Chapter 18

Clifford marched towards the lady with pink hair. Plastered on his face, was a small smile that made him seem harmless.

Confused, Clare pointed her index finger towards herself.

With a nod, the man confirmed that it was indeed her he was talking to.

Looking at him from head to toe, she was convinced that this man was decent compared to the other wealthy men in the suite.

That is with the exception of the mysterious man she locked eyes with earlier...

Clifford noticed the distrusting stare the girl directed towards him. He found the situation surprising since he expected a completely different reaction from someone working in this field.

'Hmm... Interesting.'

His smile grew deeper as a new idea surfaced in his mind.

Clearing his throat, he reached out his hand for a shake and thought that introducing himself would be a good idea.

"Right. You must be wondering why I called for your attention, Miss?"

"—Stella. I'm Stella."

"Nice...I'm Clifford. I'm the groom-to-be who organized this party and I was wondering...If maybe you could do me a little favor? Please?"

With pleading eyes, Clifford asked for her approval.

Swallowing her nervousness, Clare nodded with uncertainty.

She hoped that the favor wasn't something...

Sensing her reluctance, Clifford immediately put an end to her unsettling thoughts.

"Oh! No— I didn't mean it like that. I promise you, I'm very loyal to my wife. I would never do that to her. I was just—"

Hearing this, Clare sighed with relief.

She felt like thanking the heavens for proving her assumptions wrong.

'Wait...Why am I even explaining?', Clifford thought to himself.

Scratching the back of his head, he cleared his throat and he decided to not waste time and state his purpose once and for all.

" Okay, I'm going straight to the point. See that man over there."

Stretching his arms and pointing his finger to a specific direction, made the woman turn her head and follow its trajectory.

Her eyes widened for a split second , as she was met with a piercing glare.

"...Y-Yes?"

"Okay, good... That man, over there. He's my best friend. In fact, my best man for my upcoming wedding..."

"As you can see, he's a lonely soul. His girlfriend just left him for a better guy. I mean who could blame her when you're dating that!"

He wanted to add the term "human iceberg" but it would seem like he wasn't trying to help his friend but was trying to criticize him instead.

Clifford stopped himself from whining and cleared his throat upon realization that he was getting carried away with the fake story he just made up.

"I mean... He's very heartbroken and he needs someone to console him... and I saw him looking at you a lot. Maybe, you could talk to him for a bit? Console that poor soul?"

Clare looked at the mysterious man and back to Clifford. She wanted to make sure that they were talking about the same guy.

"You're talking about him. Right?"

She said this with her finger pointing to the same direction where Clifford did too.

"Yes. I'm talking about him. My friend. Aww~ you could just see the sadness in his eyes!" Clifford said with an exaggerated sigh.

Clare wanted to call bullshit for him spouting an obvious lie. She wanted to ask Clifford if he was seeing what she was seeing.

He doesn't even look lonely!

He looks pissed off!

Clare wanted to argue with this fact but...

"Alright."

"Great! That's great!"

Elated, Clifford shook her hands once more with a huge beam.

"I should probably cheer him up. He looks... forlorn." she added.

"Pfft-"

Clare was surprised as the man suddenly turned on his back. She could see his shoulders shook slightly like he was having some type of mini seizure.

A few seconds later, he faced her with a completely calm expression with a slightly flushed face. She found this reaction odd but brushed it off since she already agreed to his request.

Clifford barely held back his laughter as the woman started making her way towards the devil's incarnate. He wanted to apologize in advance for what she was about get into.

But what can he do?

He was deadset on winning their bet and making it hard for his opponent to accomplish it.

And seeing how his friend stared at the pink haired girl named Stella, made him come up with a conclusion that things were going to be entertaining.

With every step towards the man on the couch, Clare felt her heart beat quickly. She wondered why she was so nervous attempting to do a simple task of talking to a stranger.

It was ridiculous for her since she wasn't the type to shy away from meeting new people.

'What is wrong with me today?'

It was just one guy to talk to. It wasn't such an impossible task.

'Here goes...'

"Hi."

With a small smile on her face she stood in front of him.

"Can I sit here?", she asked cautiously.

"..."

No response was given to answer her request. Only a hint of annoyance was seen on his face.

Clare's smile almost faltered from seeing his unresponsiveness. She wanted to tell him how much of an arse he was acting right now.

Alas, the reason from this rude behaviour must be from his recent heartbreak. He must still feel bitter about it.

She breathed deeply as she tried to widen her patience for this man. It was her job to be empathetic.

She looked around to see reasons why facing this man was significantly better than the other men in the room.

And saw none...

On the bright side, isn't it better than demonstrating her nonexistent flirting skills?

'Yeah, right.'

She snorted as she felt pathetic deep inside.

Trying to disregard his prior behaviour, Clare helped herself and sat next to him while maintaining a considerable distance.

Turning her body towards him, she carefully observed his face as she thought of a right approach in striking a conversation with him.

Now that his face was more visible...

Well...

'Wow.'

She couldn't help but conclude ...

He was incredibly handsome.

Considerably better up close...

However, she wondered if it was even better if it was closer—

Wait...

What was she even thinking about?

'Get a grip Clare, He's a jerk. Remember that?'

Clare woke up from her weird thoughts as the man put his empty glass on the center table and faced her.

Crossing his well toned arms, he looked at her with suspicion.

"What do you want?"