Love Began with the First Meeting novel Chapter 1402

Time is capable of letting everything fade away, and strengthening certain types of memories. Some may say that it requires little effort to forget someone, but they still cannot do it. Some relationships may even put you right back at square one after a winding road.

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"Is it time to go?" Henrik frowned. "It's not beginning yet. Are you kidding me?" There was tension in the air.

Addison heaved a slight sigh and shook his head. "It occurs to me that I forgot to do something important. It needs my attention right away, or it will bother me all evening."

Hearing this, Henrik felt uncertain of what he meant and frowning, he asked for confirmation, "Do you mean Sally?" The tension grew at the mention of her name. Henrik had mentioned her name with caution.

Addison didn't give any response, neither confirming nor denying it, since he was familiar with Henrik's personality. To outsiders, he was a strong man who was given to changing moods, but decisive when facing a challenge. With women, he was always the tender and engaging gentleman. Suave and attractive, while being desired by many. However, when it came to Addison... Henrik's curiosity was extremely potent and sometimes got the better of him. Of course, he may have derived that from being in the National Congress of Dragon Island.

Men were always ambitious. A man without ambition was a nobody. He had never minded that there was someone like Addison urging him to strive for the best, but that didn't mean that he would allow his own business to be exposed in front of him.

Addison fetched his suit and was about to leave. Right at this moment, there was a polite knock at the door.

"Come in!" Henrik looked upset where he was sitting behind the office desk.

The door was pushed open, and a servant came in. "Young Master, Chandler and Hotch have arrived."

"I see," Henrik acknowledged, and then prepared to go downstairs with Addison.

They were always under the spotlight. Although Addison didn't usually attract a lot of publicity, it didn't mean that no one knew him. In addition, with Henrik's public identity, anyone who was with him would become a person of interest to the mass of guests.

Addison wore a poker face, perhaps being preoccupied with Sally's business, so he barely noticed the person walking towards him.

"Sally? Is that you?" Henrik was speechless.

Addison raised his eyes slowly to look at her, his face showing little change and remaining completely neutral. There were two couples who had entered the building.

First, was Hotch Gu from Gu's Corporations. With him was Rose, the top girl from the Romantic Club. Behind the two of them, was the younger son of Henrik's aunt, Chandler. Was that Sally next to him?! Addison turned his eyes to her.

Coming to a standstill, Addison could not take his eyes off of Sally, who he had not seen in a very long time. She was only ten when he had first known her. She was seventeen when she had left him. He had a lot on his plate back then, so he had mostly only seen her in her school uniform then.

However, now she was already 24, and had grown into an engaging young girl. At the moment, the strapless, pink lace costume draped about her made her the shiniest star of the occasion. In addition, her hair was a lustrous length, but refined into a graceful appearance with fine, crystal hair hoops. Her 4-inch high-heels made her almost as tall as Chandler.

She was a gorgeous vision, complete with diamond accessories and a luxurious costume. He had fantasized about all of these more than once. Especially, he had dreamed that she stood next to him, and he could officially introduce her to all the members of the Long Family.

"Addison? Addison..." Henrik called to him in a low voice, but noticed that Addison was still watching Sally in the small crowd and was completely distracted, and ignored his calls.

Addison finally broke eye-contact and went downstairs, saying, "It seems that I cannot leave."

Henrik murmured something, indicating he didn't have much to say about the matter either, and followed him downstairs.

Both of them headed towards Hotch and Chandler. Brian was mingling among the crowd, walking with a refined pace, and paying little attention to how other saw him. It was as if the crowd was invisible to him.

Hotch had never thought that he would meet Addison, so he grappled to find a topic to discuss. In the end he managed to ask, "You haven't left?"

"I'll be leaving tomorrow," Addison answered, still absent-minded, with his eyes still lingering on Sally who was talking carefully with Rachel. "It's rare that Chandler brings any girl with him."

It was no longer a secret that Chandler was fond of Rose, but Rose just treated everyone the same, and Chandler held little significance to her. It was very common for men to have affairs, especially for those rich guys. It was also acceptable for women to do so, but when they became addicted to the intrigue and seduction, this was not a good thing. Although the rumors had gone viral since Rose's arrival here, no man had been able to win her heart because she was not a casual girl.

What Addison had said eventually drew Sally's attention, she looked at him with a vague recognition at first, trying to place him in her memories. Then she paused and stared at him reflectively. When she looked into his complicated, dark eyes, she stepped back spontaneously as her mind finally found him in her memories.

Her heels, which were too high, made her loose her balance and twist her ankle. She almost fell down.

Chandler instantly caught her and held her like a true gentleman, and asked gently, "Are you okay?"

Sally nodded to indicate that she was fine, and cast a brief glimpse at Addison. Then she heard Chandler heaving a sigh and he started complaining, "I had just said that you should not have worn such high heels, but you insisted on doing so. Just so that you could impress me." Though it sounded like a complaint, it actually showed his favor. Chances were good that they would be viewed as a couple by those who didn't know them, and Rose would soon become a thing of the past to Chandler.

Even though Rose had warned Sally in advance, she still had some difficulty in adapting to Chandler's affections. With Addison there, all that she could do was to pretend to be calm and detached. "I'm fine. I was just being careless."

Hearing her explanation, Chandler nodded with an understanding smile. "Let me show you to the rest room first." After signaling to Addison and Henrik with a simple nod, he then led Sally away and they both disappeared from sight.

"You know Addison?" he asked, once they were alone. Chandler had tried to ask the question in a casual way, while he was setting the juice which a waiter brought them in front of Sally. "I heard from Rose that you came here to look for someone." After a pause, he added, "When the party begins, the guests will want to have fun on their own. If you have any trouble during the party, I will help you leave. I'm quite familiar with Henrik's place."

"Thank you. You are so kind." Sally pressed her lips together nervously. When she lift the juice, she couldn't help grasping the bottle tightly with her fingers. The boldness of Chandler's gaze was intense and burned her. She tried not to squirm under his scrutiny.

Chandler smiled disarmingly in response, and swiftly moved past the issue of whether Sally knew Addison, Shirley and Olivia or not. Instead, he just engaged in some small talk with her.

The party began with Henrik's quick opening speech. After that, guests started to go about their own business, eating, drinking and talking. This was how parties were held by all the established families. There were few ceremonies, and the main concerns were to meet and mingle, setting up connections and opportunities within a casual setting.

Sally was now fully aware that it would require a far greater effort for her to find Rachel, since she had already been seen by Henrik. That was why Rose had assigned Chandler to her as client. He was a man who was completely familiar with the Ji Family, and he was able to walk around their home without needing to ask permission.

As a result of being distracted by her concern about Rachel, Sally was in a hurry, and was unaware of the pair of eyes which followed her every move as they stared intently at her.

"We have searched every corner of the house," Chandler said helplessly. "It's not likely that Henrik would hold her in the villa though."

"I don't think so." Sally sounded pretty sure, even though she couldn't figure out where her confidence came from. "When we had just arrived, Henrik looked at me with some discomfort. It appeared like he was hiding something. I think that he hosted this party just to lure me in."

She had failed to take the look seriously because of the sudden appearance of Addison, but now after some consideration, Henrik's had seemed worried and strange when he first saw her.

Chandler frowned, as if he was skeptical of the point Sally was making. "Who exactly are you searching for?" As far as he knew, Henrik didn't have the habit of hiding people in his villa, because, according to him, anything that was not related to his home should not be brought there.

Sally stared at Chandler, signs of hesitation mixing on her face.

"Fine, I won't ask anymore."

"Thanks." Sally seemed to relax slightly. "You are being so nice to Rose." Her voice had an air of envy to it, and also hinted at some nameless sorrow. Once upon a time, a man had treated her in this way, too. He too had done whatever she had asked for. Even though she revealed nothing, she wondered solemnly. He could have figured out the truth, and still he tried to console her.

Once missed out on, it would be a lifelong regret.

"Does it do any good? She has always treated me as if I were invisible." Chandler became somewhat pissed off then. "If someone else could have helped you out, she definitely wouldn't have turned to me for help!"

Hearing this, Sally couldn't help bursting out in laughter. She knew it was inappropriate, but she just couldn't help it. When you were facing a decent man who was grumbling like a spoiled child, it was a challenge not to laugh. "I'm sorry, but..."