Our First Rant

"You."

Angie blinked softly. "What?"

"You're the payoff."

"Huh? Wait, what do you mean?"

Maxime chuckled softly. "You know what I mean."

"Um, being your maid or something?"

Maxime snorted in annoyance and pushed the woman away. "Get out!"

"Hey, hey, wait. Okay, I see what you mean. I was just joking a bit. You have no sense of humor at all."

Of course, Angie knew. She was not some idiot who did not understand what making herself pay was all about. Not that she minded. She could accept it happily. Things like this were very common. If she could get what she wanted, then giving herself up was no big deal.

"Do you accept?" Maxime asked. At a glance, Angie could see the look of disbelief on the man's face.

Angie shrugged indifferently. "Yeah. You asked for it, and I'm the one who offered you something. So, let's do it."

Angie offered her palm to Maxime, but he glanced at it with a displeased expression.

"What? I'm just doing what people usually do when they make a deal."

Maxime rolled his eyes, but he returned Angie's hand and shook it. Their handshake was brief, probably no more than five seconds. Maxime hurriedly withdrew his hand and left Angie's palm hanging in the air.

"Then it's decided. You made a promise, don't ever break it."

Maxime turned his face away. "Now go."

Angie made a respectful gesture while smiling broadly. "Alright, see you soon." And she left immediately.

***

"Why is your face like that?" asked Rai.

Angie glanced at Rai with an annoyed expression. "It's nothing."

"You think you can lie to me?"

That's right. She simply could not lie to the highly sensitive Rai. It really was no big deal. She only wanted to go to the nightclub alone because she was planning to meet Maxime. If Rai had come with her, he would have forbidden it and said that Maxime was dangerous. Angie also had not said that she and Maxime had made an appointment with each other.

"Today I went to the nightclub alone, but you insisted on coming along."

Rai rolled his eyes. "What the hell? Yesterday you were angry that I couldn't accompany you to the nightclub, but now you're forbidding me to go. Tell me, what have you been doing in my absence?"

"Nothing."

"Liar. That face of yours clearly shows that you've done something in my absence."

Angie snorted. "None of your business. You're not my boyfriend, are you?"

"Sorry, I'm not interested in you."

"I know."

In the end, the two of them still went to the nightclub together. As soon as they arrived, Angie's eyes searched for Maxime, and sure enough, he was already there, sitting at the same table and being served by the same hostess.

"Wait here, I want to say hello to someone."

"What? Hey!"

Rai rubbed his face in annoyance. Angie had run over to Maxime's table and sat down next to him. Rai's expression looked confused. Angie had mentioned him before, but they did not know each other. So, how could she now casually sit next to him?

Angie, who was sitting next to Maxime, immediately picked up her drink and was about to down the alcoholic beverage. But all of a sudden, Maxime snatched her glass and pushed it away from Angie.

"Hey, give me back my glass."

Maxime shook his head. "You're not allowed to drink alcohol."

Angie gaped. "Huh? So what? I'm not a minor, you know!"

"You'll act crazy when you're drunk."

Angie sighed. She could not be evasive about that fact. There had been many times Rai had nagged her and told her that she was very troublesome when she was drunk.

"Alright, just a glass?"

"No."

Angie sighed loudly. "Two sips then?"

"No."

Angie tried to snatch her glass from Maxime's grasp, but the man's arms were very muscular and easily kept the glass out of Angie's reach.

"Come on, I won't trouble you. Look, I brought a friend who will take care of me when I'm drunk, so you can relax." Angie pointed at Rai, who was sitting with the hostess who used to serve them.

Maxime looked down. The man suddenly brought his face closer to Angie, who reflexively pulled her face back.

"Wh-What?"

Maxime tilted his head and brought his lips to her ear. "You gave yourself as a gift to me. I don't want my gift ruined just because you're drunk." He whispered in Angie's ear and then licked her earlobe.

Feeling such treatment, a startled Angie immediately backed away. She did not look back, so her foot hit the chair's leg and made her sway. Luckily, Maxime swiftly caught her waist and prevented Angie from falling and hitting her head on the edge of the chair.

"Be careful, I just warned you."

Angie immediately pulled away. "Y-You're really a piece of shit."

Maxime chuckled. "You're ridiculous."

Angie cleared her throat softly. Secretly, she rubbed her own chest when she realized her heart was beating rapidly. She shook her head softly. There was no way her heart was beating harder just because of Maxime. It was just a spontaneous response because she was startled and almost fell.

"Give me my glass."

Maxime handed her another glass filled with soda. "Drink that."

Angie did not realize that the inside of the glass was not an alcoholic beverage but a soda. She drank it all at once and was surprised to feel the sensation of the soda bubbles on her tongue.

"What the hell?" Angie exclaimed in annoyance.

Maxime smiled amusedly. "Just drink the soda. You're not allowed to drink liquor in public."

"What? You can't tell me that!"

Maxime looked deeply into Angie's eyes. "Did you forget our agreement?"

Angie was silent. She had worked so hard to get this agreement with Maxime. She had even come close to death just for recklessly following him. If she ignored Maxime's orders, then everything would be lost. This was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity. She would not be able to live in peace before defeating the newspaper company that had arbitrarily fired her.

An irritated Angie snatched the soda bottle from the hostess serving Maxime. She quickly drank the soda straight from the bottle. Maxime, who saw Angie's sullen face, just chuckled softly.

"Ridiculous." He muttered under his breath.

"Let's go home."

Angie looked up when she heard Rai's voice, who suddenly came to Maxime's table. His friend's face looked annoyed and unfriendly.

"In a minute, Rai."

"Now."

"But I-"

Angie's arm was pulled forcefully by Rai until the woman stood up from her seat. Rai was just about to pull Angie away, but Angie's other arm was held back by Maxime.

"Let go of Angie's hand," Rai hissed.

Maxime laughed mockingly. "She's with me."

Angie sighed. The other patrons began to glance at them and wonder what was going on. It was unusual for Rai to behave like that. Normally, he did not really care if Angie approached any man.

"Let's go, Angie." Rai pulled Angie's hand tighter.

"Wait, Rai-"

Before Angie could be drawn in further, Maxime had already pulled her waist and grinned sarcastically at Rai.

***