Reuben watched from the sidelines as Lina cheerfully walked up to his old business rival and smiled at him.

'I know for sure that they must be acquainted before today or else Kitten would never approach him so freely.' He deduced as he glanced at them interacting with each other.

His confidence, in this case, came from the fact that she had snubbed him without any remorse when they first met.

'She called me a creep when we met on our flight back so she must have called him something much worse when she first met him, right?' This thought brought him a strange sense of joy that could not be explained.

If only Reuben knew how Lina and Louis first met then he would cry a river for the difference in their treatments.

But that's a story for another day.

Right now, Lina was happily conversing with her senior brother whom she had not seen for quite a few years now.

"So did the plans for your company work out?" She leaned closer to him and whispered in his ears.

Louis looked sideways at her face and gave her a silent nod before smiling.

No words were used but Lina got his answer loud and clear.

'He worked too hard for it and he deserves it.' She nodded in satisfaction.

Louis stopped looking at her and turned to the three pairs of eyes which were burning holes in his body.

There he found Reuben standing a few feet away from them while the twins were seated in the same places as earlier.

"Oh yes, Master Ming. What was the name I just heard?" He stepped in Reuben's direction and smirked at him.

Louis's face looked devilishly gorgeous when he smirked which made a few women in his vicinity to swoon after witnessing it.

Among these women were Lina and Stacy. Lina even went a step ahead and fanned her heating face to cool herself.

Reuben rolled his eyes and stretched his hand out for a handshake.

Louis was surprised to see that this egotistical man was willing to be the first person to extend his hand.

Not wanting to lose this rare opportunity of the Emperor taking the first step, he raised a brow at Reuben and accepted his handshake.

But the moment his hand connected with Reuben's, his entire body was pulled forward.

Reuben stabilized the other man's body and made it seem as though they were two friends giving each other a bro hug.

But they were neither brothers nor was this a hug.

"Remember to keep your distance from her." His threatening words sounded in Louis's ears and then the hold over his hand was relaxed.

'This guy really has no boundaries. This is the second time I've seen them so close to each other.' He rolled his eyes and let go of the semi hug.

Patting his shoulder, Reuben left him in the same place and took a step towards Lina.

Smiling at her, he ushered her to the table and pulled a chair out for her.

"Your ankles must be aching. Here, sit for a moment." He gently pressed her shoulders and made her sit on the chair before he sat right next to her.

They were at a round table right now and Reuben had placed her in such a way that she was now seated between Stacy and himself.

The only remaining chair that Louis could use was between Reuben and Wade.

Wayne had been observing all of his subtle moves and the frown on his face deepened with every passing second.

'Earlier, I did not want him to meet Nana because of their past. Now it looks like I need to keep him away from Nana for her future!' He secretly glared at his traitorous best friend.

Wade was not so happy seeing them together as well.

'What the hell happened to 'your sisters are my sisters' crap?' He scowled when he saw Reuben pouring water for Lina.

Lina's feet were hurting thanks to the high heels she had paired with this dress and also due to the weakness that still remained in her body after the coma.

So Reuben's considerate actions were a godsend for her.

'He will make a great husband someday.' She grinned at him when he took away the glass of cold water from her hand and placed one with tepid water in it.

She knew that this move was because he thought she was still sick but she was thankful for it nonetheless.

"You still haven't told me about this cute little nickname that my dear junior has given you." Louis' snarky comment destroyed the cozy atmosphere that Reuben had been trying to build around himself and his Kitten.

Turning his body around to face the annoying fly, Reuben questioningly raised a brow at him.

'Junior?' His face showed the confusion in his mind.

"What? She hasn't told you that we have known each other for over five years now?" Louis shrugged and answered Reuben's query.

He chuckled when he noticed how Reuben's eyes had widened soon after he heard this revelation.

Reuben's eyes turned toward Lina who nodded her head to show that Louis was speaking the truth.

"Senior Huo and I were in the same college." She explained the situation to the others who were unaware of their relationship.

Wade was the only one who wasn't shocked because he was there with Lina during her college years but the others did not know much about it.

"No wonder you appeared here today! You know Nana, his guy never comes to such social gatherings." Wayne thought out loud and got a lazy nod from Louis.

"I came here to support Lina, of course." Louis raised his glass in her honor which made everyone do the same.

"So everyone knew that this party was for me except me?" Lina made a frustrated face when she saw her cousins nod their heads.

When Reuben and Louis shared a look of confusion, Wayne took it upon himself to explain how they had tricked Lina into believing that this party was for Stacy instead.

Louis was informed about this party by Wade who had called him for some official business. So he was not completely in the dark about this party.

"She still hates attention." Louis chuckled which made Lina scowl at him with a pout.

Reuben's irritation grew with every minute when he realized that there was not much he knew about his kitten other than her identity as LY and now as a Yang family heiress.

"You have no idea how tough it was to keep everything under wraps until tonight. Plus her coma did not help us out in any way." Stacy chuckled as she downed her champagne.

The moment the word 'coma' slipped out of her mouth, Lina and the twins grimaced at the same time.

'Stacy!' She glared at her sister but stopped when she felt the stares of the ones sitting beside her.

"Coma?" Both Reuben and Louis uttered at the same time.

Reuben did not bother with him because at this moment, knowing that Lina was alright was the only thought in his mind.

"Is that why you did not answer my calls?" He gritted his teeth and stared into her golden eyes.

Lina knew that she could no longer lie her way out of this situation because the cat was out of the bag, so she nervously gave him a brief nod.

The jovial atmosphere from a few minutes ago had turned sour and Stacy felt guilty that she was the culprit for this change.

Lina held her hand to show that she did not blame her for this.

"Dr. Silverstone's treatment isn't working anymore?" The silence was broken when Louis questioned her in a serious voice.

Lina shook her head and sighed to show that she did not know what was wrong with her these days.

"Why?" A low yet deep voice was heard close to her.

Reuben had been silent ever since she told him the reason for avoiding his calls and only now did he open his mouth.

'She said that it was just a common cold!?' His heart was fuming from the moment she had revealed the real reason for her absence these past few days.

'Why what?' Lina tilted her head when she heard his abstract question.

"Oh, it's nothing big. I just have a mild case of Tachophobia which gets out of hand sometimes." She joked to lighten the mood.

The cousins and Louis scoffed at her words because they were aware of the severity of her sickness.

"Why did you hide it from me?" Reuben once again spoke with a deep frown set on his face.

Lina looked into his eyes and froze for a second when she saw the anger in them.

"I… I just did not want people to know about my weakness." She managed to speak after taking a sip of the water.

However, the uneasiness she was feeling in her heart increased with every second that Reuben just gazed at her face without speaking a word.

"Excuse me. I need to leave." Reuben swiftly got up from his seat and left the table, leaving everyone dumbfounded.

'That look in his eyes was as though he was accusing me of some grave sin.' Lina's eyes followed the stiff back that headed towards a certain hallway of the banquet hall.

Not wanting things to end this way, Lina's body moved on its own as she too stood up from a seat.

"I'll be right back!" She glanced at her cousins and senior after which she hurriedly followed in the direction that Reuben had left in.

"What just happened?" Stacy was utterly bewildered by this bizarre turn of events that occurred in just a few minutes.

She glanced at her brothers but they were still in a state of shock which made her turn to the only person who was looking at her with a mischievous smile.

"Looks like Master Ming and my dear junior have a lot to talk about." He casually peeked in the direction they had vanished in.

Taking one last sip of his drink, he bid his farewell and walked towards the table that his parents were occupying.