Talindra never knew why but Drelduin had the power to calm her down. One hug from him and her anger, her panic attack would vanish. She always felt safe with him. After all, he was the person who saved her when she needed saving.
"Enough! This is a happy moment for you. Don't let anyone destroy it," said Drelduin and snatched the glass out of her hands.
She stretched her neck and said with all the hate in her bones, "I hate him."
"I know, but you can win with only one opponent at a time," said Drelduin and kissed her forehead.
"Yes, concentrate on him, not your dad, may I ask what he did?" inquired Edhelriel.
"No, you may not," shouted Talindra. Everyone started looking at her. "What? Mind your business," she shouted at everyone else. As everyone was already afraid of her, they looked away from her. They didn't even dare to gossip about her. They were afraid of what she might do if she heard them gossiping.
Drelduin gestured to Edhelriel not to ask that question. She understood and apologized to Talindra, "Sorry I didn't mean to upset you."
Talindra closed her eyes and exhaled loudly through her mouth and calmed herself down. "I am sorry too; I didn't mean to shout at you."
Baraion never removed his gaze from her. He saw that her father went and talked to her. Her happy face turned into an angry face. He understood that something happened between her and her dad. He knew everything about what the problem was between those two. He felt bad for her for a minute but then he felt happy that her happy day too was ruined. Yet his heart ached to look at her gulping drink after drink to calm her nerves. It was lucky that she didn't go into a panic attack.
He knew everything about her life, why she had panic attacks, why she hated her father, why she hated her house. Due to his power, he heard every word of the conversation that happened just now, yet he wanted to get close to her to listen to her voice. He wanted to know what was happening in her life. Did she have a boyfriend or fiancé? No one talked about her personal life except Drelduin and Edhelriel, and he was not privy to the talk.
"Okay, let's get over with the announcements," said Talindra.
"Let's go," said Edhelriel.
"Yes, ma'am," said Drelduin and gave his arms to Edhelriel. She smiled and interlinked her arm with his and they walked to the stage.
Drelduin and Edhelriel climbed on the stage. Edhelriel handed him a microphone.
First Drelduin greeted his guest. "Welcome, all! Welcome! Hope you are enjoying this party. Everything you see here is for you. So, do drink and eat as much as you want, it's free," he winked. The audience laughed at his comment. "As you can see there are two banners. We are not trying to be clever. It's not a hidden message. We just have to share a piece of good news and a piece of bad news with you, well not bad, just sad. Let's start with the first banner, the sad news. The sad news is that two of our important members are leaving us today, phew… finally."
The audience laughed loudly.
"That's why we have the retirement banner. Happy retirement to Mr Galhad Taurak and Mr Airaj Samiul. Let's hear a roar of applause for their hard work and loyalty. We will always remember your superb work ethic." Everyone clapped and hooted for them. Airaj and Galhad came on stage and received honorary plaques that had their names and their years of service engraved on them.
"Okay, okay, don't clap too much they made a lot of money from this company," said Drelduin jokingly. The audience laughed again.
"Let's move on to the second banner, the welcome banner, our piece of good news. And the good news is we are welcoming a member of the new generation to take the place of these old-timers. Let's welcome Talindra Taurak, the administrative manager of the IT and Media Department," announced Drelduin.
Talindra has a smirk on her face. Her eyes were dripping ego. Baraion clenched his fists as she was announced the winner.
Talindra went up on the stage to show her face. People were clapping with fear, no one hooted for her. They didn't want her to get angry. She looked up and for the first time, Baraion's and Talindra's eyes met. She had a devilish smile on her face. Within seconds she looked away from him as if she was not interested in looking at him. That irked him more. He was fuming with anger. If one looked closely, one could see smoke coming out of his ears.
His eyes turned red. His fangs were ready to show. He was so angry that he wanted to tear everyone apart with his fangs. It would feel lovely to drink warm blood for once instead of the frozen blood that he was accustomed to drinking. In that moment he didn't even fear the law, he just wanted to punish someone.
Drelduin handed her the microphone which she took with gusto. Her fingers were wrapped around the mic. "Thank you all for your so-called warm welcome," she mocked everyone. "Remember I will be in this office from now on, not in the Boucherlow Island office. It will be fun working with you," The sarcasm was extremely clearly dripping from her words.
Drelduin immediately snatched the mic from her. "Give me that." He then addressed everyone. "What she means is she is looking forward to working with you all," he lied and tried to handle the situation.
"Absolutely not," murmured Talindra with a full-on grinning face.
"Now the speeches are over, please eat and drink and enjoy the party," announced Drelduin and switched off the microphone.
"What was that?" he asked with concern.
"What?" asked Talindra, innocently.
"Everyone is already afraid of you. Why are you scaring them to death?" inquired Drelduin.
"What did I do?" she batted her eyes at him trying to be innocent.
"Yeah right, you did nothing," said Drelduin, sarcastically.
"Let's go. I need a drink," said Edhelriel.
"Me too," replied Talindra.
"Since when did you start drinking so much? You already downed, I don't know, five glasses of champagne," Drelduin was shocked.
"Why? Do I need your permission to drink?" asked Talindra arrogantly.
"I didn't say that," explained Drelduin.
"What are you saying then?"
"Since when did you start drinking in such a large quantity, such a simple question."
"Since I wanted to," Talindra was condescendingly answering his questions.
"Fine, what do you want?"
"Something strong," Talindra glanced at the party and looked at her father and Baraion.
"Waiter!" called Drelduin.
"Yes, sir," said the waiter after approaching them.
"Get a beer for me, wine for Hel and you?" asked Drelduin to Talindra.
"A scotch," replied Talindra.
"A scotch?" repeated Drelduin as if double-checking with her.