In the Main Hall of the Luo Residence,

There was absolute silence as everyone stared at the man who stood beside the woman with their hands held together.

"Yes, we decided to date now." He declared and was instantly greeted with snarling faces from everyone present in the room.

_____

An hour prior to this moment,

When Reuben had announced his newfound relationship with Lina, he was almost tackled to the ground.

Luckily, Lina's reflexes were quick enough and she managed to pull him out of the way in the nick of time.

Wade halted in his steps and glared at his sister who was already being influenced by this big bad wolf.

"What did you just say?" Wallace Luo stood from his seat and strode towards them with a grave look on his face.

He had signaled Patrick to stay put or else that niece crazy maniac would not hesitate to sucker punch Reuben in the throat.

Another scandal was not what the Yang family needed at the moment, so Patrick sat in his place but did not stop glaring at the man who was still too close to his Nana.

Lina's eyes alternated between her scary uncle and the man who stood fearlessly before him.

'Ruby you'll get us both killed!' She lamented in her heart and tried to think of a way to handle the situation before it got any worse.

People were beginning to notice the dark energy that was being emitted from their table.

They were waiting to watch the entertaining show of three big families quarreling with each other.

Moving on instinct, she stood before Reuben as his shield and tried her best to not cower when facing her uncle.

"Move, Nana! I just want to have a chat with this young man." Wallace smiled while tilting his head to the side.

Seeing his smile, Lina and Reuben felt a chill down their spine and shook their head at the same time.

The twins, Stacy and Patrick, all pitied the pair who were being subjected to Ace's dangerous glare which could make people tremble in fear.

"You can talk all you want but not here… There are people watching us!" She whispered and glanced at the guests nearby.

This seemed to have brought their attention back to where they were right now and Ace took back the suppressive aura that his body was emitting.

"This isn't over." He glanced at Reuben as he uttered those words and then went back to his seat.

The entire atmosphere around them was crippling after this incident.

However, Reuben seemed to be in a great mood as he smiled at Lina whenever she glanced at him.

At exactly 11:30 PM, the four big families of the city left the hall in quick succession.

Patrick did not care about the gossip that would spread due to their early retreat because all he wanted to do right now was strangle the man sticking to his niece as a bee sticks to a beautiful flower.

'Stupid buzzing bee!' He cursed at Reuben and got into his car with Wallace and left for home.

Wayne drove his car over and dragged Lina to sit in it.

Wade and Stacy sat on either side of her which left Reuben with the shotgun seat.

He could have driven his own car but then discarded that thought when a brilliant idea popped up in his mind.

Adjusting to sit in the passenger seat with three people glaring at him, Reuben smiled at Lina through the rearview mirror and then glanced outside the window.

They had decided to meet back at Luo Residence and sort this entire mess out.

While the Yangs and Luos left to handle this situation, the Mings and Huos watched how they fled from the banquet hall in haste.

"Do you think we should follow them?" Felix Ming frowned as he watched his son get into the car with Lina and her cousins.

"Let them be. Your son must have done something to mess with them. Did you not see how Ace and Patrick glared at us before they left?" Renee rubbed her chin to think of a reason why they had behaved that way.

"He's your son as well." He muttered in a soft voice to not let his wife hear about it.

Renee had luckily not heard him.

She was already in a great mood because of her son's advancement in making contact with someone of the female species and she was even happier that the woman turned out to be Lina Yang.

"Let's go home now, I'll give you a special treat." She whispered in his ears and giggled when she saw the sparkle that appeared in his eyes.

Felix was now least bothered about what his son did with Lina and cheerfully dragged his wife to their car.

Standing a few feet away from them were the Huos who had also left the hall behind the other three families.

"Why did Reuben not take his own car?" Moira asked as she tapped her husband's shoulder.

Ralph shook his head to indicate that he did not know the answer to her question.

However, they heard their son's chuckle and turned around in his direction.

"He is a sly businessman after all." Louis mumbled as he walked away from his parents.

Moira and Ralph shared a look as they wondered what was so funny about this.

Knowing that their son would most probably not reveal it, they shrugged and then boarded the car that they had arrived in.

Thus, one after the other, the four major families all left the debutante dinner banquet of the heiress of the Yang family, Lina Yang.

However, the party was far from over and many people were still inside.

Some who were enjoying themselves, some who looked for gossip, some who were missing the people who just left and some who were plotting against them.

Ignorant to all this, Lina was squeezed between her brother and sister as they drove back home.

'Why did he have to disclose about it to my family so soon!' She puffed her cheeks and glared at the man who sat in front.

She was stunned by his sudden closeness at that time and nodded her head in a daze.

Only when she heard his announcement before her family did she realize the consequences of her actions.

While she was still thinking of their conversation during the dance, the car came to a halt before the door of Luo Residence.

Wayne had driven the car at an extra slow speed in order to not let Lina feel any discomfort.

Reuben was annoyed at first when he noticed that Wayne was driving at snail's speed but frowned when he recalled what Lina had told him.

'Kitten told that she has tachophobia. I need to be careful about this if we drive someplace together after all a boyfriend needs to be considerate about his girlfriend's needs!' He nodded and then secretly peeked at her through the mirror.

Reaching their destination, they got down from the car and walked towards the house.

Reuben slowed down his pace and waited for Lina to be next to him.

Finding the perfect chance, he caught hold of her hand and then walked inside together.

Lina glanced at their interlocked fingers and then at the wide shoulders of the man who walked next to her.

The moment they entered the hall, they were greeted with the sight of two men sitting next to each other as they glared daggers at the hands that were in contact with each other.

Stacy, Wade and Wayne quickly took a seat to avoid getting caught up in the crossfires.

Left standing in the same place, Lina timidly looked up at her uncles only to find them glaring at Reuben.

She squeezed his hand which made him look sideways to meet her eyes.

Reuben gave her a reassuring smile when he saw the nervous look in her eyes.

His thoughtful actions were answered with a scoff and an eye roll.

'I'm worried for your sake, not for mine! Don't say anything that will put your life in danger now!' She felt like stomping on his feet for his earlier hasty actions.

'Why are you rolling your eyes at me?' He tilted his head in confusion about what she was trying to convey to him.

"What was it that you were saying back then?" Patrick spoke up when he saw them gazing into each other's eyes.

Their little exchange was mistaken for PDA by the people sitting on the couch.

Reuben turned to look at Patrick when he heard that question.

"It's the same as I had said earlier. Yes, we decided to date now." He confidently answered the elder and did not flinch when Patrick's intense gaze landed on his face.

"Ruby!" She yelled at him in exasperation when he was not bothered about the dangers that his casual answers would bring him.

Feeling the temperature in the room decrease substantially, Lina decided that she had to do something to handle this situation before things got worse.

She glared at her family members for acting in such a hostile way and after letting go of Reuben's hand, she crossed her arms over her chest.

"What? Did you think that I would stay single my entire life?" She sneered at them and shook her head.

Her question immediately made them frown and they looked at her as though she had just betrayed them.

'I'll deal with you later.' She harrumphed.

She then turned towards the man next to her and raised her head to look at his face.

"We need to talk!" She declared while looking at him and this time it was Reuben's turn to panic.

Hearing this statement, Wade and Wayne rejoiced because this was the famous 'breakup opener' that everyone used.

'His first girlfriend and she dumps him in just an hour!' Wayne chortled when he saw his best friend's eyes widen in shock.

'That's what he gets for trying to trick our sister!' Wade was cheering Lina on so that she might kick him out soon.