Chapter 6

Gritting her teeth, Elaine asked, "Mr. Foster, what did you just call him?"

"Mr. Cole, of course. Is there anything wrong with that?" Simon said. He walked up to me before addressing the room with a smile. "Mr. Nathan Cole is the CEO of Elysium. He wasn't lying to you."

All eyes turned to me once again. Those sycophantic classmates of mine now looked at me with a mix of envy and jealousy.

I glanced at Tristan. His jaw was clenched, and his expression dark. Then, I looked at Elaine, who was glaring at me in fury as well, as if blaming me for making her look like a fool.

And finally, I looked at Howie, who was pretending not to notice anything.

"Look at you, blowing things up as much as you can, only to end up being the clown," I mocked Elaine. "You made all that effort to make a call and ask for Simon to come over, all for what? You're the joke now."

Glancing at Howie, I said curtly, "And you, all that nonsense about the VIP room and paying my share for me, huh? Mr. Foster, remember his face. Since he's so rich, from now on, make sure he pays double whenever he comes to Elysium."

Howie looked at me with a smile and said, "It's all just a misunderstanding, Nathan! Please don't take it to heart. We're old classmates, aren't we? Let's just sit down, have a drink, and talk about old times."

"A misunderstanding, you say?" I sneered. "Why didn't you say it was a misunderstanding when Elaine was busy trying to humiliate me? Now that I'm the boss, it suddenly becomes a misunderstanding? Don't you think you're being a little too much of an arrogant suckup with a superiority complex?"

"That's enough, Nathan. Don't cross the line! So what if you're the boss of Elysium now? Are you richer than Tristan?" Elaine frowned in displeasure.

"Elaine, I've already told you that Tristan has a fiancee, but you still insist on allowing yourself to be blinded by lies!" I declared.

"Who even is Amelia Shaw, Nathan? I don't know her at all!" Tristan said.

Since Elaine was looking at him, he had no choice but to try to defend himself.

"Do you dare swear on that?" I asked.

"Why wouldn't I? I swear that I, Tristan Finch, don't have a fiancee. Amelia Shaw and I aren't involved in any way!"

Smirking, I turned to Amelia and said, "You heard him, right, Amelia? Tristan says he doesn't know who you are."

"Ms. Shaw is here, too?" Simon piped up in surprise.

"The chairwoman of Crystalia?"

"The most beautiful woman in Hearthsea?"

All eyes turned to the masked woman sitting in the corner. Even Tristan grew visibly tense.

Amelia slowly got up, radiating an air of reserved sophistication as she came forward. She removed her mask. Her navy suit highlighted the outline of her curves, and under the light, her skin glowed like snow. She looked flawless in every way.

All she did was stand there, but her presence alone dimmed the extravagance of the room.

Her cool gaze swept over the stunned crowd before finally landing on Tristan. "Do you know me or not, Tristan?"

Her voice was quiet but authoritative. As she stared him down, he broke out in a cold sweat and started stammering, "Lia… I… you've misunderstood things…"

Tristan tried to explain himself to her. He never would've thought that she would end up overhearing everything.

"Shut up. What makes you think you have the right to call me Lia?" Amelia's expression was cold and devoid of all emotion. "Since you don't know who I am, then I don't know who you are, either!"

"Let me explain, Lia! Elaine's the one who keeps badgering me. You know that…" Tristan attempted to justify himself to Amelia in a hushed voice.

I glanced at Elaine. Her expression was twisted in absolute fury. Huffing, she stormed right up to Amelia and shrieked, "Who the hell are you? You stay away from my man!"

"Get lost!" Tristan roared at Elaine.

Elaine immediately froze in shock. She was so mad that she started screaming, "What's the meaning of this, Tristan? You're seriously yelling at me because of that woman? She—"

"Shut up!"

Tristan slapped Elaine right across the face, a red handprint instantly blooming on her cheek.

"How dare you hit me? I'm going to kill you, Tristan!" Elaine wailed as she started pummeling Tristan with her fists.

Meanwhile, Tristan jabbed a finger at me and demanded, "Nathan! How do you know Amelia? Explain this situation!"

The couple who'd been basking in everyone's attention just moments ago was now reduced to a pair of clowns.

However, Tristan's words ended up reminding Howie of something. He snapped back to his senses and put on a fawning smile, his voice shaky as he cried out, "It's nice to see you, Ms. Shaw! I'm Howie Lester. I was Nathan's class rep back in college, you know.

"I didn't expect you to join us, Ms. Shaw. It's truly such an honor for all of us to meet you. Your presence alone lights up the room!"

He babbled on almost incoherently, looking like he wanted to smack himself for mocking me earlier. He sorely regretted that now.

Izzy had also forced out a smile that looked more like a grimace. Her voice was squeaky as she exclaimed, "Y-You're even more beautiful than you look on television, Ms. Shaw. What's with you, Nathan? Why didn't you tell us sooner that you're acquainted with someone like Ms. Shaw? Thanks to that, we—"

I cut her off, asking curtly, "Am I supposed to report to you lot who I'm involved with?"

Izzy's expression stiffened. Feeling embarrassed, she dared not say anything else.

Chuckling weakly, Howie said, "Well, Nathan, we're your classmates. We just care about you. Isn't that right, Ms. Shaw?"

"You said you're working for Crystalia?" Amelia inquired.

"Yes, that's right, Ms. Shaw. I'm a project lead at Crystalia. I've been with the company for three years now, and I've always put my best foot forward. I've been involved in quite a few projects…"

Thinking this was a good chance for him, Howie launched into a long introduction about himself. He was hoping for an opportunity to further his career by currying favor with Amelia.

"Well, you're now fired," Amelia said bluntly.

"What? W-What do you mean, Ms. Shaw?" Howie froze, his dream of rising up the career ladder now completely crushed.

"You didn't understand what I said?" Amelia questioned coolly. "Since you're so keen to fawn over Tristan, you should work for his family's company instead. Crystalia doesn't need an employee like you."

Howie's face went ashen. It had never occurred to him that he'd end up losing his job—with 200 thousand dollars in annual salary—after attending a simple class reunion.

But he'd brought it upon himself.

I stared at the crowd, my expression icy. Just a few minutes ago, they were still mocking me and looking down at me, but now, their impressions of me had completely changed. I had to give them credit for being really quick at changing their tunes.

"Nathan…" Amelia came over and looped her arm through mine. "There's no point in attending these sorts of gatherings. With their mindset and limited perspective, they'd only serve to drag you down."

Her words were a slap in the face to everyone, mocking their ignorance and lack of class.

"You're right, Lia. I'll do as you say. Let's go."

Amelia blushed bashfully when she heard me calling her Lia, which made her look even more captivating. She continued to hold my arm, pressing herself against me as we left the room under everyone's stunned gazes.

"Hold it right there, Nathan! What's going on between you and Amelia? Explain yourself!" Tristan hollered.

"Tristan, you owe me an explanation!" Elaine screeched as well.

Ignoring those two clowns, I left with Amelia.

I took a deep breath, feeling as though my lungs had cleared. It turned out that cutting off ties with fools basically felt like getting a new lease on life.

I held the helmet out to Amelia, who accepted it with a smile. She could now put it on with practiced ease. Then, she got behind me on the moped.

It'd been so much fun to put on a show and humiliate Tristan today. I couldn't stop relishing the memory of the look on his face just now. It felt even better to hear him demanding to find out my relationship with Amelia.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"We'll go to my place."

"Huh?" That made me freeze.

"I like it a lot when you call me Lia, Nathan," Amelia loudly declared into the night before hugging me even more tightly.