Elias stole my brother's girlfriend. My brother hugged my legs and wept hysterically for three days and three nights. I felt incredibly bad for him. To force Elias to give my brother his girlfriend back... I packed up my entire life savings and confronted him. "Um, could you please give Chloe back to my brother? He really, really likes her!" Elias looked at me with a half-smile. "Why should I?" I held up my purse triumphantly. "I brought money! You can have it all!" "This isn't nearly enough. I want a million dollars." I panicked. "But I don't have a million dollars! Can you wait a little bit? I'll go ask my brother for it." He refused. "The offer is only good for today. If you don't have the cash, there are other ways to pay off the debt." My eyes lit up. "Like what?" He leaned in close. "Every time Hazel kisses me, it counts as a hundred dollars." 1 Elias and I were childhood sweethearts. When I was little, my family lived in the countryside, right next door to Elias's grandmother. My parents always said his grandmother lived all alone and was very lonely, so we needed to take good care of her. Later, her daughter moved back home, bringing her son with her. The three of us kids basically grew up together. Everyone loved Elias. Except my brother. My brother always felt like Elias was trying to steal me away from him, so he absolutely despised him. That hatred persisted from our childhood all the way to the present day. Lately, my brother hated Elias even more. Because his girlfriend had recently broken up with him. He racked his brain, investigated everywhere, and finally discovered she had been in close contact with Elias. The two of them frequently chatted late into the night, often for hours at a time. My brother was a sobbing mess. He clung to me and wailed, "Elias is a manipulative snake! I'll hate him for the rest of my life!" He cried so tragically. I realized I couldn't just stand by and do nothing. I went to the bank, withdrew my cash, stuffed it into my purse, gathered my courage, and went to find Elias. My brother always said Elias was a ruthless businessman driven entirely by profit. I figured I had to offer him enough compensation to make him stop seducing Chloe. I counted the money in my purse. I had a full fifty thousand dollars! This was my life savings! I had been saving this for twenty years! New Year's money from my parents, allowance from my brother, and even the red envelopes Elias had given me over the years—it was all in there. Clutching my life savings, I set out on my mission. 2 I guarded my purse with my life all the way to his hotel room. Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door. Elias had apparently just finished showering. He answered the door wearing only a towel wrapped low around his waist, rubbing his dripping wet hair with a smaller towel. A drop of water fell from his hair, tracing a slow, trembling path down his collarbone... Over his chest, down his abs, past his V-line... And then... Just as I leaned in to get a better look, he reached out and aggressively ruffled my hair. "Hazel, where are you looking?" I frantically denied it. "I wasn't looking anywhere!" He grabbed my hand. "Do you want a closer look?" Seeing him reach for the towel, I shook my head wildly. "No, no, no! I'm here on business!" Elias looked genuinely disappointed. He took my hand and led me into the room. He pulled me down onto the sofa with him and handed me the hairdryer. "Dry my hair first?" I sat on his lap, straightening up to blow-dry his hair. He wrapped his arms around my waist, shifting his position to accommodate the angle of the hairdryer. I was basically a pro at this; I'd dried his hair countless times! Over the buzzing of the hairdryer, Elias asked, "Why did my baby come looking for me so late tonight?" His hair was short, so on the highest setting, it dried quickly. I turned off the hairdryer and put on my most serious face. "Why did you steal Chloe?" Elias tilted his head, confused. "Chloe?" "Chloe Vance! She's my brother's girlfriend! She broke up with him a few days ago, and my brother says it's all your fault!" He had literally cried at me for three days and three nights. Every day when he came home, he just sobbed and cursed Elias. My ears were practically bleeding from hearing it! I decided things couldn't go on like this. As a good little sister, I had to step up and help my brother. Elias gently nibbled on my earlobe, murmuring indistinctly, "Baby, all I did was analyze the pros and cons for Chloe." Aha! So it was his fault! I glared at him fiercely. "It's all your fault for stealing Chloe!" My ear felt wet. He was so annoying! I was trying to have a serious conversation with him; why was he acting like this?! "What does my baby want me to do?" "Give Chloe back to my brother!" He tilted his head back, his dark, wet eyes gleaming with amusement. "Why should I?" I looked around frantically, then pointed at my purse on the side table. "My purse!" I unzipped it. "I brought money! You can have it all! If you just give Chloe back to my brother, it's yours!" He glanced at it casually. "How much is in there?" I puffed out my chest proudly. "Fifty thousand! It's my entire life savings!" Elias pinched my cheek playfully. "Hazel is so amazing, saving up fifty thousand." Before I could even celebrate the compliment, he shifted gears. "Fifty thousand isn't enough." I froze. "Then how much do you want?" Elias smiled lazily. "A million." I completely forgot Elias was ridiculously rich. No wonder he wasn't impressed by my fifty thousand. My head drooped. "I don't have a million." But my brother does! I'll go borrow it from him! My mood instantly brightened. I looked at him with big, pleading eyes. "Can you wait two days? I'll get it to you in two days." He rejected the offer. "I'm only agreeing to this today. If you wait until tomorrow, the price goes up to five million." Five million! That's way too much! My brother definitely wouldn't give me that much. I completely deflated, wilting like a dying flower. Elias comforted me. "There are other ways to pay off the debt." I asked blankly, "Like what?" Elias leaned in close, his lips brushing my ear. "Hazel... give yourself to me." 3 "Ugh, it hurts..." "Elias, be gentle..." I glared at him with tear-filled eyes. He tried to be lighter, but it still stung. I whimpered, "Ow!" He sighed helplessly. "Dummy, who told you to run?" I was sitting on the edge of the bed with my knees pulled up. Elias was half-kneeling on the floor in front of me, applying ointment to my scraped knees. I had run too fast earlier and wiped out completely! How could he blame me for running? It was his fault for saying such weird things! He actually said he wanted me! Of course I was going to run! What if he dismantled me and sold me for parts?! Paying off a debt with your own body is a terrifying concept! I had heard so many horror stories about debtors being lured out and having their organs harvested to be sold on the black market! It was horrifying! I absolutely refused to give myself to him to settle a debt. How was I supposed to know the hallway floor had just been mopped and was incredibly slippery? I was running so fast, I took a massive, epic spill. My knees were completely bruised. Hearing the commotion, Elias had rushed out. When he saw me, I couldn't stop the tears from falling. "Elias..." Looking completely heartbroken, he bent down and scooped me up. "How did you fall?" I sobbed, "It's your fault for scaring me." He carried me back to the hotel bed and ordered room service to bring up a first-aid kit. My knees were scraped raw and hurt so, so much. He used a cotton swab dipped in iodine to disinfect the cuts. Elias was so clumsy at it; it hurt like crazy. To keep the hem of my dress from brushing against the wounds, I pulled it up a little higher. I poked his shoulder. "Hurry up and put the medicine on!" His gaze slowly drifted upward. The next second, his large hand clamped down firmly on my bare thigh. His Adam's apple bobbed as he said hoarsely, "Hazel, hold still." I obediently waited for him to finish. Once my knees were covered in iodine, I inspected his work. Yep, all done! "Done!" I gave Elias a light push. "Let go of my leg, I need to go home." His fingertips lightly brushed the edge of my dress. He said in a low, raspy voice, "Hazel hasn't achieved her goal for coming here today yet." Oh, right! He still hadn't agreed to give Chloe back to my brother! I frowned in frustration. "But I really don't have a million dollars." "Then kiss me. Each kiss counts as a hundred dollars." I grew even more frustrated. "A hundred dollars a kiss means I have to kiss you ten thousand times to reach a million!" My lips would literally fall off! Unless he raised his rates, I was absolutely not kissing him! Elias nodded in agreement, then asked for my input: "Should we try a different payment plan?" I looked at him expectantly. "Like what?" "Let me kiss you. One kiss counts as a thousand." When he kisses me, it usually takes at least ten minutes. A thousand kisses means... a thousand times! By the time he finished, my brother would have literally cried himself to death. Seeming to sense my intense dissatisfaction. Elias proposed another solution. His fingertips began trailing slowly upward. I wasn't entirely sure what he was trying to do. I gripped the bedsheets tightly. "Elias..." His Adam's apple jumped as he gently pressed against the fabric. "Baby, let me kiss you, and I'll make sure Chloe goes back to your brother." Is he allowed to kiss me there...? I clung to a shred of rationality. "No, only boyfriends are allowed to do that." He leaned in closer. "Baby, aren't I your boyfriend?" My brain felt completely foggy. "Huh? Are you?" He nodded seriously. "Yes. You promised Grandma you'd be my wife." "But wasn't that just to make Grandma happy?" "Baby, I took it very seriously." He meticulously laid out his logic. "Plus, if I'm your boyfriend, I won't steal Chloe anymore." He made a very solid point. I hesitated, then conceded, "Okay, I give you permission to be my boyfriend." He smiled, looking incredibly satisfied. "So good." I was also incredibly satisfied. "Problem solved!" I scrambled off the bed, ready to head home. Elias grabbed my leg and yanked me right back onto the mattress. I looked at him, utterly confused. "What's wrong?" His voice was dark and low. "Baby, you haven't let me kiss you yet. You can't break a promise." But... but... Elias was relentlessly stubborn, insisting I cash in my end of the bargain immediately. I bit my lip, agonizing over it. "Only one kiss, okay?" 4 Bzzzt—Bzzzt— Bzzzt—Bzzzt— My phone had been tossed somewhere near the headboard. I begged him, "The phone." Elias's heavy breathing was right next to my ear. He reached over, grabbed the phone, and handed it to me. With trembling fingers, I swiped to answer. My brother's voice came through the speaker. "Hazel, where are you?" "I... I'm at..." I absolutely could not tell my brother I was with Elias. He hated Elias right now. If he knew, he would definitely yell at me. "Ah... I'm cooking! Yes, I'm cooking dinner!" My brother didn't suspect a thing. "What bizarre concoction are you trying to make now? If I had known, I would have bought you an apartment without a kitchen so you'd stop wasting good food." "Me? Ah, I'm not wasting food." My brother scoffed. "Right, sure. You're not wasting food, you're just wasting medical resources. You're the only person I know who managed to cook themselves straight into the ER." His tone turned serious. "If whatever you make looks weird, do not eat it. If you give yourself food poisoning again, I am not covering for you with Mom and Dad." I nodded frantically, though he couldn't see me. "Uh-huh." Maybe my responses were too distracted, because he suddenly grew suspicious. "Hazel, why are you being so quiet today?" "I'm busy..." Thankfully, my brother was just making casual conversation. He moved on to the real reason he called. "Hazel, could you ask Chloe if she's free tomorrow for me?" My brother and Chloe had always had a great relationship. Her sudden, out-of-the-blue breakup had absolutely devastated him. Chloe and I were still on good terms. Right now, I was the only person who could act as a bridge between them. "Okay." As soon as I agreed, I gasped and paused. My brother instantly caught the anomaly. "Hazel, what's wrong?" "...I bumped my head." "Be careful. You're a grown adult, how are you still so clumsy?" [He wanted to keep fussing over me, but I aggressively cut the conversation short.] "Brother, I need to get back to cooking. My kettle is boiling, I have to go pour the water!" "Alright, go do your thing. Just don't forget to ask Chloe for me." The line went dead. Confirming the call was disconnected, I burst into tears. "I'm going to saw your nose off!"
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