Chapter Thirty

A Hint Of Manipulation

Maria’s POV

Ailene and the lady stopped in front of our table and that was when I realized that they were standing arm in arm with pleased smiles on their faces. Smiles that were focused on Sebastian and Keith.

“Hello big brother. Hello Keith” Ailene greeted cheerfully then slightly waved at Helena and I as if she was forced to do that.

“Ailene, what are you doing here?”

“Well, Svetlana accompanied me for the conference and we decided to come check out your restaurant’s menu. It’s been a while since she sampled this gorgeous place.”

“This restaurant belongs to Sebastian as well? Just what does this man not have?” I asked myself quietly then stopped talking when I caught Sebastian staring at me.

“Svetlana accompanied you for this conference?” Sebastian asked then laughed in disbelief before he picked up his menu and perused it as if his sister and the gorgeous lady was not standing there.

“Oh come on, Seb.” The lady spoke up and I raised my brow. It wasn’t her russian accent that pushed ny brow upwards but the way she called Sebastian’s name as if she was inviting him to bed. “You sound like you don’t believe that I would accompany Ai to the conference.”

“Well, that’s good. You can go ahead and pick another table and eat what you want.”

“Nah,nah. This is not the Sebastian I know. The Seb I know would have offered us seats.” Ailene shook her head then half dragged Svetlana to the empty chairs aroud our table and they sat down.

I saw Keith blew out his breath as if exhausted then he rolled his eyes and leaned backwards on his seat.

Sebastian stayed quiet but I could see that he was getting angry, and I felt sorry for him.I haven’t met all of his family members but the only two I have met were so selfish, they didn’t even care about his emotions. All that mattered was all they wanted.

“Guess what, Svetlana. They have the seafood you love so much, on the menu tonight.” Ailene and Svetlena discussed as if they were not aware that they were causing some form of discomfort among the occupants of the table.

My phone buzzed and I checked to see a message from Helena.

Helena: I don't know what this is or what she's trying to do but don't allow her to win this second round as well.

Maria: Got it!

I smiled after I dropped my phone then asked Sebastian. “Have you decided what you want to order?”

He looked up at me in surprise and stayed quiet for a while before he replied. “Yeah, here's mine.”

He showed me the menu from across the table and shifted his chair closer to mine so that I would see better.

Keith and Helena took the cue from us and started having their own conversation.

“Is it just me or are we being ignored on this table? Is that what's going on, Sebastian?” Ailene asked almost petulantly.

“No Ailene, you are just being extra.” Sebastian decided to reply her bluntly. “First of all, who invited you to this table? You walked in, pulled a seat for yourself without asking and expected us to encourage you, nah, not when your behaviour is somewhat foul.”

Immediately when he said the last sentence, Helena snorted in her infamous sneezing style which was a snort but you wouldn't know and would think that she sneezed.

I laughed softly then agreed with Helena who talked about the last sentence that Sebastian made.

‘Somewhat foul? Her behavior is nasty. It's foul.’ I thought to myself.

“I am sorry.” She replied and gave Sebastian a face I suspected had worked magic previously and it did again because Sebastian sighed and said. “It's fine.”

“Thank you.” She replied then turned to me. “Hello Maria, hello Helena. It's nice to meet you too.”

I was surprised for a brief moment but then I caught myself and replied her.

“Your speaking session was good. I enjoyed it. I have a question for you though.” She continued in a surgary sweet voice that made me narrow my eyes at her.

‘She must be up to something.’ I thought to myself.

“Okay, what's your question?” I asked her in a neutral tone.

She leaned forward as if she was about to share some conspiracies. “While you were speaking, I heard some phrases you used that made me wonder if my brother assisted you with your preparation. Tell me please, did he?”

“I prepared it myself and he assisted me with a few corrections. Is there any problem?”

“No!” She clapped her hands in response. “No problem at all. It's so sweet of you, Sebastian. It reminds me of when you would help Svetlana with her presentation.” Then she turned to me and said. “Svetlana is Sebastian's girlfriend, uhhh, I mean ex-girlfriend.”

“Ailene!” Keith exclaimed loudly and Ailene turned to look at him with an innocent expression on her face.

“You're pushing.” Keith simply reprimanded her and she shrugged as if she had done nothing.

“Oh, that's good to know.” I replied in my still neutral voice because I had resolved within me that I would not allow Ailene spoil my mood or my evening.”

I turned towards Sebastian and asked. “Do you like your food? I am really enjoying mine.”

He looked at me with surprise in his face as he replied. He then realized what I had done. I had blocked out Ailene just as I did to his father and my ex family members.

“So Svetlana” Helena spoke up in a sweet voice and I knew immediately that she was up to something on her own.

“What do you do?”

Svetlana forced a smile on her face and I felt sorry for how pinched she looked.

“I am an international model and I work with some of the top brands you aspire to wear.” She replied with a smile.

Helena smiled. “Aspire to wear? I am wearing a dress from one of the top designer brands in the world and you do not recognize it? Maybe the international model means you've travelled to two other countries at most.”

I started laughing hard after Helena's reply but changed it to a cough so that I would not be tagged as rude then gave an excuse. “I'm sorry. The food must have gone in the wrong direction.”

I caught Sebastian staring at me with an amused smile on his face. He knew that my food had gone down just fine.

“Where do you work?” Ailene asked Helena and then turned to me as if she just realized that I was there. “And you too Maria.”

We told her and she nodded her head with a gleam in her eyes.

“Maria, isn't your company the little one that was crashing due to bankruptcy? You started looking for investors?”

I chuckled softly. “ I don't know if you've read the business news recently but my company is not small and far from being bankrupt. If we will look out for investors at all, it will all be for investment purposes.”

Sebastian spoke after I did. “Ailene, If Maria does not know what she is doing with her company as the CEO, there's no way she would have been one of the speakers in this conference.”

“What do you do, Ailene?” Helena asked with a knowing smile on her face.

She looked at Helena quietly and when we thought that she would not answer, she quietly replied. “I work for Bolt.”

“In other words, your brother gave you a job?”

Sebastian knew that Ailene would be hurt because all the darts she had thrown this time had come back to pin her but he decided not to do anything about it because she was wrong.

“I want to leave this place.” She said to Svetlana.

I half raised my hand and said. “Oh please, don't leave on our account. Allow me to leave on yours. Then I turned to her brother and asked. Sebastian, let's go check out the wine stand and sample some of them.*

“Yeah, let's do that.” He replied and stood up just as the same time Ailene angrily  stood up and left the table.

Keith and Helena on the other hand, stood up and waved goodbye.  I had an idea but eeiuuww I won't think about this.

“What are you thinking about?”

Marco scratched his beard lightly. “Oh! I am thinking about today. I love your speech session, I love your outfit, and most especially how you both chased my sister by talking about yourselves and how you worked for the positions you both attain now.”