Stella's mind reeled as she stood frozen, watching Apollo walk away. She couldn't understand what had just happened. Why had she kissed him back? Her thoughts were a whirlwind of bewilderment. She had never bestowed kisses upon anyone willingly, and yet the fact that she had relished the moment left her heart pounding wildly.
Who was this man who had managed to awaken such a flurry of emotions within her?
"Hey," Stella managed to respond, her voice barely above a whisper. She turned to find Margaret standing beside her, and with a determined effort, she quickly regained her composure.
"How was your dance with Aaron?" she inquired, her voice catching slightly.
Margaret sighed. "It was alright. I was blushing like crazy," she admitted with a smirk.
Margaret's keen gaze met Stella's, noticing the slight discomfort etched on her face. "You look uncomfortable. Why?" she asked with concern. At the mere thought of her passionate kiss with Apollo, a blush crept up Stella's cheeks.
Margaret's expression shifted from confusion to surprise as Stella whispered her confession. "We kissed," Stella said, her voice barely audible. She was so embarrassed that she buried her face in her hands.
Margaret's initial shock quickly gave way to a sly, victorious grin. Her eyes widened with astonishment before transforming into a mischievous smirk.
Stella looked up at her. "Don't give me that look please!"Stella whined. Margaret cleared up her throat.
"And I thought the great Stella Cruze, sole heiress of the Cruze Empire would never fall in love "Margret teased with a giggle.
"I'm not in love!"Stella snapped at Margaret causing her to raise her hand in surrender.
"Last question, I promise."Margret said. Stella turned to her. "Did you kiss back?"Margaret asked and Stella flushed.
"Shut up!"she retorted causing Margaret to giggle.
"Can I have everyone's attention?" They all turned to see Aurora holding the microphone and a glass of champagne.
"As you all can see, the party is coming to an end. So without further ado, I'll call on my husband, Lucus Dunn,the founder of the Dunn Empire."Aurora said and the crowd give Lucus Dunn a round of applause as he mounted the stage gingerly.
"Good day to you all.Thank you for coming here today but most importantly, thank you for collaborating with Dunn industries."The Don's cold and weak voice issued attention anyway.
"Let's raise a toast,"He continued "for our collaboration."Saying this,Lucus Dunn lifted his cup and the crowd followed.
"Now, as you can all observe,we have different business partners as compared to last year's business party. So a big welcome to all of our new partners."
And again, the crowd gave round of applause.
"Um ... Aurora, call for Apollo and Aaron."The Don said and Aurora nodded obediently.
"Every business partner knows that for about four years now, the Dunn Root and Dunn Square have been separated. We are all aware that these are the two main companies under the Dunn empire and all mini companies fall under these two. So, I would like to thank my two sons; Aaron Dunn and Apollo Dunn."The Don said.
Stella Cruze listened, carefully absorbing the information she just got.
From the look of things from her point of view, the Dunn brothers were competing with who would be able to work with her .
Stella smirked. Sadly, she was not going to accept any of there proposals. She has already counted this party as part of her worse decisions.
Apollo and Aaron then mounted the stage and stood next to their father on both sides. "These are my boys who always take care of my Empire and today, Aaron has impressed me a bit.He invited Stella Cruze." Apollo frowned as Lucus Dunn praised his brother.
The spotlight was now on Stella and she confidently wore a smile and waved her fingers at her viewers.
"Yes . We're looking forward to partnership ."The Don said and with a nod, he left the stage.
Stella gathered all the information she got from Lucus Dunn and smirked.
It looked like these brothers were on a mission.
She was ready to play along.