"Did you like the flowers in here?" Veronica asked, noticing Ace was looking at the flowers but couldn't exactly tell which one he was looking at.
"Yes," Ace answered shortly, not wanting to start a conversation with her.
"Which one tickled your interest?" Veronica asked, since Ace didn't seem to want to have a conversation with her.
"Blue," Ace answered again, cutting their conversation short.
"Love at first sight," Veronica said, mentioning the meaning of the blue flower just to bring something with love into the conversation between the two of them and make him remember that she liked him.
"Hmm," Ace hummed, not wanting to talk to her more than he already had.
On second thought, Ace smirked after it dawned on him what the girl was trying to make him remember, and he intended to make her words backfire.
"Yes, just like how Aria and I fell in love at first sight, first love," Ace said, thinking of what happened back then when he was trying to make Aria fall in love with him, but in the process, he also fell deeply in love with her.
Veronica wanted Ace to remember and know that she fell in love with him at first sight. Suddenly, Veronica heard Ace speak, and she was happy to get him to say something or initiate a conversation. But after she heard what he said, she was at a loss for words.
(Why is everything I said turned to the so-called girl Aria he loves? Ahhh.) Veronica thought.
While Veronica was lost in thought, full of envy, Ace watched her from the side and smirked dangerously when he saw her face, which she kept straight without giving away her expression, her brows drawn close together.
"Oh, is that so?" Veronica said, her heart burning with absolute jealousy.
"Yes, you know she's beautiful, amazing, cheerful, sometimes shy, pretty intelligent, brilliant... she's just too good," Ace said, a smirk still on his face.
Knowing that Veronica loved him and how she looked earlier when he talked about Aria, he knew she wouldn't like him talking about her, so he made a note to speak about Aria to chase her away when she couldn't handle it anymore.
And just as he thought, after a few seconds, Veronica turned around and started making her way back to the hall. Seeing this, Ace asked, "Eh, where are you going?"
"I'm going back, of course. I'm sure you can figure out your way back," Veronica said with a straight face and quickly walked away.
"Hmm," Ace nodded calmly.
Meanwhile, inside the hall where Steve's and Lewis's families were seated, the atmosphere was tense as Carrel spoke up. "I think you shouldn't be thinking about things like marriage now, right? Arranged marriage isn't good for the kids. If we come to an agreement, then we should ask them and know what they have to say about it, shouldn't we?" Carrel advised, asking them lastly.
"Yes, you are right. We should ask them first. We just hope that such a thing doesn't get in between our families and yours, judging from our status and how we get along, you know," Mr. Lewis said, nodding his head.
"Yes, we shouldn't be thinking about this since none of them show interest in the other. In fact, this is their first time meeting," Camila said, and all of them nodded in agreement at the same time.
Seeing them agree like that made Camila frown, but she didn't say anything and just acted as if she liked what they discussed, continuing to chat and smile happily, though the smile was just on her lips, without reaching her heart like earlier.
Now, Veronica walked fast without maintaining her image; she was so pissed that she didn't even think about her image. As she walked, Veronica didn't know when she walked straight into one of the servants of the house who worked as a waiter in serving the guests.
As she crashed into him, everything on the tray he was holding fell to the ground, scattering everywhere. After the sound of glass cups crashing, a loud slap was heard. Veronica slapped the servant without hesitation, using all her energy. The servant held his cheek due to the impact.
"Miss Veronica, I'm sorry. It's my fault. I'll clean it. I'm so sorry," the servant said, holding one of his cheeks with his hand as he bent down to pick up the scattered glass cups and his tray.
Though it wasn't his fault, it was obviously Veronica's. However, he took the blame since he was lower than her in status.
How pitiful.
"Disappear from here at this instance before I strangle you," Veronica said, her tone full of anger.
Quickly, the servant disappeared from her sight in an instant, not wasting any time.
"The damn Aria! I hope we won't meet each other one day, wherever you are," Veronica said, her voice full of malice.
Meanwhile, from the other end of the corridor, Carrel stood with an amused expression on her face as she watched Veronica, the sweet girl they thought. Carrel released the air she didn't know she was holding.
"God, I'm glad I saw this now," she said, relieved that she hadn't agreed to what Alexander and the Lewis couple were thinking.
Now that Veronica had left, Ace looked for a bench in one corner of the garden and sat down, looking at the flowers. When his eyes fell on the blue rose, he smiled as Aria came to mind.
Slowly, he took out his phone and looked at the time. Seeing it wasn't late, Ace dialed Aria's number.
Meanwhile, Aria was lying on her bed like a starfish, hands and legs all spread out, looking at the ceiling of her room with a bored expression. Aria stayed like that for some minutes before sighing and stretching. She got up and went to her study table, sitting down.
Opening her notebook, Aria carefully ran through it for some time, occasionally smiling when she remembered Ace and how he taught her and explained everything.
Just as she stood up, her phone rang, and she quickly walked over to the bed to pick up the call, hoping it was Ace. Aria's eyes lit up as she saw Ace's name, and she quickly picked up with a smile.
"Hello," Aria said with a smile.
From the other end, Ace's smile widened as he heard her soft, sweet voice, which was like a soft acoustic song to his ears.
"How are you doing there?" Ace asked, wanting to know how she was doing.
"I'm good, you?" Aria asked.
"I'm good, but I'm excellent now that I've heard your voice," Ace said, releasing the air in his mouth that he didn't know he was holding.
"How is everything there, and the city you're in? Is it nice? The atmosphere... oh, sorry, I shouldn't ask such things. It's your first night there," Aria said, smiling and sounding apologetic.
On the other hand, Ace's eyebrow raised as he heard her question, but he wasn't one bit offended or thought she was asking too much on his first day there. Instead, his smile turned to a grin.
"I'm glad you asked me such things. The place is nice, especially with my grandparents," Ace answered her question with a smile.
"I'm glad you're good," Aria said, sadness detectable in her tone.