Matthew Tyson, the president of Tyson Corporation, singing as he proposed to his fiancée on her elaborate birthday banquet.
That alone was enough to be the headlines of the newspapers and tabloids for the next few weeks, should someone leak the details of Clarissa’s birthday banquet to the public.
Unlike the members of the public, those at the venue that day were already mind-blown by how romantic and incredible the proposal was.
She must be the happiest woman in the world!
In the eyes of the party guests, Clarissa was a talented beauty who had the perfect fiancé, not even to mention how in love they were with each other.
What had just unfolded before them seemed like one of those universal ideal goals in life coming into realization. The ladies at the banquet could not even hide their envy anymore. A man like Matthew was simply too difficult to find.
On the other hand, the fellow gentlemen at the scene also had mixed emotions. They were impressed by the entire proposal, but they were also scratching their heads in slight confusion. Wasn’t Matthew Tyson known to be cold and uptight?
Does he have a twin or something?
“Matt, you’re totally ruining the market for us! I knew that you play the piano, but singing? And you sing so well! We’ve been friends for more than thirty years. Why didn’t you tell me about this?”
Yarick genuinely looked as if he had suffered a huge blow.
After all, he had believed all this while that even though he was not as handsome or successful as Matthew, he was better at charming the ladies at the very least.
Who would have known that a “cold-hearted” man like him knew all the moves to steal a woman’s heart?
How am I supposed to appeal the ladies now?
Yarick was definitely the only one having those thoughts at the scene.
Jeremy, who had gone by the title of “D City’s Number One Ladies’ Man” for ages, could not help but concede defeat to Matthew after everything that happened that day.
As for Ellie, rather than feeling jealous of Clarissa for having a man like Matthew, she felt rather impressed and told herself that she would not accept any marriage proposals unless her future husband came up with something as good as what her uncle did.
Watching the passionate couple locked in a tight embrace as if they were the only ones in the room, Ellie shook her head and sighed.
“I’ve been wondering for so long why Uncle Matt requested for a piano to be set up. I thought that he might have invited a pianist or something. Who would have thought that Uncle Matt himself would be performing!”
Upon hearing that, Clarissa took a more intent look at Matthew.
She had not regained her composure since his touching confession.
She was so thrilled that she was squealing in delight internally, and the moment that she met gazes with Matthew, her face would turn even redder. She had never realized how deeply in love with him she was till that moment.
Of course, it did not mean that Matthew had never made her heart skip a beat before the proposal, but everything felt more intense knowing that Matthew had put so much effort into the preparations.
It felt as if she was a drama heroine who had fallen head over heels for her handsome senior after watching him play basketball at the basketball courts. A refreshing, exciting kind of romance was blossoming between them.
Oh, I can’t believe that I just had a super good-looking man playing the piano and singing with his baritone voice to confess his heartfelt feelings for me!
This is so romantic! He’s so hot…. So hot!
In Clarissa’s head, she was already spinning around in circles in Matthew’s arms, squealing and laughing.
However, in reality, she was sneaking playful glances at Matthew with her face pink as a peach.
“You… How did you think of that?” She asked shyly, twiddling her thumbs.
Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine Matthew to come up with something that impressive, not to mention that he kept everyone who prepared the birthday banquet in the dark about his performance.
Matthew seemed to relax a little as he smiled at her.
He had been quite nervous when he sang and played the piano moments ago, but he was good at putting up a poker face, and nobody could tell back then. Even when he played a wrong note, the crowd did not seem to notice since they were all dazed by the surprises.
As Matthew admired his little girl’s flustered but delighted face, he felt that her happiness was worth all the effort that he had put in.
At the same time, he must confess that he had never felt that anxious in his entire life.
Matthew held up Clarissa’s hand and stroked her ring finger. The ring around her finger was a newly-prepared blue sapphire ring. “Do you like it?”
Pursing her lips, Clarissa nodded subtly.
Matthew chuckled, “That’s good to hear.”
He did not need to hear her reasons, for her smile was all that he needed.
And to protect that pure smile of hers, he needed more people to know that she was his woman and how much he loved her.
Surely, the incidents that transpired at the birthday banquet would give a clear message to many people that Clarissa meant a lot to him. That way, they wouldn’t dare hurt her so easily.
Unaware of Matthew’s complicated thoughts and fears, Clarissa was grinning meekly from ear to ear. Is this what one would describe as “smiling like an idiot”?
Well, it doesn’t matter. She’s the love of my life.
“Wow, I can’t believe that Mr. Tyson is actually such a loving man!”
Sighs and exclamations could be heard from the crowd from time to time. Many people were obviously feeling envious.
As one might expect, Sienna was one of those people. She could no longer put up a fake smile and simply stood there by the side with a glum face. Only she knew about the emotional rollercoaster ongoing within her.
Staring dispassionately at the intimate couple in the distance, Sienna could not help but think that she had been invited to Clarissa’s birthday banquet just to be provoked and aggravated.
The intensity of her jealousy at that moment was comparable to her disdain for Clarissa not too long ago.
When she first found out that Clarissa had gotten together with Matthew, she had felt rather indifferent. Back then, she had never considered Clarissa a worthy rival and always ignored her presence despite the fact that Clarissa had been together with Matthew all that while. After all, her big ego told her that she was definitely wife material, while Clarissa was the frumpy little mistress who was unimportant in the big picture because Matthew could never openly acknowledge a relationship with his mistress.
With those thoughts in mind, Sienna had always felt superior to Clarissa, though she had not expressed her contempt for her in the open.
However, in a matter of minutes, her expectations and beliefs completely crumbled into dust.
Sienna could not bring herself to accept the fact that Matthew chose to go against his family and had just proposed to Clarissa in front of such a big crowd. More alarmingly, his touching love song for her was like a message to the whole world that Clarissa Quigley would be his future wife.
Amidst the joyous atmosphere, Sienna felt like a clown who was being humiliated by Matthew and Clarissa.
As the people around her continued to buzz and comment on how Matthew and Clarissa were a match made in heaven, Sienna could no longer bear to stay at the scene any longer and walked off.
On the surface, it seemed like Sienna had finally conceded defeat. However, something shady was bubbling up within her.
While she had always loathed those who let themselves be used as pawns, the shock and misery she felt had overridden any sense of rationality within her.
Engulfed by rage, all that Sienna could think of was revenge. Even if I’m being used as a pawn, so be it.
Hmph. The birthday banquet has been so exciting, hasn’t it? Let me make liven things up even more!
Meanwhile, nobody seemed to have noticed or cared that Sienna just left the room.
The guests were only interested in the lovely couple and the many celebrities who attended the birthday banquet.
And just like that, everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and helped themselves to the fine food and wine.
Just as everything seemed to be so peaceful and well, a bunch of unwanted guests seemed to stand out from the crowd with expressions as if they were ready to make an ugly scene any moment. Zach, Hilary, Yvonne, and Mason had been standing in the crowd uncomfortably for quite some time.
After arriving at the banquet, before they could even talk to Clarissa, the iconic proposal unfolded before their eyes without warning.
Zach was actually rather happy about the romantic proposal. After all, having a stepdaughter who was so precious to Matthew Tyson was good news to him. In fact, he was already feeling blissful from the prospects of becoming the stepfather of the future mistress of Tyson Corporation alone.
All in all, Zach’s happiness was pretty genuine, no matter what ulterior motives he had.
Mason, who stood beside him, was very much feeling the same way. In fact, witnessing the proposal made him more sure of his decision to marry Yvonne. We would be in-laws, am I right?
Meanwhile, the two ladies in the group had rather scathing expressions on their faces, a stark contrast from their male companions.
Yvonne could not bear to see Clarissa being happy at all. All that while, she had prayed for Clarissa to marry off to a miserable man so that she could scorn her for the rest of her life. To her utter horror, reality turned out to be the complete opposite.
On the other hand, Hilary had mixed emotions.
Her initial hopes had come true. However, from the bottom of her heart, she still felt that none of that happiness and joy should belong to Clarissa. Shermaine deserves this more than her!
Only Shermaine deserves such romance. The birthday banquet, the perfect fiancé, and the prospect of becoming Mrs. Tyson… All of it… All of it belongs to her!
Hilary felt her blood pressure rise as she held back her rage such that she would not cry out those words in front of all the guests.
Everything that she had put effort into in the past was done in the hopes that Shermaine would live the life that Clarissa enjoyed.
The irony in everything that she had witnessed at the birthday banquet felt like a thorn in her heart. So what if I did all those things for Shermaine? That distasteful woman gets to enjoy it all in the end!
How did things even end up like this?
Zach suddenly gave her a heavy pinch on the arm, bringing her back to her senses. She was greeted by his cold, piercing gaze.
“What’s with those eyes, Hilary?” His words were a clear warning.
Hilary’s eyes were burning in rage and malevolence. Some guests around her had noticed and were buzzing about her.
Similarly, Clarissa caught sight of spite radiating from her mother’s eyes and simply responded with an emotionless stare.
The two of them did not seem like mother and daughter at all. Hmph. We are more like sworn enemies.
Zach was not entirely sure what was on Hilary’s mind, but he could sense from her expressions that if she were to step out of line, things would turn ugly really quickly, and her relationship with Clarissa would be done for.
He would not let her ruin his bright future with a tantrum.
Hilary was a little scared of him and tried to make her displeasure less apparent.
“It’s nothing.”
“Hmph. Hilary, let me just tell you this. Don’t try anything funny. If you ruin this party, I’ll never forgive you.”
Hilary replied softly, “I understand.”
Turning in Clarissa’s direction, Zach smiled at her and dragged the entire family to walk up to her.
“Happy birthday, Clary,” he said.
Clarissa seemed unmoved. After some obvious nudges from her husband, Hilary also spoke, “Happy birthday.”
“Thank you.” Clarissa’s almost sounded as dead as her mother’s.
It was simply too easy to tell if Hilary was really meant those words. Her spite and unwillingness were written all over her face.
