Chapter 118: Yonina Is Here
The chatter from the guests grew as Wendy and Michael stood at a standstill, neither willing to budge.
Suddenly, a voice broke through, "There you are, Ms. Corrine Swift! I’ve been looking for you all day!"
The owner of the voice was Christian. Christian made his way out of the crowd and laughed, "You told me that you would think about my offer, so I’ve been waiting for you. Were you avoiding me?"
With his appearance, the focus moved to Christian. He carried himself casually, as though he was used to having such attention on him.
"Oh, you tease me, Mr. Lucas. How could I be avoiding you?" Wendy followed Christian’s flow.
"Let’s step aside to continue our conversation."
"My sentiments exactly," Christian responded as he turned to walk away, Wendy trailing behind him.
Grandmother and Michael looked on as Wendy left. This drew an involuntary sigh from Grandmother. Soon, Wendy was no longer in sight. Although she had not left the garden entirely, she had found a seat where there were few people.
Left with no choice, Michael stepped on stage with Grandmother to support her as she began her speech for the guests. The voice over the sound system naturally reached Wendy’s ears.
Christian took the seat opposite Wendy.
Swirling the red wine in his glass, he laughed, "Ms. Swift, you truly are an ice queen."
Wendy raised an eyebrow but made no response.
"For helping you get out of that awkward situation earlier, don’t I deserve a word of thanks from you, Ms. Swift?" Christian probed jokingly.
Wendy broke into a gentle smile and shook her head, "Was that your attempt at helping me, Mr. Lucas? I thought that you were really looking for me to discuss our collaboration. I guess I was wrong."
Wendy had never wanted to be associated with Christian.
Although he had not directly harmed her child five years ago, he had bribed the doctor into creating a misunderstanding for Michael.
Because of that, she had almost miscarried. Wendy could not let go of this ’prank that Christian had played on her.
"Of course, we must discuss our collaboration project," Christian said as he raised his glass, motioning for Wendy to clink glasses.
However, Wendy avoided looking over at him, as though she had not seen the gesture. Christian was not daunted by her reaction. "Well, have you considered our collaboration yet?"
"There’s nothing to consider," responded Wendy without hesitation, "It has never crossed my mind to move over to your company."
Having said her piece, Wendy stood up and found herself another seat elsewhere.
Christian knew his place and remained at his seat, merely watching Wendy stalk off. Although his gaze never left Wendy, he continued swirling his wine glass without bringing it to his lips for a long while.
This sister-in-law of his had returned after five long years and left him at a loss for what to do.
As he watched, he noticed a child running to Wendy’s side. One corner of his lip curled unwittingly, an unreadable expression on his face.
Jake held a small plate full of intricate snacks in his hand, raising his arms to reach the table and place the plate in front of his mother. With a broad smile, he urged, "Mummy, this is so yummy! Hurry, try one!"
Upon this sight, Wendy’s low spirits were immediately lifted. Her child was truly her delight. Without her twins, she would never have been able to get through the past five years.
Grandmother and Michael politely finished the thank you speech before leaving the stage.
Once they stepped off, a crowd quickly formed around them. Since Grandmother was the star of the evening, it was only natural for her to attract many of the guests.
Since Isabel was rising in fame as an actor, several of her friends from the entertainment industry had come to offer their well wishes to Grandmother by preparing performances for the Occasion.
Music blared from the stage and no one was paying any further attention to Wendy, making her feel much more at ease now. She accompanied Jake, as they stuffed themselves With delicious goodies from the banquet.
Seeing that the banquet was nowhere near ending and that her stomach was quite satisfied, Wendy bent down and told Jake, "Jake, go let Great-grandmother know that we’ll be heading home first"
Wendy knew that if she went to tell Grandmother that herself, Grandmother would likely convince her to stay. She might even get her to spend the night at the main house. Jake obediently nodded and trotted toward his great-grandmother.
As Jake stepped into the crowd that was surrounding Great-grandmother, he noticed a woman standing in front of Great-grandmother.
She beamed and said, "I’m so sorry to be late, Grandmother, my flight was delayed."
With that, she held out a present and said, "Happy Birthday, Grandmother!"
Grandmother looked at the present with discontentment written all over her face. She then threw a distant gaze in the direction of Wendy.
Nonetheless, Grandmother accepted the gift and uttered a short word of thanks. Winnie, on the other hand, was elated. She walked forward to hold the woman’s hand and warmly greeted her, "My dear Yonina, you’re finally here! I thought that you would not make it today."
"How could I? It’s Grandmother’s birthday, so I’d definitely come!" Yonina Collins bowed her head, slightly bashful, as she apologized, "I’m sorry to have arrived this late."
"It doesn’t matter now that you’re here! The birthday banquet is not over yet, so you aren’t too late."
At this, Winnie held onto Yonina’s hand and in a hushed tone, informed her, "Michael is over there, I’ll bring you to him."
Yonina smoothed her hair over shyly as she said, "Mrs. Lucas, Michael must be busy. I don’t think should interrupt him."
"This is a birthday banquet, not some work event. Don’t worry, he isn’t busy!" Winnie tugged at Yonina’s arm and went to look for Michael.
With Winnie’s encouragement and her own hopes, Yonina followed her.
Jake found this scene quite unusual and stealthily followed the pair. It was nightfall after all and the lamps emitted a dim glow. Since Jake was petite and there was a throng of people in the garden, no one took notice of what he was doing. Therefore, Jake followed Winnie unnoticed.
"Michael, Yonina is here!" Winnie announced gleefully as they reached Michael. "Yonina has been busy with work these days and squeezed time out from her schedule. She was actually on a business trip that she rushed to complete earlier, so give her more of your time. Deal with work tomorrow."
Where Michael was standing, he could see Wendy. That was his reason for standing where he was, he was not there to make work connections. Although he longed to talk to Wendy, she had humiliated him earlier. It would be impossible for him not to be upset with what she did.
However, more importantly, Michael did not want to anger Wendy. He knew that he was rushing things and forcing Wendy to reclaim her identity as his wife.
That was the reason why he held back his urge to talk to Wendy and why he’d merely remained at a place where he could easily spot her.
However, Michael had not expected that Winnie would bring another woman to him.
"Yonina?" Michael frowned, seemingly unfamiliar with who Winnie was referring to.
"Gosh, this child. Have you forgotten who Yonina is?" Winnie awkwardly leaned in to Michael and whispered, "The darling daughter of Collins Group whom you shared a meal with two times in the past, remember?"
Michael truly could not recall who Yonina was.
However, at Winnie’s mention of Collins Group, he remembered. Collins Group was a large company in Lake City, ranked within the top ten. Winnie had brought up the name of this daughter of the Collins Group often and mentioned how she wished he could marry someone of that family since they would be well-matched and the alliance would strengthen their company.
Michael had rejected that idea. Although everyone had believed that Wendy was dead, Michael did not. He would only have Wendy for his wife.
Michael had thought about it too. Should Wendy really have died, he would not want to remarry.
Therefore, when Winnie suggested getting him a girlfriend, Michael had turned her down without a second thought.
The two meals that Winnie had mentioned were first, an occasion where she had tricked him into attending the meal as he had not known that it was a matchmaking type of setting; and secondly, when Winnie had nagged him to return to the main house for a meal and Yonina had been present.
Rightfully, Michael should have met Yonina as he networked amongst the affluent families of Lake City. However, he probably had never taken notice of her, and therefore had no lasting impression of Yonina.
"Ah, I remember now," Michael nodded, his speech and body language stiff. "You must be here to celebrate Grandmother’s birthday. She’s over on that side."
Through these words, Michael was obviously directing Yonina away. However, Yonina remained on the spot, shuffling awkwardly. She looked over at Winnie, at a loss for what to do next.
Yonina did like Michael. And logically so-after all, as a young and successful entrepreneur in Lake City, Michael was wealthy, influential, and even had the looks. Despite him having been married before, he was still extremely attractive to most women.
Although Yonina had met many different men before, Michael stood out from the crowd.
Moreover, Winnie had been telling her how favorably Michael thought of her. However, things looked considerably different now.
Winnie looked upon Michael’s response in frustration. She pulled him close and hissed, "Ms. Collins has been extremely busy with her work and has been often going on business trips. She even had to make a special effort to rush over for Grandmother’s birthday banquet"
"You’ve mentioned that before," Michael responded hastily, interrupting Winnie. "I know that she came over specially to celebrate Grandmother’s birthday. That’s why I’m telling her where Grandmother is. Is there a problem?"
"Michael, don’t pretend you don’t know what’s going on here!" Winnie chided. "You had better make Yonina’s time worthwhile tonight. If you dare make her unhappy, I’ll make sure you pay for it!"
"Mom..." responded Michael, resignation in his voice. He looked past Yonina over at Wendy in the distance.
Wendy was sitting alone playing games on her cellphone, at that point, seemingly aloof and solitary. As Michael looked on, a slight smile formed on his face unknowingly.
"Mom, Ms. Collins and I are n-" Michael had intended to let his mother know that they were not suitable companions for each other.
However, Winnie cut in, "You’re being too direct with such a cheeky smile! Look at how bashful you’ve made Yonina! After all, you’re talking to a young lady. Learn to be a little more gentlemanly with how you express yourself to her, will you!"
In no way was that smile a result of Michael looking at Yonina - his full focus had been on Wendy!
Winnie brought Michael and Yonina’s hands together. Now, Michael and Yonina were holding each other’s hands.
"Go and bring Yonina on a tour of our house and introduce her to the others."
When Michael realized that he was touching Yonina’s hand, he immediately retracted his hand. He threw an apologetic glance at Wendy, seemingly concerned that she might have seen what had just taken place.
