Melinda tried to stifle a laugh as she observed the scene in front of her. Now she saw a new side of Leo. Even though he looked friendly, he would ignore those he didn't like.
To people like Yulia, he acted formal and a bit arrogant.
Melinda couldn't help but recall what her teacher had said, "People who engage in artistic creation are full of arrogance."
However, for this arrogance, if one was qualified then it was admirable. Otherwise, it would turn out as a big joke.
Obviously, Leo was qualified to do that.
Yulia was still unwilling to give up. The party had been packed with guests who were animatedly conversing with one another. After a while, Emily returned to her seat which was reserved next to Queena as soon as she was done entertaining a group of people.
"Everything's going well today," Queena said.
Emily smiled at the woman before seating down. She felt grateful that Queena had reserved her a seat.
"As long as it benefits the poor children," Emily replied. She acted modestly and thanked Queena for saving her a seat.
"I didn't expect that you would auction one of my paintings today."
Despite showing a stoic demeanor, Queena was delighted. She scanned the hall and noticed the envious looks her friends had been giving.
Emily nodded in understanding. "These people know how to identify the value of these things. Your work was able to accumulate a winning bid of ten million for today."
The truth was that Queena's paintings were worth nothing at all. The reason that she had managed to catch a hefty price for it was because Emily had purposely invited several rich men at today's banquet, who had been longing to have sex with her.
If Nelson were here, he would thought that the painting wouldn't be worth a single penny.
"I'll have to give you the credit. Will the proceeds be donated to the needs of the poor children?"
Queena figured that a lot were obviously cheated from tonight's auction. She knew that the total amount raised was huge.
"I've found a foundation and asked my people to deal and follow up with it to make sure that the money won't be used for personal greed," Emily answered.
Upon hearing this, the ladies around the hall started to praise her thoughtfulness on the matter.
Queena had a proud look on her face while Emily was being praised. It almost looked like Emily was her daughter.
Melinda felt left out while the two ladies continued to chat. Yulia didn't notice this as all of her attention had been focused on Leo.
"Mom, the auction is almost over. I'd like to go home and rest."
Melinda's expression remained stoic despite her feeling embarrassed after she noticed that some of the women had been staring at her from time to time. As soon as she had spoken, Leo gave her a concerned look.
Actually, he had already sensed that something was wrong when Emily had arrived. He remained silent about it since Melinda didn't really voiced out her feelings.
"The event isn't over yet. Besides, we arrived here together. It's only proper that you should wait for me until we leave together as well," Queena ordered.
Judging from her actions, Queena would probably be staying until the end of the party.
Because of this, Melinda had no choice but to remain there with her.
"Melinda, do you have time right now?" Leo asked. "There is something that I'd like to discuss with you."
He winked at Melinda when no one was looking to which she gave him a grateful look.
Queena's eyes darted back and forth between the two. The young man's face didn't ring a bell with her and now that Melinda seemed to act too close to the man, she started to form some unpleasant ideas.
"Mom, I'll just go with Leo for a bit to discuss something. We'll return together when we're done," she told Queena.
Queena was in no position to stop them since they said that they had something important to discuss, but the people around them were giving them curious looks while they whispered among one another.
They had obviously misunderstood the situation.
"Melinda, please help me this time. You have no idea how difficult my final thesis is. I'll lose all my hair at an early age if I don't pass this," Leo exclaimed.
He said this out loud so that those who were thinking of unpleasant thoughts between the two of them would stop letting their imagination run wild.
"Go ahead," Queena replied with a wave of her hand.
She resumed talking to Emily and didn't bother to look back at Melinda. This made a lot of people whisper even more about how the relationship between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law of the Gu family wasn't good.
As soon as Queena and Emily started having a great conversation, the attention had been shifted. Thinking of the news some time ago, everyone felt the chaos once again in this circle.
Yulia desperately stared at the direction Melinda and Leo had gone to. She really wanted to follow them but she didn't have a reason good enough to do so.
The two settled by a quiet corner of the hall where a sofa and a small table with wine and drinks were placed.
Melinda plopped herself down and let out a sigh as she turned to Leo. "Thank you so much for rescuing me back there."
Leo smiled and also sat down, maintaining a safe distance from Melinda. He was aware that a lot of people were still watching them so he had to keep his guard up.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Forgive My Ex-husband