While the three conversed, a young woman made her way over to them and Natalie sighed at their bad luck. Perhaps because she had encountered too many people in her life, she could tell at a glance if someone had ill intentions and the jovial-looking purple haired woman before them was definitely up to no good. She walked to the man in front of Natalie to clinch glasses. "You are Jupiter, aren't you?"

Just like Natalie, Devonte had had his fair share of cunning backstabbers, so he knew from a single glance that this was no fan of his. He neither nodded nor shook his head, neither being enthusiastic nor giving the woman anything against him. "Any comments, miss?"

Perhaps she was Samantha's shill, she glanced at Natalie before proceeding to talk about her. "Don't get too close to her. She is engaged and her fiancée is a bloodthirsty tyrant. While the woman beside her, she is worse news. She will report all sorts of nonsense about you as long as she can prove that she was near you for a second. You probably do not know this, but the Fort family's predicament is her handiwork. She is also the tyrant's mistress."

"How is that my business?" Devonte frowned.

Natalie remained silent while Zaria laughed. "You know this, yet you say it right in front of me? Do you want me to dig dirt on you and say it in front of the whole nation? I can wreck the life of your sender while at it."

The woman trembled when she realized that Zaria could indeed do such a thing. She let out an awkward smile and turned to Devonte. She then took out a pen and pointed at the edge of her purple scarf. "I was hoping I could get your autograph. Excuse me if I spoke too much."

Devonte knew she was lying but still held the edge of the scarf to his palm and signed his stage name on it.

From her scared reaction, Zaria knew that the woman definitely had a lot to hide. She was scared that Zaria would really dig up her dirt, and the latter had considered doing so to punish her for having such a foul mouth. However, it was not worth her time and she had better things to do.

"I'll go take a walk." She decided to give the couple some space to talk since the woman had disappeared back into the banquet hall.

"You don't need to. Dev has somewhere to be." Natalie didn't want Zaria to be on her own when she had been the one to take her away from Desmond.

"There you are, Sam is looking for you." Someone patted Devonte's shoulder and it was yet another person that the ladies did not want to see. It was Jaime.

The man looked over at Zaria and almost couldn't stop his drool. His gaze then trailed to Natalie and he almost exclaimed at how lucky he was to bump into both of them in the same space. "You are here too, sister-in-law." He greeted with a smile, though his eyes were on Zaria.

He then pretended to correct himself. "Not you, Zaria. I'm talking to Natalie."

It was lucky that Devonte had gone to speak to Samantha who was a few feet away, or else he would have pummelled someone to death.

"It's been long since you last visited." He said to Natalie. "Not only do I miss you, but it's also advisable to stake your claim. I would not want to have a change of sisters-in-law."

Zaria almost couldn't comprehend his gibberish, but Natalie had heard such things from the Fort siblings to know that they were trying to use her as a sword to get rid of their enemy, Zaria.

"What does he mean? Do you have a thing with Desmond?" She played along for Jaime to hear.

The man departed since he was done here, but he heard their little conversation.

"How could I do such a thing? We are friends. Don't trust... Uh he's gone." Zaria's tone changed as soon as Jaime was out of earshot. "What's wrong with that man anyway? And why are we meeting so many lunatics today?"

"Just our luck." Natalie sighed.

"Forget them. I saw someone I think looks familiar, I'll go to say hi. Do you want to come along?" Zaria suggested, but the latter shook her head since her feet were sore.

"I'll wait for you."

Zaria left, and Natalie was about to find somewhere to sit down for a while when a hand dragged her to a secluded corner.

"Dev?" She was startled when she saw him, but before she could say a word, he kissed her. She pushed him in shock. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Kissing you. Can't you tell?" Devonte frowned at the silly question.

"This is a public place." Natalie protested sternly, wondering how audacious he could get.

"I checked and there is no one here." He assured her, but she still tried to push him away.

"Let go of me." She ordered.

It took him several seconds to accept that it was indeed what she had said, so he slowly pulled his fingers away from her. She adjusted the silver scarf around her shoulders, which had come undone from the sudden contact. His face was full of displeasure. "I came here for you. I wouldn't attend such a sick banquet whose purpose I don't know if I didn't get intel that you were coming, but you don't even want to be near me?"

"You could have stayed at home for all I care." She sharply retorted, making the man look like he had heard the most shocking thing in the world. She sighed helplessly. "Dev, your reputation would be ruined if anyone saw us together. you know fully well what could happen if someone got hold of a scandalous picture. Your opponents are waiting for you to fall before the day of the awards. How can you be so careless?"

Alas, the man didn't say a word in response. He nodded slightly and stepped back to disappear into the hotel.

She looked in the direction he had left and closed her eyes to suppress her emotions. Regaining her calm, she made her way back towards the garden to look for Zaria, so they could go back to the banquet hall together.

She smiled slightly when she saw Desmond who looked like he was searching around for something.

"There you are." Desmond walked to her with a curious look on his face. "I just brushed past your boyfriend and he looked like he had lost a gamble worth his entire net worth, and you look gloomy too. Trouble in paradise?"

Although his words were meant to be a tease, Natalie knew that he was concerned. They were friends and Desmond was the only one aside from Zaria who knew about her relationship with Devonte, so she knew that she could talk to him.

"He's impossible. All I did was mention his career. I only said that his opponents are waiting for him to make a slight slip up so they would latch onto it and force him off the list of nominees or fatally decrease his chances of winning and off he went."

She felt her head hurt as she wondered whether she had hurt his feelings. Had she said the wrong thing? She knew that what she said was true, she had seen it happen many times before, but if he found it offensive that she had pointed it out, he could say so. What would walking away solve? "Perhaps as a man you can understand him?"

Desmond assessed her words and shook his head. "Trust me, I don't. But I'm certain that whatever it is, he loves you."

"You always know what to say." His words brought a smile to her face. Sometimes she wondered whether Devonte loved her as he claimed, since he was often insecure and he let his insecurities get the better of him. But as long as they loved each other and their relationship was not toxic, they could handle the rest together.

Desmond was relieved when he saw the smile on Natalie's face. He was bad at coaxing women and he sometimes wondered what he would do if Zaria ever got mad at him and decided to dump him. Frowning, he decided not to think about that. His Zaria would never want to leave him.

"You better know what to say in explanation of the fact that you left my Zaria all alone." He looked at Natalie sternly.

"She went to say hi to a friend and will be back soon." She answered then thought back to what Devonte had said. No one knew why Samantha threw a banquet. They had all thought that she was inviting close friends to celebrate something but now that she thought about it, it seemed too peculiar. "Desmond, do you know the purpose of this banquet?"

The man was yet to answer when Samantha held the microphone and called for attention.

Desmond shook his head at her question, but he had a bad feeling about this.