Chapter 52 (reuploaded)

There was a single person who was immune to the malice in the beautiful man's voice, and it was not one of this family, nor his fake fiancé, nor any of the people who had gone to school with him, nor the security and triad members who were keeping an eye on the venue. Not even Gin was safe.

No, the person who was unfazed by the murderous rage only went to show how scarily dense he was: it was Daniel Gwane.

"Imply? All I'm saying is that those men probably had good reason to be concerned. Someone as decorated as you is a million tiers higher than a third-gen riche leech. It makes much more sense for the Reyes to put your family into a sticky situation which forced your engagement, no doubt down to the suspect reasons behind the merger."

Reynold turned his face away from his cousin, massaging his forehead whilst acting as if he did not know his at all. At the same time, Melissa looked at her table and saw that almost everyone else were showing eager support on their faces; perhaps it was time for her to get smarter friends, whether they will be more difficult to manipulate or not.

Meanwhile, everyone else, who was just recovering from their initial shock, only found themselves dropping their jaws again.

And this would not be the last of it, not by far.

"Do go on, just how is Henry Reyes unworthy of me?"

Henry could not help but think 'that is what you focus on?', wondering why he completely missed the part where they insulted both of their families.

"Do you really have to ask? Reyes is just an over-pampered child, whether from a decent family or not. He said it himself, he's just an intern, there's no reason behind all the praise for him. If not for his family, he would be nothing. Obviously if people who insulted him were fired purely for upsetting Henry, it has to be down to abuse of power." Joshua's face only darkened as he continued. "You don't have to deny it, we all know your ex-employees were not wrong. Compared to you, he is nothing; just a ugly, spoilt brat who is as useless as he is delusional to think he genuinely has a chance with someone as decorated as you."

"He is not ugly."

There were two shattering sounds of glass in succession, one following the blatant lies that had come out of the younger Gwane's mouth, the other following Joshua's instinctive response. Collectively, jaws dropped around them, silence falling across the venue as they all stared in shock at what had just happened.

Henry was the most shocked of them all, staring at the other man in disbelief. Although it was not the first time he had seen Joshua react like this, somehow it was more ridiculous the second time.

What ultimately broke the silence was a small, muffled snigger; everyone immediately turned to the source of the sound. The stifled laugh was unsurprisingly Archer Lore, but what really got everyone else's attention was Samuel Reyes. Now that they were used to the number of people clinging to Samuel, they were not fazed at all by how Archer's face was completely buried into the other man's neck – all whilst Meera was attached to his other side. No, what they found amazing was that the Reyes family's first son had hand over mouth, face going red from holding back his laughter.

The two were like Henry in the sense that this was all more insane the second time. However, they found it absolutely hysterical and were doing a horrendous job at hiding it.

Henry once again turned away, pretending he had not seen anything, one insane person was more than enough for him to deal with.

Looking at Joshua, he opened his mouth to say something, only to find himself struggling to find the words to express his thoughts. In the end, what came out was a simple:

"Why is it always that point?"

"Because you really aren't ugly."

"Am I just a pretty face to you or something? Seriously, this is the second time. Out of everything said, why do you take offence to such an obvious lie? How about him insulting you, as if you could be tricked so easily?"

"Because you aren't ugly."

"Did you not hear the rest of it? I guess I really am just a pretty face."

"Of course not, maybe I did not stress it enough last time, but I will say it as many times as you need to hear: you are the most amazing person I know and three times the person I could even dream of being. I don't know why people say you are beneath me when it is obviously the other way round."

This time the silence was only short, some people starting to mutter after Joshua had said his piece. The praise was considered the highest you could get, the Joshua Lore is saying that Henry is so much better than him, that he could only aspire to be like him. To everyone, the second Lore son was already considered a walking perfection; the praise seemed surreal. And not one person could say this was an act even if they had tried, not after the man had just obsessed over Henry's lack of ugliness like a madman.

The man himself, he found nothing wrong with what he had said, that opinion of the younger man was something the man wholeheartedly believed. Even if the marriage and relationship was a lie, what he thought of Henry Reyes was not, he really did think that Henry was the most amazing person he had met to date.

The rumours about the second Reyes son were quickly forgotten, not just because of what Joshua said, but also due to the reaction he man in question garnered. His face was stuck in shock, blushing out of embarrassment from what had been said, but at the same time eyes sparkling from the praise. He didn't feel he deserved those words, however he could also not deny that he was incredibly touched by what had been said.

But, most importantly, there was no reason for Joshua to say that in front of everyone! That was the strongest feeling of them all, his face completely lit up as he stared at Joshua. Once he realised he was staring, Henry quickly looked down, not knowing how to respond, feeling extremely awkward.

"N-no, you are the amazing one. I mean, I don't think I am unworthy of you or anything, but, like, you're definitely the better one out of us two."

Seeing Henry's expression, Joshua could not help but smile a little, he really had to give up with the trauma that followed the marriage meeting, Henry was really acting to cute for him to deny it. And if they had been alone, he would have definitely pressed on to embarrass the other man further.

Unfortunately, the situation did not allow for it. He had to set this malicious rumour straight once and for all.

Dropping the smile, Joshua turned to the Gwane cousins, eyes cold as ice.

"I will say it once and not more than that, so make sure to understand it the first time. I was the one to have those men fired, I was the one who had them kicked out within the hour. Our company does not need people on such a low calibre that they slander and belittle anyone to their face. There was no chance of them keeping their jobs to begin with. But the treatment they received afterwards was my decision and my decision alone, regardless of the unanimous support I received from both my family and the Reyes. And anyone who decided to spread these baseless lies in an attempt to invalidate Henry will receive retaliation of the same severity, if not worse. I will not stand for anyone to insult such an amazing person, and that is without even factoring in our relationship. You have all been warned, if you decide to be ignorant to it, you will pay with your livelihood and no less."

As Henry hid his face lower and lower in shame, everyone else could only stare in amazement; this pairing's love was really on another level, that is what the general consensus seemed to be.