372 With a Man

Looking at Katherine mewl at him, Damien had a hard time pulling his stare away from her face. When he did, he just chuckled and then ran his fingers on her face—his way of gently saying: 'Stop or I'll break because of your cuteness'.

Reaching out across the table, Katherine stole fries from his plate and shoved them to her mouth. Wordlessly, he cleared some items to the side and slid his plate towards her so she could 'steal' some more. The little gesture made her smile because Damien was never selfish. He had always been thoughtful and always shared his food with her. Sometimes, she'd feel bad but most of the time, she'd just feel thankful.

"I forgot to tell you… I received an invitation from the club about an auction. You've probably already received yours too, huh? Do you think I would find the person we're looking for in that event?" she asked, dipping a fry into her sundae before eating it.

Hearing Katherine mention the auction, Damien paused for a brief second before looking at her. "Have you responded to the invitation already?"

"Not yet… I wanted to discuss it with you first."

"I see…" He nodded. "I'm not sure as we don't know who it is for now but there could be a possibility. A lot of the members like to join the auctions… especially if they are for charities. Everyone has different reasons as to why they are there. Some are good… while the rest is just for tax exemptions; buy a piece, claim it was bought in charity, then you'll get a hefty tax deduction at the end of the year. Most often than not, these events are solely for connections or networking."

He had told her this before so it wasn't surprising anymore. Munching on another fry from his plate, she asked, "What about you, President Park? What kind of person are you when you attend these events?"

"It depends. I'm all for charity… In fact, I've been donating for as long as I can remember. I also have several scholars who have already graduated. All these things—I did, I'm still doing and I will continue to do so with or without these social events. But, as a businessman… I can't deny the fact that these gatherings are indeed beneficial. I would admit that I used to do it a lot more back when I just started the company. It's quite different now… Opportunities come even without me looking for it. And honestly… it's more tiring than interesting."

"Hmmm… I guess your world is really different compared to us peasants…" she smiled and heard him scoff.

"I never planned to make it this far… I mean… of course, I dreamt big and was even greedy when I started to make more than I thought I could and that was only the second year of my career. But the more I rise… the more dangerous it is up there. You forget yourself, you know?"

"Anyway… we've strayed off-topic. But yeah… I guess that's possible. Are you sure you want to attend?" he asked.

"Well… I did join the club for some of the perks you mentioned. Connections. So yeah... I'm thinking of going. Why? Don't you want me to go?" she probed, unsure why he was even asking the question.

"It's not that. I was just curious. It will be your first club event after all. Let me know if you've decided… I'll arrange a team to help you prepare."

Katherine straightened in her seat, finding his words a little weird. "Team? What team? Why would I need a team to prepare? I have a few nice dresses in the closet. If that's not enough, I could go shopping. Is there really a need for that?"

"Kitten, it will be your first time. It will be like your debut meeting with these people… If you want connections, let me help you gain the attraction. You'll thank me for it later." He drank his lemon water, punctuating their conversation.

With that, all she could do was nod. Damien had been in the circle for a long time. She trusted that he knew what he was doing so she would definitely follow his advice. "Alright then… If you say so… I'll go ahead and respond to the invitation." She picked up her phone and searched for the email that she received the day before and quickly followed the instructions to respond to the invitation and once she was done, she kept her phone back in her purse. "Okay, now that's done. Tell me what I need to do next." 

A sexy smirk formed on his face, causing the butterflies in her stomach to awaken and flutter their wings. She had to purse her lips together to suppress herself from smiling silly. 

"Hang on." Damien whipped out his phone and sent Markus a message, ordering him to prepare a team for Katherine on the day of the auction. When he was done, he turned back to Katherine and told her, "You're free this afternoon, right? Let's go and give Mr. West a visit. I'm sure he'll love to design your outfit."

"Isn't he like… exclusive? And the auction is a week away. That's too little time for him."

Standing up, he grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the restaurant. "That's not a problem. Besides… Nothing is impossible for Mr. West. Let's go hurry. I heard he's flying to France today. We need to catch him."

Katherine had to catch up with Damien's long strides until they made it to his vehicle. Her mind brought her to think about the auction and wondered what would happen then as she had no idea what to expect. "You're going too, right?" she suddenly asked.

"Pardon?" 

"To the auction… Are we… um… Can we… Are we going together?" All this time, Katherine just assumed that they were going together but then she remembered that when they started talking about it earlier, Damien never told her about going there with her. He never said anything about going there at all. If he already knew about this beforehand, she wondered why he hadn't brought it up. 

She was looking at the road before them, waiting for him to answer and when he didn't say anything, she found it quite bizarre. And she couldn't help it—her heart just started getting anxious, so she blurted, "I mean… only if you want to. Unless… you're already going with someone…" The words left her mouth before she could even think about it and listening to her own words made her feel uneasy.

Silly. Stupid. Why.

But when he still didn't say anything, it only made her feel even more anxious.

Damien had no idea what to say to her. It was the first time that he was rendered speechless and absolutely clueless about how to break it to her. Fûck. It was the first time that she invited him out to attend a social gathering where people could actually see them together—this time without hesitation. 

And there he was, having a damn difficult time thinking about how to tell the love of his life that he had to go with a man. With Wallace White, no less.