Wendy nodded to Todd, feeling a little apologetic. She then turned and walked into the crowd in search of Michael.
She had no intention to et up with him since she saw Winnie beside him.
But after all that Christian did just now, everyone knew that she was back.
It wouldn’t be right to ignore Michael’s text to ask her to look for him.
Michael watched as Wendy, who was dressed in a pretty blue gown, walked towards him. His solemn expression turned gentle with each step she took.
He didn’t expect her to be back.
And he certainly didn’t expect her in tonight’s party.
If he had known, there was no way that he would bring Winnie along.
But Wendy had not ntioned anything about tonight.
"Hey Wendy!" Christian stopped her with a wine glass on hand.
Michael reacted imdiately. He stepped in between Christian and Wendy, blocking their view of each other.
"All I wanted was to have a drink with the chief designer of HG Enterprise. Surely Mr.
Lucas is not going to stand in the way?" Christian said with a faint smile.
"You are the star for tonight. Don’t force to make a scene here." Michael had no intention of backing off.
Christian shrugged and looked around.
Then as though nothing had happened, he said, "Alright then ..."
He stopped at mid-sentence and paused on purpose.
Suddenly, he took out a ring and put it in front of Wendy. "You better have the ring back," said Christian.
At the ntion of the ring, Wendy’s expression changed.
She looked at Michael worriedly. Would he get the wrong impression?
Michael asked, "What ring?"
Between Michael and Wendy, there could only be one kind of ring - the wedding ring.
"This matter is complex. If you have ti, I can slowly explain it to you," replied Christian.
At this mont, Wendy reached out and snatched over the ring. She snapped at Christian angrily, "Get out of here!"
"Gladly!" Christian walked away with a laugh.
After Christian had left, Michael looked at the ring in Wendy’s hand. It looked familiar. It looked like their wedding ring.
He then noticed there was nothing on her finger.
The other ti when Wendy was back, she was also not wearing her wedding ring.
But she explained that she had simply forgotten to bring along.
And Michael accepted her explanation then.
Apparently, she didn’t forget.
But how did the ring end up with Christian?
"The ring ..." Wendy explained with a sigh. She couldn’t cover it up anymore. "Do you rember that day which was my birthday? Christian ca and claid that he wanted to celebrate my birthday. He even wanted to give a ring as a present and snatched away the one that was on my finger. I obviously didn’t want his ring and so he refused to return mine.
I had thrown away his gift a long ti ago. I didn’t expect him to bring out this wedding ring today. Anyway, I had no intention of getting it back."
"Why didn’t you ntion this to before?" Michael asked with a frown on his face.
"How could I do that? You were in Lake City and I was in Rheinsville City. Besides both of you were on such bad terms. You were injured back then. If I had told you about it, I’m sure you would have gone to settle the scores with Christian. My plan was to tell you that I lost the ring and we can then get a new one. Who knows Christian would bring it out now?"
Michael believed everything Wendy was saying.
But he still found the matter strange.
What exactly did Christian want?
All that he had done so far were not making sense.
He must be planning for sothing.
Michael took the ring from Wendy.
The next thing he did, he threw away the ring. "Forget it, I will buy you a new one."
What’s the point in keeping sothing that was in Christian’s possession for so long?
"You are not angry?" Wendy asked, trying to figure out what he was thinking.
The reason why she didn’t tell him about the incident was because she was afraid that he might blow up.
Besides, even if she had explained herself, Michael might not have believed her.
Michael seed to accept her explanation this ti. This was a surprise to her.
"We are all very clear about what kind of person Christian is." Michael reached out for Wendy’s hand and continued, "I’m definitely on your side."
Wendy felt both relief and guilty at the sa ti.
She should have told Michael earlier.
But anyhow, this matter was over.
Michael smiled at her and asked, "Why didn’t you tell that you are coming back?"
"I wanted to give you a surprise," replied Wendy happily. "So were you surprised to see ?"
"Of course I am," said Michael dotingly. His eyes were filled with love. He continued, "You ca back especially for this party? Are you still going back?"
"What if I tell you that I am still going back?" Wendy teased.
"Well, if you have decided to go back, there is nothing much I can do." Michael shook his head, feeling helpless. "I can’t possibly browbeat you into staying."
Michael was very aware that Wendy was in control of the whole situation.
When she first wanted to leave, Michael was heartbroken. He had tried ans and ways to make her stay but she left anyway.
And now the three months’ deadline was almost up, what could he do if her decision was to leave?
It would just be the sa scenario as three months ago.
Wendy, on the other hand, was quite happy with his answer.
She squeezed his hand a little tighter and said, "I’m not going back anymore."
"Really?" Michael exclaid. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He needed Wendy to confirm it again.
When Wendy nodded her head, Michael could feel his muscles relax.
If they had been alone, Michael would have taken her into his arms and kissed her.
"By the way, I saw that you’ve brought your mum here. Where is she now?" After her loss of mories, Wendy was still not ready to address Winnie as "mother".
It would be disastrous if Winnie were to act up in her current ntal state.
At Wendy’s reminder, Michael turned around and realised that Winnie had disappeared.
His expression dropped as he said, "Let go look for her. She shouldn’t have gone far."
"Let go along with you." Just as they were about to leave, soone ca up.
"Hi, you must be the famous designer, Corrine Swift." A lady in her 40s walked up to Wendy gracefully and did a self-introduction. "I’ve heard so much about you. My company is also in the designing business. I wonder if you have a few minutes for ?"
"I’m sorry. There’s sothing I need to attend to right now," replied Wendy distractingly. Her mind was on finding Winnie.
"It’s okay. I can look for her myself. Go ahead and do what you need to. My mum should still be around. She won’t leave without ," assured Michael.
Actually, Michael had his reservation.
Winnie hated Wendy and had no desire to see her.
It might be better for him to search for her alone.
"Then please let know when you’ve found her." Wendy was still worried.
"Sure." With that, Michael entered into the crowd in search of his mother.
***
Winnie Quinn was no longer in the main lobby.
She had been brought to a private room.
When she saw the closed door, she panicked. She tried opening it while asking, "Where’s Yonina? Didn’t you say you’ve brought here to see her?"
"She is reaching in a mont’s ti. Shall we sit down and wait for her?" A woman, in her 40s, cooed gently. "By the way, you like Yonina very much right?"
Winnie nodded.
"So do you wish for her to beco your daughter-in-law?"
Winnie nodded again.
"Oh dear, then what shall we do? Yonina is about to marry Christian." The woman pretended to look disappointed. "Looks like there is no chance between Michael and Yonina."
"Christian?" Winnie imdiately reacted. She shook her head vehently and shouted, "No way! Yonina cannot marry Christian! She definitely cannot marry him!"
"But the purpose of tonight’s party is to announce their impending marriage," replied the won. "If you really want Yonina to marry Michael, there is only one solution."
"What is it? Tell !" Winnie urged.
"All you need to do is to let Michael drink this. Then Yonina can marry him." The lady brought a wineglass to Winnie.
"That simple?" Winnie asked suspiciously.
The woman nodded but Winnie didn’t seem to buy her story.
It looked like even though she was ntally ill, Winnie still could think. The woman then explained patiently, "I’ve added sothing inside the drink. As soon as Michael drinks this, he will fall head over heels in love with Yonina. Then naturally, they will get married. Do you follow?"
Winnie was still confused but she could understand the part where Michael would marry Yonina.
She asked in a serious tone, "So as long as Michael drinks this wine, he will marry Yonina?"
"That’s right!" The woman smiled and nodded.
Winnie seed to have understood. She took over the wineglass.
On the other side, Michael was searching high and low for Winnie in the main lobby.
But after a few rounds, he still didn’t see her anywhere.
According to her ntal state, she shouldn’t have gone far.
Michael stopped a waiter that was passing by and asked, "Hi, did you see an elderly lady in her 50s? She was wearing a purple gown and her hair was in a bun.
"Are you referring to your mother?" The waiter asked.
Michael nodded.
It was not unusual for the working staff to know Winnie.
After all, all the staff need to be alert and know the who’s who in this party.
They definitely know people like Michael who was one of the VIPs.
Besides, Michael was by Winnie’s side the whole night. After passing them a few tis, they should know who she was.
The waiter pointed to the side and said, "I saw Mrs. Lucas going up the stairs at that side. But I have no idea where exactly she went."
"Thank you so much," Michael expressed his gratitude to him and walked towards the direction he pointed.
This place was a hotel.
Once she went upstairs, it might be harder for him to find her.
There were just too many rooms to check out.
Michael thought he would go up and try his luck. If all else failed, he would simply get the help of the security and check the caras.
To his amazent, the process was quite easy.
After searching for a while, he found Winnie along the corridor on the third floor.
She was holding on to a wineglass and smiling to herself as she walked. She was also muttering sothing under her breath.
Michael went towards her imdiately, relieved to see her. "Mum, where did you run around on your own? Didn’t I tell you to wait for at the sa spot?
"Michael ..."Winnie placed the wineglass in front of him and ordered smilingly, "Here, take a sip. This wine is really nice."
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