Hey you guys! I'm so happy that we have all made it this far. Thank you for all the reads, votes and comments and waiting patiently for each chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter too!
Happy reading!😁❤️
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She was meeting him at the courtyard gate once more. Dressed in a deep blue off shoulder dress that hugged her body but fell loosely around her feet, the dress made her look like a mermaid. She had switched to a blue mask this time to match her outfit and was ofcourse wearing blue heels.
As she approached the gate, she saw a limousine parked near it and almost rolled her eyes.
"Go big or go home" seemed to have become Edmond's moto wherever cars were concerned.
Soon enough Edmond emerged from the back seat door of the car and she breathed deeply at the sight of him. Coincidentally he seemed to be having the same reaction on looking at her.
"WOW!" He exclaimed finally.
"Wow yourself!" She replied admiringly. He was wearing a steel grey suit paired with a white shirt and a deep blue tie matched to the colour of her dress. He wore his usual black mask that went superbly with his suit.
"You pulled out all the stops for this event didn't you?" She grinned.
"Of course! Company policy!" He laughed. "Now I finally have a woman on my arm too who is..." He tilted his head cutely to the side. "Quite honestly putting everything else in the shade"
She fake gasped and placed her hand on her chest, "Did you just compliment me? Did I accidentally enter another dimension? What is happening??" She laughed.
He rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah slip of tongue. Won't happen again." He laughed.
She laughed too. "Seriously though. Thank you." She glanced at him.
He looked at her affectionately and smiled.
He opened the back seat door of the limo for her to enter and after she did, he got in from the other side.
"Hey, you're sitting in the back too? Who's driving?"
He pointed at the driver seated in the driver's seat. "Say hi to Tom!"
"Oh wow! Okay." She exclaimed, "Hi Tom."
"Good evening ma'am." He smiled at her though the front mirror.
She smiled back before turning to Edmond and raising her eyebrows in admiration.
He winked at her.
The journey was quite comfortable and Jane thoroughly enjoyed being treated royally. This time it didn't bother her in the least because she knew that Edmond was definitely not doing this for her. He was just acting as his company expected of him and she was simply a happy part of it.
When they arrived at the location, Edmond once again got out and opened the door for her.
"Shall we?" He offered her his arm which she slid her hand into.
"Sure" she smiled. "This doesn't make you even a bit uncomfortable?" She asked as an afterthought.
"What do you think?" He whispered in her ear smile still plastered on his face for the benefit of the countless ladies and gentlemen scattered all around them.
"I think you hate it" she whispered back.
"Bang on!" He whisper screamed in her ear, smile still plastered on his face.
"Don't smile that much, Edmond. You look creepy."
He reduced his smile just a tiny bit, "Better?"
"Much" she chuckled.
"Great" he replied as they walked over to meet everyone.
The great thing about these parties was that everyone was supposed to know everyone else. So the practice was to never take anyone's names while speaking to them. This worked perfectly for Jane and Edmond and it was one of the reasons Edmond knew that taking Jane wouldn't be risky at all.
Jane was thoroughly enjoying being on Edmond's arm. The music was so pleasant and the food so delicious. They enjoyed it to their fullest. They even talked to countless people who patted Edmond on the back for all the new changes he had made at the company and many still who complimented Jane's looks and her occational comments on things she understood. One of the seniors there even poked fun at Edmond about where a loner like him had found a charming girl like her.
As they moved through the crowd Jane spotted a tall, medium build young man making his way towards them. He was good looking in a very obvious way, but Jane didn't like the amount of gel he had put in his hair. There was also a certain cunning, untrustworthy appearance to him even when he smiled that made Jane dislike him even before he spoke.
"Ohhh heyy! My man!" He called out to Edmond and patted him on the back.
Edmond put on a strained smile. "How are you?"
So he didn't like him either then.
"Oh I've never been better. Just like daddy says, a party like this is the best way to meet the right kind of people." He put on a showy posh attitude.
Edmond nodded once.
That's when this man noticed Jane.
"My my! Where did you find this beauty!"
Jane smiled formally.
"Aren't there other people you need to meet?" Edmond bit out. Jane could tell he was holding back some choice words.
The man completely ignored Edmond's comment and continued talking.
"Tell me.." he addressed Edmond once more. "Did you go meet daddy yet?" He cooed condescendingly.
"Not yet. No" Edmond replied curtly.
"Oh my! I think you should." The man gasped dramatically. "You don't want to make him upset now do you?"
Edmond faked a smile again. "Ofcourse not. No one would."
"In the mean while, I'd be delighted to keep your woman company." he winked at her.
Jane struggled to keep her repulsion from showing on her face. She didn't appreciate how this man was speaking to Edmond. What she detested even more was that he thought he could steal her away with his pretentious charm and make Edmond look bad. He didn't even know how to talk respectfully to a woman. Either that or he didn't think he needed to.
Jane held back her comments because she knew that Edmond's reputation was at stake.
She glanced at Edmond but he simply shrugged.
She smirked. This was her ball game now. She had dealt with pricks like these long before Edmond came into the picture.
"Oh you're so sweet!" She exclaimed. "Isn't he adorable?" She spoke to Edmond who frowned at her. "He's trying so hard to be as wonderful as you!" She giggled like a dumb blonde that Edmond had teased her about once.
She saw the man's face fall instantly and she knew she had hit her mark.
"I'm sure you'll succeed eventually." She lightly patted his shoulder and purred. "You're amazing. You really are!" She said sounding as condescending as he had sounded a few moments back. "But until you do, I'm going to stick with the real deal. Alright honey? Bye!" She waved affectionately as she turned to Edmond who was so awestruck he didn't move immediately.
She lightly stirred his arm so he soon came back to his senses and moved away from the crestfallen face of the now-not-so-good-looking man.
He couldn't take his admiration-filled eyes off her for the whole time they walked.
She noticed it quite well but didn't say anything immediately. After a short while though, "Earth to Edmond?" She said finally with a grin plastered on her face.
He shook his head to collect his thoughts, "Man, that was..." He covered his mouth with his hand in shock.
She laughed heartily, "Yeah, you owe me buddy!"
"I owe you big!" He exclaimed.
She laughed even more. "Oh yeah? So how big we talking? Like palace on the beach big or..." She suggested.
"Sure. Whatever you want!" He exclaimed. "I haven't seen him look like that since I came here!"
"Hahahaaah mission accomplished then!"
"Damn that was incredible!" He couldn't control his excitement.
She laughed. "Seriously though, give me something. Why do we hate him so much?"
He nodded, "Why don't you take a guess and I'll tell you if you don't get it?"
"Okayy...so he mentioned something about you meeting 'daddy' " she used air quotes. "So I'm guessing....daddy's powerful..you're smart...he's not. And he envies you for it?"
"Wow! Okay...that's actually pretty great. You've covered most of it." He chuckled. "He's actually below my designation. We used to be at the same level once and him being the son of one of the board members he always thought that he'd get promoted first....which he didn't because he's pretty much useless. He's had it out for me ever since I got promoted and became his superior. Tries to laud his daddy's power over me all the time."
"Ah I see. So what does 'daddy' think about all this?"
"Oh his dad's a vain little man. Doesn't notice all this and doesn't care. He's all about pretentious looks and sucking up to people. Doesn't even really understand much about the customers or our products and services."
"Ah, so that's where he gets it from?" She chuckled refering to the son.
He laughed. "Yeah. I guess."
"Vain you say?" She said suddenly.
"Yeah why?" He glanced at her.
"No reason" she said innocently. "I think we should go meet him." She smiled.
He raised an eyebrow at her but she just kept her smile intact.
He chuckled. "Sure okay."
They walked up to meet the man's dad.
"Good evening sir. I hope you are having a good time?" Edmond walked up to a man quite busy drinking his fill and clinking his glass with countless others.
"Oh yes yes! I'm having a wonderful evening." He slurred. "These fine gentlemen were just telling me about the different ways in which you can drink wine.
"I don't think that's wine, sir." Jane spoke up.
"Oh you're a smart one!" The man laughed. "Have you met my son? I'm sure he'd find you delightful"
Jane didn't skip a beat. "Ofcourse sir. Infact he even asked me to dance." She smiled heartily. "But I had to refuse because...you know..." She contorted her face to express her repulsion.
Edmond raised his eyebrows at her in question. She glanced at him with the ghost of a smile that disappeared as quickly as it had come on.
"What? What??" The man asked, fury evident in his voice even as he tried to soften it.
This man didn't even realise that he was playing right into her hands.
"Oh I'm extremely sorry sir. I didn't mean to upset you. You know, it's not my place to say anyway. You're son is truly delightful. Let us go." She addressed the last part to Edmond.
"No no wait." The man softened his tone. "Tell me. Why didn't you dance with him?"
"Well you know..." She paused for effect. "His attire was....sub-par"
"WHAT?!"
She smiled sadly and nodded at him. She had to control herself so hard to stop herself from laughing.
"And the amount of gel in his hair?" She continued. "Ugh"
The man's eyes were wide with fury once more but this time she knew who it was directed at.
"I knew it! I knew I should never have let him come. Doesn't know how to behave, how to dress." He grumbled. "Excuse me please." He mumbled as he moved away from them to find his son.
Once he was out of ear shot, Jane smirked at Edmond whose eyes were filled with awe once more.
Once they moved away from the crowd into the courtyard which was relatively quieter and less crowded, Jane turned to Edmond.
"But daddy! Please don't send me home! I'll be good I promise!" She mimicked son's mannerisms.
Edmond burst out laughing. "That was good. That was so good!" He exclaimed.
She flipped her hair dramatically and bent over laughing too.
After a few moments though she realised that she was the only one laughing. She looked up to catch Edmond's eyes fixed on her.
She smiled. "Edmond?"
He shook his head. "Yeah? Yeah hi." He said coming out of whatever trance he had gone into.
"Where'd you go?"
"No where. No where" he replied in a slightly jumpy voice.
She frowned. What was going on with him?
"You...um...would like to dance?" He asked.
"Really?" She smiled.
"Of course. You already said no to dancing with a handsome guy for me. So it's the least I can do." He smiled awkwardly.
"Aww. Of course. I'd love to. And just so you know, Edmond, that wasn't handsome. Handsome is trust worthy." She smiled.
She could see that he appreciated the response but didn't mention it. "So like me?" He smirked instead.
She simply shrugged. That didn't need to be put into words to be understood, right?
He looked taken aback. "What no comeback?"
She chuckled, "What comeback? It's true." She said as she slowly turned to face him and gently placed her arms around his neck.
She saw him gulp.
"Hmm" he replied as he softly placed his arms around her waist and they began to sway to the music.
They had been dancing silently for a while, silently enjoying each other's presence.
"This is nice huh?" She asked softly.
"Yeah. Yeah it is." He replied slightly above a whisper.
"Thank you Edmond. Today was amazing."
"Thank you for coming with me." He replied as they continued to sway to the music, in each other's arms.
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La la la. La la..... *Sings and laughs happily *
Please please tell me what you guys thought of what Jane pulled with that guy and his dad!
Also what the heck is going on with Edmond??
Anywho...What did you all think of the chapter?
Let me know in the comments! And don't forget to vote if you liked it.
Thanks!😁❤️