"This is the job," he said simply.
No formal greetings. No explanation. No smile.
Lyra blinked, puzzled, and opened the folder.
Her heart paused.
Contract of Personal Relationship (6 Months)
Salary: ¥50,000,000
Her fingers froze. Her brows pulled together. "What… is this?"
Adrian didn't flinch. "I need a girlfriend. Just for show. A contract relationship."
Lyra slowly pushed the folder back toward him. "I'm sorry. I think there's been a mistake. I came for a real job, not some... fake romance thing."
She stood up immediately.
She didn't want to hear more. She didn't care who he was. She didn't need this nonsense. Not when she had school fees to pay and grandparents waiting at home with warm smiles and worn clothes.
But just as she turned—his voice echoed behind her, low and calm.
"Fifty million yen. For six months. Walk away now, and you'll regret it."
Her hand hesitated on the door handle.
Fifty… million?
Her head spun. That amount was enough to change her entire world. Pay for school. Fix her grandparents' roof. Save for their medicines. Maybe even open a café like her mom once dreamed of.
She stood there in silence for a long moment.
Her heart wanted to scream no.
But her reality whispered: "Think."
Slowly, she turned around. Her eyes narrowed slightly—not in anger, but in thought.
"Why me?" she asked.
Adrian leaned back in his seat, voice still distant. "You didn't try to impress me. You didn't pretend. You were just… real. That's enough."
Her breath caught in her throat.
Because it was the first time anyone had said that to her. Ever.
Still, she didn't smile. "You're strange."
Adrian looked at her, cold and unreadable. "So are you. But that's why it works."
----
The paper still trembled in her hand, long after Adrian had left the room.
Lyra stared at it, reading the same line over and over again.
Be my girlfriend for six months.
The words looked like inked madness. Like a dare from the universe. A test she never studied for.
She didn't remember how she got home that evening. The streets passed in a blur. The city felt like it didn't belong to her anymore. The air was too cold. The sounds too sharp. And the paper in her bag—it felt heavier than her whole body.
Her thoughts wouldn't slow down. Why her? Why a girlfriend? Why a contract?
She didn't even know the name of his company. She didn't know where he lived. She didn't know what kind of man Adrian Blackthorn really was. But her instincts screamed: He's not ordinary. He's not even human.
When she finally pushed open the door to her grandparents' tiny house, the smell of soup and safety greeted her.
"There she is!" her grandfather called from his armchair. "How did it go, sweetheart?"
Lyra blinked, forcing herself back to earth.
"Oh. Um… good," she said quickly, stuffing the paper deep into her satchel. "They offered me a job."
Both of her grandparents lit up.
"A real job?" her grandmother asked, nearly dropping her knitting.
Lyra nodded, smiling as genuinely as she could. "Yeah. It's a… secretarial position."
"Secretarial?" her grandfather repeated, raising a brow. "What kind of company?"
She hesitated.
"They didn't say much. It's very… private. High-profile. Confidential stuff, I guess."
She hated lying. Hated the way the words tasted in her mouth. But what else could she say?
Hey Grandma, a terrifyingly beautiful man offered me an absurd amount of money to pretend to be his girlfriend for six months. No clue why. No clue who he really is.
No. That would kill them.
"Well," her grandmother said cautiously, "as long as it's safe. They'll treat you right?"
Lyra swallowed the knot in her throat and nodded.
"I think so"
And just like that two broken worlds,one wrapped in wealth and ice, and one wrapped in poverty and hope...had begun to move toward each other. They just didn't know what it would cost them yet.