Chapter 16 - Temporary or Permanent

"Neil..go have a drink at the bar downstairs." Ryu was aware that time was of essence.If they had to finalize this scheme they had to do it today itself.The court summons were for Monday so they had only tomorrow to make their engagement official.Also,there was Ru to consider.And there were some discussions he didn't need his brother to be a part of..

"But..I am not thirsty....ok ok I am very thirsty and only beer can quench my thirst..please excuse me..I'll be back soon.."

As soon as Neil was out of the door,Ryu's entire persona underwent a change.Gone was the genial and amused brother and in his place was a cold man of business,"Miss Lou let me get straight to the point, you and I have both been divorced once so I can understand your reluctance to get into a short term marriage.However ,I need to protect what is mine so I will not get into a marriage without a prenuptial agreement.If you have any objections to that then we can stop wasting our time."

Ryu's words and unblinking stare almost made Al lose her courage to lay the conditions she had thought carefully over.

"Mr Long,a pre nuptial agreement will protect not just you but me also..so I have no objections to it.What I do have are a few conditions.These are conditions that are non negotiable so you have to choose if you want to go ahead with this plan or not.I know you must have had me investigated so I hope that you will understand the reasons for my conditionsI have 2 conditions which need to be formally written in the agreement and 2 conditions that I need your verbal agreement on."

Al then took out a sheet of paper with her conditions and passed it ovsr to Ryu..

Ryu was enraged.Yes he had done an investigation on her but he had not read the report.He knew that the dossier that Neil had sent to him was Neil's way of asking him to not read that report.And so he had not.He thoroughly regretted heeding to that request.But as he read the conditions he felt a sliver of respect for this woman..Though she claimed that these conditions were to protect herself they also were a form of protection for Ru..and nowhere did it mention any monetary gains for herself...

He took his time staring at the paper on front of him,making Al a nervous wreck.She really wanted him to agree because she had already set her heart on becoming Ru's mother...