7 Compensation

The voice is raspy, throaty and unknown. I don't know this 'friend' of mine but I do know that I don't wanna know this person. Because men with voices like that are not good news.

As soon as I lift my face to regard the owner of the voice, its like all my resists have evaporated the moment my eyes capture his'.

He is gorgeous but not in an obvious way, more like the way in which he mysteriously lurks behind everyone and just overwhelms them with their presence. His hair are stark white and his eyes are a weird shade of blue. He is beautiful but not in a feminine way. He is beautiful in a way that makes me want to look at him longer.

But since I don't even know his goddamn name, I reply to him in my scratchy voice.

"Hi, stranger."

"You pulled quite a bit of ruckus, don't you think?"

"Huh? What ruckus?"

"You don't remember what you did a few days ago?"

So he knows. He fucking knows. Not gonna lie, that just made him a bit less attractive.

"No, my memory's a little foggy. Sorry." I lie, trying to get more from him.

"Oh so you don't know how you burned a whole damn building down?"

Okay, thats new, I was just in a fucking room, how could I have burned the whole building. That thing was at least 40 floors high. I didn't. I couldn't have.

"I am sorry but you are mistaken."

"If my company burned down to the ground, I think I would know who the culprit is."

"Your company?"

"Yeah, the one you kind of robbed."

"I didn't rob anything."

"Yeah sure, whatever you say."

This man, despite all the hate vibes he gives off, is surprisingly easy to talk to.

"Now as for the compensation,'' he says with a pause.

Or maybe not.

If this man makes me pay for the building it's gonna be bad, like really bad. Kal is gonna probably announce me bankrupt and kick me to the fucking curb.

Well I guess coming clean it is.

"Look I am just a hired help, okay? It's not my fault that the whole floor was doused in kerosene."

"It was something that cleans the floor when the floor is kept under it overnight."

Is this man literally kidding me? Cleaning floors with kerosene?

"Look I am not stupid okay? Kerosene is definitely not a cleaning agent."

"Well what if it is?"

"Bullshit."

"Language Ms. Langford."

I quirk a brow at his use of my last name.

"You searched me up?"

"You are a hard person to find online but yes I had to use some… means."

"Of course." I scoff and turn my head away from him.

"Eyes on me, when I talk to you."

"Well since this conversation is not consensual, I think I will pass." I twirl a stranded thread of the sheet covering me, as if anything he says is far inferior to my interest in threads.

When I don't hear a sassy reply from him, I sneak a quick peek in his direction. He is staring at me and all of a sudden he starts walking to me. Right when I think he might raise a hand at me, he produces a tablet from behind him and puts it in front of me and plays a video.

The video is grainy, and nothing is clearly visible but I see myself in it. I am sneaking through the back exit and going up the stairs. I thought the stairs didn't have a camera!

How the fuck did I miss something like this?

"In case you are wondering, these cameras are not connected to the internal wifi network."

Well that explains it.

I don't talk and just keep watching.

Next part shows me on the floor and the wet tags scattered all over. It shows me hacking the cameras and running to the room. Video switches again. This time I burn the document without a lighter and I am surprised at how calm he is at my display of using magic. He should be scared, but he isn't unless…

He breaks my thought process with his next words.

"I would like 200 million in cash."

"I did not burn down the whole building!!! Only the room had caught fire."

"Oh yeah?"

He swipes left and plays another video. This one is from a news channel.

The headlines say 'RC Pharmaceuticals bruns down to the ground after an electrical complication.' The video shows a reporter on the scene of crime with nothing but a huge pile of ash behind her. I am horrified because I know normal fires don't burn like that. It's a fire spell. But burning that building would take whole fucking reserves of someone's magic.

Then who?

Me.

My reserve was gone.

Mine.

I wasn't out for days for a concussion. I was out because I ran out of magic.

No wonder I felt the swirls in my stomach when I woke up. I can't go down because if I did. It will be over for everyone, especially my parents. They can not know about this. But I can't let this stranger know how affected I am. He needs to know that I am not fazed in the slightest.

I am a fucking Langford.

"Well it looks like you did not tell anyone about me."

"Of course not. I wanted a better remuneration than sending you to jail."

"And what is that?"

"What's the rush, Ms. Erna Langford."

"Exactly how much do you know about me?"

"I could go on and on about everything my research showed up but where's the fun in that?"

"Look, just spill what you want."

"Well since you are so cooperative…"

"What the fuck do you want?"

"Look I am here with a preposition okay?"

"And what exactly is that?"

"I will destroy this video, which means I will destroy the sole evidence that links you to this crime. And also if they catch you, they will probably run a background check and find out about your not so honorable job."

"And what might you desire in return for such a favor?"

"You."

"Me?" what the fuck?

"Yes you. I want you to marry me."