Chapter 6 Professional Heartbreaker

Fern was thinking about a lot of things and thus she didn’t notice the weird stares people were giving her. She walked with her head hung low and followed Khalid into his office. "What business do you have with me?" Khalid sat behind his office table and had a business-is-business like attitude. Fern was very reserved, she felt like a student being called to the teacher’s office for doing something wrong. "Well, Mr. Marsh, I have something to ask of you, but…" Fern didn’t know where to start. Khalid was a victim of this whole matter, he was tricked by her, and now Jaxon wanted Fern to substitute for Cleo, which meant that his original fiance would be replaced. She felt especially bad because his fiance would be her instead. She had pretty thick skin, but not enough to tell Khalid the truth. "Miss Woods, if it’s nothing important I would like you to take your leave, as I still have matters to attend to," Khalid said impatiently after waiting for a bit. Fern ordered her thoughts, she decided to say what she had in mind in a roundabout way. She asked, "Mr. Marsh, what do you think about Cleo, my sister? Do you like her?" This was what she wanted to say after he waited for so long? The atmosphere instantly became colder around them, it was so heavy that it felt a little oppressive. Fern glanced at Khalid as she didn’t get an answer from him, even though it was against her conscience she continued saying, "My sister is pretty, polite and elegant. You fell in love with her at first sight, and your resolve to marry her should be very strong, correct?" "Get straight to the point." Khalid’s face darkened. Fern met his ice-cold gaze, she swallowed her words. She had never been so terrified of somebody in her life, it was absurd. She regretted her actions, there were so many other ways to take revenge on Cleo but she had chosen the hardest one. It was fun scheming the revenge but not fun dealing with the aftermath. "The point is, Mr. Khalid! I know I was wrong, you can scold and hit me as much as you like, but you should make sure that you’re marrying the right person. Don’t waver just because of somebody’s instigation!" The "somebody" Fern was talking about was obviously Jaxon. Khalid’s attitude towards the marriage was ambiguous, Jaxon thought that he should take precautions and hence he speculated Khalid’s thoughts. But Fern couldn’t figure out, why did Jaxon think that Khalid would want to marry her instead of Cleo? "Why should I listen to you?" Khalid stared at Fern, his words stung like a bee. "Should I listen to you just because you want to climb into my bed? You made me announce in front of the media that you are my fiance, and now you want me to marry your sister instead?" "I’m sorry!" Fern bowed and apologized. "What will happen is that I will be criticized by the media and earn myself a bad reputation. But nothing will happen to the Woods family." Khalid sneered, "Fern, you sure had it all figured out haven’t you?" "No, I didn’t mean to!" Fern raised her hands in surrender, "You can still break off the marriage rather than actually marrying my sister. Well, you see, you guys aren’t even engaged yet, the worst thing you can do is to tell the media that Cleo cheated on you, and wasn’t worthy of being your wife, hence you are calling off the marriage. " "What did your sister do to you to make you hate her so much?" First, she sabotaged Cleo’s marriage, and now she wanted him to ruin her reputation. "Not only that I hate her, but I also want to drag her to hell with me!" Fern was getting indignant, it never crossed her mind that she did or what she said towards Cleo was wrong. "Then have you ever thought about me? I am innocent, but I became a sacrificial item just because of your little sibling’s dispute." said Khalid, "I am in a sticky situation right now, it doesn’t matter if I marry Cleo or not, either way, it will affect me greatly. The Woods family owed me a favour, so whatever you guys plan to do, you guys should’ve made sure that the damage done to me is minimized, not to make the best of a bad bargain for yourself and make me the scapegoat." Saying that the Woods family owed him a favour wasn’t entirely correct, it was actually Fern that owed him a favour. Fern wasn’t stupid, she knew that she was the cause of the problem. She quickly understood what Khalid meant as he broke down the situation into details. "Then… What do you think is the best way to solve this problem? " Fern knew the answer already but she didn’t have the guts to say it out loud. When Jaxon was telling her that she had to marry Khalid last night, Fern figured out why he made that decision. Compared to Cleo’s marriage and happiness, the future of the Woods family was more important to him. And to protect the Woods family’s future, the only thing to do was to make Fern marry Khalid. Jaxon realized that this would benefit Fern, but there was no other way. Fern had no intention to marry Khalid. She only wanted to get her revenge, he wasn’t even her cup of tea! She only had the guts to talk to him today, because she thought that Khalid wouldn’t be the type of person to get married for the sake of his family’s reputation and that he wouldn’t want to marry her. But she was unsure, after hearing what he said. "The optimal way to solve this problem exists. But it all depends on you, Miss Woods, if you are willing to make up for your mistakes." Khalid stared at her enjoyingly, watching her trying to play dumb. Although they didn’t know each other for long, Khalid could already sense that she always acted dumb, but in reality, she could grasp the situation perfectly. Fern had a bitter look on her face, she wasn’t ready to own up her mistakes! "Is there another option?" Fern glossed over the question, trying to dig herself out of the hole as ideally as possible. "If you have a better idea in mind, I don’t mind hearing it." Khalid crossed his hands and put them on his knees, waiting for an answer from Fern. Fern thought to herself, I wouldn’t be here if I had a better idea in mind. She couldn’t care less about Cleo, but Khalid was an innocent bystander. The marriage was arranged for business reasons, it could greatly affect the name of both families. The Woods family’s name doesn’t really matter, but the reputation of the Marsh family shouldn’t be tarnished from such scandal. "Mr. Marsh, you should also think for yourself." Mr. Khalid was the formidable president of the Woods Group, he shouldn’t stoop so low and get stuck with her, he should marry a woman he truly loves. Fern looked like she was about to cry. "I did choose the marriage for myself, you are the one that sabotaged it, Miss Woods." What Khalid said had again stung Fern’s heart. Fern put her hand on her chest, she sank into the sofa and looked like she wanted to die. "The situation is at the point of no return, as a businessman, I would no doubt choose the path that brings me the most benefit." Khalid looked at Fern, all lifeless on the sofa, he felt an itch in his hand, he wanted to tousle her hair. But things had not calmed down yet, he had to hold himself back. "You think of marriage as some sort of transaction?" Fern couldn’t believe her ears. She was still young, she wasn’t willing to integrate into the complicated world of adults so soon. "Do I have to remind you again? This is not a business deal, it’s you that…" Khalid explained patiently. But Fern stood up and cut him off mid-sentence, she had a stern look on her face, "Mr. Khalid, there is no need for you to repeat what you said. I understand, I’ll own up to my mistakes. You are absolutely correct, it’s best to treat this as a transaction." Khalid smiled feeling satisfied, he walked towards Fern and held out his hand, "I look forward to a smooth cooperation, little girl." "Same here." Fern held his hand back firmly and said, "Feel free to make up a reason to kick me out after the storm passes. I’m just a fake fiance and you should really pursue your true happiness, Mr. Marsh."