Gael swallowed at the warning in Angela's voice. He probably overdid it, and it was childish, but he couldn't help it.

Then with the fakest laugh he'd ever heard of her, she pinched his cheeks—a little too harshly and mixed with vengeance. She exclaimed, "Isn't he the cutest?"

He masked the soreness with a chuckle as he massaged his face. Damn, this woman was strong. He was sure it would bruise later.

Most of the women on the table widened their eyes at the gesture he just made. Lyra, who was all smiles and smug just a minute ago, now had daggers in her eyes. She turned green with jealousy.

A blank check and a black credit card? 'Who does that?' Angela wondered. Apparently, Gael.

"What are you doing?" she muttered under gritted teeth.

His hot breath tickled her skin when he leaned to whisper, giving her goosebumps all over. "Live a little, Angel. You gonna let them look down on you? They've pretty much ignored you the whole time."

So he was doing this for her? She didn't see how that was helpful. The people with judgy eyes on the table were waiting for her response. If she didn't know any better, she'd think they would say: "If you don't want it. I do."

Angela didn't like attention, and Gael just put her in the spotlight. Now her butt was on fire!

Still smiling, she slapped his bicep and killed him with her eyes, hoping he'd receive the message to stop messing around. "You're very funny, darling. A blank check? What if I write ten million dollars?"

The idiot responded in a confident tone, "Even better, make it twenty."

From a few chairs down, her father, Charlie, laughed. What the heck? Did he think this was funny too? She could not believe it.

A wide grin threatened to show on Gael's face. He didn't know why, but teasing her was just so much fun. The reaction her eyes make and the reddening of her cheeks was too darn cute. Was it crazy that he wanted to hug her so tight and put her in his pocket for safekeeping?

Angela shook her head. "I can't accept money."

"Then take the credit card." He shrugged.

Aunt Collete, who came by their table a while ago, urged her, "Go on, Angela. Your man is very sweet to you. You can't say no to that. He's only taking care of you, after all."

Gael gave Aunt Collete a gorgeous smile as a 'thank you' for the back-up, and she blushed. This aunt wasn't as bad as he thought she would. She probably just gets bored quickly, hence the frequent change of partner.

Angela glanced at the paper and card in front of her. Was she the only one thinking this was absurd? Whatever Gael was playing, she didn't want to do it. It just felt wrong. "I have a credit card. It's not black, but it works just fine."

"Then you'll have two."

Placing her hand on top of the card, she took a deep breath before sliding it with the check towards Gael. "I really appreciate you trusting me with your money, but I'm sorry... I can't accept it."

He wasn't offended at all. If anything, he was proud of her. He had expected that this would be her reaction, but he still wanted to see it anyway because she always surprised him. He sensed that the others saw that she wasn't the type to be bought with money and boast about it, which was admirable.

Gently brushing her cheek with his thumb, he smiled. "That's okay. I actually like that about you. You don't care for money, and it doesn't take much to make you smile. Don't ever change."

'LUB DUB,' said her heart. What was up with him tonight? He's very vocal in front of her family, and it made her feel self-conscious.

"Awww…" Aunt Colette brought her hands over her chest, her face laced with fascination. "Don't these two look so perfect for each other? You better tell me as soon as you plan to get married. I'll sponsor your honeymoon trip."

'Marry?' Angela scoffed in her head. 'Gael was indeed a groom. But I'm not the bride, aunt.' The butterflies in her stomach now slowly wound down and settled at the bottom, refusing to fly.

Her change in expression didn't go unnoticed to Gael, and with their current situation, he could only guess the reason for the sadness filling her eyes before she looked away.

Lyra wanted to retrieve the attention back to her, so she perked up and turned to her fiancé. "Babe, tell them more about your new investment."

"Which company is it?" asked Linda, Lyra's mother.

Josh had a smug expression as he leaned towards the table and told them about the new oil company. "It just entered the market, but it looks very promising. It's called DL."

"Josh is a marketing director," Lyra proudly smiled, smoothening the non-existent wrinkle on the man's suit.

Aunt Collete was impressed, but her attention quickly disappeared as she turned to Gael again. "What about you, handsome? What do you do?"

Before Gael had the chance to answer, Angela's father already beat him to it. "He's in the oil industry, too—apart from real estate. Right, son?" Charlie chimed in, raising his glass of wine towards Gael.

Angela's father was so smitten by Gael—she felt pressured.

"Oh… A very lucrative business. Which company?" Aunt Collete beamed, seemingly very interested in finding out more information about Angela's boyfriend.

Gael didn't want to talk about business on the table, but this was an inevitable topic, especially with Angela's family who was curious about his identity. After all, he wasn't a local, and they knew nothing about him. So he kept his answer brief and close to the truth. "We were part owners of a Russian oil company for many years before my father and I decided to buy out a smaller company and rebranded it. It's now called DL, which stands for our surname: De Luca."

There was silence on the table as the gazes of Angela's relatives widened and shone with approval as they looked at Gael. Murmurs and chatter here, envious stares there. Angela could only imagine what was going on in their head: 'Who was this man, and how did Angela snag a guy like him?'

While the cat caught Lyra's tongue, Josh became friendly towards Gael, asking him many business-related things. Colette and the others also had questions about his life and family in New York.

Angela didn't recognize what she felt. She was happy that they liked him, and maybe they weren't judging her as much after hearing about her date tonight. However, had her relatives always been this superficial? What if Gael was an average 9 to 5 worker—would they have still liked him?

Ever since the incident from six years ago about her and Evan, a lot of her relatives from the Su family had changed their treatment towards her. It was as if it was her fault that she was in that situation—as if she brought shame to the Su family because of it. And for a long time, she believed it. She wondered what they would do if they found out about the video from the dark web. Angela was sure they'd all agree to send her out of the country or someplace they could put her in to make her a monk.

And now, they got to know Gael was rich; suddenly, she heard praises. What the actual hell?

Angela hadn't finished her food yet, but she already lost appetite. She wasn't in the right state of mind to even be socializing with these people. It was exhausting to pretend to like each other just because they were family.

A warm hand covered hers under the table, and she realized that she had been staring at her plate. She met Gael's worried gaze and heard him ask, "You okay?"

'No. But that doesn't matter.' She nodded anyway.

He studied her face, trying to search for any clues, but she looked away faster than he could thoroughly read her. He hated to see her not being herself. Angela always had that smile on her face even when she didn't try to. But she looked off at this party as if she wanted to leave. Gael pushed his chair back when he got to his feet, buttoned his tux jacket, and circled his chair to get to her side.

Holding his hand out towards her, he smiled. "May I have this dance, Angel?"

An overwhelming feeling came over Angela. She became aware that a beautiful song called "Make You Feel My Love" was played by the live band. It made her want to bawl her eyes out so bad, but that would only give the others a lot to talk about. She didn't even understand why she was feeling this way. But she did know that she wanted someone to whisk her away.

So she placed her hand in his and let him pull her towards the dance floor. This was probably a mistake, considering their situation. But was it wrong to give in just a little? She badly wanted to be held.

Gael interlaced their fingers and brought them up to the side as he pulled her against him, his right arm going around her waist and holding her in place. Then he probed, "Did I go too far?"

Angela closed her eyes, wanting to forget everything else just for a minute. Then she laid her head on his shoulder. "No. You're perfect."

Hearing her say those words hit something different. He held on to that feeling and gave her a light squeeze. "I want to make things right, Angel. Give me a chance."