A man's long legs wrapped charmingly in expensive black trousers, stepped out of the car. A pair of feet in shiny black shoes stepped on the tiled floor of the restaurant's front yard with quite enchanting movements.

Standing tall right next to his shiny black car. All the staff could see his figure, which was like the prince of a cold night. He looked handsome in a plain white shirt wrapped in a long black coat. Straightening the position of the tie around his neck, a pair of eagle eyes stared arrogantly ahead—indifferently.

"Welcome Mr Pasha!"

Several pairs of restaurant waitresses and employees lined up neatly to welcome his arrival. They slowly bowed, giving a salute full of formality. Then invited the cold night prince to step into the restaurant.

Pasha, who hadn't smiled at all since the beginning, stepped inside with his arrogant charm. Some of the female employees couldn't help but scream at how handsome he was.

Inside, the restaurant's glamorous interior complements his classy, masculine appearance. Several points of shining golden light fell so charmingly on his handsome, stiff, expressionless face.

Colourful flower arrangements fill the right and left sides of the room in a stunning arrangement. A medium sized round table, looking quite elegant in its smooth white cloth. On top is a cup of intense rose scented candle, which adds a romantic touch.

Pasha pulled up one of the chairs and sat down. Looking forward, the chair that belonged to his dinner partner was still empty. He glanced at the watch around his hand, it was already eight o'clock in the evening.

"Five minutes" The woman had wasted his five precious minutes.

He waited for a long time, until exactly thirty minutes had passed. But the person who filled the empty seat in front of him still hadn't appeared. Clenching his fists, the corners of his lips twitched, smiling coldly, “Thirty-five minutes”

Nobody had ever made him wait that long. But this woman...

Raising his hand, Pasha jinxed the waiter to bring his order. Soon a man in a white uniform with a black ribbon came, carrying a tray on which were two goblets and a bottle of red wine.

At the same time, a girl wearing an elegant black dress appeared in the restaurant doorway. Her thin, fair and attractive face looked quite charming in her dazzling black pashmina. Stepping inside, the girl took each step quite slowly, walking with difficulty towards the table where they met.

That was because the pair of high heels wrapped her beautiful and slender legs, making her petite body look forced to rise. It was clear from her behavior that the girl looked as if she was not used to using this object on her legs.

This made her graceful appearance more like that of a careless young princess. Exactly..

Her unsteady steps almost hit one of the table legs. But the girl quickly corrected her position and continued walking as if nothing had happened.

The girl could feel someone's cold gaze watching her movements from a distance. It is sticky and sharp. Managed to create a strong cold air, which penetrated into the chest. Wringing her fingers together, she tried hard not to get nervous.

Until right at the last step, the girl was standing in front of the table which was dominated by someone's cold and dark aura.

"Excuse me!"

There was a clear voice that was quite small and soft, reaching Pasha's eardrums like the whisper of a mosquito. It was so subtle and was almost inaudible. Ignoring the girl's arrival, he only focused on the male servant who was arranging his luggage on the table. After that, the male waiter bowed slightly towards Pasha, asking for other orders.

Pasha continued to wave his hand, telling the servant to leave. Just after the male servant stepped back from the table, the girl standing in front of him seemed to nervously pull out a chair and sit down. Straightening her back, she flashed a faint smile at Pasha, "Sorry for my delay, sir!" Those small cherry red lips opened and said in a small voice.

Sir? The corner of Pasha's lips twitched coldly. Taking a bottle of red wine that the waiter had just brought, he slowly poured a little into his glass. Afterwards, he generously poured the drink into the girl's glass, only to be stopped—

"Sorry sir, I don't drink that!"

Pasha's movements were restrained, his eyebrows were knit together and his eagle eyes stared at the petite girl sitting in front of him without a word. He could see her cherry lips giving a small, awkward smile. The girl raised her hand towards the waiter and ordered, “A cup of chamomile tea, please.”

Pasha slowly placed the drink bottle on the table. Taking his drink glass, he took a small sip of the red liquid with his gaze fixed on the little girl in front of him. Looking cold and pressing.

"Sorry sir, just to the point. I will be honest with you tonight."

Pasha didn't expect the girl's guts to shrink at all. Many people after being under his gaze for a long time, they would not survive and would run out of words to speak. But this little girl in front of him—

Looks quite scared and brave at the same time.

"I am a sixth semester student in college, who has absolutely no intention of getting married young. I am quite ambitious in several things and very principled. I am religious, simple and sometimes still a little unstable. So I sincerely ask you to cancel your proposal" At first glance, her luscious lips trembled and her beautiful face looked a little pale.

Actually, the girl was very nervous and quite afraid. Her two legs under the table were shaking from the start. But thankfully she was able to speak those words well. Besides the pain in her stomach which was truly...

unbearable.

Pasha, who was contemplating Hana's words earlier, was unable to hide the cold smile on his lips which twitched for the umpteenth time— but was reluctant to speak. He just shook his wine glass and took another small sip.

Hana nervously squeezed her fingers, waiting for the man in front of her to speak. But a few minutes passed, all that happened was silence. Until a waiter came with her order. She gave a small nod to the waiter, smiled faintly and said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome miss!" The waiter smiled politely and left.

"So, do you agree with my request?"

"Before that, may I ask a question?"

"Yes" Hana nodded nervously.

"Are you the girl who was arranged to marry me hum?"

Deg!

In that moment, Hana realized. She was truly trapped in a hole she dug herself. This fatal thing has brought her into various kinds of chaos that she never imagined.

And there too...

The beginning of her nightmare begins!

—••—

X city is a dense metropolitan city. Filled with rows of luxury apartments, rows of high-rise buildings and thriving business industrial centers. Several big businessmen, conglomerates and other big people fill the city. The place where public figures make their debut and where wanderers start to make profits.

At first glance— it looked like a busy and tiring city.

Right in a large building, where a well-known company stands. The employees in, it seem to work very hard, disciplined and move quickly. Some of them were busy typing something on the computer screen, some others were carrying piles of paper in their hands to the photocopier and the rest were quite carefully understanding the files and documents piled up on the table.

In a room dominated by someone's cold aura. A man was seen sitting in his work

chair, playing with a small hourglass he had in his hand. He turned the hourglass over, then watched as the grains of sand fell down little by little.

Until several minutes passed, the grains of sand continued to fall to fill the void below.

The door opened, a middle-aged man dressed neatly in a gray suit, without hesitation stepped inside. His head of hair was almost completely covered in gray and a pair of thick glasses sat on the bridge of his sharp nose.

"Dad's ten minutes late!" Pasha Said. He looked at the pile of sand at the bottom of the hourglass and put it in his pocket.

Raising his head towards the middle-aged man there, he gave an expressionless look and said, "Dad, you wants to negotiate about my marriage?"

Why use the prefix the word 'negotiation'?

For large business families like them, all decisions must be made based on estimates of 'profits and losses'. Likewise with marriage, everything must be calculated. Will it benefit both parties or not? In short, this is a marriage of cooperation—to strengthen business relationships between conglomerates that generally occur.

"I'm late because the roads outside are jammed." Shahbaz immediately took a comfortable seat on the sofa, "Not delaying your work, right?"

Lifting one of his legs casually over his thigh, he looked at his only son who was quite difficult to get an appointment with, "Yes, I want to negotiate your marriage that is very profitable for our family."

If he didn't say it was 'profitable', then his son would definitely immediately become disinterested. He took a deep breath, looking at his cold son. His character was of course formed because of him and his mother— who is now his ex-wife.

In the past, when their family was still united, they were only busy with busyness and work. They live the day indifferent to each other.

His son being indifferent towards him, of course he couldn't blame him. He really regrets it, because in the past he only cared about business and the company. Now he is old and there is no 'warmth' left in his cold and divided family.

"Of course not! Because I postponed all my work this morning, specifically taking the time to listen to your negotiations." Pasha got up from his seat, then he walked towards the single sofa and sat right in front of his Father.

Taking the remote that was on the table, he pressed one of the buttons and immediately the transparent glass walls of his room turned black like marble.

Pasha always sets his room in that condition, whenever he needs privacy.

"I hope your negotiations this time don't disappoint. As before—my one condition hasn't changed." He lifted one of his legs up onto his thigh.

Looking further, the two people have several habits in common.

"Of course! This time it will definitely meet your one condition"

"Then, just get straight to the point!" Pasha took out his small hourglass from his pocket, then placed it on the table, "Thirty minutes!"

"Haah..." Shahbaz rolled his eyes, staring irritably at the small hourglass. Somehow, he felt sorry for gifting that little thing to his son, "Okay."

Shahbaz reached into his jacket pocket, then took out three photos of women. Then he arranged them on the table in order.

"These are three beautiful flowers that come from one of the well-known conglomerate families in city. Owner of the company PT. Bahtera, the company that currently controls the culinary industry, has several branches overseas. Previously we never had any collaboration with them, but through this marriage relationship, in the future these variables will be formed and will definitely be very beneficial for both parties. This family will definitely be a big support for your business if you are willing to establish a relationship with them, how about that?"

Pasha knitted his eyebrows, thought and nodded. From his father's explanation, he immediately knew how much benefit he would gain if he succeeded in having a strong enough relationship— 'that marriage' if he was willing to enter into it.

But before he accepts, of course there is one most important condition, "Among these three candidates, choose one who meets my one condition. If there is, then I will accept. If not, our negotiations stop here."

Shahbaz adjusted his thick glasses, cleared his throat softly. Several times he failed to carry out these negotiations just because of his son's ridiculous requirements. It was clear that the requirements she put forward were very rarely found among the daughters of conglomerate families who lived glamorously.

But thankfully, this time he really hit the jackpot, "There are still about twenty minutes left."

Shahbaz guessed how many minutes he had left after looking at the small hourglass, "Care to hear?"

Pasha dropped his back against the head of the sofa, folding his arms in front of his chest. He nodded his head in acceptance.

"Then let's start from the first flower" Shahbaz pushed one of the photos towards Pasha.

Appearing in the small piece of paper was an adult woman with short hair. Wearing a casual white suit with a cold smile etched on her elegant face. At first glance, it looked like an untouchable haughty beauty.

“From the information I obtained, their family's first daughter has been named the successor of the company. Someone who had just obtained her master's degree at Harvard, who could doubt her abilities? So, all shareholders are willing to entrust the company in her hands. More or less, her appearance and character are exactly like you. And of course her dress style is casual, according to your condition."

"Change!"

"Pasha, but this—"

"The first candidate did not pass verification"

"How could it not pass verification, you didn't see this!" Shahbaz placed his index finger on top of the first candidate's photo, "Look at her style, isn't her casual way of dressing exactly what you want?"

"What I mean by casual is not about the style of dress."

Shahbaz, who heard that statement, didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This was really beyond his expectations. At first, he thought that by 'casual' his son meant a beautiful girl with a casual appearance. But who would have thought that it wasn't?

"Then what kind of 'casual' do you want?" Shahbaz is clearly frustrated. He only had Pasha as a child and his only son as successor. But taking care of his marriage felt like taking care of the marriage of three children.

"Her personality, perhaps?" Pasha sounded ambiguous.

"Okay, then let's move on to the second flower." Refusing to give up, Shahbaz immediately replaced the photo with a photo of the second candidate. He still hopes that one of the three candidates will interest his son.

"As you can see, this second candidate is quite beautiful and feminine"

In the photo you can see a beautiful girl with shoulder-length curly hair. Wearing a knee-length pink dress, she appeared to be smiling charmingly with a bouquet of white lilies in her hand. The girl is standing sweetly, in the background of the garden in the afternoon.

"Her character is very different from the first candidate. She is warm and cheerful. Still playing around business, she started a large cake shop at a young age and it could be said that the results were quite advanced and successful. It's just that she was a bit wasteful, because she followed too much fashion. So what do you think? ?"

Pasha shook his head. Reject.

"Really—n-no?"

Pasha nodded his head.

"Then we will see the last flower." This time Shahbaz really gave in. He pushed the last candidate's photo towards Pasha, with a hopeless look.

"This is the final candidate. It looks like you won't like it."

Pasha glanced briefly at the photo. Seeing a petite girl, sitting on a swing with a book in her hand. She wore a very simple gamis with avocado green colour. Her thin face was wrapped quite neatly in a very simple plain milk chocolate pashmina. Because her face was looking down at the book, he failed to explore her face any further.

"Say something about her!"

Shahbaz, who heard this, widened his eyes in surprise. He would never have guessed that his son would be interested in the little girl in the photo. If his son had asked that, wouldn't it mean that the little girl in the photo had succeeded in capturing his interest? Shahbaz smiled secretly in his heart. He still has hope.

"For this last candidate, there is a very contrasting difference from the two previous candidates. She is the youngest daughter who rarely appears in public. This girl is quite mysterious and too secretive. On her social media account, she doesn't use a photo of herself. But I think she is still too young. She is just in her twenties and still studying at the university for her undergraduate programme"

After explaining all that, Shahbaz hesitantly asked, "Y-you're not interested in her, right?"

Even though he really hopes that of the three candidates, one will be chosen.

But Shahbaz never expected that the final candidate would be selected. Because according to him, the girl was still too young to marry early. She was still actively studying in the college, how could Shahbaz has the heart to destroy that enthusiasm. Besides that, the girl and her son were ten years apart in age. Which little girl would want to marry a man ten years older than her

"Arrange a meeting for me with her," Pasha said simply.

Suddenly Pasha's answer made Shahbaz's eyes almost pop out, "You think carefully! This girl is still too young to get married, you are ten years apart in age. With you being that old for her, do you think she will marry you?"

Shahbaz doesn't know how to describe his feelings right now. On the one hand, he felt so happy, he almost didn't know how to express it. After negotiating marriage with his son for so long, this was the first time he had received a positive response.

But on the other hand, he didn't want to destroy the little girl in the photo. At first glance at the small picture, he immediately knew it was the appearance of an innocent girl who was obedient and very gentle. With this son's character and temperament, would the little girl be capable enough to handle him?

"In my opinion, the top two candidates are the most suitable for you. The first candidate looks quite casual? Don't you really want your future bride to have special characteristics like this? But this third candidate, she is clearly a graceful and feminine woman."

Pasha just nodded silently. His dark black eyes seemed to glint with an indescribable coldness. Pulling the corners of his lips, he smiled stiffly, "But only this little girl, who meets the 'casual' criteria I mean."

Shahbaz wanted to hit his head against the wall. Until now, he had no idea what kind of 'casual' criteria his son wanted. For a moment his eyes glanced at the small photo. He still didn't want the girl to fall into his son's hands. Besides the logic was pressing him quite hard—

Haven't your ambitions been achieved? Your son is getting married soon and what else do you need to worry about?

But his conscience knocked softly on his heart again—

Are you willing for that little girl to fall into the hands of your heartless son? Do you have the heart to destroy her young spirit who is busy studying by marrying your son just for business variables?

"Just forget about the candidate this time! Give me a clear picture of the 'casual' criteria you mean. I'll try to find it again for you."

"That's fine," Pasha nodded his head casually. Besides, the one who really couldn't wait for him to get married was his father, not him, "But..."

"But what?" Shahbaz has a bad feeling about this.

"The 'casual' criteria I mean—unfortunately it's not described"

"What?" Suddenly Shahbaz screamed in surprise, "Pasha, stop playing around. Getting married is a serious matter. Are you going to continue living single until you are old like this? If so, who will continue the family?"

"Of course I am"

"You know? Then why is it so difficult to discuss marriage with you? If your requests continue to be strange like this, even if your skin wrinkles, you will never get it..."

"That, I just got it" Pasha pointed to the photo of the third candidate which was still on the table, "You disagree and think to find another."

"Fine" Shahbaz let out a rough breath. He had no other choice. With great compulsion he had to take the third candidate or else...

Maybe he will grow old without a grandchild by his side.

"I will go to her family and discuss about that you want this little girl as your wife."

—••—