“I must commend you are a great man, Mr. Cooper,” the chairman praised, after his long speech with Aurora. He extended his hand forward for another handshake, and which Noah gladly took it.
“Your daughter had just amazed me with her wonderful description of you, and I'm also looking forward to your great work,”
“And I promise not to disappoint you, Mr. Walker,” Noah uttered gaily, the gleam across his face couldn't go unnoticed by anyone.
Mr. Walker nodded his head actively in satisfaction, “Enjoy the rest of the party,” after he said that, he walked away gracefully with his men following in tow.
“Oh, baby,” Noah nearly shrieked with excitement as he stooped and picked Aurora up in his arms and begin to spread kisses to her face.
Aurora broke into a wide grin, wrapping her little arms around her father's neck, “Daddy, we are at a party, people are watching us,” However, Noah didn't stop his action, instead he twirled around and around, provoking Aurora to laugh out the more.
Jasmine and Mrs. Antonio only chuckled in amusement, watching the affection both father and daughter were expressing in the presence of everyone.
“Mr. Cooper truly loves his child,” Jasmine let out, her gaze still dwelling on Noah and Aurora.
“Yes, Miss. Jasmine.” Mrs. Antonio conceded, holding out a glass of wine to Jasmine. “Thank you, ma'am” she muttered after collecting it.
She swirled the glass around in her hand and put it under her nose and smelled it lightly. It was fragrant and elegant, without strong alcohol.
“So, do you like him?” Mrs. Antonio asked out of the blues while she sips her champagne with tight lips, her red lipstick staining the rim.
Jasmine almost choked on her drink, so she quickly put away the glass from her mouth and swallowed hard.
Of course, she knew who Mrs. Antonio was talking about, but was still going to pretend, “Who?” her voice was very low, and had no confidence in it.
Mrs. Antonio smacked her lips and rolled her eyeballs playfully, she opened her mouth to talk, “Excuse me, I need to use the restroom” Jasmine informed her with a smile and turned around, obviously shying away from the conversation.
She kept her glass of wine on a server tray and proceeded to walk away. However, she missed a step and tripped, she shut her eyes tightly and expected herself to be kissing the floor right now.
Instead, she felt a powerful hand circling and holding her tiny waist. Her long thin eyelashes trembled a few times before she was able to slowly open them. Their eyes met, and it felt like tiny gymnasts were dancing in her stomach. Her heart responded to the familiarity of his beautiful eyes.
“Are you alright?” the humbleness that emanated from his voice could make even a day-old baby fall in love with him.
Under his gaze, It took quite a moment for her to regain the presence of mind.
“Yes, sir. Excuse me,” she said quickly, pulled out of his grasp, and hurried in a direction, practically running.
Jasmine stared back at her own reflection in the mirror. She pressed her lips to a tight line and beat her chest twice, “No, dear, heart, no. Don't do this to me, please, I don't want to fall in love again” she begged earnestly in a crying tone.
She continued to repeat these lines like a mantra, only stopped talking when someone entered the restroom.
Sighing, she grabbed her silver clutch from the faucet bowl and retreated to the door. However, just before reaching the door, she lost balance but quickly hold on to the hand dryer.
The woman who entered earlier saw this and halted her business, “Are you okay, miss?” she asked worriedly, moving close to Jasmine.
Jasmine held her head with a hand as it felt like everywhere was spinning right before her eyes. For a moment, she couldn't regain her equilibrium and the woman was now holding her.
Could it be that the wine she had was too strong? But she smelled it before taking it.
After a while, she seemed to recall that there was someone else with her in the room. Without lifting her head, “I'm fine, ma'am. Thank you,” after her words, she went out of the lavatory.
The hall had become more spirited, with men and women moving their bodies to the rhythm of the soft music blaring from the speaker.
Noah and his daughter too were not left out as they both danced with happiness hand in hand. “Daddy, you must make sure to dance with Jasmine once she gets back from the toilet,” Aurora voiced out to her father's hearing.
Noah's mouth lifted in a wide grin, “As your lordship pleases, your majesty,” he teases and bowed chivalrously.
“Attention everybody!”
This loud voice put everyone's action to a sudden halt as they all diverted their gazes to the spotlight.
Even the chairman himself, who was really engrossed in the conversation with a long-time business partner who had become someone dear to him. He also stopped chatting and looked over at the stage. And to his surprise, the person who just called upon everyone's attention was no other person than Jasmine.
“I have a confession to make, everybody”
By this time, everyone was now standing at alert, prepared to listen to whatever Jasmine had to say, including Noah and Aurora.
“Mr. Chairman, I hope you would forgive Mr. Cooper for lying to you. The truth is, we are not married either we are lovers, we are just friends” Jasmine spoke the truth into the mic she was holding, and the whole place filled with murmur immediately.
Noah's expression froze and was suddenly brimmed with uneasiness.
Aurora's small face wrinkled as she asked, “What is mommy saying, Daddy?”
However, Noah wasn't free to glance at his daughter at that moment.
“To be honest, Mr. Cooper is a nice man. We have only known each other for a few weeks, but believe me, I can tell how incredible he is in this very short period of time”
“I begged him to support me by getting revenge on my cheating ex-boyfriend, and he agreed almost immediately. Believe me, he's a great man indeed”
Jasmine gave a few loud hiccups into the mic and most of the audience grimace in disgust, while the few people stared at her with sympathy.
“Mr. Chairman, I beg of you, please don't cancel your deal with Mr. Cooper. He obviously lied to you about his marital status because this contract means a lot to him”
Noah lowered his head in shame. His hands were clenched tightly as he fought a sliver of panic and held his breath.
“I'm so ashamed of you, Mr. Cooper,” he heard the chairman's voice ring next to his ear. He quickly turned around to face him, his eyes had become moist as he begged, “Please, listen to me, Mr. Walker. Allow me to explain myself” his voice choked up in his throat as he stared at the chairman's angry face.
However, Mr. Walker only scowled at him in disdain and then strolled away without pronouncing a word.
During this whole ordeal, Mrs. Antonio was only standing at a spot with her arms folded across her chest and her lips curled up in a lopsided grin.
The whole thing came out precisely how she had wanted, and she couldn't be less glad.
Rushing up to the stage, she snatched the microphone from Jasmine and threw it at the host.
“What's have you done, Jasmine?” she nearly shrieks, pulling her hand as they both left the stage.
Jasmine opened her mouth but couldn't produce a single word. She stared ahead and saw Noah bouncing toward her with furious disapproval stamped on his face.
“Are you happy now?” those were the last words Jasmine heard before she collapsed to the floor.
Panic gripped Aurora as she rushed to Jasmine and crouched before her in tears, “Jasmine, open your eyes,” she cried out, the fear squeezing out of her throat.
Mrs. Antonio did the same, “Open your eyes, Miss Jasmine. Are you sleeping?” she lowered her head to her nostril and realized that she was already sleeping.
Noah's face pulled extremely long in the gloomy and cold air, looking quite horrible. He clenched his fist harder, causing his nails to cut into the flesh of his palm.
He felt the sharp pain, but it was nothing compared to the wound Jasmine had created in his heart tonight. He had never been humiliated like this in the past.
“Stop crying, dead. She's only sleeping,” Mrs. Antonio told Aurora with a soft smile.
Aurora sniffed and hauled Jasmine's head to rest on her legs, “Please, daddy. You need to carry mommy now,” she pleaded, raising her head to look at her father's face with more tears rolling down from her eyes uncontrollably.
“She's not your mommy!” Noah raised his voice with a scowl in his voice.
Aurora cowered in fear, likewise Mrs. Antonio. Even the few people who were still watching the whole drama couldn't help but moved backward continuously in fear.