53 Engagement Party 2 (1/2)
After a few moments of idle chatter with the couple of the evening, something that clearly erased Isabella's foul mood, Ci-ci and Milana continued down the garden path to find a lovely scene.
Furthest toward the back, a raised platform draped in pristine whites likely acted as location for the main players for this event. The two empty chairs centered in the middle were for Dalton and Isabella, with another four or so empty seats to the right of that. Two seats were filled to the left, though.
Ci-ci couldn't help but slightly frown when he saw a dark-skinned couple, who he assumed were Isabella's parents, sitting alone without companionship. Although the party around them seemed to be completely normal, Ci-ci's sharp senses couldn't help but see that something was off.
Behind the raised platform where the black couple sat, was an elegant arrangement of flowers and well-trimmed bushes, while at the forefront, were well decorated tables with the names of guests gracing their center pieces.
Ci-ci immediately found the table marked with his name and could only chuckle when he noticed that it was located in the outer-most fringe. But, it couldn't be helped. Table arrangements were yet another painstaking and labor-intensive process for such events. It was easier for Isabella to offend him than place a high-ranking official too far from the center.
Still, Ci-ci strolled in the confidence of an Emperor, choosing not to make his way to his table, but to instead take Milana with him to greet Isabella's parents.
The moment Ci-ci and Milana came into view, it would have been nonsense to say that no one noticed their presence. However, when they saw that they didn't recognize who Ci-ci was, many turned away. It wasn't until they did a double take after catching Milana out of the corner of their eye did they turn back with interest.
That said, Ci-ci continued to walk without noticing and it soon became clear to everyone that the tacitly ostracized couple was their goal.
Completely oblivious to Ci-ci and Milana's actions, the Patterson family Head and his wife tried to combine an odd dichotomy of remaining dignified while keeping their heads down. They both knew that they had to be here and support their daughter, but clearly their fairy tale of leaping into the skies and forming a relationship with a sub-pillar family was nothing but wishful thinking.
Now, Mr. Patterson who was used to lording over hordes of people could only sit silently and do his best not to anger those around him. This was a feeling he hadn't felt since he was kid and it filled him with rage.
Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
The Patterson family could be said to have been built up in his hands. Before he became the first to succeed in their bloodline, they had been little different from the families living in the projects of North York.
Luckily, he had been stubborn and ambitious, leading to him barely making it into a top 50 university and eventually landing a position at Patterson and Gravelle which had been known as Newman and Gravelle at the time before the current head of the council resigned from his position and passed the torch to him.
His only child, Isabella, did him proud when she entered an even better university than him and managed to catch the eye of such a great young man. The fact that Dalton was a Cox was only supplementary to him, what he truly loved the boy for was the fact he was willing to go to the ends of the Earth to protect Isabella.
When he learned of their engagement, he thought that his job was finally done, that he could finally smile and relax. The Patterson family finally meant something now. Yet… Reality was cruel.