18| the gala

It was the day of the gala. The whole office was buzzing with excitement, happy to have a day off.

Kane had decided to give the whole day off for everyone to go prepare and do their thing.

It was to start at 5pm and end that about 10pm. A good five hours of fun.

Leah woke up feeling quite excited. Her dress was to be delivered later at 12pm.

She and Kane were going together. It came as a surprise to Leah when he suddenly popped the question.

Of course, she agreed. They both would love to spend time together.

Kane had a plan- ask Leah to be his girlfriend today. He hoped that she would say yes, or at least a 'I'm not ready yet but give me time' kind of response.

Since weeks ago, Kane has been planning for this day. All the preparations were made, and all that's left is the execution.

He was nervous. That goes without saying. He just hoped all would go well.

•••

It was about 2.45pm when Leah started to get ready.

She first decided to take a shower, feeling a little sticky from her sweat. It was cool and refreshing, making her awake than ever.

After that, she changed into a random set of comfy clothes, leaving the dress for later and dried her hair.

Luckily enough to have natural curls, there was no need for her to curl her hair or do what-so ever.

Once Leah finished, she decided to play some videos to watch to keep her entertained. Leah always needed some sort of sounds to not get bored.

It is kind of a bad habit but she has never really bothered to change. No one cares anyway.

She had spent ages surfing her feed on youtube, trying to settle for the perfect video. It took her about ten minutes before she was satisfied and changed into her dress.

The packaging wrapped around it was good and made sure nothing would happen to the dress. I mean Kane is paying for the high quality clothing and service.

Leah honestly didn't want to open it because she was in awe with the packaging. If you chiding already tell, she has a thing for packaging.

But she had to. If not, she would have to go there naked. As much as Kane would probably love the sight of that, Leah wouldn't want that.

Removing it from the packaging, Leah inspected it. Indeed, it was the exact same from what she saw around two Sunday's ago.

Leah put in on and admired the dress. It was too pretty for it's own good. She was glad she saw this, and they pushed her to get it.

(AN: refer to chapter 15, third dress shown)

When Leah came back to reality, she started on her makeup. First, she applied some foundation and concealer all over her face.

Second, she did a shimmery, glittery sort of shade on her eyes, and added eyeliner and fake lashes.

Lastly, she applied blusher as well as a sort of pinkish purple sort of lipstick to her lips. With that, she was done. She felt beautiful than ever.

(

After that, Leah started to work on her hair. Prior to today, she had been looking at Pinterest, trying to find a good and appropriate hairstyle for her.

To make her life easier, she settled with a simple half up half down hairstyle, adding a clip to complete the look.

Once Leah was satisfied, she smiled and looked at herself.

She was proud of her work.

After that, Leah picked out some shoes as well as a bag to match her whole outfit.

It was around 4.15pm when she was done. As the place was not the nearest from her place so Kane had to pick her up 20 minutes earlier than the actual time.

Since Kane is the boss, he would be there first along with Enya to make sure everything was fine and nothing went wrong.

Just then, Leah heard a 'ping' from her phone. Looking at it, she realized it was a text from Kane, telling her he was already outside.

So, she switched off her lights, slipped on her shoes and descended down where Kane's car was.

Leah gave a little knock, and he unlocked the door for her.

They gave each other a once over, looking at how beautiful/handsome they looked. It was as if they were a real couple, though Kane is planning to change that.

"You look so pretty" Kane complimented her, leaving a tint of blush on Leah's cheeks.

She returned 'the favor', "You look so handsome"

Kane smiled in response, thanking her for the compliments.

During the car ride, they didn't talk much, just enjoying the music from the radio.

He would have usually started a conversation, with him being more extroverted, but Kane was

way too nervous.

In all honesty, he was scared of rejection and humiliation. Kane just hoped Leah would say yes.

Not long after, they reached. Kane still tried to be his usual self, trying to calm his nerves and not wanting to let Leah overthink.

Knowing she might overthink that he was mad at her, he made sure no such thing would happen.

Opening the door like the gentleman he is, Kane could know fully admire Leah's full look. He was beyond speechless. It was as if she was a goddess.

"Wow. You look so gorgeous, it's a crime honestly" Although it sounded cheesy, he didn't really care. He just wanted to get his point across.

This cause Leah to blush even more at his words, saying a 'thank you' to him.

Stretching out his hand, Leah placed her hand on his. It was as though it fit like a glove.

Together, they walked in. They were the first ones, not surprising at all. Kane just needed to make sure everything was fine before everyone starts to enter.

It looked exactly like how Leah showed him in the other day. It looked even better than in person.

"Wow, it looks better than the photo you sent me" Kane said, impressed.

There had been times where he had paid designer who did poor jobs.

Whoever she hired, big bucks are coming their way.

"Thanks, I did it" Leah said, making Kane shocked.

"What? Are you serious?" Kane asked, unable to believe what Leah said.

"Yeah" Leah said shyly. Though she got a thumbs up from Kane, she didn't know about the responses from the rest of the office.

She just hoped that everyone liked it.

Just then, Leah saw Enya walking in, admiring the interior. Like Kane, Enya had seen the picture prior but anyone could tell she is shocked.

Enya seeing them already there went forward to say hi. Being polite and all. Plus, she wanted to annoy her brother.

I mean who wouldn't want to annoy their sibling? It's just sibling things.

"Hiiiii!" Enya greeted the both of them.

"Hey" Leah said, while Kane waved at her.

"The interior is well done. Honestly whoever did this should be given a raise. The interior designer who did the event for the past few years sucked" Enya complained.

"Leah did it" Kane shared , smiling at Leah, a proud look on his face.

"What?! Holy shit. It's so good. Quit this job and go be some interior designer" Enya joked with her, causing a small smile on her face.

"Thank you!" Leah thanked both Kane and Enya, happy about the great response.

Slowly, as the clock struck 5, many people started trailing into the venue, many impressed about the interior.

Her hard work had indeed paid off. Many sleepless nights planning for this was no joke.

When Kane saw almost everyone was here, he left Enya and Leah to their chats as he had to make an 'announcement', being the boss and all.

"Hello everyone. Thank you for coming. Enjoy the appetizers first. Dinner will be set up at 6pm onwards for those hungry.

We will start the lucky draw later at 6.30! Have fun everyone!" Kane announced, making everyone yell with joy.

There were some things you could do, like a little games station and a bar set up. Also, there was a darts area.

Everyone had spread themselves out, enjoying the different amenities. They were all having a great time.

Time seemed to pass by like a blur and it was already 6.30. Kane had already reached the stage that was specially added, where he gave his mini speech, followed by the lucky draw winners.

Prior to this, they had drawn numbers and everyone number picked by Kane will be given a prize, depending on the places.

"The third place will receive $1000 worth of vouchers for some of the restaurants and shopping malls owned by De Luca Corporation.

The second place will have a chance to get visitor passes for the family to visit Disney Land.

And the first place will get a plane ticket for the family to a trip to Japan for a week.

"Alright, third place is number 66" Kane first announced.

"It's me yes!" A female with short hair, in her twenties exclaimed with delight.

"The next number is 5" He went on.

"Hell yes!" This time, the prize belonged to a male.

"And lastly, the grand prize goes to number 17" At last, he announced the last number for the prize.

"Congrats to the winners" Kane congratulated the winners.

"Yes yes yes! It's me" Another male had showed with joy.

After that, everyone had some food and chatted, also with the employee award for each sector.

(AN: don't really know how it works lol)

Everything flew past and before he knew it, it was game time.

"I have something to show you, come on" Kane said, since everyone was just relaxing and no one would notice his disappearance.

Sneaking out, Kane led Leah to the special place where everything was set already.

"You are not going to kill me are you?" Leah asked jokingly, making Kane fake gasp.

"How did you know?!" He reciprocated the same energy back to her, making her chuckle.

"Close you eyes, I have a surprise" Kane said and Leah did what he said.

"Okay open your eyes" He gave the green light and let her eyes out.

Leah let out a gasp. "Oh my, wow. This is er-" She was beyond speechless, more surprised than shocked.

"I know that we haven't known each other for a long time, but I don't think I can leave with myself if I don't ask you.

So, will you be my girlfriend?" He asked hopeful.

"Yes" She said, smiling.

~~~

ahhhhhh!! they finally are a couple now!!

anyways hi everyone :)

wow it's the last day of the month lol. transitioning to august

also happy birthday to all august babies

(i'm not lol)

exams are fun and i got one of my results back. i'm proud

so i have been reading/ watching crime way too much these days. i'm addicted oops

my friend thinks i'm a psychopath cause i have been talking about how i wanna kill her and possibly push her of a building

not gonna blame her though ☺️✌🏻

as i'm typing this, i haven't finished chapter 19 cause i'm slow so that's cool :D (or at least that's the progress as i'm typing this a/n)

yup okay that's it for today. i'll see you in next one!!

👋🏻

(i had to retype this so screw u wattpad )

[word count: 1765 words]

[published on: 31 jul 2021]