Cordy and John’s eyes met.There seemed to be unspoken emotions in their gazes, yet at the same time, there seemed to be nothing. Silence ensued between them until Jessica spoke up, "Patrick, my dear cousin—a shame that you beat me to a partnership with Cordy!" "Is that so?" Patrick replied, cordial as ever with Jessica."I've been saying that I’d like to partner with her, but never did have the chance," Jessica said, appearing genuinely disappointed. "On the other hand, you seemed to really hit it off with her! It’s left me really upset for a while.""Now, now—you shouldn't overreach, Jessica. Mr. Levine there leads a lot of people and multiple elite businesses. I'm just a startup, so don't snuff me out so soon now," Patrick said, seemingly jokingly as he insulted Jessica's family for their greed. "Come on. We're family, aren't we? What's mine is yours. You have my best wishes in your partnership with Cordy. Johnny, here. Let's drink to their success," Jessica said.She had
Cordy frowned at Patrick, who was grinning nonchalantly. Ultimately, she didn't leave and stood at his side to watch the rich and important people filling the ballroom.Naturally, she saw Noel—who certainly rode a coattail well to be able to attend such a prestigious charity ball.In that sense, the same applied to Cordy, though it was more because of her personal grudge against the host than other reasons.That would be more or less the same in Noel's case, since Jessica was really bringing out her checkbook to buy Noel’s complete allegiance. Suddenly, the lights in the ballroom dimmed while a spotlight illuminated the center of the stage; everyone turned toward it.The emcee walked up above the stage and spoke, "Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Stuart Holdings' annual charity ball! Thank you everyone for making time to attend this honorable occasion despite your busy schedules."The ballroom erupted with thunderous clapping. Anyone who could host such a prestigious event n
Jessica then added, "Now, before the charity auction, I have prepared a little social session for everyone."She certainly gained everyone's attention upon that announcement. Every pair of eyes were on her as she continued, "We’ll be picking ladies present at random and auctioning her first dance for the night. As with other proceeds, proceeds of this dance auction would be donated to the charity organization under Stuart Holdings."The ballroom grew a little restless—it was the first time they had heard of auctioning a dance!But come to think of it, this was a charity ball. The more the proceeds, the better it was. In comparison, how said proceeds were obtained was certainly secondary in importance. Moreover, those who were taking part weren’t here for the auctioned items—they were just donating for the sake of glorifying themselves and their businesses. "Is there any lady who would like to volunteer?" Jessica asked onstage.The ladies below the stage were whispering amongst
Jessica stood above the stage, asking everyone below, "Is Number 62 present in this hall?"In reality, the paddle numbers were arranged before the auction—odd numbers were assigned to men, while even numbers were assigned to women.Cordy Sachs had no idea why that was the case when she received her auction paddle, and simply presumed there would be a lottery or something else. After all, entertainment was necessary to keep things lively at a charity auction, and she realized now that the arrangement was for this mini-event.Patrick obviously knew Cordy's number and teased, "Oh, this truly is destiny!"Cordy shot him a sideways glare. Destiny? She would already disagree when Jessica picked Noel with pinpoint precision for the first number, and had even more reason to after Jessica picked her as well.There were only that many coincidences in the world—Jessica meant to do this, and as the host, she had a million ways to find out the numbers of every person in this ballroom."Numb
After a brief interaction with the crowd, Jessica returned to the topic at hand. "Let's not waste time—we shall now auction the ladies' first dance, starting with Noel."Noel didn’t say no, and smiled shyly as she moved to stand at the front end of the stage. "Please introduce yourself?" Jessica said, passing Noel the mic.Noel appeared charmingly shy even as she took it. "It's my honor to attend tonight's charity ball. It's my first time here too, so it's my good fortune to make everyone's acquaintance. I'm a little nervous now, since I'm not sure what I should say… Anyway, the purpose of this ball is for charity, and I hope everyone will bid for me and become the first donor of the night. Thank you, everyone." She was certainly smart. Knowing that she didn’t have the advantage with Cordy there with them, she emphasized on the charity part, even using the word 'first' to appeal to the men. She was perfectly aware that those present were all amongst the best in their respective
The ballroom was rather silent after Jessica had spoken, with no one raising their paddle.Noel had at first been upset since Cordy’s speech left her humiliated, but seeing this made her happy. It was Cordy’s own fault for playing up her virtue—it would be far more humiliating as a woman if no one made a bid for you!Naturally, as Noel was sneering inwardly, Jessica also felt delighted.After all, she sent instructions beforehand that no one was to bid for Cordy, just to humiliate Cordy.Thus, Jessica was actually surprised that Cordy seemed to have read her mind and gave such a grandiose speech beforehand, so that Cordy wouldn’t look so bad even if no one auctioned for her in the end.In any case, Cordy would still be humiliated regardless—and even more so once word of this got out."Is no one bidding?" Jessica exclaimed in surprise, appearing caught in disbelief.On the other hand, Cordy remained composed—as she had been from the start. It was as if even the world would en
Jessica was extending an olive branch to John, but he didn’t accept it.His indifferent gaze did not change, and his auction paddle was still in the air.Jessica scowled—she had already lowered herself this far! Was John really not going to spare her any dignity at all?!Even as she was crumbling inside, Cordy suddenly exclaimed loudly and clearly, "Two million."John's bid was left stuck in his throat, while everyone turned towards Cordy, not sure why she would bid for herself.Maybe she thought herself worth that much?! Wasn’t she giving herself too much credit?Nonetheless, Cordy continued loudly and clearly, "I'm bidding two million for my first dance." The crowd was left rowdy, stunned by her sudden charisma.She ignored their stares, however, and asked Jessica, "It's not against the rules to bid for myself, right?"Jessica came to her senses right then, since she was also stunned by Cordy's sudden self-bid. She really never played to anyone's tune, did she?Jessica c
Cordy headed outside to the back garden for a breather.She was in a bad mood, and was reluctant to stay in the ballroom. Worst of all, her ankle hurt. She didn’t feel that much pain when she sprained it on the red carpet before, but standing for so long and walking on stage, and then getting off pushed her past her limit of tolerance.She sat on the bench in the back garden, taking off her high heels and hunching over to rub her ankle…when a towering shadow suddenly appeared before her.She blinked, but ultimately looked up to see John, looking down from above. She couldn’t quite see his face against the lights to his rear, but his dark eyes were plainly visible.Cordy turned away, and kept rubbing her ankle.As she did so, a pair of clean, long hands gently raised her foot."Let me go," she said with a flat tone, clearly hostile.John simply ignored her and started rubbing her ankle. Cordy frowned as she withstood the pain, but couldn’t stop herself from snapping, "Joh