Braelyn’s POV
Stock market that was what they were ant to get. All the choice were selected based on the work environnt.
Lucien’s eyes stayed fixed on Alia with that sa unreadable, almost bored expression while she flailed through her gestures.
At first she tried to remain elegant about it. She pointed upward, then scribbled in the air, then mid numbers with her fingers. Her movents were restrained, stiff from the tight evening dress that clearly was not designed for charades. The slit barely allowed her to step properly, let alone act anything out.
"Ti is running, sir, please guess," the host encouraged lightly as ti went back. I could hold back my smile as I watched. Lucien was a natural asshole.
Lucien tilted his head as if genuinely thinking. "Cooking?" he said flatly. A ripple of laughter burst from the audience. That was completely absurd. My eyes twitched now I was feeling sorry for Alia..
Her face turned red. On second thought I take that back.
Alia’s jaw tightened. "No," she mouthed sharply, exaggerating her gestures even more, mimicking trading and pointing to imaginary screens.
Lucien frowned harder. "Dancing class?" he said sounding genuinely confused like he had no idea what she was doing.
The laughter grew louder this ti, several people openly covering their mouths.
I pressed my lips together, already feeling the second-hand embarrassnt crawl up my spine. The buzzer rang.
"Switch roles please," the host announced cheerfully. "Let us see the gentleman demonstrate now."
Alia exhaled sharply and took her place with her back to the screen while Lucien stepped forward. The image flashed.
Even from where I stood, it was painfully obvious, a Business eting easier than the first image.
Lucien glanced at it, then at Alia, and proceeded to make the most ridiculous series of gestures I had ever witnessed in my life. He spun once, tapped his wrist, pretended to fall asleep, then pointed randomly at the ceiling like he had forgotten what planet he was on.
The crowd completely lost it. To be frank it felt like a business eting a place where you fall asleep. My charade partner, the guy from HR couldn’t hold back his laugh. His red turned red from fighting his laugh .
Alia’s voice ca out strained. " Office? Work? Presentation? Interview?" she called multiple answers.
Lucien shrugged mid-gesture and deliberately made it worse, now pretending to juggle invisible balls. Lucien Volkov was the most petty person I knew. He was ready to embarass himself just to make Alia look bad while acting so innocent about it
By the third round her composure was cracking. "Lucien, please let’s win this," she hissed under her breath, frustration bleeding through her smile. I could faintly hear her from where I stood. The host even gave her a pitiful look. My gaze drifted to Natalia who was clearly uncomfortable watching all this.
"I am trying," he replied calmly, his tone perfectly innocent while doing sothing that looked suspiciously like rowing a boat.
Even Raphael had a faint smile tugging at his lips, and for the first ti that night, he and Lucien seed silently aligned in their mutual refusal to help her. The buzzer sounded again.
"And that concludes their round," the host declared. "Let us see the score..."
A dramatic pause followed while the screen updated.
"Zero." the host announced but it wasn’t surprising. Alia face was pale but she kept her elegant smile.
The audience erupted, this ti no one bothering to hide their laughter. The louder the smile the paler her face grew. Lucien even gave her a apology. "I am sorry we lost. I am bad at charades.." he calmly said with the sa innocent tone.
Alia almost exploded but she couldn’t break character. She didn’t even clench her fist but the murderous that flashed her eyes were real. "It’s just a ga..no need to be so deep." She said sweetly consoling Lucien like he was the one who was the victim.
Shaless Lucien accepted it. "Yeah it’s just a ga." He humd as the control laughter from the audience rang.
The host tried to control the audience. "Still, everyone please give them a big round of applause for the effort," the host continued brightly.
The applause thundered through the hall, but it felt painfully close to mockery. Alia’s smile was frozen. She was humiliated in a way I had never seen before.
Lucien simply nodded once like nothing unusual had happened and walked back as if he had just completed a perfectly respectable presentation.
"Next, number five please step forward," the host called, clapping his hands. "Let us see if this team can beat that score."
Raphael and the guest woman stepped out together.
The woman looked nervous at first, wringing her fingers slightly. "I am terrible at this," she whispered to Raphael.
"It is fine," Raphael told her quietly, his voice calm and steady. "Just relax. I will follow your lead." She nodded and took her position. The first image appeared.
Her gestures started awkward and hesitant, and Raphael guessed wrong twice. The buzzer rang. A small groan escaped her. "Sorry." she apologised..
"It is alright," Raphael said evenly. "We will get the next one."
Sothing shifted after that. She loosened up, moving more freely, laughing once when she nearly tripped over her own heel. Raphael watched her carefully, picking up on every clue she gave.
"Conference."
"Correct."
"Contract signing."
"Correct."
"Team building retreat."
"Correct."
I was surprised how they even got the team building retreat. They were pro at this. Raphael loosened up a bit to.
The host practically bounced. "Wonderful teamwork, ladies and gentlen. That makes three correct answers." The applause this ti was loud and genuine.
"And we officially have our winners tonight," the host announced. "Number five team takes the prize."
The woman gasped in disbelief, clapping her hands together before turning to Raphael in pure excitent. She almost threw her arms around him, stopping halfway when she t his sharp, suddenly distant gaze. Raphael’s gaze drifted to and she understood.
In an instant he was no longer her ga partner. He was the cold, unreachable vice chairman again who was married..She awkwardly lowered her arms. "Sorry, sir." she apologised.
That single gesture showed how devoted Raphael was but I did my best not to scoff
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