Elena quickly looked through the article, which briefly reported on the date and place of her engagement with Rick Stein. Over the past two days, there have been so many events that such a proposal did not seem so shocking to her.
The girl was emotionally exhausted and all she wanted at the moment - that this madhouse ended quickly. Suddenly a question arose in her mind,
"Rick, what about Corey? Have you thought about her?! How would she react to such a statement?!" Less than anything in the world, Elena wanted someone else to suffer in this situation.
Rick hesitated a little, and answered a bit perplexedly, "Actually, the idea of engagement belongs to Corey. I myself would not have thought of such a thing," he answered.
Elena looked at the young man in surprise, 'Hmmm, this is quite like Corey, but somehow...,' she thought.
"Mr. Lee, could I talk to your daughter privately, please? It won't take long," Rick asked respectfully.
"Sure, no problem. Call me when you finish talking. I will be in the living room," Chen answered and left the office.
As soon as they were alone in the office, Elena looked at Rick questioningly.
The young man made a surprised face and answered with a voice full of indignation, "You don't believe me, do you? I'm seriously talking to you! Corey called me a few hours ago, and, cursing loudly, demanded that we should punish this bastar*, we will not quote her bad words, in general, she meant, David. At first, her idea seemed crazy to me, but after thinking a little, I came to the conclusion that this is the best possible solution."
"And how will we benefit from this?" Elena still had doubts about the rationality of this action.
"Look, Greenline Inc. claims that David is supposed to have a bride, although no one has ever heard of her or seen her," Rick noticed that his comment caused tension in the girl.
He sighed and said in a soothing tone, "I have known this dummie for more than ten years, and even I wasn't aware of that, so there's clearly something not right about all of this. But let's talk about the case.
First, if we announce our engagement, this will create a wave of information in response. You can trust me the way to present this information to the public. They will regret that they dared to play such a dirty trick and decided to humiliate you.
Secondly, as long as there is a press furor, we can gain time to prepare for the fightback strike on their reputation. I'm sure Mr. Lee has a way to compromise them."
The girl listened attentively to the young man. Thinking about it from a business point of view, this was quite a reasonable strategy.
"And most importantly, Elena, remember that this is all just a show. Our task is to play the role of a loving couple at an event and that's it. The rest of the work will be done by media experts. Ahaha, I imagine how David will be shocked when he comes back here," Rick laughed maliciously.
"As I see, you even like this situation. Are you sure that you are all right with an adequate perception of reality?" Elena asked with an astounded look on her face.
"Oh, sorry, sorry, my fault indeed," Rick winked playfully, "Just wanted to defuse the situation, but apparently the joke failed. Anyway, girl pal, I promise one thing. As soon as this narrow-minded block head descends from the plane, we will seize him at the first opportunity. Then I plan to take him to some abandoned place, tie him to a chair, and you can give him a good whopping until he begs you to forgive him, on his knees!" Rick said, with a look of a great strategist.
"Are you a latent sadist-masochist pervert? Where did you get such a wild fantasy?"
"Baby, my fantasy is my main weapon, otherwise how would I be such a brilliant marketing expert, eh?" Rick asked, taking Elena's words as the best compliment to him.
The girl sighed doom, "Okay, you weirdo genius, I agree to your idea with the engagement. I hope you know what you are doing."
"You cannot even doubt! A week or two max, and all these people will crawl over to you to ask for apologies," Rick said confidently.
"I do not need any apologies. I do not do this for myself or my reputation. I want to protect the company in which my father invested his strength and health. I am ready to do this only for his sake," Elena replied.
Hearing the words of the girl, Rick's eyes sparkled with emotion. Elena glanced at the young man and could not hold back her laughter, "God, don't look at me like that! You and Corey are exactly the perfect couple. Well, I'm going to sleep. See ya." Elena turned and walked to the door.
"Hey, think about my offer anyway! I know one suitable abandoned house. They say there are even ghosts there!" Rick yelled out happily. In response, Elena just waved him with her hand and left the office.
'David, what an idiot you are ... To hurt such a girl,' the young man sighed, collected the necessary papers and went to say goodbye to Mr. Lee.
The next morning, the news of the engagement of Rick Stein and Elena Lee, like an atomic bomb, blew up all of the country's leading media. Nobody expected such an outcome.