But…
She had made a fool of herself so many times. She had known that that man would not be hers in her lifetime.
Phoebe ran to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face to force herself to calm down.
She could not think about these messes because she still had business to do now.
After taking a deep breath, Phoebe turned around and walked towards the room where the gifts were.
At this moment, Kieran saw Phoebe running away from the banquet hall. His gaze darkened, and he followed behind her.
He had a strong sense of crisis after encountering what had happened at the party.
He must find her to make it clear since Phoebe was alone now.
At the same time, Phoebe quietly slipped into the room where the gifts were while no one was looking.
There was a whole load of gifts. A crystal sent by Stanford was particularly eye-catching that was like the best out of the crystals.
Phoebe looked at the crystal, and the face of Stanford was running through my mind. Her heart could not help but miss a beat.
It was a gift from Stanford.
Although it was not for her, it was putting in her house.
It had once belonged to him.
She had butterflies in her stomach. She forced herself to suppress the meandering thoughts in her mind. She looked away and began to look for the gift sent by Kieran.
She did not understand.
Stanford purposely sent such a gorgeous crystal, and his purpose should be to provoke Kieran to send the red blood jade.
It was generally a valuable personal item. It would be easy to find the provenance, but it was not one hundred percent possible to find out.
To her knowledge, Stanford would not do such a thing with only a fifty percent of chance of success, so he must have other purposes besides forcing Kieran to give a precious gift.
But what was his purpose?
Phoebe could not figure out his purpose. He should be getting on good terms with Kieran since he wanted to get Cocos from Kieran.
What was the reason for Stanford to create difficulties and hatred for Kieran?
In the middle of her thoughts, Phoebe stopped her footsteps in front of the shelf. There was a box containing the piece of South Eshan Jade on the shelf.
She found it.
Phoebe could not care about the doubts in her mind, immediately opened the box and took the red blood jade out of the box.
Once she held it in her hand, she felt comfortable and warm. It was a good jade.
She hoped to find out the provenance of the piece of jade to know the background of Kieran so that it would reduce a lot of trouble for her.
As she was wearing an evening gown and did not have a clutch with her, she could only hold the jade in her hand and walk quickly towards the outside.
She did not expect she would meet Kieran just after getting out of the room, who was walking towards her.
Phoebe’s body suddenly tensed up and placed the hand that was holding the red blood jade hurriedly to her back.
Kieran keenly noticed her little act and asked with a smile.
“Phoebe, what did you take?”
Phoebe felt more nervous when he asked this. She stole the red blood jade because she wanted to investigate Kieran’s identity secretly.
If Kieran saw and knew she stole the jade, he would definitely have guessed something about it and would send someone to erase the traces.
Then the works that she was busy with tonight would be all wasted.
Phoebe took a deep breath and tried to appear calm. She smiled and replied.
“Nothing, it’s just an unimportant thing. How did you come here?”
Kieran stared at Phoebe, and obviously, he did not believe what she said.
What was the unimportant thing she wanted to take that she had to leave the party and went to the room to get it herself?
He swept across Phoebe’s hand that was at her back with suspicion. However, he did not create difficulty for her, and he still held a gentle smile on his face.
“Phoebe, I’ve something to tell you.”
Phoebe panicked and wanted to leave this place where she was apt to get into trouble, “Sure, then let’s talk about it while we walk.”
She was about to go outside after saying that. When she took only two steps, Kieran suddenly moved in front of her, as if a mountain blocked her way with his tall body.
Phoebe was stunned and looked at him surprisingly.
“What are you doing?”
Kieran looked gentle and firm, “Let’s talk here.”
After a pause, he added a few words in a low and ambiguous voice, “There are only two of us here.”
It was because there were only two of us that made her even more nervous.
Phoebe forced herself to be calm and took a few steps backward to keep a distance from Kieran.
“What do you want to say?”
Kieran looked at her backward movement, and his gaze could not help but darken.
He said in a low, deep voice, “Phoebe, do you still keep your words to take a walk with me tonight?”
She passed things off with perfunctory before, and she did not expect Kieran would go to her to ask about it.
Phoebe was a little anxious.
Her plan had changed, so the plan of sacrificing herself to walk with Kieran had changed as well. She naturally would not continue to stay with him.
However, what reason should she tell him at this time?
Phoebe thought quickly, smiled politely, and said.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t expect my best friend to come back from abroad suddenly, and I’m on good terms with her. We’ve not seen each other for a long time, so I definitely have to accompany her to play around for a while. So I can’t walk with you tonight.”
The smile on Kieran’s face was gradually disappeared as he listened to her.
The incident tonight made him more or less had a bad feeling about it. He went to Phoebe to ask about the walk because he was holding the last hope.
However, he knew that the last hope was also gone with Phoebe’s words.
The flirtation and the hope of getting into a relationship were shattered as if they were only a dream.
Kieran suddenly stepped forward to grab her by her arm.
“Phoebe…”
Phoebe was startled and hurriedly switched the red blood jade held in her hand to the other hand, which was then forcibly being grabbed to the front of her body.
Her body was also involuntarily closer to Kieran.
They were close to the extent she was about to touch him.
Phoebe immediately tensed up due to such contact, and she felt very uncomfortable and wanted to resist.
“What are you doing? Let go of me.”
Phoebe said agitatedly.
Her resistance to struggle was like the last straw that broke the camel’s back, and the smile on Kieran’s face had gone.
His fingers that grabbed her tightened, and he frowned deeply.
He said resentfully with a deep voice, “Phoebe, aren’t you planning to be with me?”
The sudden change of the aura of Kieran caused Phoebe to feel a sense of shock and fear.
He was totally different from the gentle and elegant man before.
So he was disguised before, and was this the true colors of Kieran?
Her heart missed a beat, and her face turned pale. She forced herself to say calmly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Kieran. Haven’t we always been friends?”
“Do you believe your words? We’re adults, don’t be so childish to play on words.”
Kieran was upset and stared at her, “Are you suddenly change your mind now? Is it because Stanford is back?”