CHAPTER 9 Three Conditions

　　Autumn thought about the offer once again, If she accepts it, her job will be retained.

　　It was her dream job, and she couldn't bear to lose it, especially not when she went through so much before she was employed here.

　　She thought about the marriage contract again. All she needed to do was to pretend to be his wife and she will be free after a year.

　　She shrugged and muttered to herself, "it's not that bad after all. Ella and Raya have even advised me to accept the offer anyway." She paused to rethink it. After a few seconds, she muttered again. "I guess I'll have to do it."

　　"Is this how you constantly speak to yourself whenever you have a decision to make?" Perry said, his voice resounding in the office as he walked to have his seat opposite her. "And have you made the decision? Or was the soliloquizing and meditation all for nothing?"

　　She scoffed at him and mouthed whatever. "Anyway, I've made up my mind to accept the proposal," she said, and Perry smiled in victory as he sat back on his chair.

　　"But on three conditions," Autumn added, making him shoot a glare at her. He didn't expect it to come with conditions, but he decided to listen to them first.

　　"Which are?" He asked with raised eyebrows, a bit curious about what the conditions were going to be.

　　"One, you have no right whatsoever to interfere with my life, nor do I have a right to do yours," Autumn stated, as she raised the index finger of her right hand as she counted.

　　Perry scoffed at this and said, "I don't care about your life, believe me. So, why the hell would I even want to interfere with it? That's not an issue and it'll never be. Next?"

　　"Will you at least let me finish listing them before you try to counter them?" Autumn glared at him.

　　Right now he wasn't her boss, but her partner in a deal and her husband-to-be, so she didn't mind snapping at him or speaking to him unofficially.

　　"I was only stating a fact, young lady, you can go on," he said and folded his arms, now staring at her with a serious look on his face.

　　"Two, this deal better not affect my work in any way." She raised her middle finger to join the first one she had raised initially.

　　Perry smirked at that. "You do not cease to amaze me with these conditions of yours, haven't I said countless times here today that this is a plus for you? You get to keep your work and it doesn't affect you. You're making me repeat myself too much, woman."

　　Ignoring him, she continued. "Three, which I think is the most important one for me, is that neither of us must fall in love with the other." She stated, now raising her ring finger with the other two.

　　Perry let out a loud laugh immediately. The first two conditions sounded ridiculous to him, but this one was even more ridiculous. "The third condition should be for you alone."

　　"Excuse me?"

　　"You mustn't fall in love with me."

　　Autumn scoffed as she dropped her hand that was raised before. "Are you kidding me right now? It goes vice versa, okay?"

　　"No, it doesn't." He replied firmly.

　　"I know how good-looking I am, it's almost hard for any woman not to fall for me," he added with a smile on his face, which made Autumn roll her eyes at him.

　　"Besides, I'm done with love, so you don't have to bother about me falling in love with you, even if I wasn't, I still wouldn't, because you ain't my type." He then shrugged. Little did he know that his reply triggered a bit of anger in her.

　　"Oh?" She asked and folded her arms, ready to attack back. "Coming from someone who couldn't take his eyes off me when he saw me at the club some time ago, uh?"

　　Perry chuckled, even though he felt a bit attacked. She had no idea why he had gone to the club, and he wasn't going to let this discussion bring back thoughts about how he was rejected by the woman he loved.

　　"Says someone who tried her best to seduce me, besides, I was drunk. Anyone can do anything when they're drunk, can't they?"

　　Still offended, she shook her head slowly as she glared at him. She was not ready to start a fight, so she let it be. "Well, you aren't my type either and that's on that." She said and banged her hand on the table.

　　"Easy, woman."

　　"Whatever," she replied.

　　"Anyway, I'm fine with the rules. I won't be interfering in your life and I'd like it if you also do the same, but I would be affecting your work in a way since you're going to be my secretary."

　　That was news to Autumn and it came as a shock to her because she wasn't employed as a secretary. "And why is that?" She questioned. "Any reason it may be, I don't think it's fine to be working as your secretary when I'm your wife."

　　"Are you saying this just because you weren't employed as a secretary?" He asked, looking at her intently as if he wanted to see into her soul and know what she was thinking. "It doesn't affect your actual work. You're just there as my secretary to avoid any form of suspicion, so I don't see any problem with it."

　　"Suspicions?" Autumn asked, confusion clearly stated on her face. "Isn't this marriage going to be a public thing? Wouldn't everyone know already?"

　　"No, it's not going to be public. The only people that are allowed to know are our families and our lawyers, that applies to you if you have a lawyer."

　　This sounded somehow to her, as she still wasn't convinced that they shouldn't make it public.

　　Not that she wanted the whole world to know about it either, but if the marriage isn't done publicly, how would the family of the person he was supposed to be arranged with believing that he's married already? She thought as she tried to understand the whole thing.