"Mr DeLoach, you have picked the sa two numbers for both the physical and virtual winners; could you perhaps tell us the reason for this? Do this numbers hold special significance to you or was that just a... lazy pick?"
"Today is the one year anniversary of my eting the most special person in my life, and this special person gave two gifts. That’s the significance," Ethan explained.
His words cast a wave of speculation amidst the audience and everyone else in the room, except Shikera, Ruthlyn, Raymond, and Cyprian. Snapping her head in Ethan’s direction, Shikera’s eyes were widened in surprise.
Ethan rembered?! He rembered that if they were still married, today could have been their one year wedding anniversary? All of a sudden, she felt like disregarding the presence of the caras and everyone there and jumping into Ethan’s arm. However, she knew there was no way she could do that. The only thing she could do was to end the show as soon as possible so they could get out of here and have their ti to themselves.
"Oh, wow!" she feigned surprise, her eyes brimming with appreciation and love. "That’s so sweet of you. Can we assu that this lucky person is a woman?"
"Yeah, a very beautiful woman at that."
"Wow," Shikera smiled. "She must be so lucky to have you. I bet she’s feeling like the luckiest woman on earth right now."
Ethan held her gaze, his eyes brimming with equal emotions.
"Actually, I’m the one feeling like the luckiest man on earth."
There was silence for the next few seconds, both of them using their eyes to speak to the other, passing the words they couldn’t speak with their mouths across.
Their staring contest would have continued if soone from the audience didn’t shout, "Woah! That’s intense. Even Show Anchor Anderson is shocked!"
Shikera snapped out of her thoughts while Ethan averted his gaze, the forr blinking rapidly to get rid of the tears that had ford in her eyes while the latter’s hands tightened around his knee.
"Whoever our guest is talking about must be bawling her eyes out in happiness right now. Anyway, back to the audience. We will be taking the virtual questions first. User 0001 and User 0002, could you display your questions please?"
The page was refreshed in one minute and a question was displayed.
"Why did you suddenly decide to take off your mask, Mr DeLoach? Will you be getting a favor from Anchor Anderson’s father in return for doing this?" Shikera’s voice faltered as she read it out, masking her true emotions with a polite smile. She directed her gaze to Ethan as if her na wasn’t ntioned in the question, waiting for his answer alongside the others in the room.
Ethan kept his displeasure at the question well hidden from his face.
"If I may ask, aren’t you ant to ask just one question?"
"Uhmmm... Yes, that’s true," Shikera was the one who replied.
"Then I’ll chose one of the questions she asked to answer. The second, and my answer is no," Ethan stated.
Shikera almost smiled at how smart her husband was. He had subtly avoided telling them the reason why he decided to take off his mask, and debunked their assumptions that he was doing this in return for a favor from her dad.
"We will be moving on to the second question... Oh, we have it already." She read from the screen, "Are you married, Mr DeLoach?"
"No," Ethan replied without sparing a second. There was a short pause before he added, "Not yet."
Shikera stared at him for a few seconds, before snapping out of her thoughts and turning to the audience.
"Now to you, Seat number 1, what’s your question?"
A teenage girl was the owner of the seat, and she jumped up to grab the mic imdiately it was extended to her.
"Are you engaged, Mr DeLoach?!" she asked, her excited voice sounding more like a scream than a shout.
Ethan leaned forward, and unlike the way he had been speaking for the past hour and half, his tone softened.
"Your na... Please."
"Rita Zuresh!"
"Alright, Rita. Could I perhaps answer this question in an hour?"
"Yes! Yes, of course. I will—I will wait for the answer," she was almost breathless by the ti she was done speaking. And when the mic was taken from her, she slumped back in her seat.
Shikera chuckled, trying to mask her curiosity, unlike the others in the studio. "Well, that was pretty confusing. Moving on to the last person. Seat number 2, your question?"
The middle aged woman rose to her feet.
"Thank you so much for the opportunity. I uhm... I will be asking on behalf of my daughter. What is your favorite dessert, Mr DeLoach?"
Again, Ethan replied without thinking about it, "Ice cream." He lowered his voice, so that only Shikera and those who strained their ears would hear him, before adding, "Kera flavored."
Shikera blushed furiously, her notepad falling from her hand onto the desk surface.
"Ah, haha," she forced a laugh, her eyes roving around the room to make sure no one else caught that.
But they did. She could see it in their confused gazes and inquisitive eyes.
She cleared her throat, "We will be giving the opportunity to one person among the crew mbers to ask one question. Any—" Before she could conclude her words, Andrew interrupted her,
"I’ll take that. Can I?"
Shikera nodded slowly, her expression slightly unsure. Their CEO could ask any question he wanted to off the cara, right? Why was he hijacking the opportunity that should be passed on to other lower employees?
"Your question, Mr Lane."
"Are you single, Miss Anderson?"
"What?!" Shikera exclaid. "Mr Lane, the questions are to be directed to Mr De—"
This ti, Ethan was the one who interrupted her, "I’m sure he was aware of what the rules were before asking that. So as usual, I will be the one to reply him."
"But..." Shikera tried to argue, but then decided against it at the last minute. She mustered an apologetic smile which she flashed to both Ethan and Andrew, both of whom weren’t paying attention to her.
"She’s not single, Mr Lane," Ethan replied. Without adding any extra information or explanation, he turned to Shikera, "May we continue, Miss Anderson?"
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