“Really? Then… Let’s get married!”

Joo-hyuk coughed as he set his tea down. Once he calmed down, he stared at her, bewildered. What did she just say…? He was about to ask her to repeat what she just said when Clara sighed and looked at him.

“I asked if you will marry me.” she repeated, with a stoic face.

He just stared at her, baffled at her abrupt proposal of marriage. He felt his ears turn red as he coughed, trying to pretend that he didn’t hear what she said. Joo-hyuk glanced at Clara who just stared back at him with a straight face, waiting for his answer. They stared at each other—one, who was dumbfounded, the other impatiently waiting for a response.

“N-NO!!!” he sputtered out as his cheeks flushed a light pink. What did she expect him to say—yes?!

“Ha, you don’t need to yell. I’m not deaf… Fine, then how about this? You heard of how GK Group is planning on starting a hotel venture, yes? I am aware that GK Group has already managed to procure a meeting with the Singaporean investor, Elizabeth Tan. I’m also aware that you are planning on building a new hotel in Brunei. I can get that contract for you, since SONGHWA Hotel has yet to even schedule a meeting with her. The only thing I ask of you is to marry me.” she offered as she sipped her tea.

Joo-hyuk stared at Clara incredulously, wondering how she got such classified information—no one knew the company’s plan of procuring investment from Mrs. Tan for their new hotel that they were planning on building in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. It was the same location that GK Group was hoping to start their hotel venture. Clara sighed as she set down her teacup in front of her. Joo-hyuk stayed silent as he watched her every move.

“I know what you’re thinking, how could I possibly know such information. Let’s just say I have my own personal networks for these things. I recently received news of GK Group’s attempts to start a hotel venture again, as they’ve been unsuccessful for the past three years…” she trailed off as she glanced at Joo-hyuk.

“… However, that’ll change if GK Group manages to convince Mrs. Tan to invest in their upcoming plan. Mrs. Tan is not one to invest just anything—she’s careful of where her money goes.” Clara finished, as she began to munch on one of the cookies.

“I have to agree, your… offer is very tempting. However, I cannot marry you. We don’t even know each other, nor do we have feelings for one another.” he said as he sat up straight in his chair.

“Hmm… But, if you’re unable to procure this contract with Mrs. Tan, your hotel venture will no longer place first in the world’s rankings. With Mrs. Tan’s investment, it’s only a matter of time with GK Group coming up at the top of the list. Are you sure you wouldn’t want to protect that spot?” she asked, tilting her head.

Joo-hyuk fell silent. It was true that his company would take a hit if they did not procure an investment deal with Mrs. Tan, but why did this woman offer him such a deal in exchange for marriage? Surely, she wasn’t in love with him. He glanced at her with skepticism.

“But why do you want to marry me? You won’t be gaining anything from marrying me.”

“Oh, I’ll gain something, I’m sure. It’s not a bad offer, in my opinion.” Clara smiled.

“… Are you… a gold digger?” he stared her down, wary of her intentions.

“… If you did your research, you probably know that I’m the daughter of the renowned tea company, Astley & Lumley. I probably have more money than you, as I’ve done quite well for myself as an international lawyer.” she retorted with a glare and a 'hmph', clearly offended by his question.

“Ahem… Then why do you wish to marry me? I have nothing to give you.”

“… You already lied to your fiancé that I’m your girlfriend, so why can’t you marry me?” she argued, her head tilted to the side.

“I… T-That’s different! That was just a one-time thing! And I don’t have a fiancé! We’re not engaged!” he sputtered, taken aback at her retort.

“Then it's settled! You're single, I'm single, we can get married, then! Don’t tell me, you actually want to be engaged to her?”

“I—… Perhaps.” he said as he smiled at her. If he agreed that he wanted to be engaged with Jung-hyun, she would give up, wouldn’t she? Clara waited to see if he would say anything else—he didn’t. Clara slowly nodded, an amused smile on her face, understanding what he was trying to do. She stood up from her seat, with a sigh.

“Right… Well, if you want me to become the next Legal Director of this company, you should think about my offer.” she walked towards the door.

“Wait, are you saying you won’t start your job today as the new director?” he asked, surprised.

“Perhaps.” she said with a smile as she opened the door before she stopped. Clara looked back at Joo-hyuk who just stared at her with an unreadable expression on his face.

“I’ll give you two days to decide if you want to take my offer. Ah, right, I forgot to mention… I’ve been scouted by GK Group. They offered me a position of executive director of their Legal Department... Then, I’ll be off.” she bowed to him before turning away and shutting the door behind her. Leaving Joo-hyuk, stunned in his seat.

Joo-hyuk sat in complete silence as his mind raced. GK Group had reached out to her? How did they know that she was working here? He frowned as he pounded his fist on the arm of his chair. They must have heard the rumors about a renowned international lawyer working at SONGHWA Hotel as an entry-level office worker. Getting up from his seat, he strode to his desk and called his secretary outside and asked her to have Chief Secretary Jung come into his office.

Joo-hyuk sighed as he sat in his office chair, rubbing his temples. This was a lot more than he had anticipated. He had never thought Clara’s connections would be so vast—but it did help him to find out that GK Group had obtained a meeting with Elizabeth Tan, when he couldn’t… Though, he did need to confirm whether they were true or not. A knock came at his door, breaking Joo-hyuk from his trance-like state as he called out to them to enter. Chief Secretary Jung, the man Clara had seen before, bowed to him before he stepped into the office.

“You called for me, sir?” 

“Yes… Could you look into whether or not GK Group has set up a meeting with Elizabeth Tan, the Singaporean investor? And also, could you find out if GK Group has also scouted Clara Astley to work for them?”

“Yes, sir, I’ll look into it for you. The Chairman wanted me to let you know that he will be asking my son to act as your Chief Secretary, apparently I am needed back at headquarters.”

“Did he now? All right, thank you for assisting me these past two weeks.” Joo-hyuk thanked him with a smile.

“Of course, sir. Please take care of my son. I hope he will be of help to you.”

“Of course, don’t worry, I’ll make sure he taken care of. Kang-san will help me tremendously. I trust him and you with all my heart.”

“Thank you, I’ll take my leave now.” replied Secretary Jung with a warm smile, as he left the room. Joo-hyuk sighed as he looked out the window.

“Clara Astley… just what in the world are you planning…?”

~~~

Clara arrived back at the office, smiling to herself. She wasn’t sure if she had been able to convince Joo-hyuk to agree to her proposal, but she hoped she made a big enough impact for him to consider it. She spotted her co-workers peeking through the window. Clara sighed as she trudged inside, while her co-workers rushed up to her, asking her multiple questions at once. Clara awkwardly smiled as she tried to make her way to her seat, with everyone following close behind.

“Well, what did Woo—I mean, the CEO say?” asked Team Leader Park, with his eyes beaming.

“Oh… well, he offered me a position as Legal Director, but I told him to give me two days to think about it.” 

“What?! What are you doing?? You should have agreed right away!” gasped one of her co-workers, gaping at Clara. The deputy manager just rolled her eyes, pouting in the corner of the room.

“Well, it’s just a bit too sudden… I just wanted to give it a serious thought.” Clara said with a forced smile.

“Well, I hope you accept it! Let’s celebrate Clara’s promotion tonight! It’ll be my treat!” announced Team Leader Park as the rest of the team cheered happily. Clara slightly grimaced—she didn’t feel like attending. All she wanted was to go home and rest.

As her co-workers started to chatter about the dinner, Clara started to work on some documents when her phone pinged with a text message from Joo-hyuk’s new Chief Secretary, Jung Kang-san. Tilting her head, she read the message, confused as to why he was texting her. Clara was about to text the secretary back when another message popped up:

“By the way, although you have not accepted the position, you are still the Legal Director of the company. Therefore, we are in need of your opinion on some documents that I will send over momentarily. Please get to us soon.”

Clara just stared at her phone in disbelief. Was everyone around Joo-hyuk like him? She groaned as her phone pinged with 3 new emails, all from the new secretary. She rolled her eyes as she ignored the emails, not wanting to deal with them at the moment. Clara leaned back on her seat as she contemplated Joo-hyuk’s reasoning for refusing her marriage proposal. A close relationship— that was all it took for him to be reluctant to marry her. Clara tapped her fingers on her desk.

“Hmm. A close relationship, huh?” Clara mumbled with a slight smile.

**NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.**