Love Contract

There wasn't a single living creature within two meters of where William and Mary sat.

Mary stared down at her food with a perplexed expression. "It looks kind of like a panda." Her lips curled into a soft smile that was directed at William. It felt strange spending time with him and having a meal. "It means that you're precious," said William with a faint smile. He then looked down at his plate and began to eat with gusto, as if there were no one around.

Mary thought that his growing up under the proverbial spotlight made him quite different from everyone else.

"Well..." he dragged out the word. "Have some food."

"Try a piece of fish. It's delicious, the chef is great at cooking it."

"Don't just scarf the food down, enjoy it..."

"Oh! Have some porridge. It's nutritious and tastes good."

With a faint smile on his face, William picked up food attentively as if he had been bewitched. It was such a charming expression. Staring at him, Mary couldn't help but feel her resolve slipping. If he continued to smile at her like that, she'd almost definitely surrender.

"What are you looking at?" William raised his head, looking at Mary in confusion.

"Ahem..." Mary coughed awkwardly, "Nothing, I'm fine..." She coughed a few more times and glanced down at the table top. "Just fine," she said, her voice strained.

"How can you be so careless?" William's smile was replaced by a small frown as he stood up slowly.

Mary watched him with wide eyes. 'What is he going to do?!' Mary's fear locked her muscles so tightly that she couldn't move a single inch. Her heart was fluttering a mile a minute within her chest.

"I won't take it from you. Take your time," said William in a soft, gentle voice. He strode to her side and then stroked her back with a warm hand.

Mary sucked in a sharp breath and shivered. She glanced around them frantically, hoping no one was paying attention to them.

"Enough," Mary snapped in a low, vicious voice. "Enough for all this. It's caused goose bumps all over my skin."

William chuckled huskily and whispered in her ear, "Honey, already you think you can't stand it?"

At his words, Mary couldn't help but roll her eyes. She shook herself, trying to rid herself of the goose bumps and then she stood up.

"Wow... The CEO and his wife !" a feminine voice called.

While the two of them were speaking, an enchanting, elegant woman came towards them from the west. There was a delicate smile on her face, and she took small, measured steps up to William. Mary recognized her quickly. It was Andy from the Public Relations Department.

"Mr. Lan, may I sit with you?"

"Up to you," William said to Mary. He looked between the two women, snorted coldly, and turned around to sit back down.

"Mary? May I sit here?" Without a straight forward answer from William, Andy had to turn to the only other person at the table, Mary.

Mary nodded once. "Please," she muttered, gesturing to an empty seat with her chopsticks.

Andy smiled and sat beside William.

Andy could hear the whispered commentary of everyone around them, but she didn't care as she talked and laughed to her table mates.

Mary couldn't help the slightly wry smile as she looked at William out of the corner of her eye as he ate silently. She couldn't help but find it amusing that Andy's advances had been refused.

"Are you done?" asked William sharply after a while, putting down his chopsticks and looking at Mary. Both his tone and his facial expression made her nervous.

"Umm... Yes, I'm done." Mary nodded but then said, "But Andy isn't..."

"Then we should go." William interrupted as he stood up and grabbed her bicep to start dragging her out.

"Well, Andy... I guess I'm leaving now..." Mary said as she stumbled and was dragged towards the exit.

Andy sat primly in her chair, waving goodbye to Mary with a strained smile on her face.

Her knuckles were white with how hard she was gripping the spoon in her hand.

Obviously, he hated Andy. William and Mary walked silently all the way to the elevator. The moment the elevator door closed, William released Mary's arm. Mary let out a silent sigh, used to his caustic behavior.

In fact, Andy and her were equally disliked by him she felt. "Mr. Lan, Mr. Liang is awaiting you in the office." The moment they reached floor 32, Kevin came over. 'Who is Mr. Liang?' Mary thought. After steadying her inner nerves, Mary raised her head just in time to see a frown flash across William's face.

"I see, thank you. Go on and finish your work," William said, striding forward.

When the door opened, Mary's eyes almost immediately met this so called Mr. Liang's.

She was certain her surprise was easily read on her face. She couldn't believe it. Wasn't this the man she had run into at the hospital the other day? "Mary? What is it?" Kevin asked quietly as he came to stand beside her.

"Oh! Nothing," she said with a small smile, attempting to be casual. "So, who is Mr. Liang? Is there a manager within the company who is surnamed Liang? " "No," Kevin said. "He's not from our company. He's the young boss of Intoxicating South Restaurant Chain, Frank Liang. "

"Huh... So that's Frank..." Mary nodded distractedly, "So... Does our company cooperate with them then?"

"No, it isn't like that. Frank and our CEO grew up together. They often go out for drinks together. This is probably one of those days."

"Oh... I see," Mary said softly. She couldn't help but wonder though what Victor had meant by telling her to stay away from Frank the night they'd met.

"What are you doing here?" William asked as he shrugged off his suit jacket.

"I was just passing by and decided to stop by," Frank said with a cocky smile.

"That so?" said William with a smile, raising his eyebrows.

Sitting quietly at her desk, Mary stole a quick glance at the two men. They were both laughing and smiling, and rather handsome if she had to admit. It was hard to imagine that the two of them were friends though.

One was seemingly expressionless and cold, while the other was funny and could easily smile.

"So," Frank started with a bitter smile, "I heard that your father is going to be back in town?" "Unfortunately."

"What is he going to do?"

"You know the answer to that," William grumbled as he dropped into his chair. His father was back to see who his daughter-in-law was.

"Have you told Mary?"

"No, not yet."

"You'll have to tell her sooner rather than later, you know." Frank then stood up and patted William on the shoulder, smiling down at him. "I'll be leaving then."

"You're leaving now?"

"Of course. Your wife is out there, right?" Frank's smile turned into something more charming.

"Yeah... Go ahead." With a faint smile on his face, William raised his head and glanced towards Mary almost immediately. Whether it was intentional or not, he wasn't sure. Frank walked out of the office, smiling, and came to Mary's desk.

"Mary Lu?" he called.

"Hello, Mr. Liang." Mary stood to greet him with a professional smile.

"Just call me Frank."

Mary tried not to shift uncomfortably at the statement. "I'm afraid that wouldn't be very appropriate."

He shrugged, "There's nothing inappropriate about that." Frank's smile widened as he said, "I'm a good friend of William, like brothers almost. You can just be yourself around me."

Mary cleared her throat as quietly as she could. "A-alright. Oh! By the way, I wanted to apologize for accidently running into you at the hospital the other day," Mary added.

"Don't worry about it. I had nearly forgotten about it," he said with a chuckle. "No need to take it to heart."

"Oh, well thank you."

He nodded, smiling even wider. "Alright. I'll let you get back to your work then, I'm heading out anyway." Before he could even take two steps, he'd turned back around to say, "By the way... I haven't congratulated you on your marriage yet. I'll have a gift for you some other day, okay?"

"Oh, well thank you. But you don't have to." He ignored her denial and left. Mary found herself distracted by his words for a good while afterwards. There was just something off about him, as if he were hiding something behind that debonair smile.

The more she thought about it, the more Victor seemed right. Frank could prove to be a dangerous man.