Chapter 45 ENGAGEMENT PARTY X

         El sat close to Ethan at the table in the dining room. As she sat there, she took another glance at her bracelet, before looking up at Ethan whose attention was pulled from the meal in front of him to her face, due to the way she was smiling at him. He leaned in closer to her face, as he stared at her with narrowed eyes.

       "You're not planning on doing anything stupid, are you?" Ethan whispered in her ears, and she froze. She could feel his hot breath on her skin, sending shivers to her spine, and her brain suddenly stopped functioning. All she could think about was how close his lips were to the bare skin on her neck and her heartbeat increased.

       She swallowed when he raised his head to look at her face, and suddenly, the if realizing herself, his words rang in her head. Why was this man always having weird thoughts, especially about her? Does she look like a person who would harbor stupid thoughts? 

       "And why do you assume I'll be having stupid thoughts?" 

      "Isn't it obvious? You're smiling at yourself, and a person only smiles at themselves when they're insane, which is not an option cause you're clearly not, and when they harbor stupid thoughts in their head that no one knows about, which is what you're doing now. It's clear logic."

      "I'm not smiling at myself, Ethan." El defended immediately, making Ethan raise one of his brows in denial. She didn't know why she defended herself like this, but she couldn't let this man think this way of her. She had a reputation to save. "I'm smiling at you," she blurted out and bit her lips afterward when she realized what she just said. She had exposed herself, thanks to this man and his annoying interrogations.

        His lips curved into a grin, the one he always had when he teased her, and her heartbeat increased even more. It had been long since she had seen him smile this way at her, and it somehow made her heart flutter, seeing him this way. 

        "Why are you smiling at me" "Eleanor" he stressed her name with his deep sexy husky voice. The grin on his lips widened, even more, when he saw the look on her face, and he moved closer to her face until their lips almost touched. El swallowed as her face burned red. She couldn't stop herself from looking down at his lips, and she suddenly started imagining how they would taste if he was to kiss her now. His mouth would taste probably sharp, she concluded in her head because of the wine he had siped earlier. 

       She bit her lips as she cursed inwardly at her thoughts. She wasn't supposed to be having this kind of thoughts toward this man, but somehow he made her have some kind of thoughts she wasn't supposed to be having, and she somehow felt excited within.

      "T that came out wrong," she stammered as she turned away from him embarrassed. Her face burned even more when she saw everyone's eyes on the table on them both. Ethan was a shameless man, who didn't care about anybody whenever he did certain things, and the thought that everyone saw what just transpired between them, made her feel like being swallowed by the floor. 

        She had the urge to bend her head, but staring at the eyes of some people on the table who screamed hatred, gave her the courage not to do that. To her doing that was accepting intimidation and defeat from them, and she couldn't do that. Not now, not ever.

       She stopped staring at them when their attention was diverted to the entrance of the room, and her gaze followed theirs to see Antonio and Adrian standing there. She was shocked to see them, and she frowned when they walked closer to the table.

       As she looked at everyone at the table, she noticed they weren't reacting like her. Was she the only one shocked to see them? Or was she shocked because of what they did to her? She couldn't tell, but right now, she cared less about how the other people at the table felt. What mattered to her was the presence of the peoplé who she hated to see being In front of her.

       "It's good to have you here, Mr. Welsh." Griffin, alongside everyone at the table, stood up when they noticed their presence to welcome them.

       "Likewise, Mr. Grayson. I'm glad to join you for dinner," Antonio said as he shook hands with Griffin.

      "Forgive my manners, I should've invited you a long time ago."

      "No harm done." He turned to El who sat near Ethan and gave her a quick smile, and El returned it with a deadly glare.

      She still couldn't think of any reason for his presence in the mansion this evening. Was he here, alongside her two-faced backstabbing best friend to mock her for putting her in this situation? She smiled bitterly inwardly, before looking at Adrian who had been staring at her since he walked into the room. He smiled faintly at her, which vanished almost immediately when he saw the look on her face.

       El stared at him coldly for a while, before turning back to Antonio who seemed to be greeting other members of Ethan's family. He shook Ethan's hand and later introduced Adrian as his son and future heir to his enterprise, while El just moaned inwardly at the thought. Of course, Adrian was, that was why he collided with his father so that their precious multi-million dollar company, which was more important than her, wouldn't go bankrupt. 

       "Please, grab a seat." Griffin gestured with his hand, and they sat on the two empty seats on the table. They all started eating the meal in silence, with Adrian glancing at El now and then, but she ignored him completely.

      "Once again, thank you for honoring my invitation, Mr. Antonio." Griffin broke the long silence on the table. "Well, I'm just going to cut to the chase." He added, and Antonio nodded in affirmation.

        "I'm going to start by apologizing on behalf of every member of my family for the humiliation yesterday." Griffin paused to look at his face, and Adrian's, including El who felt very uncomfortable as she heard those words from him. "We're deeply sorry for the embarrassment caused to your family, especially my granddaughter-in-law."

        She forced a smile as she stared at Antonio and Adrian. Unlike Antonio whose eyes were on Griffin, Adrian's eyes were on her. He was staring at her pitifully, and it suddenly got her upset. Why was he staring at her this way when he was the reason she was facing all these?

         She wanted to walk out of the place when she suddenly saw Ethan's eyes on her. "Don't even think about it." He whispered in her ears as he stared at her face coldly, before turning back to Griffin who was still giving his speech. El looked at him shocked as she wondered how he knew what she was thinking of at that moment.

         Her attention was suddenly pulled to Griffin when she heard him call out her name. She looked at him embarrassed because she didn't know what was asked of her but suddenly decided to agree to whatever he said. "Of course, Grandpa." She smiled at him.

       Griffin smiled back at her as he took a sip of his wine. "It's settled then. They both don't want a breach of the contract and want to continue with the marriage."

       El's eyes widened when she heard Griffin's words. She never knew that was the question asked earlier, and she had replied cheerfully to it. Now, everyone at the table who hated her probably concluded she was exactly the same way they had thought of her. She sighed inwardly as she looked at Ethan whose eyes were on his phone.

       He excused himself and walked out of the room unhurriedly seconds after he put his phone down, and everyone's eyes followed him until he was out of sight, before they continued their discussion.

          A few minutes later, Isabella excused herself and walked out of the room. El watched her as she left the room. For a moment, she had forgotten about her presence in the room as they said everything. Somehow, she felt bad for her because of her situation with Ethan, but there was nothing she could do. Ethan had refused to let her go.

         She excused herself from the dining room after some suffocating minutes of hearing her father's words and decided to go get some fresh air outside. She walked to the back of the building and was about to head to the garden when she heard some people talking in a room, and decided to know who they were.

         When she walked to the entrance of the room, she froze as she saw the scene in front of her. Ethan and Isabella were kissing.