"Ms. Ling, you are here."
Benjamin Bo showed up almost abruptly, interposing himself in between Lily and the reception hall. She regarded him coolly.
"Seems like you are here too, Mr. Bo."
"Of course. I couldn't refuse an invitation from the Tan family now, could I?" Benjamin smiled coldly, and then he glared at me. "I see that you still have yet to take my warning, Mr. Shen."
"Warning?" I chuckled. "Don't you mean threat?"
"Interpret it however you like it, Mr. Shen." Benjamin raised both hands indifferently. "But the fact remains that you are too low of a status and unworthy of being by Ms. Ling's side. She deserves much better. Only a man from a wealthy family and successful at business is compatible with someone of her standing."
"Who are you to decide who is worthy of me?" Lily folded her arms. "Aren't you thinking too highly of yourself, Mr. Bo? Who I choose as my partner is up to me. Who are you to choose for me? You are not my father."
"It's…it's for your own good."
"My good? More like your good. No doubt you will say only you are worthy of me. But isn't that just so you can marry someone from the Ling family and your Bo Corporation can swallow my Ling Conglomerate? Do you think I'm that naïve?"
"Ms. Ling, you think too much." Benjamin coughed and forced a smile. "While it's true that I've been pursuing you, I have no intention of swallowing your family's company."
There was a tremor in his voice and a twitch on his profusely perspiring face as he said that, which made his claim unconvincing. Evidently Lily had found out his true intentions.
"Mr. Bo…"
Another girl clung onto his arm, leaning into him closely while shooting a glare at Lily. Lily returned her hostile gaze evenly, but she stepped back and took my arm – not as desperately and shamelessly as the other girl, but enough to assert that she had no intention of going after Benjamin. The girl tugged at Benjamin's arm.
"What are you doing here, wasting your time with arguing? Why don't we have a dance?"
Benjamin glowered at her before shaking her grip off his arm. He then bowed and extended his hand toward Lily.
"Ms. Ling, if I may have the honor of a dance with you?"
"I'm afraid I'll have to decline. I already promised to dance with Trevor first." Lily smiled and pulled me away, leaving a seething Benjamin behind. The girl who was trying to get his attention clenched her fists when she saw that her beau's attention was focused solely on Lily.
We turned our backs on them, only for Tyson Tan to greet us next. He smiled as he sidled over, more naturally than the blunt Benjamin.
"How are you enjoying the ball so far?" he asked, directing his question at Lily.
"It's enjoyable so far," Lily replied with a nod. "Thank you for inviting us."
"Not at all. I'm hearted to hear that." Tyson chuckled, and then he turned to me, waving his hand as if to shoo me away. And not without an order. "Can you bring me a tray of wine? Make sure to distribute it among the guests."
Lily frowned. "Are you mistaking my partner for your staff? Have you forgotten that he is a guest, and not a subordinate who you can order about?"
"Ah, my mistake." Tyson sounded amused. "He looked so poor and shabby that I mistook him for one of the waiters."
"You…!" Lily bristled, but I placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. She took a deep breath and placed her hand over mine, intertwining our fingers. Meeting Tyson's gaze, she scowled. "It seems that my partner isn't welcome here. Excuse us then, we'll retire early for the night."
"My apologies, I meant no offence." Tyson cast a glance at me, his eyes cold. "I'm sure Mr. Shen is a bighearted person. He won't be petty enough to be insulted over a little joke."
A joke. Right. Whether it was Benjamin or Tyson, they had spent the whole night deriding me in the most condescending manner possible. If this was an urban cultivation story, the protagonist would have punched them and slapped their faces while relying on his plot armor to get him out of the fallout, but I possessed no such convenient thing in reality. If I slapped them, I would be arrested for physical assault. They could put me in jail for something as stupid as that, given the influence and wealth of their families. If I insulted them back, they would kick me out, and I would end up embarrassing Lily as well.
As much as you would have juvenile, childish edge lords who were in their teens screaming immaturely about how spineless, weak and useless I was for not retaliating or fighting back, a true adult was mature enough to not let such insults affect him. Like what I was doing right now. These fuckers were baiting me, trying to provoke an angry response out of me so that they would have an excuse to kick me out or throw me into jail. Or perhaps they were trying to instigate me to leave of my own accord, feeling humiliated and insulted.
I wasn't going to let them get their way. So instead, I smiled.
"Oh, certainly. I'm not as petty as a narrow-minded person who would be stupid enough to mistake a guest for his own staff."
"You…!" Tyson growled. "What did you just call me?"
"Call you?" I feigned innocence. "Mr. Tan, you must be mistaken. I made no direct reference to any particular person at all. I certainly did not mention your name. Why are you so agitated?"
"Perhaps he is feeling guilty?" Lily giggled. Tyson flared, but as expected of a CEO, he drew in a deep breath and calmed down.
"My mistake then," he said, plastering that fake smile on his face again. He extended a hand to Lily. "As the host, may I have the honor of dancing with you, Ms. Ling?"
"Maybe later." Lily held my hand. "I promised to dance with Trevor first. I should fulfil that promise before accepting invitations from other men."
"Is that so?"
Tyson looked as if he was going to argue when another beautiful woman latched onto his arm.
"Tyson!"
"Ugh! Vivian! Get off me!" Tyson tried to shake the sultry woman loose, but she refused to relax her grip on his arm.
"No! You've been ignoring me for so long! Have you forgotten about your childhood sweetheart already? You've refused to answer any of my calls or meet me. It's almost like you're avoiding me!"
"No, that's…" Tyson trailed off, looking uncomfortable.
Vivian then veered her head to glare frostily at Lily. It was clear that she wanted the other lady to back off, not that Lily had any designs on Tyson in the first place. But this Vivian obviously felt threatened by her presence.
"Well then, I'll let you catch up with your childhood sweetheart." Lily sounded like she was enjoying every moment of Tyson's discomfort. She pulled my hand. "Trevor, let's go. Shall we dance?"
"I suck at dancing, though."
"It's okay. It's not as if this is a competition. The point is to have fun."
"Fine."
I sighed and accepted her offer. We joined the rest of the couples on the floor and twirled about. I did my best to follow Lily's movements and avoid stepping on her feet. Even though I probably looked like a fool – especially since several of the other dancers were casting amused stares in my direction and laughing – I at least succeeded on not hurting my partner's feet.
"Good job. For your first time, at least."
Lily rewarded my efforts with a smile and finally let me off. We proceeded toward the buffet table to collect some food. That was the event I looked forward to the most. Filling my stomach took precedence over everything else.
"Oh, isn't that Alicia?"
Lily stopped for a moment and glanced at the other side of the room. She smiled and nodded at me.
"I'll go say hi to my friends. I'll see you later."
"Sure." I nodded and watched Lily leave to meet up with a cute girl at the other side of the room. I spent the rest of the time eating, and then placed the plate on a return tray before heading to the restroom.
On my way out of the restroom, I overheard an interesting conversation round the corner. I couldn't pretend to be a stealth operative because I had been out of the military for over ten years, but I knew how to maintain field discipline. Pressing myself against the wall, I eavesdropped on their conversation.
"Lily Ling, that bitch!"
"How dare she steals Benjamin from me?"
"She's not satisfied with Mr. Bo. She's also trying to steal my Tyson!"
"We have to do something! We must ruin her! Get her involved in a scandal, with another man. So that nobody will touch her again!"
"Yeah! Good idea! Let's spike her drink and push her to one of those old fogeys. Once Mr. Bo and Tyson realize her true colors…what kind of loose woman she is, they will come to their senses and return to us!"
What the fuck?!
"Are you guys serious? Stop deluding yourselves! Even if you succeed in ruining Lily's reputation with a scandal or make Benjamin Bo and Tyson Tan disgusted with her, they are not going to automatically run back into your arms! How the hell did you even come up with that logic?!"
"WHO?!"
Both scheming bitches spun around and rushed toward the corner, trying to see who had yelled at them.
Fortunately, I had already disappeared into the shadows. Watching them from another corner while they frantically searched for the person who snapped at them, I shook my head and quickly snuck away.
I had best keep an eye on Lily to ensure she didn't fall into the bitches' insidious plot.