slowly as he kept his avid gaze on her. “I meant it as it sounded, pet. Just one kiss…every night,” he smiled at her devilishly. “It should not be that hard to do, right?”
Eva’s mouth opened and closed a few times, speechless and unable to make a sound. Only after a few tries did she finally choke out, “You’re saying that you’re not going to do more than just having that one kiss?”
He nodded, his dark eyes gleaming mischievously, but mysteriously.
Eva could only take a deep breath and compose herself before dropping her head to continue reading.
[Consequence if Condition #1 is not met: If Party A fails to present Party B with a kiss within one night, punishment will be meted out for Party A.]
Looking at him again, Eva’s brows knitted together before she returned her gaze to the paper.
[Punishment for failing to fulfill Condition #1: Party B will be the one to initiate the kiss. Party B will be allowed to kiss party A however long or in whatever way Party B wants. Party A has no right to deny Party B in this punishment.]
WHAT!? Slowly, Eva peeked at him again. Somehow, the more she read through these conditions, the more she wanted to just…what the hell was with these weird conditions?!
‘Calm down, Eva.’ Her inner demoness whispered to her, and she could only return her gaze to the paper, knowing that time was ticking and Mr. Park was still waiting for them.
[Condition #1.1: Party A must not touch Party B while kissing Party B.]
[Consequence if Condition #1.1 is not met: Party A must grant Party B one request. Request is fully up to Party B’s discretion.]
Eva looked at him, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. He was just leisurely sitting there, leaning his chin against his knuckles as he stared at her in an almost innocent manner. Eva wanted to blurt out something, but she bit her tongue and refrained again. She rested her temple on her knuckle and continued reading, covering her face from his view with the paper.
[Condition #2: Party A will be Party B’s bed warmer* every night.]
Eva suddenly choked on her saliva at what she had just read. Her eyes sharpened and narrowed. Her fists clenched and unclenched a few times. She had known that this man would definitely ask for something big in exchange, but she really had not thought that he would ask for this. Based on their conversation a little while back...damn, did she just get tricked by this damned devil? He had even said beforehand that he was not keeping her to bed her, right? She was quite sure of what she had heard earlier. Why the hell did he ask for one kiss and no touching if this was his bargain all along?!
She threw him a scornful look, and Gage seemed to immediately understand what was going on in her mind. “Oh, don’t jump to conclusions and get the wrong idea, pet. There’s a footnote there. Read it first.” He pointed one long and elegant finger toward the bottom of the paper she was holding.
[Footnote: the term ‘bed warmer’ is defined in literal terms.]
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