“They’ll be dragging me around to introduce me to people soon. Then I’ll definitely get attention.”
Olive shuddered at the mention of people she didn’t even want to talk about.
The place Olive led them to was a standing table.
Olive kept looking around as if searching for something.
“Are you a meerkat? Why are you looking around so much?”
“No, I was just wondering if I’d see someone I know! Stay here for a moment. I’ll go get some fruit or champagne.”
Olive returned with a plate of bite-sized food. She handed Alice a glass of champagne.
Taking a sip of the sweet, sparkling champagne made her feel much better.
Before long, feeling a bit more accustomed, Olive enjoyed the food and champagne while Alice was absorbed in watching the models walking on stage in brand products and the celebrities passing by.
“Alice, come here.”
“Huh?”
Olive suddenly opened her eyes wide and grabbed Alice’s arm, heading somewhere.
A very familiar silhouette caught Alice’s eye at a nearby standing table.
It seemed Olive was heading toward that table.
“Hello?”
As Alice followed, she gasped upon seeing who Olive was greeting and hid closely behind her.
Smack, smack.
Alice slapped Olive’s back, which was exposed due to her top dress.
Miss Olive was repaying kindness with enmity!
After bringing her here for comfort, she was now directly approaching Ryan, someone she should avoid!
Olive was finally going crazy.
“Who?”
The man next to Ryan asked instead.
“Oh, I’m here because the vice president…”
Olive seemed to hesitate about what to say next.
Smack.
Feeling the familiar sensation again from behind, Ryan seemed to realize that he couldn’t reveal he was married, and Olive nodded at Alice as if to say she understood.
“I’m a close friend of the vice president’s secretary!”
Hahaha.
Olive laughed to cover up her awkward tone.
Thinking about it, it wasn’t typical for a secretary’s friend to greet the vice president.
It seemed Olive hadn’t thought that far. She seemed meticulous but was actually quite careless.
Ah, this is driving me crazy! Why did she suddenly come to greet him?
Alice wanted to cry.
She just wanted to quietly stay behind Olive and disappear like mist. Just like Cinderella’s magic disappearing at midnight, Alice wished to vanish like that today.
She thought about running away for a moment, but the thought was tucked away because Olive was holding her arm tightly.
No, don’t pretend. Miss Olive.
Get a grip this time. Smack, smack.
“Yes, you’re the vice president’s friend.”
Fortunately, Ryan seemed to remember Olive and greeted her.
“I’m glad you remember. Otherwise, I would have been so embarrassed.”
Olive clapped her hands in relief and laughed.
Should I run away now? Now that Olive had let go of Alice’s hand, it was the perfect opportunity.
“Hello, I’m Luis Graham, a friend of Ryan.”
Hearing the name rang a bell. He was a friend who occasionally came to the office to meet Ryan.
At that moment, Olive pulled Alice in front of her.
“This is my close friend.”
I should have controlled how much champagne she drank.
Clearly, Olive was not in her right mind.
“Looks like you have a lot of close friends.”
Luis said to Olive. Perhaps thinking he was teasing her, a brief wrinkle appeared and then smoothed out on Olive’s forehead.
“Right? I have two close friends!”
Luis flinched at Olive’s loud voice and turned his gaze to Alice.
“So, what’s your name?”
Luis asked as if he absolutely needed to hear Alice’s name.
His head felt stiff from the awkwardness of the situation.
What should he say?
“It’s Alice.”
“Year?”
“No, Alice.”
“Oh, Alice. Your name is pretty, too. When you were walking over from afar, I thought I was going blind from those eyes. Are you a celebrity? I don’t think I’ve heard of a celebrity named Alice.”
Sure, call me whatever you want, Alice.
“I’m not a celebrity. Please don’t say that. I feel like I might get cursed at.”
“Who would curse you? I’m just stating the facts.”
Alice subtly glanced at Ryan.
“Oh, that guy is blunt and uninterested. He was dragged here for this event. His grandfather is friends with the Ranold family…”
As Luis casually placed a hand on Ryan’s shoulder, Ryan turned his head toward Luis.
The gazes of Ryan and Alice intertwined in the air.
It was nerve-wracking. This was the first time they were meeting without disguises, and it felt tense. For some reason, they couldn’t avoid each other’s gaze.
Ryan seemed to frown slightly before turning his head away.
