~Xiang Villa~
The mood in the living room was unsettling. There was a staring battle going on between Raelle and her grandfather. She had just rushed back home last night and this morning, she was given a big present - an announcement of her upcoming marriage.
After seeing that her grandfather was very inflexible regarding this matter, she couldn't help laughing out. There was no sobriety in that laughter. This was rather to show how well she understood her grandfather. Since he couldn't get her to fall in love, he'd choose the next best thing; a relationship she had to be loyal to.
Was it mentioned that Raelle Xiang had been a very loyal person? In fact, she valued loyalty the most. No matter if it was work or a relationship, she'd be wholly devoted to it. That was one emotion, she was willing to invest in. Because according to her, this investment was worthwhile.
"You don't agree?" questioned Grandfather Xiang with a straight face but Raelle could see his despairing implore behind his words. He didn't want her to run from this. He really was serious about this one. He wasn't just trying his luck as he did before with those blind dates. He was very certain this time.
As always, Raelle still couldn't bring herself to say 'no' to this one person. She always thought that her grandfather lost a lot for her sake, so the least she could do for him was to make him happy in any way. If he had been serious about those blind dates, she would have never dared to play those games. But this time, since he was serious, she wouldn't dare to back off either.
Shaking her head, she spoke up, "I just have one question." Grandfather Xiang raised his brow in question and she went on, "Why? Why do you want me to get married?"
Grandfather Xiang operated the controller to wheel his wheelchair close to Raelle's seat and held her hands in his own saying, "You're just born when I held you in my arms. From that day, I only had one wish to bring you everything."
"I know," she replied.
"But I also had another wish to give you a complete family." Raelle's face stiffened when she heard that response. He caressed her face saying, "But I could never do that. I couldn't give you the complete family that you deserved. So, the next best thing I could think of was for you to build your own family, with your husband and your own kids."
Raelle bobbed her head up and down slowly before she opened her mouth to agree, "Okay."
Both Grandfather Xiang and Mu Chenyan were taken aback. Did she just agree? Just like that? Nothing else? They both were in disbelief but Raelle had no time to explain why she agreed to this readily. Because, to her, the reason was still as simple as always; she'd do anything for her grandfather.
She stood up to leave when Mu Chenyan came back to herself and asked, "Don't you want to know about him?"
Raelle stopped and turned around to ask, "Is he handsome?"
Mu Chenyan squinted her eyes at her, "Is that the most important thing?"
Raelle didn't even hesitate before nodding her head, "He should be pleasing to my eyes before anything else. After all, I'm gonna spend my life with him." Mu Chenyan gaped at her in disbelief. "Yanyan, if you're done appreciating me, can you please come and help me with the dress up?"
"Where are you going?" questioned Mu Chenyan.
"I have a new year party to attend tonight," she replied before turning back to make her way towards her room.
Before Mu Chenyan could say anything, Grandfather Xiang stopped her. With a profound look, he said, "I heard Shui Xian is also attending a new year party tonight."
Mu Chenyan instantly understood and nodded her head before following Raelle to help her with her 'dress up'.
....
~Oriental Hotel~
This was Elle's first time attending any kind of party in H Country. Since the time she moved here, she had been solely focused on work. Things like networking had been too troublesome for her. But this time, it was different.
Her thinking was something along the lines of... "I'm on someone else's territory. A lone warrior. If I want to rule this pack of wolves, I first need to blend in their territory and observe my prey. Haste is waste. I'm a patient person. I will take my time before taking over this territory."
She was wearing a red off-shoulder high low evening dress with black lace around the waist. The front of the dress reached just under her knees while the back part was like a flare touching her feet.
Her hair was tied in a beautiful braid and her bright red lipstick stood out the most on her striking features. She showed her invitation card and was given a mask. Raelle's beautiful brows knitted slightly, no one told her this was a masquerade party. However, she found it more interesting because now she could easily lay low and observe everything.
She put on the black lace mask and entered the grand hall. Inside there was a crowd of men and women sitting together or mingling around with drinks in their hands. The wealthy young master had their arms around beautiful women and even men accompanying them! As for those old geezers, even they had young beautiful ladies hanging on their arms. Everyone was either laughing or having a good time making connections.
Her whole body felt uncomfortable in this place but she pushed herself to stay. Her eyes wandered around to look for an inconspicuous seat with a good view. She finally locked on a target!
It wasn't really an unobtrusive corner but there was only one man sitting there with a wine glass in his hand. From what little face she could see of his, she could tell he was looking rather calm. So, without any hesitation, she walked over.
It wasn't just because he was the only person sitting there. It was because she had seen how no one dared to go close to him. Even though he was sitting in between all these flashy people, there seemed to be an invisible between him and other people.
So, she simply became that daring person who sat down beside him and exhaled a long breath saying in a low voice, "It's difficult to find a quiet place around here."
The hall was noisy and no one had really noticed Raelle presence in the beginning. But as soon as she took a seat, it was as if everyone's shocked eyes moved in her direction. She obviously noticed that abnormality but didn't care.
However, when she noticed that the occupant of the seat beside her was also looking at her, she turned around and tucked her lips up as she questioned, "Is this seat taken?"
Raelle: Is this seat taken?
Author: You're supposed to ask that before sitting!
Raelle: So, what if it's taken? I sat down already!
Author: Shameless!
Xian: Give me a chance to say something!
~~~
Well, now there are right next to each other without knowing it.
Let's see how this plays out!
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Shui Xian rarely attended these gatherings or parties. But just for civility, he'd still show up once in a blue moon. Today happened to be that once in a blue moon.
As they say, 'Life may not be the party we hoped for, while we are here, we should dance.'
Shu Xian was exactly following that saying in life. Since he had to interact with people in this circle, then it wasn't harmful to give them face once in a while either. It wasn't much of an effort. Besides, only appearing rarely, he also never stayed till the end. He'd just come to give some face to the host and leave silently.
But who knew one day at one of these parties, she'd wander into his life and occupy the seat right beside him without his permission, daringly without any care as if it rightfully belonged to her from the very beginning.
When Shui Xian noticed that someone sat beside him, his brows raised up inconspicuously in surprise. He knew well about what went on in such parties. But even though he always came alone, no one still dared to come close to him. Especially the ones of the opposite gender. Almost everyone knew about his passionate relationship with his ex-wife. And they all also knew how frigid he became after that passionate relationship fell apart.
Previously, right after his divorce, some ladies had their own ideas and tried to get chummy with him but his coldness might have frozen them to death. Because no one after that even bothered to disturb his peace.
However, today they all witnessed someone taking a seat beside Master Xian and were waiting to see a good show. But they were bound to be disappointed. After all, even though Shui Xian was cold, he had manners. He would never be rude to the fairer sex at least not unless they tried something first.
"Is this seat taken?"
When he heard this question, he took a moment to gaze into the girl's pitch-black eyes. The distinct black and white of her eyes looked dazzling under the lights. He slowly parted his lips and said, "You're already sitting. Why bother questioning now?"
Raelle had to agree, "That's correct. Now that I'm sitting here, the seat belongs to me." She leaned back in her seat and noticed how everyone's eyes were still trained on her. But she was very unfamiliar with these people. It didn't make sense. Why would they be staring at her? Slowly, her brows wrinkled and she looked straight at Shui Xian's side profile.
He was elegantly sipping on his red wine as his amber eyes darted around languidly. He seemed nonchalant but Raelle could tell that he was observing everything. He had a strong presence which meant he won't be a simple character.
This time it was Shui Xian who could feel her piercing gaze stuck to his face. So, he finally questioned, "What are you doing?"
"Enjoying the view," she replied pleasantly.
His head whipped around to look at her with confusion in his eyes, "Enjoying the view?"
Raelle nodded her head, "Enjoying..." she shaped his facial contours from her position with her finger and went on, "The view!" Seeing how his lips pressed into a thin line, she sighed out, "Everyone's eyes are on you. And you're also sitting here like a male god sculpture so I thought maybe, I'm supposed to enjoy this art piece like everyone else."
"Or maybe they are looking at you," he retorted in a calm voice.
"Nope!" was her response. "There are only two possibilities. Either they are looking at you or they are looking at me because I'm sitting with you. Either way, the root cause is, you!"
Shui Xian couldn't refute her words. Even he knew why everyone was looking this way. Even if they were trying to be subtle, it was very obvious. He didn't want to continue the discussion with a stranger but he still told her, "Stop paying them attention and they'll stop paying you any attention."
"Sounds about right," agreed Raelle.
Seeing how the girl beside Master Xian wasn't actually pushed away, the guests started speculating her identity. They actually believed that she was Master Xian's female partner for tonight. Although this idea seemed preposterous, however, they couldn't think of anything else especially when they could see that Master Xian was even talking amiably to the girl beside him.
And since Raelle sat beside Master Xian, soon the servers started treating her like an esteemed guest. Drinks and appetizers were laid out before her in a hurry.
Raelle felt a little amused at this treatment and looked at Shui Xian again.
"Still enjoying the view?" he asked.
"No, now I'm appreciating this view," she replied. Shui Xian raised his brow at her as she went on, "I'm being treated like an distinguished guest, all because I'm sitting beside you. It's making me very curious about your identity."
"You don't know me?" he questioned. Actually, he could already tell that she didn't know him. It was his own very first time seeing her around. Even though she was wearing a mask and he couldn't see her face clearly, she was certainly not someone he would forget easily. So, it was very clear that she wasn't from around here.
Raelle picked up a glass of red wine and swirled it slowly saying, "Now that I'm here. I'll eventually know who you are." She took a small sip of the red wine and tasted it with closed eyes. As she opened her eyes, she sighed out, "This bold fruity taste..." Then her eyes looked at the table full of different foods and picked up a plate, "This looks pretty. Are these wantons?"
"That's crab rangoon," informed Shui Xian.
Raelle looked at him and nodded, "Oh... Don't they all look similar?"
"No," was his sort reply.
Even though she curiously looked at everything on the table just to enhance her knowledge of things around here including food, she didn't actually eat anything. She'd at most take a sip of the wine.
She had no plans of talking to Shui Xian uselessly. And it seemed like he had the same idea because they both were just fine with being silent. Not only they both were perfectly fine with being silent, they also had the same thought; they had just come to look around. In a way, they both had very similar personalities; they were both people of few words.
Raelle was taking in the sight of this party when her cellphone vibrated in her clutch. She took it out and seeing that she received a message from Mu Chenyan, she unlocked the screen. But just as she looked at the content of the message, her lips curled up ever so slightly in delight.
Xian: I'm bored!
Raelle: I knew it! You're indeed boring!
Xian: Look who's talking!
Raelle: (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
~~~
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