Debbie pushed the door open. She gently reminded her daughter of what was to come. "It's time to go, Evelyn."
Evelyn nodded, acknowledging Debbie. "Yes." She stood up and walked out of the lounge, holding Debbie's arm firmly.
Debbie looked at her daughter, sighing inwardly. She was beautiful and radiant in her dress, but Debbie could tell from her stone face that she was sad.
Miranda and Matthew didn't come to the engagement ceremony today, so only Debbie, Carlos and Terrilynn were there.
The MC's happy and eager voice was soon heard all around. "Ladies and gentlemen, now let's welcome our bride-to-be, Miss Evelyn Huo."
The happiness in the MC's voice sounded ironic to her.
A wave of applause broke out among the guests. Evelyn loosened her arm from Debbie and stepped onto the stage in her white high heels.
She was wearing a white off-the-shoulder evening dress. Her permed long hair fell on the shoulders. She wore make-up that made her features appear delicate. Her lipstick was a wonderful contrast to this, with its red hues. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Evelyn was the shining star of the night.
The MC was standing in the middle of the stage, and on the other side was Calvert in a black suit.
Evelyn didn't turn to look at the guests. She didn't even care how many people there were under the stage and who they were. She just wanted the engagement ceremony to be over as soon as possible, so that she could leave this place. She tried her best not to show it, but it was all starting to suffocate her.
When Calvert placed a diamond ring on her finger, she tried to force a thin smile.
The crowd would not stop clapping. Their applause almost seemed deafening now. A man leaned against a wall, swirling a glass of red wine in his hand, and his eyes never averted from the woman on the stage.
"Kiss her! Kiss her!" someone in the crowd exclaimed.
With a smile, Calvert looked around the hall and noticed the man in a grey suit leaning against the wall. 'He is here.' The smile on his face grew bigger. Finally, he had won over Sheffield this time.
He lowered his head and drew closer to Evelyn. Just as he was about to kiss her on the lips, she turned her head all of a sudden. The kiss fell on her hair.
The lights on the stage were dimmed, and this gave the illusion that the couple had already kissed. The guests had no idea that the kiss fell a little flat.
Only the MC beside them saw this scene clearly. He suppressed his own embarrassment for them and pretended not to see anything.
When Joshua found Sheffield, the man and woman on the stage had just "kissed" each other. He patted on the doctor's shoulder and teased, "Bro, I admit that I can't understand your feeling of being cuckolded, but you can always cry on my shoulders."
Sheffield flashed him a smile.
However, before Joshua could say anything else, Sheffield blurted out all of a sudden, "Screw you! Who is a cuckold?!"
"Whoa! Finally, you can't hold back your anger. Take it easy, dude."
Casting a sidelong glance at him, Sheffield sneered, "Do you want me to give you a piece of my mind?"
"I was trying to console you, but now you treat me like this. You've lost your mind!"
"Get out of here, before I really lost it and rearrange your face!"
Joshua pursed his lips. It was all he could do to control himself and respond in kind to Sheffield's backlash. "Bah! Listen to you. You're not making any sense. There's no point in even talking with you."
Sheffield turned his eyes back to the stage and warned him, "I'm in a bad mood now. Just leave me alone. Don't make me vent my anger on you."
Joshua didn't want to embarrass himself, or make a scene. He nodded and acknowledged Sheffield, then clinked glasses with him and said, "Bro, I'll go find Terilynn first. Stay cool."
With that, he walked away, leaving Sheffield alone. The engagement ceremony on the stage was over.
As soon as they walked down the stage, Evelyn immediately let go of the man holding her hand and headed towards the lounge. She desperately wanted to leave this place and call Sheffield.
"Evelyn," Calvert called out.
Evelyn didn't want to look back, but every move of hers was being observed by everyone in the room. Evelyn felt all their prying eyes fall upon her. With so much scrutiny, she just couldn't embarrass herself. She turned around towards Calvert. There was no emotion in her eyes.
He raised his chin to a corner and said, "I'll take you to meet someone."
Evelyn was annoyed with everything going on, and she wanted to ignore Calvert. Every instinct in her body told her to just walk away. However, when her eyes made a quick scan of her surroundings, she quickly changed her mind.
She noticed Sheffield. 'Sheffield! What's he doing here? Why would he be here, of all places?'
Calvert went straight to Sheffield without waiting for Evelyn. She quickly followed Calvert. She was worried that the two men might argue and fight again, just as before.
Calvert stood before Sheffield with a big smile on his face. He raised his glass to him and said, "Mr. Tang, it's very nice to see you here."
Sheffield appeared unaffected by the sarcastic tone of Calvert's voice, but Calvert was unconvinced. Surely the doctor was hiding his true feelings deep inside. After all, he would have to be a machine not to feel any kind of jealousy now. Sheffield smiled calmly at Calvert before speaking. "Evelyn, why didn't you give me an invitation card to your engagement party yourself? After all, we did share the same bed for a long time. Surely, you can't just throw all that out the window just like that?"
Evelyn cast a meaningful glance at him. "Sheffield..."
The smugness on Calvert's face melted away when he heard Sheffield's defiant words. He wanted to punch the man in the face right then and there. It was a very tempting idea, but Calvert kept his composure. He would not allow Sheffield to goad him into a fight. Not here. "Did you see me kissing Evelyn?" Calvert asked.
"Yes, it's sweet!" What Sheffield wanted to say was not that their kiss was sweet, but that Evelyn's lips were sweet! After all, he had tasted those luscious lips many times.
Evelyn didn't know what to say. "Calvert!" she blurted out. It was clear that she didn't want this to break down into another fight, but there was little that Evelyn could do now.
With a smug face, Calvert continued to provoke Sheffield in spite of her warning. "You know what? I kissed her first. That first kiss felt really good."
Evelyn's eyes grew icy cold. "What do you want, Calvert? What are you trying to prove?"
Sheffield always hated Calvert, but now, he despised him even more. "As a doctor, I think I should remind you that every cell in our body regenerates, while discarding dead cells. There's no point in mentioning that first kiss. It's been discarded already."
Calvert didn't know what to make of Sheffield's answer. He decided to be direct and blunt now. "Whatever. Evelyn's mine now, and there's nothing you can do to bring her back."
"Really?" After a casual glance at him, Sheffield said, "You said you took Evelyn's first kiss. I said I took Evelyn's virginity. Let's wait and see who will be together with her for the rest of her life, the man who took her first kiss or the man who took her virginity."
Evelyn didn't know whether to laugh or cry at his words. Sheffield was clearly acting irrationally. He was starting to embarrass all of them in front of so many people. "Sheffield, stop it."
"No, I can't stop loving you!" Sheffield looked directly at Evelyn, winking at her. He ignored Calvert now, and focused all his attention on her.
Calvert could see the affectionate look in both their eyes. This infuriated him, and he took Evelyn into his arms saying, "No matter what will happen in the future, now she's mine! Aren't you aware of that?"
Evelyn noticed Calvert's hand on her shoulder, and she ordered in a low voice, "Let go of me!"
"Let you go? Evelyn, today is our engagement ceremony. I'm your future husband. Why should I let go of you?" Calvert meant every word. There was no way he was giving Evelyn up, and especially not to Sheffield.
Evelyn was reduced to silence.
As if unaware of their argument, Sheffield put the empty glass aside after he drank the last drop of the red wine, and nodded thoughtfully. "Okay! I'd like to take this opportunity to say a few words to you."
"What?"
"I know I meant nothing to Evelyn. I was just a plaything in bed for her, a casual lover, perhaps. However, I need to say something. It's for her own good," Sheffield said calmly.