Cold and handsome

Livy couldn't think of anything else but the suffering of her life so far. The poor thought didn't even leave her head until the next day. Because she couldn't continue her studies, in the morning she worked as a teacher at the pre-school, in the afternoon she would be a private tutor, then in the evening, she worked at a train counter.

Today she is free at four. She took a quick shower and changed into a simple red knee-length dress and a light gray knit blazer. She also wore a pair of red sneakers that matched her dress, let her hair into a ponytail, and was ready to go waiting for the bus at the bus stop to take her to the appointment.

It said in the message, their meeting place was a restaurant closest to where she worked. She knew the place because it was the only place the rich used to go, quite prestigious and expensive. Of course, for conglomerates holding meetings in such a place was common.

Suddenly a black car stopped in front of her. Livy got out of the way because the car was blocking her from view at the bus stop, but the car also advanced after her again. She was about to shift again, until someone came out from there.

It was a man in a neat three-layered outfit. The glasses that framed his eyes made him look elegant and educated. The man apparently approached her.

"Are you Livy Hayes?"

Livy looked left and right, and there was only her there and the man also said her name.

"Who are you?" She asked, gripping the straps of her bag a little scared.

The man's face was very calm, without a smile he said, "I am Mr. Finnegan's assistant. My name is Evander Zamiel. I'm here to pick you up."

Livy couldn't just trust a stranger and she didn't answer right away. Her feet took a step back.

"Miss Hayes, we've spoken on the phone before. Come in. I can prove that I really am Mr. Finnegan's assistant." Evander said again noticing the change in her expression.

"Sorry. I was just a little wary. And you can just call me Livy."

Evander's face didn't change, he opened the door. "Alright. Please come in, Miss Livy."

Being treated like this was something that she had experienced ten years ago. Back then, she was a spoiled and cheerful young lady, never going through hardships and suffering. Ever since her parents died, she only knew how to work hard and earn a lot of money. She was very poor. Even though her aunt's family wasn't in the lower strata of society, they still thought of her as a maid. After ten years, Livy had completely forgotten what it was like to be treated as an master.

Slowly she entered. Next to her, only an empty seat with some documents on it, with a soft smell coming out of the car, she relaxed a little.

From the front, Evander held out a phone that was making a call. "My boss wants to talk to you."

Livy grabbed the phone nervously. "Hello?"

After a few seconds, a soft voice sounded in her ear, "Sorry to scare you, Miss Hayes."

When the sound entered her ears, it was very pleasant to hear, thin as cotton that had no heavy weight. Light and smooth.

She was somewhat stunned by the voice for a moment, then she felt a slight sense of familiar calm.

"You hear me, Miss?"

Livy was shocked. "Ah? Just call me Livy."

"Then you can call me Arthur. If you called me earlier, that means you already know what's going on," he said.

There was a few low, unfavorable coughs, which he tried to cover up, but could still be heard. Livy frowned slightly. She remembered that her aunt said her future husband was sick and weak, so it wasn't a lie?

Livy was suddenly gloomy. "I want to ask you, why did you accept this arranged marriage?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Isn't this weird?" She suddenly remembered her annoyance. "If you suddenly get set up with someone you don't know, how can you just accept it? What if I marry you only with bad intentions? Aren't you afraid?"

Speaking what was on her mind was her habit. For ten years, she was always able to avenge her naughty cousin ​​who kept trying to annoy her and ended up being punished by her aunt. But she was never afraid because of that and always tried to fight so as not to be trampled by her cousin.

Finally after so long suffering, Livy was able to raise money to get away from her aunt's house and now this is what happened.

Her aunt had probably read her point and intended to keep her here to death.

"At least you can look at my family background first to see if it's good for you or not. Your parents definitely wouldn't give a random match for a god son like you, right?"

The man opposite her didn't say a word for a while, but suddenly a soft laugh was heard, accompanied by a slight cough.

"How about this, we can meet first to see if we have a match or not. If we don't match, then we can be friends," replied the man in a soothing voice.

For a moment, Livy felt very sorry for the man. His life was even more miserable than hers. In his weak state, didn't know how many women have refused to be matched by him and maybe look at him badly, insulting him even more.

"My name is Arthur Finnegan. You can call me Arthur."

"Huh?"

"I thought you must have known my name from your aunt, I just wanted to introduce myself in person." There was a weak breath in her ears, somehow she felt that someone on the other end of the call was beside her right now.

Livy couldn't reply to his sentence at all, was indecisive and dazed.

"Parents are used to their authoritarian attitude towards children." Arthur said again. "Why don't we meet first just to please them?"

Livy discovered that this man had probably experienced extreme fatigue more than she had.

There was another coughing sound, this time longer than before.

"Are you okay to go today? Looks like you are sick."

As Livy spoke, the sound of coughing was still audible, but Arthur must have heard it because he immediately replied, "Sorry for making you feel uncomfortable. I just had a little cold today."

The conversation on the phone was too narrow to cover many things, so Livy didn't want to pry too much. She could measure the guy right away the next time they met. And will not offend him indirectly.

"My work isn't done yet, I might be arriving late. Can you wait a moment?" asked the man again.

It was still fifteen minutes until their meeting. It's okay to wait. Livy didn't have much to do after this though.

"I will be waiting for you."

"If it takes too long, you can ask Evan to drive you home." Arthur coughed again, his voice hoarse and weak after that, "I will finish it as soon as possible."

"Okay, you better save your energy. You can drink warm ginger drink to soothe your throat," suggested Livy.

"Thank you for your concern. See you later."

"Mn."

When the connection was disconnected, Livy stared at the phone screen for a long time and her thoughts were confused.

At that time the car had arrived in the basement of a large restaurant. Evander led her into the elevator and acted like a guide.

Evander's posture was very stable and firm, rather than an assistant he was more suitable to be called a boss. His face was also educated, so Livy thought that this man would be a good fit to be a professor in a university and if she had a professor as handsome and quiet as this, all the students would definitely feel at home in the class. The thought of that made her laugh involuntarily.

The elevator quickly reached the fifth floor. Livy just came out and was presented with a beautiful banquet which was being decorated with lots of pretty flowers. She then walked down a long hallway and entered a private room. In the center of the room was a luxurious table with vivid candles, a crystal chandelier hanging above and the view outside the window was sparkling and magnificent.

The tastes of rich people always irritated her.

After sitting on the gold-plated loveseat, the waiter came over to her. She wasn't very hungry at the moment and just ordered a hot ginger drink to serve when Arthur came. Livy didn't know why she was doing this, maybe because she felt sorry for the man. Moreover, the drink ordered was not actually on the menu, but because the restaurant prioritizes customer convenience and the ingredients were not difficult, the restaurant could make it for her.

While waiting for Arthur, her eyes couldn't stop admiring the interior of the private room. Restaurants that have private spaces are clearly only places the rich can book. Too bad, Livy only wore a simple and dark red dress. She felt a little out of place.

Their caste really is so far apart.

As Arthur said over the phone, he was late, but it was only three minutes.

Suddenly the door to the private room opened again, and this time it was a tall and slender man who came. His face was very calm and warm. Very handsome and has a pleasant subtle aura. His skin was pale white, his eyes thin and sharp. With thick eyebrows, his eyes looked like they were lit up with clear webbed eyeballs, like the eyes of a stranger. He walked so slowly, but steadily, in the midst of it all, his eyes fell on her.

Could this be the one named Arthur?

Seeing that Evander immediately greeted him, Livy didn't misunderstand that this was indeed her future husband.

Livy was completely stunned. This man was much more handsome than she could have imagined. His hair was neither long nor short, with neatly slicked back bangs and thin sideburns near the ears. Even though his features looked weak and frail, his face was the type that she liked. Several times she stole glances at him, until the man arrived near her. Then Evander pulled up a chair and Arthur sat down without a problem.

As the lamplight illuminated the man's features more clearly, there was a chill in his eyes.

"Did I make you wait long?" Arthur asked calmly.

"Not too long," Livy answered honestly.

Evander whispered into Arthur's ear suddenly, and the man nodded.

After that Arthur continued to stare ahead and his expression was very relaxed. But somehow, his gaze was unfocused and far penetrated behind her. He looked at her, but it was as if he wasn't really looking at her.

"Why haven't you ordered anything yet?" asked Arthur.

Before Livy could answer, the door opened and the waiter came in with a tray containing two glasses. One of the cups was not ordinary water, it had the appearance of a slightly cloudy color but its aroma was immediately inhaled by anyone.

"Who ordered this ginger drink?" The waiter asked.

"Please give it to him," Livy said pointing at Arthur, and another glass of milk tea was handed to her.

Looking at the hot ginger drink in front of him, Arthur fell silent and his brow furrowed.

"I heard you keep coughing on the phone, so I ordered this for you." Livy explained shyly.

At a glance, Livy caught the cold expression that flashed across his eyes. But it was very temporary and if no one was really paying attention, one won't notice it. Only, Livy felt a little uncomfortable with it.

This man; his body language, speech and horns were very gentle, yet there was a chill in everything he did. It was like there was a deep sense of hostility, and it could't be seen carelessly. This created an uncomfortable feeling. But Livy hoped this was just a guess.

Again, she saw Evander whisper something in Arthur's ear and the man's expression loosened a bit. He looked back at her with his eyes that were quite unique.

"Thanks for your concern, Livy. So, can we talk business now?"

And that gaze once again had an unknown type of cold aura which in an instant anesthetized her.

... to be continue ...