Chapter 49 - Input

At the corner of my eyes, Cain's frosty eyes were looking at my face. His expression was much softer than usual and . . . affectionate?

My temperature rose, and I shifted my legs from his reach. Though the table was wide, Cain was a tall man. His feet easily reached mine. Even with my best efforts of cramping my legs in my seat was useless.

Couldn't stand the ticklish feeling and the burning of my body, I threw him a 'what-the-hell-are-you-doing' kind of look and kicked his feet.

Cain's face remained unmoved like my best effort didn't budge the big block of ice.

I ignored him and reverted my attention to Zhander's presentation, listening to his soothing voice.

I thought Cain would stop his childish behavior, but much to my horror, he continued caressing my legs, and now, up to my thighs.

I shivered. My eyes widened. I couldn't believe that this man would harass me in the middle of the day with so many prominent figures present!

I brought out my phone and messaged him.

[Me: STOP IT!]

[TheArcticEmperor: Then don't look at him.

Look at me instead]

I almost pass out when my blood surged to my brain, feeling like the room was spinning that I forgot to cringe at his very awkward reply.

This man! He's flirting with me, right?! He's definitely flirting with me!

[Me: I thought we'd agreed that

you won't pursue me anymore!]

[TheArcticEmperor: I'm not pursuing you,

I'm flirting with you]

". . ."

This . . . how am I to reply to this?! Damn it!

I couldn't believe that this ice-cold man could flirt with a poker-face. Wasn't he ashamed or embarrassed?!

Doesn't he know that's overkill?! What am I supposed to do?!

This never happened to me before, not even in my previous life.

No men dared approach my intimidating blockade. My insuperable barrier kept everyone at bay. Even my ex-boyfriend took a roundabout way of approaching me.

This man. Only this man. He was like a wrecking ball forcefully shattering his way into my heart.

Feeling the headache, I gave up and shut my phone inside my bag. I then focused my attention on the files on the table instead.

Thankfully, he finally stopped pestering me.

Zhander finished his presentation, but everyone was in deep thought about his proposal. It was expected since the concept was new. No matter how impressive the presentation was, it still didn't hide the fact that the project was unconventional and risky.

"What do you think?"

Everyone couldn't hide their surprise when the 'oh so powerful' Luke Jansen asked a sixteen-year-old girl.

"The concept and idea are new. If you're hesitating to invest because of that, we can always conduct a feasibility study," I said, concentrating on the files in my hands.

"Forget about feasibilities, but what is it for us? Four billion dollars is no small amount." Evelyn Goldwood swept everyone with her gaze. The tone of her voice didn't complement the gentleness of her smile.

"Not to mention the people's reaction to the new development," James added as he stared at me with probing eyes. He gave me the impression that he wanted to test me.

I closed the files and gathered everyone's gaze. I took a deep breath and explained in a calm tone.

"The development is enormous. It will not just create a commercial, residential, and entertainment area, but a community. Let's chop it all into phases. The first phase is the entertainment. Beautify the place, build facilities, and perform activities that will attract people. Like parks, playgrounds, removable bars, anything that's not permanent and easily relocated in the future. By this we can attract and make everyone comfortable with the place, at the same time, slowly advertising the development.

I held Evelyn Goldwood's calm and mocking eyes.

"As for the return of investments, one hundred million should be enough for the first phase. The activities and facilities can all generate income. After the people warm up with the place, let's start building phase two, which are the commercial, malls, offices, and BPO's, and at the same time, building phase three, the residential areas. Let's build it near the beach. An estate near the beach is an attractive investment. I assume with this, the four billion can be broken into parts and allocate to different phases. Simultaneously, these phases can generate income, making the overall cost not too much of a burden."