She's My Sleeping Pill

"We're facing bankruptcy. I mean, my sister is facing bankruptcy," Artemis answered in a low voice. "I know I shouldn't call you about this, but I really have no idea who else to call. I'm ashamed of calling the Sy family, too."

"And you're not ashamed of calling me?" Cayenne retorted before her brain could put a stop to her mouth.

"I'm sorry. I - "

"So, what do you want me to do?" Cayenne questioned which interrupted Artemis. If she had to be honest, she really wanted to end the call as soon as possible. Unlike Stefan's relationship with Julia and Celestine, Cayenne didn't have any happy memories with the Rule family.

"Can you stop the bankruptcy?"

"Me?" Cayenne scoffed as if she heard the biggest joke in her entire life. "You want me to stop the bankruptcy caused by your sister? I'm not God, you know. I'm not a businesswoman either. I have no idea how to stop a bankruptcy."

Artemis wasn't disheartened by Cayenne's reply. She expected it already, but she knew who exactly could help them. "You can ask your husband to help us."

"And you expect him to help you?"

"We helped him find you."

"So, he should be thankful for what you guys did even though you and your family caused the whole kidnapping thing with the intention of gouging my heart from me to replace what was inside your grandfather. Is that what you are saying? That he owed you something?"

Artemis fell silent.

Stefan came out of the bathroom and noticed how upset his wife was while talking to someone on the phone. "Who are you talking to?"

"It's Arte –," she heard the beeping sound and checked her phone screen. "She ended the call. It was Artemis."

"Artemis?"

"Hn. She asked me for help."

Without telling him what exactly the help was for, Stefan knew. As long as it had something to do with business, he would know everything. "So, what did you say?"

"I didn't promise anything. We just started talking, but she suddenly ended the call when you came out of the bathroom."

Stefan frowned when hearing his wife's response, but he didn't dwell on it. "Ignore them," he said while drying his hair with the towel.

"You know something," Cayenne mumbled with no judgment. She just knew that her husband must have had some knowledge about the issue already. She placed her phone on the bedside table and pulled out the hair dryer to help her husband with his hair. "Is Diana really facing bankruptcy?"

"Hn. When she took over the remaining business of his grandfather, everything was fine. No one really made a fuss against her when she sat as the new chairman. What Old Rule did was his mistake alone and Diana wasn't held responsible for anything."

"Then, what went wrong?"

"Old Rule's enemies were asking for compensation – one after another. One problem led to another until she could no longer cover her grandfather's debts. Even if she sells her company shares and other properties, they won't be enough to pay what Old Rule owed to many people. There were lives involved, too."

"In short, bankruptcy is inevitable for her company this time."

"Yes. Unless she finds someone, who can loan her money to cover all the debts she needed to pay."

"How much would that be?"

"As far as I know, it would be about $20 million."

Cayenne was speechless with her jaw dropping on the floor. She knew that company owners would usually ow someone, like a bank, to finance their growing company, but a whopping $25 million was something she could never imagine.

"Who would lend them that huge amount? That's insane!"

Stefan laughed at his wife's response while watching him through the mirror's reflection. Her expression was fun to watch since she never really involved herself in the business world.

Although she helped him with some of the company projects, she had never tried checking the budgets or seeing the projected profit of the project. Aside from that, when she started her charity foundation, she didn't encounter any problems because Stefan got her back and solved everything for her.

Stefan continued telling his wife about the current situation that Diana was facing.

By the time he finished sharing what he knew, Cayenne was done drying his hair, too.

*

"Did she agree?" Diana asked her sister when Artemis came to her room to return her phone. "Cayenne is soft-hearted, so - "

"She is, yeah," Artemis said sarcastically as she put her hands inside her coat pockets. "But Stefan is not."

"So, she didn't want to help us?"

Artemis didn't know how exactly she should feel toward her sister. She felt like she was talking to the dumbest woman in the world. She couldn't even comprehend how her sister got the confidence to ask for help from someone they hurt before.

"Look, why don't you just give up the company shares?"

"No! I've had my eyes on it ever since I first started working there. I would not allow all my efforts to be wasted because of that old man!"

"But you know it's fruitless. You slowly gain profits, but the debt interest increases rapidly. You better sell everything now to pay what our grandfather owed. I don't want our children and grandchildren to face debt collectors in the future because you fail to solve this issue."

"Seriously?"

"Do I look like I'm joking right now?" Artemis retorted with obvious displeasure on her face.

Diana closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands. She was distraught, but she definitely wanted to keep the company. "I can't. I just can't let go of it. Artemis, I can't survive being poor."

"Cayenne survived it."

"But she's different! She's got Stefan now! She got her vlogging account. She has people who support her!"

"Then, let's start over again. If she can do it, why can't we? Besides, we have our parents now. They found a rewarding job and I can do part-time work, too. We'll be fine without the company and all the other properties."

Artemis thought she was able to convince her sister, but Diana stubbornly refused, "I don't want to."