Chapter Sixty.

Elena's Pov.

It was already three o'clock and I could still not decide in which dress to wear, I did not fret though, because I had about three more hours to go before the event officially began. 

I have been rummaging through my dressing room for the past two hours and have still not found any worthwhile cloth to wear, funny how I had the perfect dress planned out for a wedding that would be taking place next month, but do not have any idea what to wear for an event that would be taking place this evening. I smiled at the memory of what had transpired yesterday, apparently Tyler had been planning to officially invite me to the wedding by giving me a wedding card, also telling me that he and his soon to be wife would be very honored if I accepted to be one of her bride's maids, so he had not been ready for throng of questions that I hoarded him with the moment he just stepped into the restaurant. 

I chuckled, his expression was to die for, the pleading eyes he used to look at his soon to be bride and Azalea was enough to crack somebody up, he was not saved by anyone though and had to sit down and answer all the questions I asked him, in the end, I got grilled chicken and some fries, on the house, so everything turned out well, and of course I accepted to be Annette's bridesmaid, he told me that he was grateful to me, because I had helped him get to her, but I shut off all of the peo talk, mainly because I believed that what was meant to be, was meant to be, and I only just played a tiny part in the turn of events. But now, I had to hunt for the perfect dress to wear to the art exhibit, I did not want to show up, looking all frowzy, it would have been partially acceptable if it was just any kind of art exhibit, but this one was an all out affair, to be invited for this was a huge deal, and only the people of class were invited, so I was really amazed and astounded when I received the invitation card.

The fact that I was going with Harry too was another reason to look good, I knew that I was courting troue when I accepted to be his date, but the fact that I did not have a date and he did not have any too prompted me to accept,and, it would be rude to turn him down, especially after the dating rumors, I did not want anything to affect our friendship, so I decided to go, even though I stood a chance of becoming the talk of the town tomorrow.

I looked at the jewelry that was staring back at me, a ruby necklace with ruby teardrop earrings, courtesy of Boss Jewelry, they had sent it to me as a gift after seeing the positive response from the public, for their latest Jewelry line which I had modelled, I was going to wear it today, but I had no idea which dress to wear, this was so frustrating.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I had two ultimate choices, a red and black sequined dress that would go well with the ruby, it was just a long red sequined dress that accentuated my curves, and, a black turtleneck dress that flowed out, I would have to use a red belt if I wanted to wear that. Sighing, I decided to go with the red and black sequined dress.

Checking the time, I found out that it was Four thirty five, I had less than two hours before Harry came for me, I cannot imagine the amount of attention we would draw when people saw us together, but then again, I did not want to go there alone, that would be the worst scenario, as I would be lonely and not have anyone to talk to, but with Harry, I stood a chance if having a good time.

I had gotten my hair done,and had a quality spa treatment, buy my makeup wouly be done by me, I did not want to rusk running into Valerie at the salon, a lot of questions would be asked and I did not know where to start answering.

Technically, the only people that used that salon was she and I, but she did not know that, she was not aware of my bond with Lorenzo and I would not be able to tell her, so explaining to her would prove to be very hard, and I did not want to stand that chance.

So I put on the dress, it was spot on. I twirled around fashionably. Why did I even have a hard time choosing, this dress was perfect for the occasion. It was wrapped around my body, but flared out at the ankles, not too much, but enough to cover my feet, which I adorned with red stilettos, the type that had black soles, my neck was bedecked with the ruby necklace, and the earrings beautified my ears and a pretty bracelet on my wrist. My image in the mirror was pretty flawless, but I wanted to do more, sitting down at the makeup table, I did some little touch ups with my make up, smacking the red lipstick, I looked at my reflection again, I was hot as hell and nobody could tell me otherwise. I mean, I would marry own reflection right here and now if I had a chance.

"Damn gurl, you look sweltering" I said to myself, blowing kisses to my reflection.

Pairing the dress with a glittering sleek black purse, I looked at myself in the mirror one final time and did some poses, before I left the dressing room, to wait for Harry's arrival.

Two minutes later, I heard a honk outside, there was no way that Harry had arrived by this time, it was too early. I thought, taking a peep at my phone to see that it t was already five fifty, only five minutes until the event.

I hurried outside, to see Harry waiting for me in a limousine, he was waiting at the side,one leg across the other, looking at something on his phone, the clicking of my heels must have alerted him, because he immediately looked up and smiled at me, showing of his handsome set of teeth and his cute dimple, this man was looking ravishing in his black tuxedo and designer shoes, his hair was gelled back and he looked like the perfect bad boy that had girls falling over him, with his muscular body and perfect physique.

"Are you ready?" He asked smilingly, so gentlemanly of him.

"Ready to break the internet with all kinds of rumors, of course I am" I smiled right back at him.

" Then let us go" He held my hand and ushered me in.

"Great" I replied, entering the car gracefully.

The ride was definitely more than a five minutes ride, with me fidgeting and him trying to soothe me by telling me that there was no need to be nervous as everything was going to be okay, and I had nothing to fear.

Finally arriving at the scene of excitement, the cameras were flashing, I could see that much from the tinted windows of the limousine, the press were surely having their fill of celebrities.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked, was my nervousness really that evident.

"Can't I just stay in here for the rest of the night?", I asked,

" You definitely cannot. You have to come out at some point, it will be better if that point is now" He said, and I could see sense in his words.

" Okay" I agreed," who is going first?" I asked.

" I'll go first" He replied, and did just that.

Harry opened the door for me and I stepped out gracefully, then linking our arms together we made our way towards the red carpet that was rolled out for the invitees. The cameras flashed into my eyes and I badly wanted to squint and cover my face, but I decided against that and instead I gave a big smile and continued walking, grabbing Harry's arm a little tighter than before, he patted my arm and I could hear the cameras clicking, they had definitely secured that picture.

"Ms. Elena, Mr Harry" I could hear the shouts behind us, but I did not pay any mind to it, I was not in the mood to answer any questions from reporters.

When finally inside, we breathed a sigh, I was surprised to see that he looked relieved.

"Were you nervous too?" I asked, whispering.

"What do you take me for? Of course I was nervous, no one is safe from the press and the Media" He replied, stooping a little bit to answer my question, because he was taller than me. I could imagine the image we were giving off now.

Him looking down at me and me looking up at him while speaking, what was left was the kiss that would usually follow, but that happened only in movies and not at a celebrity art exhibition.

We made our way to a large door, with the guidance of a guide that was assigned to us, a tall slender woman in uniform, she was dressed in a black suit, with black stilettos and a white scarf around her neck. Pulling open the door, the whole place looked like a maze, different passages and hallways, filled with people, and laughter and staff explaining the meaning of a this painting or that painting, there were people everywhere, and the whole place was porcelain white and sparkling.

She guided us to a section, people were dressed with different kind of attires, some even went as far as wearing masks.

I lifted a glass of champagne of a waiters tray and took a sip, looking at the the beautiful paintings on the wall and all the beautiful art pieces that I could set my eyes on. I was really enjoying the view.

I was also receiving looks from some people, maybe it was because of my attire, or the man beside me, I chose to delude myself into thinking that they were looking at me because they were admiring my dress, but deep down, I knew that some new rumor was brewing, I downed my glass of champagne and took another one from a passing waiter.

"Hey, that is your second glass of champagne, and it has not been give minutes since we got here, are you sure you are okay?" He asked, concerned.

" Yeah, I am fine, just nervous." I half lied,

" Are you really that nervous" He asked.

" I guess so" I said as we rounded another passage. I was glad to have left the searching eyes of the people in the other hallway, but then, some new people were joining us as our guide explained the meaning of a painting, to me, it just looked like blots of ink scattered here and there, but she was explaining so much about it and the people in our little cluster seemed to be understanding it, all except me, or maybe it was because I did not really know how to appreciate art.

We walked a little bit, and a hush fell over the passage like a deep blanket. The clack of heels were resounding, it was him.

Lorenzo was here, I was mesmerized, he was just striding nonchalantly and yet I was mesmerized by him, he looked heavenly, I had no words and even if I did, my mouth was too dry and my throat was too parched for me to be able to speak, that is how sweltering hot he looked, handsome was an understatement, this man was a walking hazard, this amount if beauty should be made illegal. He knew the effect he had on people and he used his charm, he was dangerously handsome, the type of fire that you would want to touch and have it consume you.

"Uh.. hi" A little shy voice brought me out of my daze.

"Uh.." I wanted to reply, until I noticed that she was not talking to me, but the man beside me. Harry gave her a little smile.

"Hi" He answered back and I stopped listening.

I was now focusing my attention on our guide, she seemed a bit more shy and jumpy, and her cheeks were becoming red. I wondered what was up with her, she kept talking and looking at something, and I turned to look in her line of sight, she was looking at Lorenzo, he was alone, just looking at a painting, he had no guide and no date,just standing there. He WAS the painting in this room, he was just standing there and yet almost everyone was looking at him and gushing over him.

I excused myself to use the bathroom, mainly to get a grip on myself and try to control the butterflies in my belly and all the fluttering in my heart.

When did he come back? Did he know that I would be here? Has he even seen me? A lot of thoughts and questions were running through my head at the same time, I held the sink with an iron grip and stared into my own eyes in the mirror, there was no need to act like a highschool girl that has a huge crush on the popular jock, I was more mature than that, I tried to tell myself, but I knew that I was in fact not so mature, because the way he had my heart racing and my pulse drumming in my ears, it was unreal, it was going to be hard trying to control myself.

Pulling out my lipstick from my purse, I added a little tint to my lips, and debbed a bit of makeup on my face, then I exited the stall and went back to the people waiting for me.

I found Harry having a nice chat with the girl from earlier, I did not like her, but it would be good if some people saw them together, it would help to diffuse the dating rumors, so I left them, sending a text message to Harry to continue without me as it would be taking some time.

I searched for Lorenzo, but could not find him anywhere, my eyes roamed the crowd and I finally saw him, in a corner, talking to one woman. It was Camille Richfield, my hands balled into fists. I left that passage, fuming, it was in this state that a waiter bumped into me.

"I'm so sorry" He offered.

"No it's okay" I said, " The contents of the glass did not touch me, do not worry" I said and he nodded, hurrying off to clean the wet patch on the floor.

I sidestepped the wet patch, and made to walk away, only for me to slip and close my eyes, awaiting the fall, but instead a pair of strong arms enclosed my body.

"Are you okay?" He whispered into my ear.

Hehe😸🤪.