Greed

Amanda rolled her eyes and nodded her head. "I am sorry sir. This does not make much of a difference. It is impossible for me to do such a thing. Besides, why do you even want me to be the caretaker? You can easily hire more skilled people, with years of experience." Amanda frowned hard, not able to understand a thing. She had now started to doubt Adam a lot.

"Well, I just want somebody who values this job and I feel you are in dire need of money and a place to live, so not just will I be helping you but this job will mean a lot to you. Also, you study in one of the best colleges, so you sure know how to deal with people. But, I guess... if you are not interested then I will go find somebody else. Sigh! My library is so dirty and I need somebody urgently to clean all the thousands of books in it." The man sighed taking another sip from his drink, no longer looking at Amanda.

Adam had now played his first trump card as he had seen the girl in the market, buying books from the thrift store. He had assumed that such a poor girl was saving penny by penny to buy books, which meant that books were here weakness.

Adam's guess was right and Amanda's eyes popped open at the mere mention of library. "W.. what did you say? You have a library full of thousands of old books?" Suddenly her interest in Adam's deal sparked up like a fire.

"Sigh! Yes. But.. alas, I do not have time to look after those original editions." The boy spoke up sadly and in an innocent tone, constantly looking at the glass. He was trying his best to sound genuine.

"Original editions!!?" Amanda spoke up a bit loudly, in much shock. "Your library has original editions? Do you even know what that means?"

"Of course I know. That my ancestors have collected a junk worth millions and I have no option but to leave them to rot." Adam spoke in a careless and casual tone, taking the last sip of his drink. With the corner of his eyes, he glanced at Amanda and noticed an anguished and desperate look on her face.

He pursed his lips, trying not to smirk looking at the girl's cute expressions.

"You.. How can you even say that?" Amanda nodded her head in disapproval and folded her hands across her chest looking mighty miffed.

Adam was now confident that his plan was working and it was time to drop his next trump card. "Well, then I might as well tear off this 10,000 dollar cheque, which I had prepared for you." The man opened his first, revealing a piece of paper with the amount written on it.

Amanda gasped in shock looking at the amount and her jaw fell open, touching the table. "T.. ten thousand....." She whispered and started to make calculations in her head. This was much more than her collective education and hostel loans. If she gets this payment, she would never have to worry about anything in life.

"Hmm.. I understand it is pretty less. But this is all I wanted to offer. Maybe after a few weeks, I can raise the amount and pay you double. But... I guess you are not willing...it is all right. I understand." The boy folded the paper and was about to tear it off, when Amanda spoke up instantly.

"Wait!!" She shouted a bit loudly, holding the man's hand with her own hands, signalling him to stop.