The Billionaire’s Contract Girlfriend

The afternoon Adrian noticed Lina for the first time, she was arguing with a customer. Lina was wearing the tight red uniform the restaurant insisted their waitresses wear—cheap, short, and far too revealing. The man in front of her was a customer from Kaizawa. He had been nitpicking for nearly twenty minutes. “Sir,” Lina said flatly, “I’ve explained this several times. We serve spicy skewers here. What you want isn’t on the menu.” The man barely listened. His eyes kept drifting to her chest. Lina knew exactly what kind of uniform she was wearing. The fabric was thin and cheap, and the dress was cut much shorter than necessary. The restaurant had been struggling ever since a new Asian restaurant opened next door. The new place had elegant lighting, polished stone floors, and expensive designer chairs. The owner even bragged that his grandmother had once cooked for royal families. Compared to that place, Lina’s restaurant looked painfully ordinary. Ordinary lights. Ordinary tables. And an ordinary boss who had spent ten years working in a university cafeteria. To attract customers, the boss had decided the waitresses should dress in a uniform designed to look exotic. Which meant Lina now had to wear this ridiculous red uniform—and even put her hair into two buns. The Kaizawa customer leaned closer, the smell of alcohol heavy on his breath. He stared openly at her legs. Then he leaned even closer, as if trying to smell the perfume on her neck. Lina resisted the urge to punch him. “Sorry,” she said. “We don’t have what you want.” The man suddenly reached out and tried to lift her chin. “Maybe,” he said with a suggestive smile, “you could offer me some… extra service.” That was it. Lina snapped the menu shut. And slapped him. The sound echoed across the dining room. The man shouted something angrily in Kaizawan. The boss rushed over immediately, bowing repeatedly while apologizing in broken English. Lina rubbed her temples, already developing a headache. While the restaurant descended into chaos, she glanced absent-mindedly toward the glass window. Outside, a tall blond man stood quietly. Watching everything. Their eyes didn’t meet. The boss suddenly shouted for Lina to apologize. “Apologize now!” Lina snapped something in her native language. The boss quickly translated: “She says she’s very sorry.” The Kaizawa customer was still furious. “Is that how you apologize here?” Lina crossed her arms. The boss hurriedly escorted the man out while apologizing again and again. After the door finally closed, the boss turned back to Lina. “You’ve got guts, Lina.” “Your weekly bonus is gone.” The boss scolded her for a long time. But before Lina left for the day, he still counted out a thick stack of cash and pushed it into her hand. “You’re lucky I’m closing this place soon,” he sighed. “If this keeps happening, I won’t be able to protect you anymore.” He glanced around the empty restaurant and shook his head. “Business is getting harder every year. In Eisenland, the big corporations control everything.” After complaining for a while, he picked up a newspaper from the counter. Then he snorted. “Some people really are born lucky.” The afternoon was slow, with almost no customers. Out of boredom, Lina picked up the newspaper and read the article he had been talking about. It was about the sole heir of the Falkner Group officially taking over the company. The Falkner Group was one of the most powerful financial institutions in the world. Its assets exceeded 998 billion euros, and it practically controlled half of Eisenland’s banking industry. The sole heir to such an empire. Just thinking about it made people jealous. The boss finished complaining and packed some unsold food into a takeaway box. “Take this,” he said, handing it to her. “Eat it on your way home.” Then he looked at her and sighed again. “You’re just a young girl. Why come all the way here alone to study?” Lina knew the restaurant would close soon. The boss was planning to return to his home country. It had been six months since Lina arrived in Aster City. She was studying at a public university in Eisenland. The tuition here wasn’t nearly as expensive as universities in Britain or the United States. Students only needed to pay a small administrative fee each semester—about fifty-eight euros. But for someone completely on her own, even daily living expenses were a heavy burden. Because of a small mistake during the application process, Lina had failed to secure a room in the public student dormitory. Instead, she had to rent a tiny apartment through a housing agency. The rent was 350 euros a month, and the soundproofing was terrible. When the people upstairs threw parties, it sounded like the ceiling might collapse. Lina never complained. If anyone complained, it was the woman next door. Whenever the upstairs party got too loud, the woman would storm upstairs and bang on the door. Apparently the noise was bad for her business. Living between drunken parties and late-night noises, Lina had somehow survived six months in this city. By the sixth month, the small eastern-style restaurant where Lina worked could no longer stay open. The business had been losing money for too long. Before returning to his home country, the owner pulled a few strings and helped Lina find another job as a waitress at an upscale restaurant. The new place was a fashionable Italian restaurant located near the Regent Royal Theater. The interior was decorated in dark-toned wood, elegant and understated, and it was widely considered one of the finest restaurants in Aster City. The price of a single main course there was almost equal to Lina’s entire semester fee at the university. Thanks to the introduction from the owner’s friend, Lina quickly got used to the new job. Less than a week after she started working there, she was already entrusted with receiving and serving distinguished guests. The first VIP group Lina was assigned to serve included a famous singer named Mia, along with several wealthy businessmen from Eisenland. The moment they entered the restaurant, Lina noticed one particular guest among them. He was tall. Very tall. But what drew Lina’s attention most was his hair. The color was beautiful. Unlike the common light brown hair seen among many people in Eisenland, his hair shone like sunlight—bright and golden, almost like molten gold. Lina only glanced at him once before lowering her eyes. She approached respectfully and began serving the guests champagne imported from Lombardy. Among everyone seated at the table, it was obvious that the blond man was the central figure. The subtle respect in the others’ voices when they spoke to him. The direction of their glances when they laughed. The careful tone in their conversations. And most of all, Mia’s obvious attentiveness toward him. Mia toyed with a delicate folding fan. Its ribs were made of ivory, and the fan itself was covered with fine lace. It looked exquisite—most likely a prop she had used during her performance earlier that evening. She smiled at the blond man repeatedly, speaking to him in a soft, melodious voice like a nightingale, clearly trying to flirt. But the blond man did not seem particularly impressed by her little performance. When Mia leaned forward, trying to pour wine for him herself, the blond man instead turned his gaze toward Lina. That was when Lina noticed his eyes. They were green. A deep, forest-like green. Beautiful. “You there,” the blond man called. “Could you pour me a glass of wine?” “Of course.” Lina responded immediately and stepped forward, filling his glass. After pouring the wine, she expected to leave. But the blond man did not dismiss her. Instead, he smiled slightly and began chatting with her. “How long have you worked here?” “One week,” Lina answered. “Oh?” A trace of amusement flickered in his green eyes. “Not bad.” Mia suddenly snapped her fan shut. “Adrian,” she said lightly, “what are you talking to her about?” Her fox-like eyes shifted toward Lina. “And where is the white wine I ordered?” she added coldly. “I’m paying good money here, not to watch you chat with the staff.” “I’m sorry,” Lina said quickly. She turned and went to the kitchen to fetch the wine. However, before she could bring it back to the table, the restaurant manager stopped her. He looked embarrassed as he spoke. “Miss Mia has made a complaint.” He hesitated for a moment before continuing. “So… you won’t be responsible for serving that table tonight.” Just like that, Lina lost a very generous tip. That night, Lina returned to her cheap apartment. The people upstairs were still making noise, shouting and laughing as if the night would never end. From the neighboring room came the constant, unmistakable sounds of the woman next door working. Lina pulled the blanket over her head. Then she took out her phone and checked her savings. After doing the math, she let out a quiet sigh. She was poor. Painfully poor. At this rate, she would probably need to take on another job just to cover her daily expenses. With a weary expression, Lina opened i********: and started scrolling. Soon she saw her stepsister’s latest post. The photo showed a luxurious hotel suite. Soft fabrics draped across the furniture, antique decorations everywhere, an expensive Persian carpet spread across the floor beneath a sparkling chandelier. Her stepsister was lying lazily on a velvet sofa, her legs crossed elegantly. The comment section was filled with excited messages. “So beautiful!!!” “Goddess!” “Our rich princess!” Lina stared at the screen for a moment. A goddess? A rich princess? Without a change of expression, Lina closed the app. Just an illegitimate daughter who had taken her mother’s inheritance, spent it freely, and rebuilt her face with cosmetic surgery. That was all. The next day, when Lina returned to the restaurant for work, she was stopped at the entrance. The manager looked uncomfortable as he spoke to her. “Miss Mia filed a serious complaint,” he said. “Because of that… we can’t keep you here anymore.” All because Lina had exchanged a few words with the blond man named Adrian. The restaurant wasn’t willing to lose a valued customer like Mia. So Lina was the one who had to leave. Fortunately, the restaurant still paid her three months’ salary as compensation. It was, at least, a decent gesture. Lina didn’t argue. She simply took the money and left. On the way home, she stopped at a chain fast-food restaurant and bought a spicy meat sandwich and a large cola. She sat down on a bench beside a fountain in the park and began to eat. Inside her backpack was a magazine. On the cover was a familiar face. The blond man from the restaurant. Adrian. He was smiling at the camera. So he really was someone important. Lina took another bite of her sandwich and opened the magazine, flipping to the interview section. His full name was Adrian Falkner. The Falkner banking empire—one of the powerful financial groups that had long controlled the economic lifeline of Eisenland—was his family’s business. Even today, the Falkner Group still held a dominant position in the country’s financial system. Its only heir. Lina stared at the page for a moment. What a lucky man. Two weeks ago, she had even told her boss how enviable that heir’s life must be. She just hadn’t expected that the man would not only be rich… but also tall, handsome, and painfully attractive. Lina read the entire interview carefully before closing the magazine. Then she let out a long sigh. Just as the sigh left her lips, a man’s polite voice sounded above her. “Why are you sighing like that, miss?” Lina was busy chewing her sandwich and answered absent-mindedly. “Nothing.” The man chuckled softly. It was a pleasant sound. “Did you just lose your job?” he continued. “You don’t seem very happy.” Lina frowned slightly. She had grown tired of men like this—strangers who tried to strike up conversations for no reason. They talked too much and wasted her time. She looked up impatiently. “What the hell does that have to do with—” Her words stopped halfway. In front of her stood a man with hair as bright as gold and eyes as green as a forest. No. In the sunlight, those green eyes looked even more vivid—like polished emeralds. The face she had just seen in the magazine was now standing right in front of her. He looked even more striking in person. More handsome. Adrian smiled at her. “I’m sorry,” he said calmly. “What did you just say? I didn’t quite catch that.” Lina immediately straightened her posture. Her voice became perfectly polite. “I said… thank you for your concern.”