Chapter 425

Chapter 425 Baffled Hathaway Tessa bit her lower lips. With Nicholas soothing her, her emotions gradually stabilized. She was moved to her core as she looked at that handsome and unrivaled man in front of her.

“Thank you, Nicholas.” She buried her face into Nicholas’ chest with a sweet smile on her face.

Thank you for always noticing whenever I’m feeling down, and thank you for always being by my side when I’m in a bad mood.

With a tender expression that had never been seen by others, Nicholas tightened his embrace on the lady. He took a glance at his watch before asking, “It’s almost 10 now. Do you want to go home with me?”

Tessa shook her head before leaving Nicholas’ embrace. “I can’t leave when the party is still ongoing.”

After all, it was the philharmonic’s 20th-anniversary celebration. No one from the ensemble could leave before the party was over.

Nicholas nodded. “Then I’ll wait for you down here.”

However, Tessa was reluctant to let him wait here alone. “How about you go home first? I’ll take a taxi back home after the party is over,” she suggested.

Nicholas gave no reaction and only stared at her in silence. His focused dark eyes were just like an abyss, as though it could suck people right in.

Tessa was left with no other choice but to compromise with the man. “Alright, you can wait if you want, but you’ll have to wait in the car. Since the weather has been cooling lately, I don’t want you catching a cold because of me.”

“Okay,” he answered in a doting tone, the corners of his lips lifting and forming a faint smile.

Soon after, Tessa went back to the party while Nicholas stood alone at the entrance.

His eyes turned gloomy for a moment as his attention was on the direction Tessa had disappeared to.

He thought to himself that it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Tessa as well, and that it wasn’t as good as Tessa had made it out to be, especially when someone was picking a fight with her.

Though it was a competitive industry, it angered him to know someone was using such an underhanded tactic to get ahead of Tessa.

Naturally, what angered him the most was Tessa crying over this matter.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. How dare they bring tears to her eyes when even I am reluctant to do so?

…

Upstairs in a certain lounge room, Hathaway slapped Kathleen in anger.

“How could you have ruined Tessa’s violin? What did she ever do to you?”

Kathleen touched her red cheek with her eyes full of resentment. “Because she seduced Scott!” she bellowed in discontentment.

Hathaway was stunned by her daughter’s reason before frowning unhappily. “Tell me, how did Tessa seduce Scott? Is it just because Scott was teaching Tessa music?”

“It’s different. Scott treats her differently from how he treats me,” Kathleen complained with feelings of being wronged. “Scott always treats Tessa much more patiently and gently than he does with me.”

Dumbstruck, Hathaway was taken aback and couldn’t find the words to say. She finally understood why her daughter had acted in such a way, but this had further fueled her anger as well.

“Even if Scott treats Tessa differently, Tessa herself is already in a relationship. Don’t you find your own jealousy baffling? As a violinist yourself, you know better than anyone just how important a violin is to a violinist! How could you have done such a sacrilegious act?!”

Faced with her mother’s scolding, Kathleen parted her trembling lips as she answered in resentment, “I only wanted to teach her a lesson.”

It was at this moment that Hathaway really blew her top.

“Teaching a lesson by ruining her violin?! You’ve really wasted all that I have taught you all these years!”

Feeling disappointed toward her daughter for failing to meet her expectations, Hathaway glared at Kathleen.

Initially, she thought that it was the work of some scoundrel that was envious of Tessa. Yet, she didn’t expect that it was her own daughter who was caught doing the deed on the surveillance footage.

“Kathleen, I’m giving you one last warning—if you can’t keep your emotions in check in the future, I will refuse Scott Brooks from coming to the orchestra from now on.”

Looking at her mother’s serious expression, Kathleen knew her mother was extremely furious this time and became slightly afraid as a result.

Naturally, she did not want her mother to deny Scott from ever coming to the orchestra, as it would be difficult for her to meet Scott should this come to pass.