Chapter 53

53 53. Lea and Clara

Lea’s mouth could only gape, forming a very large O. She really couldn’t answer the woman’s warm and enthusiastic greeting. A greeting that should be answered with the same level of friendliness.

‘She is ... Clara?’ Lea wondered in her muddled mind.

Correct! The woman she bumped into was Clara, Dave’s fiancée.

Lea swallowed. She forced a smile, blinked a few times, and said, “Clara! Hi! How are you?”

“Ah, Lea! No need to be so formal!” said Clara with an exaggerated chuckle. Her hazel eyes stared intently at Lea. “I still remember that Dave was throwing a tantrum when you left him. Let’s meet him! Don’t worry, he is fine,” Clara patted Lea’s shoulder and asked her to go see Dave, half insistently.

“But, Clara! I-”

“Don’t worry! I told you, he is fine!” Clara encouraged her again. She then said goodbye to his friends and put her arm around Lea, inviting her to meet her fiancé.

Lea’s heart was beating erratically. She wanted to refuse Clara’s invitation. However, Clara is a real pushy. She didn’t accept a refusal.

Firmly, Clara led Lea out of the crowd. Of course, they ran into a confused William waiting at the edge of the crowd for Lea.

.....

“Hi, William! How are you?” said Clara in a friendly manner. She didn’t know what had happened before.

“Fine, thanks,” William replied, returning Clara’s smile. “Oh! Clara, Lea, do you know each other?” William asked again, in an awkward tone.

Clara laughed crisply. He looked at William with an amused look. “Of course, I know her well! She used to be Dave’s secretary, my handsome hot fiancé! The yummiest bachelor ever in the business world!”

William and Lea frowned. The two of them then strengthened their sense of smell and confirmed that they smelled alcohol from Clara’s mouth. No wonder she’s so tipsy. She almost spilled everything she thought of her hot fiance.

“Come on, let’s go see Dave. He’ll be very happy to meet you all,” Clara said and then chuckled as if it was a very funny joke. She then put her arm around William and Lea and pulled them over to Dave’s table. He was in the middle of a chat with his colleagues

“Hi, Davey, babe! Look who I brought with me! Your handsome CEO friend and your pretty secretary-I mean your ex-secretary.”

Dave, who heard Clara’s drunk voice, immediately asked his colleagues to leave for a moment and turned his attention to his fiancée. However, of course, he didn’t know at all that Clara would come with two people he didn’t expect to come.

“Clara? Oh, you are with ... William and-Lea?” Dave asked very nervously. “Good grief! Did you guys get invited too?”

Dave couldn’t show any expression other than nervousness. He didn’t know how to make up his mind so quickly. At first, he wanted to delay until there was the best solution he could offer. However, on second thought, he felt even more cowardly. He didn’t know how to explain to the innocent Clara. Clara, who didn’t know anything, must be affected by the mistake he made that night with Lea.

“Right! You’re happy to meet them, aren’t you? Come on, you said you want Lea back to be your secretary?” Clara tightened her grip on Lea’s shoulders and William’s back. When lined up like this, the three of them looked like stairs whose middle was almost broken because it nearly wobbled. “She is here, babe! Say it to her!”

“Clara, you should never touch the alcohol, love! You know that you can’t handle even a shot!” Dave looked around. Clara’s alcohol tolerance was very low. It must be her friends’ doing.

Not long after, a child’s voice called out to William. “Father, it’s Mr. Montgomery!” shrieked the voice that William remembered was Alan’s.

William’s attention then turned to Alan who was running towards him. The sweet little boy gave him greetings and thanks.

“I’m very happy because you can meet your father,” William said while stroking Alan’s head. For a moment, he forgot that there was a ticking time bomb nearby.

“If it weren’t for your help, I’m sure I would still have to sleep with the other kids at the orphanage,” Alan said with a genuinely sweet smile.

“Alan, you can’t run around like that when there are a lot of guests at the party. Not polite. You can also injure yourself and others.” A little girl’s voice made Alan speechless. The black-haired beautiful girl was very cute and adorable, it must be the girl Alan used to like. Unfortunately, it turned out that they were half-siblings.

“Okay, Louisa. I’m not going to run like that again.” Alan suddenly changed his attitude. Stand up straight and put on a formal face. He made William laugh out loud. Surely Alan’s union with his biological father came at a price with such a drastic change in atmosphere.

A few minutes later, Mark Stevens and an elegant woman dressed in a classy black long dress approached William. “You must be Mr. William Montgomery, right?” Mark Stevens greeted. He turned out to be not a very friendly person like William thought he was. Unlike the two-faced Martin either. He’s something else. No wonder his father said that Mark Stevens was a difficult person to approach.

“I am,” William replied enthusiastically shaking Mark’s outstretched hand. He just wanted to think positively about him. At least Mark was a loving and responsible father.

“Are you busy?” Mark asked again.

William looked around. “No,” William answered firmly.

“Then you wouldn’t mind if I asked you to sit with us over there, would you?” Mark asked again.

“Of course, with pleasure,” William said confidently. He looked at Lea for a moment and took a deep breath. This business matter was very important, he had to leave Lea alone.

William then approached Dave. “Be a real man! Treat Lea and Clara well and fairly,” William whispered to Dave.

Hesitantly, William then turned to Lea, “Sorry, I have to go! If there’s anything, come back to my family’s house. Don’t run away again! I promise to help and support you.”