18 Blocked Exit

Her eyes became cold as she spoke, while the number she threw out was random it did not mean that she disagreed with it entirely. For someone who was struggling to safe guard $5,000 dollars she could use any extra change he had, preferably in the millions. Even if he did not give her anything she knew he was someone who hated keeping debts. You could even say the reason why he listened this far into the conversation was one part him testing her sanity and the other part him wanting to clear debts. For a man who could easily throw her out of the mall he must be at minimum a shareholder and must have sufficient power for women to lose their minds over him. Holding a debt with this man, in her favour, was a benefit altogether.

Staring him into the eyes she held contact for a couple of seconds to show that she was serious. There was a slight fluctuation in his eyes but she had no time discern what it meant. Finally breaking the contact she took a quick glance to see that no one was looking at them before going back to her bags. She picked them up gracefully into her hands before giving him a slight nod and started moving to walk past him. Her mini revenge was completed and she had already wasted enough time on this matter, there was a bit of annoyance in her heart when she thought of the money she could have hid during this time. The only reason she was not completely devastated was having gained another bargaining chip in her hands. With her mind at peace she began thinking of the next store she should visit but before she could decide there was a sudden motion from her right side.

Her body stilled as she saw the quick motion and automatically tensed for an attack. There was fear racing through her as she remembered the blows from her brother's henchman and her brother himself. It was as if she was watching a film in her mind and couldn't find the stop button. As long as people were in front of her she was okay but could not control her reaction if there was a sudden motion towards her. She remained tense for a couple of moments with the sound of her heartbeat pounding inside her. There was an odd silence when she came completely back to reality and noticed that nothing had happened to her. Looking forward she had a dazed look in her eyes as she saw the rich man was suddenly in front of her.

'What....' There was a short period of confusion but it did not take long for her to understand that the sudden movement was from him. Her eyes turned cold and devoid of all previous emotion, "What do you want." Even her voice had taken a new role switching from her previous teasing tone to a completely serious one. She did not understand why he had stopped her when their conversation had ended but it seemed that to him it was not done. Looking into his eyes she knew that he had noticed her abnormal reaction but she would not give him an explanation nor would this man ask. It was actually funny how well she could read him through his eyes, since you would think a man of his stature had a better poker face or at minimum less expressive. Seeing that it had been some time since she had asked her question and he had not spoke, she made motion to move past him again.

An arm casually blocked her path and she was again stopped by him. At this point, she was over this interaction. If he was not going to speak why stop her??? 'Maybe my teasing had destroyed his brain cells, huhu that would be nice if so.'

"Your name."

'????' There were question marks in her mind when she finally heard him, there was no rush to his words but a finality in his tone. As if, he was one hundred percent confident that she would answer his question. A laugh left her mouth and immediately broke the previous tension.

"My name...?" She drawled. Without turning her head she gave him a side-eyed look. "I didn't think you would be so interested in me, what? Never had a woman talk to you like this before? Have I caught your eye?"

"....your name. For a woman who claims to be so smart you are forgetting a key point."

"And for a man who claims to be so smart you are missing the whole point. I will not be giving my name, if so, what was the point of this fabric on my face? I don't need to give you my name to get my favour, when I need it I will appear. Of course if you give me 12 million before that, whichever comes first."

"You seem like you have a lot to hide. What, scared of me? Or scared of what your face looks like?" There was an edge to his voice as if he had found her big weakness. Just the confidence in his voice made her giggle and relax her body completely.

"Oh my I'm so scared, I'm practically shakinggg. I have nothing to hide, I'm just protecting myself. What if you use this chance to destroy my family or send your goons after me? I'm not saying that you will but a frail little lady like me can't take any chances you know. Its enough that I remember your face or give me your name for convenience."

Hearing her reply, the man next to her broke into his own set of laughter. It was so hilarious to him that his teeth made a full appearance giving him the image of a charming young man for a short moment. "Ah, I cannot remember the last time someone asked for my name. I can't tell if you are joking or not but I have wasted enough time on this. Li Qiang, remember it."

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Author's Corner:

*In a couple of months, late into the night*

LQ: Let's practice saying my name a couple more times.

ML: ....Please leave me alone...