When Reuben entered the hall, his eyes scanned across the room to catch sight of the figure dressed in dark grey who had haunted him in his nightmares for the longest time.

Finding Lina on the dance floor now with her Uncle Wallace, he made his way to the place where many other couples were also dancing a few feet away from them.

However, his arm was yanked backward before he could even get anywhere close to them.

"Wayne, I swear I will-" Reuben turned his body around to threaten him but was shocked to see that it wasn't Wayne who had stopped him.

Renee Ming stared at her son's furious face and then without saying another word, she dragged him away from there.

Reuben could have flung her hand away but that would be disrespectful and mean. Something that he could never be to the woman who had given birth to him.

So he obediently followed after her to the dark corner of the hall where he met his father already waiting there for them.

"What were you planning to do just now?" Renee whisper yelled when they were out of everyone else's earshot.

Felix also glared at his son because he too had witnessed the scene of Reuben striding into the hall with his aura extremely menacing and devious.

"Did you forget everything that you had learned from your grandfather and me?" He spoke in a stern voice which made Reuben clench his fists.

His father rarely spoke in such a harsh tone and whenever he did, it only meant that Reuben had done something wrong.

"Why are you looking away now, huh? Tell me what were you planning to do? Hit her? Disrespect her?" Felix continued when he noticed his son turning his head away in guilt.

Reuben's eyes widened and he instantly looked up to face his father.

"No way! How could I hit my …" The words that were on the tip of his tongue were swallowed when he realized what he was about to say.

'How can I hit my kitten?' He completed that sentence in his mind.

The 'MY' that he was getting used to in the past few days was now sounding like a distant and far off word.

Renee had been observing his face from the moment they reached this spot and she was sure that she had seen a glimpse of a sad smile appear on his face just moments ago.

"Reuben, I know what had happened in the past between the two of you so I can clearly say that you are just dragging things out. Forget about it, will you?" She held his hand in her palm and gently rubbed it.

Reuben stared at his mother who had so easily declared that he was wrong.

"You don't know what happened!?" He snarled at her in a low voice.

Renee's eyes narrowed when she heard his arrogant and stubborn words.

"You came and cried to your mommy like a little girl when that happened, everyone in the family knows about it. Don't try to twist the facts now." She ruthlessly snubbed him.

Reuben's face burned with embarrassment when he recalled what had happened and he turned his head away from them.

While Reuben was wallowing in his self-pity and humiliation, Felix was busy staring at the pair now dancing together.

Wade led Lina in the dance as they moved in perfect coordination as though they had done it a million times before.

'It's no wonder that my men couldn't find any information about her.' He recalled the orders that he had given his men.

After the picture of Reuben and the masked girl dancing together at the auction was leaked in the media, he had sent a few of his best men to find information about this new woman.

However, his men came back empty-handed every time.

They could neither find any trace of her online or offline.

'Patrick must have blocked my men from digging into this matter.' He reasoned however his thinking was wrong.

It wasn't Patrick who had obstructed Felix's men but Benji and Wind who had stopped any news of Lina to be known to the public, no matter how powerful the other person was.

While the Mings were lost in their own thoughts, there was someone else who was trying hard not to lose control of their emotions.

---

In the restroom of the banquet hall,

"What exactly were you going to do just now?" Lucille pushed Mandy into the bathroom and shut the door after she had entered.

Being pushed with such force, Mandy almost lost her footing but she held the wall to steady herself and turned around to glare at her mother.

"Mum, did you not see what just happened?" She sneered at Lucille and pointed in the direction that they had just come from.

Lucille's face darkened when she heard her daughter's words.

She was standing right there so how could she not watch as her dreams of using her daughter to enter high society crumbled when Patrick made that announcement?

Mandy noticed the same fury and resentment in Lucille's eyes that were in hers right now.

"That Lina just spoiled our big day and instead of asking daddy for an explanation, you dragged me here?" She spoke through gritted teeth.

She had just started to make her way towards her father when he was walking down the stairs with Lina but Lucille had forcefully dragged her away.

"And what would you ask him?" Lucille crossed her arms over her chest and stood before her daughter.

"Why did you do this to me?"

"Why did you mislead me into believing that this party was for me?"

"Or maybe? Why did you not stop me from looking like a fool in front of my friends?"

She had a mocking smile on her face as she mentioned everything that Mandy was intending to ask.

Hearing the questions that were swirling in her brain, Mandy's eyes turned red and her shoulders began to tremble.

"But why did he do that? Why, mum?" She bit her ruby red lips to spot them from shivering.

"He bought this dress for me and even sent a car for us. So why does he have to be so mean to me?" She lowered her head and looked at the light that was reflected on the floor.

"I don't know, baby. I really don't. Even I was thinking that he had finally accepted us but looks like he still has some doubts about us." Lucille took a step towards her and brought her into a hug.

Lucille held Mandy's body in a tight hug and let her vent her sorrows and pain.

Mandy's silent whimpers escalated to loud sobs as she buried her face in Lucille's shoulders.

Lucille silently patted her back to calm her down but the fire burning in her own heart would not be going away anytime soon.

She looked at her reflection in the huge mirror and gritted her teeth.

'Patrick Yang, you cannot trample on my dignity just because I love you.' She shut her eyes and hugged her daughter tighter.

"Mandy, are you in there? Can you let me inside?"

Their moment of solitude was broken when they heard a soft voice coming from outside the door.

Mandy let go of her mother and ran to open the door.

"Jeannie!" She yelled as she pounced on the other person that had entered the room.

Jeanette Liang's back crashed into the door when Mandy's entire body weight collapsed onto her petite body.

Enduring the shooting pain in her back, she softly tapped Mandy's shoulder and asked her to let go of the hug.

Mandy realized that she was being rude and so she moved away and looked down in shame.

"Mrs. Yang can we please have a moment alone." Jeanette spoke to Lucille and subtly asked her to leave the room.

Getting the message, Lucille glanced at her daughter one last time and then left the room.

'I wouldn't stay in the same room with that girl anyway. She is so young yet so scary.' Lucille shook her head when she was out and then made her way back to the banquet hall.

She knew that going back there was shameless on her part but there was someone that she desperately needed to meet before the party ended.

Back inside the restroom, Mandy had now calmed down and was wiping the tears off her face.

Miraculously, her make up had not smudged in the least bit so that was no longer a worry for her.

"So that bitch out there is your cousin?" Jeanette's harsh voice made Mandy whiplash towards her.

'Jeannie never uses such dirty words but it looks like she also hates Lina just as much as I do.' She nodded her head to answer her question.

"I don't like her." Jeanette frowned to show her hostility towards Lina.

"Neither do I but what can we do when my own father likes her more than his own daughter?" She sighed in exasperation when she recalled all the times that Patrick had openly favored Lina over her.

"Yes. But that is not why I dislike her." Jeanette softly muttered but Mandy had heard those words.

Noticing her friend's curious gaze, Jeanette realized that she had said that out loud.

She quickly covered her mouth with her hands and shook her head wide in disbelief.

"Are you hiding something from me?" Mandy stepped closer and held onto her shoulders.

Jeanette's face clearly showed her conflicted emotions before she finally caved in.

"I did not want to say such a bad thing about your sister but I have no other option." She gave Mandy an apologetic look before she searched for her phone and handed it over to her.

Mandy looked at the phone which displayed multiple images of Lina taken from different angles.

"I think your sister is trying to seduce my father."

The words that came out of Jeanette's mouth made Mandy's eyes almost pop out of their sockets.