章 67: Chapter 67

Ramy opened the door, allowing Joshua to exit the car, followed by Penelope and finally Henry. From the second the PA had got to the door until all three were stood outside the vehicle, multiple camera shutters could already be heard, enough frames between the several journalists and television staff to stitch together a motion picture.

Joshua could not help but take it all in, slightly confused. He knew this was going to be quite a big event. Not only was the environment currently a world-leading discussion but many of the countries influential businesses and corporations had sent their young generation to the seminar and conference in an attempt to appeal to a wider spectrum of the young, globally conscious population. That and improving their own reputations. But he did not expect there to be so many journalists and news anchors present. Nor did he think it was such a high-profile event that anyone would bother to broadcast people entering.

Suddenly he understood why they had been asked to attend, now that he and Henry were in the public eye, it would be weird if they did not start making some official appearances. But the pair had been so busy with the merger that other than the engagement party, the only time they were now in the public eye is whenever the paparazzi managed to find them.

That and it would turn out that both men were more of a shut-in than they would have expected, as only natural for workaholics of their calibre.

Of course, Henry and Joshua, while neither used to so many cameras on them and only bad experiences on the occasions they had been, the two men acted unfazed, keeping up a cool façade. Penelope, on the other hand, was quite used to it now. She was a professional musician that regularly took part in international competitions, even holding the country's pride on her shoulders. She was perfectly at ease with the camera's capturing her every move.

If one were to compare, they would find a subtle difference in how she reacted to the attention compared to the other two, while all of them looked poised and unaffected, the 13-yeaar-old had much more fluidity in her actions. She was not constantly watching how she would move or who she would smile at or even which way to look. When she exited the car, she had lightly brushed down her skirt and adjusted her school blazer before standing straight with perfect posture and showing a youthful smile. She then took three folders from Ramy and held them to her chest before walking between her brothers. She did it all as naturally and mindlessly as drinking a glass of water.

It was not that Henry and Joshua were awkward or stiff – which at this point would not have surprised anyone – but they were overly conscious of everything around them as well as themselves. The two may have master poker faces to the public, but there was not much they could do in terms of their bodily habits when under such heavy attention.

The trio entered the lavishly decorated convention centre, somehow keeping passive faces despite all thinking the same thing: was this all not a little… too fancy? It was not until they entered the a reception hall, away from all the new cameras that the two men relaxed a little.

"And I thought we liked to party," Penelope could not help but comment.

And she was perfectly right, even if their family loved a good party, and almost always went just too close to the edge when they decided to have fun, this conference was too clearly being used as a 'celebration' of sorts. Even the teenager could not help but feel it was all a little too cheap. Out of them, the only one who had come without prior knowledge was Joshua, and even he understood the importance of the topic today. But it seemed like a lot of the nation's 'first-rate' companies had sent their children in to feign care, and those people only seemed to care about the free food.

"Hm, it's not really the best aftertaste," Henry nodded with agreement. As someone who was quite passionate on the topic, seeing all these people uncaringly hanging around made him feel a little bitter. What annoyed him more was that there were so many academic geniuses and pioneers all present, and yet no one seemed to recognise their world-class fame.

"Alright, reel it in before other's notice the sour looks. Even I was pretty shocked at the extent, but we knew what sort of people the other companies would send. Not to mention where high society's interests lie." Joshua's voice was clear, and he seemed to have dismissed the ridiculous approach so many of the others had. However, in reality he had decidedly given up what little hope he had towards the human race right then and there.

Henry looked at his watched and sighed. There was still a good 20 minutes until they would move to the theatre for the seminar.

Penelope looked at her brothers and decided that there was no point in standing around with them. She had seen both socialise before, but today did not feel like their usual crowd, especially for Joshua. She felt that if she stuck around, she would be bored out of her mind while the pair just stand in each other's company. As cute a couple as they were, she wanted to find someone to talk to without being a third wheel.

Of course, the young teen had not noticed that the role of the glaring lightbulb had gone to Joshua. The entire car journey she and Henry had been discussing the conference and shopping.

She scanned her surroundings one more time, starting to wish they had arrived a little later, only to stop with widened eyes. Her jaw dropped a little, the burning gaze making the recipient turn around. It was the upperclassmen she shared a ward with after the fire. Penelope started wondering why she had not immediately noticed him; he was the only other person wearing their school uniform in the hall.

The young man, Reed, felt the intense stare on the back of his head, hesitantly turning. There should not be anyone who disliked him here… right?

Instead, he was met with the youngest Lore sibling, looking at him too intently for his face to not heat up. Who could blame him, who could keep a cool face when such a beauty was looking at them so directly? Had she had been alone, he would have definitely excused himself and gone over, as serious as an event it was, these kinds of things were always better with people you know. However, standing on either side of the 13-year-old was the famous couple that had taken society by a storm.

Henry Reyes seemed friendly enough, looking between Penelope and himself, light amusement on his face. The real issue was Joshua Lore. While in hospital, it had become abundantly clear that both older brothers were heavily protective over Penelope, who was well aware and constantly complained about it, but never doing anything to prevent it. Reed had gotten a good idea on their sibling dynamic.

So, unsurprisingly, Joshua, who had noticed his sister's shift in attention, was now dissecting the poor teenager on the spot.

Seeing all this, he smiled, nodded, and turned back to the slightly boring exchange his tutor was having with some foreign university professor.

Seeing the seeming dismissal, Penelope found her shoulders falling along with her expression. She was aware enough to know why her upperclassmen had not come to her, but she still could not help but feel that perhaps they were not as close as she thought they had gotten in the hospital ward.

Henry held back his laughter at the bundle of cuteness Penelope had become. Clearly someone had a crush of some sort. He never thought the day would come, especially considering his current situation, but he found that perhaps he was quite invested in such puppy love, it made him feel warm and want to smile.

Ah, maybe that is what makes Joshua such an avid romantic.

The blonde man slowly turned to Joshua, finding his smile turning into a mixture of amusement and irritation. He whacked the other man, his eyes flat. "Don't scare him away."

Joshua, "Scare who away? He's just a classmate, who is there to scare?"

Henry sighed again, looking down at Penelope's subtly forlorn expression. In the corner of his eye, he did not miss the male student sneakily glancing back, seemingly clenching his jaw at the expression he saw.

Of course, Joshua did not miss it either, his face donning a frigid smile, looking ready to pop from irritation.