Arm in arm, they navigated the huge hall, heading for tables with the foreign guests Zayn had invited. Mia appeared out of nowhere, walking behind Zayn with her pad in hand. Still, she was the most stunning secretary Rina had seen, in her sequined dress, and hair that stayed atop her head elegantly. Not everyone could pull off that look, yet Mia did and she didn’t even seem to realize it.
“You can go enjoy the party,” Zayn murmured to her when he saw her fall into step with him. “I can handle this.”
Mia didn’t question his decision, turning away at once and heading back square into the party. Zayn moved his hands, planting them firmly on the small of Rina’s back as they approached one of the tables. His splayed fingers tingled Rina and caused a heat in her spine. Still, she gave nothing away as one of the foreign guests, an English man with his wife, got up to welcome them.
“Congratulations on your launch,” the man beamed, his eyes crinkling. “I am so relieved I didn’t miss this. Can you imagine having to hear everything second-hand when I could have experienced it myself?”
“I’m glad you were able to make it down here your self,” Zayn responded, his formal nature slipping into place. He held out his hand for a firm handshake, then did the same for his wife. “And thank you for purchasing our first products beforehand. It sure will set things up here.”
“I’m certain you have over a million purchase requests already,” the man laughed. “I wish I had your level of affluence. Just one word from you, and people will be ready to do every single thing you ask of them. Sometimes, my wife here talks about you, and I have to remind her that she is married.”
His wife laughed, not at all embarrassed by that revelation. “And congratulations on your engagement as well,” she said, continuing from where her husband left off. “I am so happy for you both.” Rina saw the rest of her words in her eyes. She wanted to say that she hadn’t seen the union coming, that none of them had. It was obvious that she was a part of the percentage of the world that thought Rina was guilty and honestly, she might have been hoping to come here to a full rejection of the article claims by Zayn.
Rina was happy it had ended up being a proposal instead. It sure pushed things forward for her.
Done with those guests, they walked around some more, smiling at people and accepting their good wishes. Zayn had left his parents for last, knowing how long they would have to be there. As they rounded the hall back to the front where the Grahams table was, Rina felt a glare behind her, harsh enough that it got the hair on the back of her head standing. The expression on her face didn’t falter as she turned around to meet Jada glaring at her from her table, not bothering to hide the venom in her eyes.
Zayn noticed the sudden movement and turned to look at Rina, following the direction of her gaze. His lips quirked in a smile when he saw it was Jada, looking like she had just declared war against Rina. But Zayn was sure she knew her boundaries and her limits. And even if she decided to come for Rina, Zayn was going to be there for and with her.
“Ignore her,” Zayn murmured, urging her forward gently. “For some reason, she thinks this could have been her. I don’t know why she thinks I will take her back in after everything that has happened, knowing fully well that she sort of understands my principles. It’s strange, but I’m unwilling to think about that right now.”
“You think her return has a mission.” Rina understood him without Zayn having to say everything he felt. It was an odd connection between them, but she had learned not to draw attention to it, or think about it too much. Perhaps, it was only a necessary skill to fool the whole world about the genuine nature of their engagement and proposed marriage. Nothing else.
Zayn nodded. “But that isn’t important right now. We are going to see my parents now, but you should know Nathan was responsible for publishing the article. It was the thing I had to handle when I left the hotel earlier today My elder brother was at the hotel the day I got in. He followed me because I refused to give him any information about my movement. Honestly, I should have been able to tell that he would have been on my trail, but I was so occupied with…” He stopped abruptly, allowing the rest of his words to trail off.
Rina looked up at him with her eyes that seemed to unnerve him, seemed to want to make him spill his darkest secrets. “But you were occupied with what? Come on. You can’t leave me hanging.”
He cleared his throat noisily. “I wanted to see you so badly that I wasn’t thinking about anything else. But you don’t have to think about that. It doesn’t matter. It is like I mentioned last night. Nothing can happen, no matter how hard I am holding myself not to.”
“What if I want something to happen?” Rina whispered. They were too close to his parents to continue that line of conversation. Still, Zayn turned sharply to look at her, surprise and something indecipherable in his eyes.
Mago was the first to speak, getting on her feet and pulling Rina into her arms, forgoing the idea of the existence of handshakes. “This is my first time seeing you in person, and you are so stunning.” Mago was excited to meet Rina and it showed in her giddiness. “I always want to see you on my screens and I can’t wait for you to get back. Oh My God! I have to tell all my friends. They are going to go green with envy.”
Zayn’s hands on her Rina’s waist became a tad tighter as he pulled her flush to his side suddenly, angling his head at his sister. “Before you eat her whole, Rina meet my family. This is Mago, my sister, then my parents and there’s Nathan.”