Chapter 71 - A Girl Of High Society

Even when Ace already said almost everything he had to, Chloe was still putting up a fight.

Winter admits that she is quite the tough one. As much as she wants to advice her against it since this might do bad to her image, she can only trust him to handle the situation. He did tell her to leave everything to him, and with her hat gone, he would try harder to keep her hidden until the end no matter what. 

When he noticed that some of those who were watching had taken out their cellphones and started filming the scene, he had put his hand on the back of her head and pulled her closer to him. She was taken aback when he held her even more protectively, but as much as she wanted to push him away and keep a decorous distance between them, she could not with how firm his grip was. 

With that, all Winter could do was leave it to Ace again. 

"No, no, it can't end at all, Ace! I'll take you away from her even if I have to! I'll do anything to keep you...!" Chloe exclaimed once more, madder than ever. 

"Get away from him, you damn weasel!" 

Right then, Winter froze. 

Contrary to what they were expecting, she didn't consider backing out. Instead, she continues to rage on, not letting up even for a bit.

Startled, Winter and Ace flinch a little at Chloe's loud screech. She begins to stomp towards them, raring to pounce on her love rival at any given moment. But much like her, she didn't let her threat get to her. She only remains still in his arms, contemplating what she should do.

'What a stubborn little brat... You really wanna get on my nerves now, huh...?' was what Winter wanted to say right then, putting on her death stare and pulling out a scowl. 

'No means no, you pathetic psycho.' 

Even though Winter can't see Chloe, she can still sense that she's about to seize a hold on her with how enraged she is. She's already a step away from her and Ace. Now that she is within an arm reach, she can tear her off of him by force and consequently reveal her face to everyone there.

Winter grits her teeth and clenches her fists, keeping herself from turning around and giving Chloe a lesson on what public humiliation is truly supposed to be. 

"Don't you dare touch her."

Then, for the second time, she stiffened on her place, needing to double take.

Ace just hissed, it seemed. And Winter never saw nor heard him that mad before.

With his deep, low voice coming out daunting, she can't help but want to take a glimpse of what is going on. She slowly looks up to him again, unprepared for what will come into view. It was then that she found his half-lidded, dagger-like glare brimming with inconceivable ire. 

At that very moment, Ace appears to be extremely infuriated.

It isn't only that, though. One of his hands is no longer holding Winter as it is now stretched forward, gripping Chloe by her wrist. It turned out that she was really going for a sudden hard pull. But in the end, she did not even get to touch her - not with him grasping her tightly before she could do so. 

"A-Ace, w-what are y-you..." Chloe stammered out, nonplussed and indignant.

"D-Do you know what you're doing? How can you be so harsh to a girl? If you go on and do something more than this, I'll take that as harassment-"

"Harassment, you say...?" Winter scoffed without looking, finding her so immature that she no longer wondered why she never heard of her before. 

"For someone who's about to harass me herself, you sure knows how to blame others. So what if you're a girl? You think the world will take pity on you only because of that?"

"Yes, they will! And if this comes out on my social media accounts-"

"Go on, then. You'll only make things worse for you and better for us." 

"There are people and cameras everywhere, Ms. Chloe. If you'll continue to blow a fuse like this, it'll do bad for your image more than to us, don't you think...?" Ace muttered underneath his breath, threatening her.

"Now, if you ever try to touch a single hair on her, I'll make sure that you don't have to act like this just to make yourself look bad in front of the press. I myself will take care of that trouble for you."

Winter did not see that coming - not his threats to her nor her tamed expression as she fell silent.

Hearing his taunts, she then realized that the reason why he let this commotion turn into this one big spectacle to knock sense into this obsessive admirer of his was because he was after the press media all along. Then again, earlier, he did say something about her that turned out to be a pivotal piece of his plan. 

"To be honest, I don't believe that Ms. Chloe is truly in love with me, Winter. Despite how clingy and possessive she is, I can tell that she doesn't really mean everything she says. I mean, her love confession did come out of the blue. And knowing her family's affiliation with the Miller's, I highly suspect that she just wanted to keep me for the sake of her selfish gains..." was what Ace told Winter that time.

"To gain more popularity and a stronger connection with my family, most probably."

She did not think that his claims were far-fetched. In all actuality, it made sense. Then again, this is what high society is mostly about. It always involves gaining popularity, increasing wealth, spreading influence, competing for the top, and making use of others as tools.

'For someone who never wanted to do anything with these big shots before, you sure are perceptive and insightful about the world they live in...' Winter thought as she regarded Ace in silence.

'Seems like Ms. Violet will have quite a reliable right-hand man in the future.'

---

It's like any other morning in that bustling city.

At the break of dawn, time begins to pass by faster than the night before. People often get up an extra hour earlier to start off the day with some exercise, a peaceful "me" time, or to work towards their personal goals.

To this certain couple, however, their morning kicked off with a bit of a twist. Initially, they planned to spend the first few hours by carrying on with their daily routine, but then, something unprecedented took place -

Now, a while after commencing their early-morning endeavor at the modelling agency that the Minerva's owns, it has soon turned out to be a day like no other.

"Now that you finished meeting the producers and models of your company, will you finally move on with the plan regarding the Ratri's newest project...?" a certain blonde chimed in as she stepped outside of the building. 

"I heard that President Lexington and that controversial heiress of the Miller's were at the party the other night. That's quite a surprise, I must say - not sure if it's a pleasant one, though. So far, everything's still going according to your plan. Is that right, Jacob?"

"I did get to talk with President Ratri that evening. For some reason, he didn't say much as he only kept questioning. For the most part, I was the one doing the talking. On top of that, he moved our next meeting to a later date, reasoning that he'd be busy with other things," her fiance said with a faint smile as he walked beside her.

"Did he now? Does this have anything to do with President Lexington and Ms. Miller?"

"I don't know. But I do find their attendance at the party as suspicious. I didn't expect that the Ratri's would affiliate themselves with those two." 

Jacob and Bianca have been engaged for a while now

They've gone out to a number of dates. They had been through a lot of things together - triumphant times and challenging trials alike. Despite their occasional downfalls, in the eyes of others, they are one power couple - a perfect couple, even. 

Overall, these two have been in a smooth-flowing relationship since getting engaged.

Nothing and no one can possibly make it go wrong at this point. 

"Huh? What's this?" 

Right before reaching their car at the other side of the road, they halt on their tracks all of the sudden. 

At that moment, they spotted something conspicuously incongruous that was lying unattended on the ground. It still managed to pass through their line of vision even though they were too occupied in their conversation -

It's this white floppy hat.

"Babe~!"

At a certain someone's sudden call, Bianca turned to its direction in surprise while Jacob was drawn to it after realizing how familiar the voice seemed - taking place at the coffee shop right in front of them at that moment is a scene that's about to cause their morning to take an unexpected turn.