Chapter Six

Alice was all set for the party that evening. She was a bit nervous but toughened herself to mingle with the high and mighty. The party took place in the large event hall of the Sander's company and every affluent personality attended.

Alice looked unexpectedly beautiful and grandma Janet applauded her, while Kelvin chose to disagree with his eyes to the fact that the local girl was looking like a beautiful, educated woman. Alice was beside grandma Janet and Kelvin as she was being introduced to every one present.

Alice was struggling to keep up with her company, and to follow up with the light banter from each person they met. The high heels on her feet were killing and she was not comfortable with the too many jewelries she had on her. She was a simple girl born in and brought up with a simple lifestyle. She thought to herself, that it would take forever or even never to get adjusted to the high life of the Sanders.

While Alice and her company were still making their rounds, she caught sight of someone familiar and was stunned, a second frozen in her heart. She blinked away from his direction, distracted and pondering. The reason for Daniel's presence there was the question on her mind. He was the very person she had sworn to herself, to avoid at all cost and she was seeing him in the Sander's company.

Alice thought to herself, that he had a huge nerve to infiltrate a high class party. She was avoiding his gaze and was extremely cautious of his presence. She would feel his gaze every now and then and wished the night would be over.

"Daniel" Alice heard grandma Janet call and raised her face to see Daniel respond from his position.

"Come here" grandma Janet beckoned and Daniel made his way towards them.

Alice could hear the loud thumping of her heart beat. 'So, grandma knows him!' she exclaimed to herself.

"Alice, meet Daniel" Grandma introduced as soon as Daniel got to them.

Alice raised her face and forced a calm smile on her face.

Grandma Janet continued, "He is one very important member of this company. Ever since he joined us, we've been moving from one height to the other" Alice saw the excitement in grandma Janet's face as she continued, "He is our right hand man and also a family. It's just unfortunate that he could not attend your wedding due to some company emergencies" Grandma Janet said.

Daniel smiled at Alice and extended a hand to her, "It's nice to finally meet you Mrs Sander" he said.

"Nice to meet you too" Alice replied and briefly shook his hand.

"He works very close with me and Kelvin" Grandma added and Alice nodded slightly.

Alice then understood how he had known that she was in the cafe that day. He had probably seen her leaving the company and followed her. Alice was still not at complete peace with him. Her previous encounter with him still gave her reasons to doubt him. For all she knew, he could want to use her to lay his hands on the family's properties. She still decided to avoid him.

With Daniel's presence, Kelvin saw a way to get rid of the annoying rounds he had been making with his grandmother and Alice. He politely excused himself and left with Daniel for some very important company discussions as he had told Grandma.

Grandma Janet the turned to Alice and asked, "How are you enjoying the party so far?"

Alice smiled, "It's nice but a bit overwhelming grandma"

Grandma Janet chuckled, "I thought as much. You'll get used to it sweetheart. There's no pressure" Grandma Janet smiled comfortingly. Just then, grandma Janet had to excuse herself to meet with some investors, leaving Alice all to herself.

Before Alice would take a step, she was already surrounded by some ladies. It seemed they were subtly waiting for Alice to be alone to rush her. Alice slowly looked at the five classy ladies and wondered what they wanted with her.

"Hello" One of the ladies greeted with a smile.

Alice smiled back.

"The new member of the Sanders family." Another lady spoke. "How lucky you are!" She said with a smirk.

Alice was beginning to sense something unpleasant about the ladies. "Thank you " she replied politely and made to leave, but the ladies prevented her, obstructing her way.

"You can't just leave, we're still getting to know each other" The first lady spoke again.

"I love your dress" another lady said.

"And her jewelries too" another one said to the former who spoke. They nodded their heads.

"I'm certain that you wouldn't have imagined yourself living this luxurious life being that you are. a village girl" The first lady said, smirking.

Alice was uncomfortable, and just lowered her head, hoping that grandma Janet would come to her rescue.

"Say something to us...." one of the ladies said to Alice, nudging her arm a little.

"That's enough! You're not welcoming at all" Alice heard another voice and looked up to see a pretty lady join them.

"We mean no harm. We're just teasing her a bit" the first lady said.

"Well, she's not comfortable with it. So just leave her alone" the nice lady said, and the ladies left them.

"Thank you" Alice faced the nice lady.

"You don't need to thank me." the lady replied, "and don't mind them, that just how they are" she added.

Alice said nothing.

"I'm Marla" the lady introduced, extending a hand to Alice.

"Nice to meet you" Alice shook her hand. "I'm Alice..."

Marla interrupted her, "Of course, I know who you are. You're the reason for this party" Marla smiled.

"Asides those ladies bothering you, I hope you're enjoying your event?" Marla asked her.

"I think so. It's just a bit overwhelming" Alice sighed with a faint smile.

"You'll get used to it, eventually" Marla said. Alice merely nodded, hoping Marla's words were true.

"You know..." Marla started, "All these class and elegance you're seeing are actually just make believe. Everyone here is trying to impress the other. There is a silent competition going on especially among the women. There are different cliques here and they judge each other's outfits and behaviours." Marla said and Alice listened keenly.

"Every one here is faking it. Even those ladies" Marla referred to the five ladies who had earlier approached Alice, "They all have huge flaws and imperfections they're hiding. So don't let anyone intimidate you or get to you. You may even be surprised that at your level, you are better than them and they're just envious of you". Marla said.

Alice felt a little relieved, "Thank you" she said.

"You don't have to thank me" Marla said and after a brief pause added, "Do you want to escape here and go somewhere more fun?"

"What exactly do you mean by fun?" Alice asked her, being careful of doing anything that would make grandma Janet upset.

"I mean you leave these sea of pretentious rich people and hang out with some people I'd like to introduce you to. I'm sure you'll be comfortable there". Marla explained.

"Okay" Alice agreed and Marla led her out of the grand hall, through the corridors to the roof top of the magnificent building.

It was beautifully designed and decorated. There, Alice could see a glass dining-like table with two benches along its two lengths. There were two people already seated there and Alice recognized one of them to the Daniel, the very same Daniel. There was another man there. Alice quietly followed Marla to the table and sat down beside her, opposite the two men. She was deliberately avoiding Daniel's gaze.

"Gentle men, this is our new boss. Mrs Sander Alice" Marla introduced cheerfully.

"Finally, I get to meet you in person......and without your husband" the other man said, looking towards the entrance for a possible late arrival of Kelvin.

"Kelvin isn't coming" Marla said to him and turned to Alice. "Alice, this is Flynn" she introduced the young man to her.

"Nice to meet you, Flynn" Alice smiled at him.

"Pleasure is all mine" Flynn gestured with a bow of his head.

Marla then turned to introduce Daniel to Alice. "This is Daniel Walter. He is the second grandson of grandma Janet from another son. He is considered to be the right hand man of your family and I think you've met him, right?" Marla asked Alice.

"Yes. Grandma Janet introduced us earlier" Alice said.

"Flynn and I are investors in this company and Daniel is like the second in line to the throne of the Sanders" Marla chuckled lightly.

"Now don't put it that way, Marla" Daniel cautioned Marla jokingly and faced Alice, "It's not true, at all" he smiled freely.

Alice accidentally let out a brief smile to him which he caught before Flynn spoke:

"But she's right, Daniel. You are like Grandma Janet's second grandson. If anything were to happen to Kelvin, you're the next to inherit everything" Flynn laughed. Daniel merely smiled at their somewhat suspicious joke.

"Rumours even have it that you will get something out of the Sander's fortune" Flynn added.

"...And that would be an honour" Daniel replied him with a slight bow.

Alice was just quiet. Her mind was starting to spin negative thoughts about the young man, Daniel. Perhaps that was Daniel's hidden intent, to get rid of Kelvin subtly and just as Flynn has said, become the inheritor of Grandma Janet's fortune.

Daniel stared at her out of the corner of his eyes. He couldn't fathom what was going on in her head but he admired her calmness, which added to her beautiful appearance that evening.

They chatted and had a nice time for that moment on the roof top. Alice felt at ease with them and flowed with them, though she restricted herself a bit because of Daniel. Marla and Flynn were wonderful and humourous beings and Alice spent the better part of that moment laughing and cracking her ribs, an action that gave Daniel series of excitements in his heart.

Soon, they returned to the party for grandma Janet's grand speech where she introduced her daughter in law to the guests and thereafter, signed some shares to Alice, which will still be under her authority till she would hand over everything to Kelvin.

As the party continued, Alice began to feel funny. It was a strange feeling that she could not fathom neither could she control it. She found herself knocking over a waiter's tray and giggling lightly as she saw him covered in food and drinks. She moved away from him, still giggling and then twirled herself, with her hands spread wide, causing minor destructions and inconveniences to those around.

She moved to a man, probably in his late thirties, who was busy with his phone.

"Hello handsome" she flashed her wide smile at him.

The man merely looked at her and returned his gaze to his phone.

"Hmmm" Alice grunted, mimicking the man's straight face. "Why are you grumpy? This is a party loosen up?" She said and then burst into another childish giggle.

As if on cue, Daniel rushed to Alice and with a pretentious smile to the man, whose face was showing little traits of anger, he apologized on her behalf and dragged her away from the crowd, back to the rooftop despite her struggles.

"Leave me alone" Alice threw at him still intoxicated. She yanked her hand away from his grip and staggered back few steps.

"I'll report you to grandma" Alice threaten in what seemed to be amusing to Daniel.

He chuckled, "Why?" he asked.

"'cause you're kidnapping me" Alice replied ignorantly.

Daniel laughed out loud to the surprise of the intoxicated yet alluring lady.

"It's not funny" Alice said and fell on the bench, sitting. She became quiet.

Daniel moved to her and stooped down, "Can you remain here while I go get you something?" he asked her.

"I don't trust you" came Alice's reply.

"Who do you trust?" he asked her

"Grandma Janet" she replied.

"I'll go call Grandma Janet, is that okay?" he asked playing along with her intoxication.

Alice nodded in agreement and then Daniel stood up and left.

Minutes later, Alice was sober after taking a drink to neutralize the effect of the alcohol on her, which Daniel had brought to her. They sat down side by side on the bench.

"My head" Alice moaned in discomfort, placing her hand on her head.

"You'll be fine" Daniel said.

"I don't know.....what happened?" she asked.

"It seems you were given something very strong to drink" Daniel said with a smirk.

"I merely took a glass of fruit juice, though it had an odd taste" Alice said.

"That's because it was laced with something" Daniel said.

Alice turned to him, "how?" she asked

"Never mind. You're better now and no harm is done" Daniel said, wanting to end the matter there.

"Tell me" Alice was persistent, "Who laced my drink?" she asked him.

"It's not in my place to say" Daniel said.

"I want to know" Alice demanded aggressively.

Daniel was not sure how she would react to know that her husband's ex was plotting something evil against her. Anita was subtly present at the party and it was a good thing that Daniel had stumbled into her putting something into the drink and handing it over to the waiter. He was not sure at first till he saw Alice dropping that same empty glass of juice on the tray of the familiar waiter. He followed her and was able to drag her out before she would make a huge mess.

Daniel looked at her Innocent eyes. It was possible that she knew nothing about Anita and he would not want to be the one to cause a problem between her and Kelvin over the sudden existence of Kelvin past relationship. He only planned to tell Kelvin afterwards about it so that he can take actions against her. He had no idea that Kelvin was with Anita in her plans against Alice.

"Were you the one who put something in my drink, So that you can get this access to me?" Alice frowned.

"Of course not" Daniel replied. "I saved you from disgracing yourself and grandma Janet. I should be getting a thank you"

"Really? I'm not buying your lies, Daniel. You laced my drink with whatever....." Alice said

Daniel stopped her, "Why do you see me as a threat? All I've ever done is to save you, even from the beginning" he asked.

Alice was quiet.

"Yes, there were some awkward situations between us but I've not done anything bad to you, have I?" he asked, staring at her.

Alice lowered her gaze, realizing the truth in his words.

"Then who laced my drink with alcohol?" Alice demanded again, "If there's someone out there who hates me, I need to know. I need to be careful" she said.

Daniel sighed. "It was Kevin's ex. Anita".

"I thought as much" Alice replied.