With the invitations in hand, the two entered the gala smoothly. An air of extravagance assaulted both Sean and Gia's noses the moment they stepped in. A few rich ladies and gentlemen floated by the place dressed to the blues. They had their masks on so it was pretty difficult to tell who was who. Many reporters stood outside madly flashing their cameras in an attempt to capture something juicy.
For some reason, almost everyone had their eyes on them ever since they stepped foot inside the ballroom. The stares were so hard that Gia felt a little uncomfortable. She unknowingly dug her fingers too deep into Sean's skin. He felt a tingling sensation and looked over. When he saw hat even her breathing was becoming labored from the tension, he reassured her slowly, "Relax, they are staring because you look too good"
Gia looked over slightly, her brow suddenly twitched. She had known Sean for a few weeks already and this was the very first time she heard something of the sort coming out of his mouth.
Everyone in the gala knew Director Han and also knew of his behavior of changing women like clothes so it was not a rare sight to see him with a rare beauty at a gala like this. Right now Sean was acting as him at the moment and with the constant glares, he felt that he was helping someone else carry the burden for his sins.
The gala proceeded smoothly and the dance floor had no scarcity of bodies swaying left and right. Both Gia and Sean had separated at some point and both were looking around, trying to find anything suspicious with the environment they were in. So far they had not seen the subject of their interest so they pretended as if they were enjoying the party.
Gia was just about to go over to Sean's when a hand suddenly reached out and held her shoulder scaring her witless. Her breathing almost stopped for a second but she collected her thoughts and turned around stiffly. The person who had stopped her was a man and he was quite an old one just based on the saggy skin on his hands alone. His face was covered with the mask so she did not see his face clearly.
"Hello, may I help you?" Gia asked. The discomfort did not show on her body but it was different from her voice which was slightly shaky. Before she turned around, her thoughts had already conjured the different possibilities of who had stopped her. Her thought alone brought her fear, hence the shaky voice.
The man smiled a little, beckoning her to get closer. Gia did get closer and in a single minute, she started regretting it. It looked like being a pervert does not fade away with age; it just gets finer like wine. She remembered her mother always telling her about how old age makes one wiser, but staring at the old fart standing in front of her, she really wanted to slam her foot into that dirty mouth of his.
The words the old man said were, ' I especially love the way that dress is wrapped around your behind, why don't you let me get a little taste of it when the gala is over. I will pay good money for it'
Gia stayed silent for a while and then revealed a flirtatious smile and asked slightly "What is your name?" The tone was tinted with a hint of playfulness. The man almost went insane staring at those pair of pearly whites. Gia had worn the red dress she had bought earlier which outlined a fine figure perfectly and the mask on her face only covered that pair of alluring eyes.
Her face was covered in light makeup making her shine a little. With this top tier face and magnificent eyes, when she looked over it seemed as though she was staring directly into your soul. The old man felt he was already floating on clouds at the very moment. His chest felt a little hotter and hotter by the second each time he saw that smile. He even said out his name unconsciously as if he was hypnotized.
Gia then chuckled silently but then her face changed serious all of a sudden. She slightly held out her hand and slung it around the man's neck almost hugging him. She tightened her hold significantly and said lightly, "Mr. George, the insides of my soles taste even better, do you want to try?" The playful tone was long gone and what replaced it was dark, like death itself.
The man tried to set himself free from the hold but no matter what he did, the hands would not come off his neck. Gia reminded her politely that this was a gala and he should behave himself, this was when he stopped moving about. To outsiders watching this scene, it was just a little girl trying to hook into a big thigh to climb up the social ladder but the reality of the situation was that the big thigh was currently under immense pressure, already feeling as if he could not breathe at all.
Just when he felt his consciousness slip away, Gia suddenly let go of his neck, threw him a flying kiss and walked away. The whole time he did not dare breathe or cough too loudly. The area around his neck had already become reddish. He massaged the spot then lightly walked away.
Gia sat next to Sean at the side, patiently listening to the small updates the other gave him. Every time a person passed by them, they would pretend to be touchy feely like a real couple. The first few times was hard but they simply took it as acting and went with the flow.
It was getting quite late yet nothing of great importance had been discussed. It was starting to become a real party with people dancing and drinking to their hearts content. Gia had already guessed that the owner of the gala, the true leader behind the Red Dove had not arrived.
Sean looked around and noticed one person who was a little peculiar. He stared at him for a full minute and then sighed in his heart. That person was his uncle. The matter dealing with the tracker had not been dealt with seriously. He had wanted to call and ask but feared that if his uncle really was the one who set it up, their lives would even be in more danger than it already was.
This uncle of his was very meticulous in his planning and although he never said them out loud, Sean always felt that he had shady businesses going around in the dark. This was the person he was very close to growing up but once the maturity hit and the thoughts swirled around his head, he started to keep his distance.
But his uncle was here and they knew each other best. If anything wrong happened, then his identity would be revealed. Gia noticed that something was wrong so he asked the other. Sean mouthed the word 'uncle' to him and in an instant she understood.
It looked like they had to hurry with their plans to slow down the chances of Sean getting discovered but the problem was the owner of the gala was not even here yet. Gia urged Sean to go and hide in the corridors but before he even took a step, the doors of the room suddenly opened and a briskly dressed figure made his way through the room.
The moment he made his way inside, all the guests became deathly silent. Another man walked at the side holding a brownish leather briefcase. Gia eyed the bag like a hawk then thought silently inside her head, 'Subject of interest ah! You have finally showed up'