I am a love interest in a harem novel!?

Patience is a Virtue

Kassis smiled politely at her, saying, "I'll be saying a lot so you might want to reconsider."

At first, she seemed opposed to the idea but she eventually sat, albeit reluctantly. Seeing her actions, the boss also settled down, choosing the three-seater sofa she'd sat on which earned an unusually long gaze from Kassis. As soon as she felt the foam sunk on her left, the woman had flinched away, quickly scooting at the opposite end, while saying, "Don't come near me."

"Just making sure you're not going to run away in the middle of the discussion." Uziel Axton's face clearly says he's upset with her blatant aversion but chose to conceal it.

Miss Hughes let out an insulted huff as she shot the man beside her a cutting glare.

Even with the brief amount of exchange, Kassis was able to conclude that his boss has somewhat... taken a fancy to the lady beside him.

Now that she's a lot closer, Kassis caught her red-rimmed eyes and confirmed his initial suspicion a while ago.

Clearing his throat, he decided he should begin talking about business seeing as the two people have finally gone quiet. After speaking only five sentences, Kassis wasn't surprised to get an early reaction from the woman.

"Wait. Those conditions aren't in the contract, at all."

Kassis had already predicted this and sighed. That's why you should always read everything before signing... Also, Kassis has always wondered but what made people think they could actually trust a man so calculating as Axton?

"Well... these are all existing conditions you have signed. You may take a look at the document to verify." He passed her a copy of the contract she had immediately snatched to inspect.

Soon enough, the color of her face gradually disappeared as she stared at the contract addendum.

"Failure to prepare a meal, equivalent to breakfast lunch and dinner, by the debtor from here onwards, will immediately equate to a five percent interest increase in the debt whatever the reason may be?"

Kassis nor his boss didn't voice any words of sympathy.

"What is this? Even meals that you have not eaten are included?" She looked at the man beside her incredulously.

Kassis glanced at the boss who had his eyes closed and was donning a lazy posture. As one would expect, he's going to stay silent...

"Wow... You're really something!" Her voice started shaking from her emotions, and the carefully copied papers in her grasp are starting to get crumpled in her trembling hands.

"And what??" She glanced back down at the contract again. "Interests incurred by the error mentioned above will only be paid through the debtor's home-cooked meals??" She laughed as soon as she finished reciting another line. It seems the shock made her slightly mentally unstable.

"Oh-! Oh but wait... there's more! Only the cost of the meals will be computed to be deducted from the total interest incurred. Wow! Really amazing!" She tossed her head back while laughing yet again.

"Why don't you just make me your cook until I die?!" She suddenly shouted as she flung the papers angrily at the man sitting beside her. The lack of weight made them fly to a different direction, however. It must've felt frustrating, seeing her embarrassed face.

But well... To answer her outburst, isn't that exactly what the boss did?

Kassis remained stoic even as the situation escalated. If the boss doesn't mind it then he'll follow suit, as usual.

His boss exhaled a sigh. "...I don't want to argue with you any more than this."

"Of course! Why would you? You have no fault in making that ridiculous contract, because you didn't try to trick me, at all!"

Yes. Truly brazen. Kassis thought to himself, once more.

"Ah... But even if you tricked me, it's still my fault, isn't it? After all, this was all due to my negligence. I didn't read it and signed my name on it like the stupid fool that you expected of me... And I gladly lived up to it. Aren't you fortunate?"

She was huffing after which, her emotions partly to blame. When Kassis glanced at her, she was glaring at them with visible hatred shooting out from her eyes but she had soon looked away as if she couldn't take the sight of them any longer.

She suddenly sniffed, making Kassis change the direction of his eyes to his boss who suddenly seemed very troubled. He's never been troubled by women before so it was quite a sight to see it.

"Alright. Enough. Why don't you go wash up and sleep?" His boss finally spoke.

She chuckled at first but it soon turned to a delirious mocking laughter. All the while, she was furiously wiping her tears before they could fall. Kassis was beginning to feel uncomfortable now. After a minute or two, she managed to dry her tears by fanning her hands over her eyes.

"Yeah... No. I'm going home. But before I do that, I just wanna make it clear that the note I left was written without my knowledge of the the conditions that somehow appeared out of nowhere. Now that I know of it, rest assured that I will keep my end of the deal." She gritted out, visibly showing her bitterness.

"It's too late to go home. Just stay for the night." Kassis' boss muttered as he gathered the papers and placed them neatly on the table.

"That-" Rui Hughes suddenly paused. She later on closed her eyes in a dismal manner, her fists clenched on her lap. She looked extremely frustrated.

Kassis had a guess that she'll swallow her earlier words right about... Now.

***

A/N: Anyways, I'd like to thank everyone for the support you're giving to this novel! (•◡•) / Your comments and votes always recharge me! Thank youuuu~