Ren Yuze cursed himself silently as he stood in the middle of the crowd, his smile stretched thin and his cheek aching from the constant forced cheerfulness. He had put up this facade of a gentle, warm persona for so long that people had come to expect it from him. Now, they gathered around him like moths drawn to a flame, oblivious to the growing discomfort beneath his polished smile. He wanted nothing more than to break away, to escape this endless barrage of questions and trivial conversation, and go to his father.
But every time he tried to shift his weight or inch toward the edges of the group, someone would pull him back with yet another compliment. He only could grit his teeth behind the polite mask.
Well, it was his own fault, he thought bitterly.
