Bryce’s secretary hurried forward to carry his luggage and draped a coat over his shoulders as he said urgently, "Miss Ricci has been trying to reach you. I was told the engagent banquet has already started. Boss, should we head straight to the hotel?"
Bryce absentmindedly waved him off, his attention fixed on the tablet in his hand as he scrolled through digital docunts and sat down on a nearby chair.
The only tis he looked up were to ask about company matters, which the secretary answered anxiously.
Just then, a commotion erupted in the distance, drawing their attention.
"What’s going on?" Bryce asked.
The secretary gestured for one of the staff to check. Soon after, the man returned.
"It’s Shin Keir. He arrived on his private plane, and the paparazzi are swarming to get photos of him."
Bryce sneered, his irritation only worsening.
A thought suddenly crossed his mind. Rising to his feet, he briskly headed toward the VIP exit and caught up with Shin Keir.
It wasn’t hard to recognize Shin Keir with his towering height and imposing deanor that could command a crowd through sheer presence alone.
"Oh, my younger brother. What a coincidence eting you here," Bryce called out from behind.
Shin’s security team imdiately moved to block him.
"You’ve been working hard lately. Must be difficult trying to please your dear fiancée... does she spend all your hard-earned salary?" Bryce continued aningfully.
Shin gestured for his bodyguards to stand down, and Bryce walked beside him with a chuckle.
"Not in a hurry to attend your own engagent banquet?" Shin asked casually, as though comnting on the weather.
Bryce smiled widely. "I feel honored. Shin Keir actually knows about my engagent."
"Life’s unpredictable. Who knows? This might be your last banquet," Shin replied coldly.
Bryce laughed. "Still upset about last ti? I worry about you... don’t you know? Love-struck fools rarely end well."
Shin "...."
Cara flashes burst nonstop the mont reporters noticed the two together, instantly reminded of the chaos at the economic forum.
Could this be the continuation of that storm?
The paparazzi surged forward, throwing questions at them from every direction, but Shin ignored them completely while Bryce rely smiled and nodded.
"Are you both heading to the engagent banquet? What caused the delay?" one reporter shouted.
Bryce, completely unaware of Calin’s excuse for his absence, answered briefly, "Business as usual. Besides, flight delays aren’t sothing I can control. We should respect the people doing their best under such circumstances."
Then he turned to Shin with a grin. "See you at my engagent, bro."
Shin couldn’t be bothered entertaining him any further and boarded the waiting car without another glance.
--
Back at the banquet, soone hurried over to whisper in Calin’s ear that Bryce had finally landed at the airport and was already on his way.
Relief washed over her, though it wasn’t enough to completely settle her nerves.
Soon, her gaze landed on Yeri, and the calculating glint in her eyes was impossible to hide.
At that mont, the host stepped onto the stage and announced that they would be playing an exclusive interview segnt featuring several guests.
Calin imdiately brightened with excitent as the massive LED screen lit up, showing guests cheerfully answering questions about how they knew Calin and Bryce, along with their impressions of the couple.
After three more guests were interviewed, Calin quietly instructed the staff beside her, "Play the interview with the Zhi family now."
The staff mber swallowed nervously.
Glancing around cautiously, he lowered his voice and said apologetically, "I’m sorry, Miss Ricci, but they weren’t included. According to the team leader, Miss Zhi kept asking too many questions and beca sowhat suspicious, so they didn’t push the interview further."
If not for the crowd surrounding them, Calin’s slap would have already landed across his face, her expression twisted for a brief second before she forcibly suppressed it.
"Suspicious?" she hissed. "Did you useless idiots do sothing to make her suspicious? And even if that happened, couldn’t you co up with a reasonable explanation to make it harder for them to refuse?"
The staff mber could only bow his head in silence.
"The banquet isn’t over yet. I want that exclusive interview with the Zhi family, otherwise I’ll hold you personally responsible for ruining my engagent," Calin said through gritted teeth.
The staff mber hurried away as though fleeing a guillotine.
The mont Calin looked up again, she t Yeri’s gaze and her heart skipped violently.
How long had Yeri been watching? Did soone leak the truth about the interview trap to her?
Yeri rely smiled aningfully and raised her wine glass toward her.
That calm little gesture felt sharper than mockery.
Calin quickly composed herself before gracefully walking toward the Zhi family’s table.
"Congratulations on your engagent, Miss Ricci," Madam Zhi greeted politely, while the others followed suit.
"Thank you for coming. I know everyone here is very busy, especially Yeri," Calin replied in a sweet, delicate tone. "Honestly, I felt terrible imposing on all of you like this."
Just then, her eyes landed on the girl sitting beside Jj Zhi, and her expression flickered ever so slightly.
Yeri, who had not taken her eyes off Calin the entire ti, noticed it imdiately.
Unlike Calin, Anri didn’t bother hiding anything. She enthusiastically stood up and hugged Calin while showering her with complints about her appearance.
"Are you disappointed Brother Shin isn’t here?" Calin asked casually while secretly glancing at Yeri.
This ti, panic flashed across Anri’s face as she kept sneaking nervous looks toward Jj, who was currently chatting with another guest nearby.
"Why would I be disappointed?" Anri laughed awkwardly. "Big Sister Calin, I don’t want Senior Yeri to misunderstand. You know... I was just a fan. But now that he’s engaged, it’s ti for to step back and respect his private life."
Calin ???
"Also..." Anri scratched her cheek awkwardly. "It’s honestly embarrassing when I think about it now. As a fan, I might’ve overstepped my boundaries back then and... uhm... anyway, from now on, I’m no longer a fan of Shin Keir."
Calin: "..."
What was going on?
She clearly rembered Anri being obsessively infatuated with Shin Keir.
During the economic forum incident, Anri had practically caused a disaster behind closed VIP doors, embarrassing her father and offending Shin directly.
And Calin knew Anri’s personality perfectly well: Impulsive, spoiled and too proud. A princess syndro wrapped in luxury brands and unchecked delusion.
There was no way soone like her would back down this easily.
Before Calin could think further, Anri had already hurried away toward Jj Zhi, eagerly asking whether he wanted her to refill his wine glass seeing it empty.
One glance was enough to understand everything. Even a fool could see the feelings written all over her face.
If Anri were a dog, she would probably be wagging her tail hard enough to generate electricity while vibrating with pure joy every ti Jj looked her way.
"Hahaha~"
Yeri’s soft, crystal-clear laughter drifted into Calin’s ears.
It seed Calin had failed to take into account one crucial thing:
Anri was still a teenager. Her temperant was unstable, her emotions fickle, and her interests painfully shallow.
Maybe she really had liked Shin Keir before, but it was rely admiration built on appearances alone. The kind of obsession that burned brightly for a mont before instantly shifting toward soone who fit her "ideal type" even better.
And now, apparently, that target had beco Jj Zhi.
"Yeri seems to be enjoying the banquet," Calin remarked with a strained smile.
Yeri nodded lightly. "Isn’t she sothing? Even I’m surprised."
Calin knew Yeri was referring to Anri. But at the sa ti, it felt as though Yeri was calmly informing her that one of her carefully arranged chess pieces had turned out to be utterly useless.
Only now did Calin begin to realize that perhaps she had underestimated Yeri all along.
Back then, Yeri always carried an innocent and gullible deanor, soft like harmless snowfall drifting in the wind.
But now? That softness felt more like frost concealing razor-thin ice beneath it.
Anger and frustration churned violently inside Calin’s chest as nothing seed to go her way that night.
Just as she was calculating how to wipe that smug expression off Yeri’s face, one of the socialite madams suddenly approached her.
"Calin, why did I hear earlier that Bryce had so kind of problem with his suit?" the rather tactless madam asked curiously.
"Yes," Calin answered smoothly. "But he’ll be ready soon."
The madam frowned while lazily fanning herself with a designer hand fan. "Was the suit specially imported or sothing? I just saw a video of him arriving at the airport saying he had important business to handle."
Calin’s smile froze completely.
The madam continued chatting away, oblivious to the increasingly awkward expressions around her.
In truth, several guests had already seen the airport footage online and were equally confused by Calin’s earlier excuse.
It didn’t take a genius to piece things together.
Calin had clearly been trying to save herself from humiliation.
After all, how embarrassing would it be if everyone discovered that Bryce Gate had prioritized business over his own engagent banquet?
A subtle shift spread through the atmosphere. The sparkling banquet hall suddenly felt less romantic and more like a gossip battlefield.
Calin imdiately sensed sothing was wrong and excused herself at once.
The mont she entered her private backstage lounge, her personal assistant hurriedly inford her of the situation in detail.
Calin’s expression shattered.
"Bryce Gate!" she shrieked, grabbing the nearest object and hurling it across the room.
Crash!
The livestream comnts had already exploded into chaos. If anything, the online audience knew the situation faster than the banquet guests themselves thanks to how quickly dia clips spread across the internet.
"I don’t understand. Didn’t Calin say Bryce only had an issue with his attire? But there’s footage of him at the airport, and he was even seen with Shin Keir. What, was his suit chartered overseas?" one netizen mocked.
"I think Calin’s just too embarrassed to admit her fiancé doesn’t care much about the engagent."
"Insider info: apparently Bryce was barely involved during the planning process."
The comnts flooded endlessly.
--
anwhile, Sergei finally found an opportunity to speak with Saeki, though he couldn’t spot his sister anywhere in the banquet hall.
"Saeki, I thought I saw Natalia with you earlier?" he asked while scanning the crowd.
Saeki rely shrugged. "Hmm, she was here a while ago. No idea where she disappeared to."
"When did she co back to the country?"
"About a month ago," Saeki replied casually.
Sergei froze.
A month?
Natalia had returned that long ago, yet he hadn’t heard a single thing about it. Worse, she hadn’t contacted him even once.
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