Orgueil Banquet Hall, 17:00;

Xi Chongkun might not have been an available parent, but he was undoubtedly a formidable businessman. Even without the position of Xi Corporations' CEO under his belt, he was an impressive negotiator and relied on his own capabilities to uplift the empire.

Xi Yuan had always been a better leader than anyone in his family, for each one of his decisions since the beginning, had proved to be fruitful. Sprucely, the young man had distributed every sector of Xi family's business to each one of those whom he found deserving of it, be it the members of the family or old trustworthy employees. Carefully, not poking onto anyone's pride, giving them the independence to call the shots, allowing them to believe that they were in power; not entirely, though. He observed. Coolly. The mistakes they made, the developments they brought, the losses, and the profits. A mistake repeated thrice, and there would be a replacement. No debates acceptable then.

Xi Chongkun was, in charge of manufacturing automobiles. The old man had quite an excellence in physical production kind-of industries, unlike his son, who was more into technology and networking. He enjoyed every bit of it. Every second he spent in those factories, chatting with the workers, and the managers, and the associates.

Seldom, Xi Yuan imagined his father in his seat. The man would've made an eminent President to the Xi Corps., he believed. His resilience and determination came from his father, of that he was sure. In fact, Xi Chongkun one of those, Xi Yuan rarely questioned, or monitored, for that matter. The old guy had always been in control, and 'President Xi' planned to keep it like that till the end of it all.

As Xi Yuan looked at his parents, greeting their guests one-by-one, accepting their compliments and gifts, opening them on insistence every now and then, acting amazed, he sighed. He knew, better than anyone, that until now, none of those gifts had been able to capture his father's heart. Diamonds, ridiculously expensive pieces of jade jewelry, watches worth millions of dollars, exquisitely rare tea collections, and whatnots. And still, they were pretending to like it.

He could never act like that, he thought to himself. He was worse at it. Putting on a pretense. But she could, and she would. She was better than most of the actors out there, almost at par with her eldest Sister-in-law Ningtao, a professional A-list actress. Sigh... there it goes again. Her, ruling over his heart, his mind, and his very soul. Turning around, the man ordered another drink for himself, Xi Fang beside him.

"What is it?", the man asked his elder brother, "You okay?"

"Yeah.", the man nodded, getting back to the group of guests approaching him. He was lying. Xi Fang could tell. There hadn't been a single person who'd stepped into this party and hadn't questioned the Xi family, or the Superfamily, about Rong Xinghe. Their answers were the same, though. Military. Air Force. Fighter jets' testing. It wasn't as if it were a lie anyway. Right?

But Luo Youyou was upset by the girl's absence. To her, it was humiliating for the Xis. What was Rong Xinghe even trying to prove? That her work was too important to show up at an event personally hosted by the Xi family. How arrogant was she to act like that?! Even the Jiang family was here, despite the fact that Xi Fang had called off the wedding with Jiang Yue months ago. But her, why was she acting all high and mighty out of nowhere? So naturally, when she answered the queries about the Xi family's to be daughter-in-law's whereabouts, her tone was filled with ridicule and mockery.

"She is the Military Chief. What can we even say anymore?", she'd say.

Neither Xi Yuan nor the Xi trio was aware of this, obviously. They were too busy strengthening their relationships with their business partners. The Superfamily, on the other hand, was there to relax and enjoy their evening. As for Luo Youyou's hostility to their Kiddo, the Six men were unaware too. But her Sisters-in-law weren't. Ruo Cy and Ching Tong had been rushing across the room, toward Songyan and Zhi Xi when they'd listened to the woman speak ill of their Xinghe. Infuriated, the two women were about to confront Luo Youyou there and then. How dare she?!

But before they could tap onto her back, a series of screams and awws erupted from the other end of the huge, finely-decorated banquet hall. Following the source of the hues and the cries, they turned around, and so did everyone else.

Each one in the hall was confused, but him. As a smile crept up to his lips, Xi Yuan raised his brows in astonishment. He knew exactly who it was, who had the audacity to electrify every mortal's heart with just her risen eyes, or curled up lips. As unbelievable as it was to him, his Xinghe was here.

He was right. It took a moment for the girl to silence the people surrounding her, another minute to dismiss them, but then there she was, visible to all the others. Bedizened in an elegant Wine-Red Satin off-the-shoulder gown, she appeared marvelous. Her jet black hair was curled up, bouncing against the back of her waist as she walked in the same shade of pumps, oh-so-royally. She had her makeup on too. Nothing intense, though. A plain layer of foundation, a liquid matte of her gown's tint over her lips, and a basic black eyeliner. And yet, she looked phenomenal. Breathtaking, even.

Nodding at her brothers lightly, the girl made her way to her darling, a man following behind her, holding onto something enclosed in a silk embroidered navy blue box, tied up with a vintage-style lace ribbon.

Looking at him, amid the crowd, and yet alone, her heart ached for him. Neatly suited up in a Black tuxedo, his hair done, he seemed just fine to the world. But to her, he seemed tired, as if he'd drained off of his last bit of energy. Oh... her Yuan. Her, sweet, sweet, Yuan.

Eliminating the distance between them, the girl hugged him, tightly, intimately, allowing him to embrace her back. Softly then, she whispered into his ear, "I meant it. Every word of what I said last night.", she giggled next, "I love you, Yuan. More than you can even begin to imagine."

Xi Yuan did not say anything, as quietly, he tightened his grip around her waist, burying his head into her shoulders. A second later, the girl felt a warm drop of tear roll down against the skin of her collarbone, and she gulped, running her fingers through his smooth hair affectionately. She then parted from him briefly, pulling him in for a kiss, cupping both his cheeks with her hands, wiping his tears away at once. She couldn't let the onlooker get suspicious, could she? As long as they thought that the two of them had lost themselves to the moment...

"I love you too.", Xi Yuan finally said back after he had calmed down enough, "A Virgin Mojito, Ma'jolie?", he asked her with a smile.

Laughing at the man's comment, the girl answered with a wink, "Without the alcohol, yes, Mr. Bartender."