Woman of Intelligence (Book 2 in the series)

Chapter 40

There were some guests in the dining room, having some snacks or avoiding Rowan's speech which had not started yet. None of them liked his speeches. They did not want to hear him only talking about himself. Riya, Samantha, Ying, Zoe, John, Sebastian, Antonio and Benjamin were standing by the food tables. They did not what to choose because there was so much food. Riya kept away from the beef tartar, sushi and sashimi because she did not like raw meat. No matter how beautifully they were plated, she was still not going to eat them. There was also so many canapes on the table. The team decided to have some sushi and sashimi. Riya was the only one looking for something else to eat. Plus, she was on a diet so she had to choose carefully. But Liang would not kill her because it was Christmas. He would let her go off the diet until New Year. Then she could go back to dieting. 

Riya went to the dessert table and chose some mini cakes. There was some savory pies on the other side of the table. Sebastian came by her with some canapes in his plate. He stopped next to her and watched her picking up some snacks. She finished choosing what she wanted to eat. She looked at the front and found Sebastian standing in front of her. He looked at her plate with wide eyes.

"So much you are eating.", he said. 

"This is the amount of food I eat.", she pointed at the snacks she was going to eat. "Plus, I share my food with Samantha, Ying, Zoe and John.", she corrected him and showed him her friends snacks. 

"Oh. For a moment I thought you were going to perform a eating show. I was worried because your stomach will explore.", he was still looking at her plate.

She shook her head while laughing in a low tone. She went to join the others. Sebastian followed behind her. Samantha saw Riya coming towards her. "I see you brought my favorite cheesecake.", she took the passion fruit cheesecake from the plate. 

Ying and Zoe looked at Riya's plate. "Eish Riya, you are the best.", Zoe took one piece of the mini red velvet cheesecake. 

John also came and found a chocolate mousse cake on Riya's plate. He knew it was his so he carefully took it from the plate. "You know us too well.", he said with a smile. 

Ying took his Opera raspberry cake and put it on his plate. "Thank you Riya.", he said in a cute way.

Sebastian looked at Riya's plate and found a rich chocolate cake and a triangular sliced mixed berry cake. 

"See.", she bit the chicken and mushroom tart.

Sebastian looked a bit dumbfounded. "Fine, you win.", he took a bite of the sushi canape. 

"Hey, you mixed berry cake.", she placed the slice on his plate.

He looked at her with a bag smile. "Thank you.", he appreciated it. 

Someone started speaking at the hall and it was Rowan. He was starting to say his two hour speech. The guests decided to stay here and enjoy themselves. The team also decided to stay in the dining room. 

"Thank god I came up with the idea.", Benjamin was proud about what he did. 

Everyone else looked at him. "You knew?", Antonio asked.

"I know that man. As soon as the party starts, the first item must always be his speech then the actually party will start.", he took a bite of the roast potato.

"Clever Dad.", John praised him and tapped his shoulder. 

The guests started clapping when Rowan introduced him to the audience. The team froze while hearing the clapping. After the guests finished clapping, the team continued eating. Rowan had a loud voice. They were hearing the speech from the dining room. So far, Rowan was talking about his qualifications which was the boring part. The team zoned out from the speech and carried on eating. The food was delicious. Samantha and Antonio went for more sushi. For some odd reason, Riya found the hall completely quiet. She could not hear Rowan speaking either. She looked at everyone else and they were busy eating. Something was not right and that was scaring her.