Chapter 159 - Nana's Birthday Presents

Katherine snorted before taking another sip of her champagne. "They must be dreaming if they think Damien will even take a glance at them." 

Chuckling, Alianna and Katherine eyed each other knowingly and clinked their glasses. "Damn right," Ali said and the two of them downed their drinks.

"Okay, champagne out… food in." Damien grabbed the empty flute from Katherine's hand and replaced it with a saucer full of bite-sized cocktail food. He was determined to have her eat her fill, not wanting to let the alcohol sit in her empty stomach.

"Oh, Caleb's here." Alianna waved at Caleb from across the room before she walked away to meet him. The two have been spending time together and seemed to be enjoying each other's company.

"Do you think they'll get back together?" Katherine wondered aloud. 

Damien shrugged his shoulders as he watched his cousin and his best friend chatting on the other side of the room. "Honestly? I'm not sure, but if they do… Someone's going to end up broken-hearted for the second time."

She raised a brow at him, unsure of why he said that. "You don't think they'll have a better chance now that they've grown?"

"They've broken up clear-headed… and for a reason that I think hasn't changed until now. They're still doing the same things. Ali still won't be staying in the country while Caleb won't be moving. They have already tried the long-distance relationship and failed. So… I don't know."

Katherine pursed her lips together. "Hmmm… I kind of ship them the more I see them together."

"Enough about them. They're grown-ups. You should focus your attention on me instead," he said, trailing his fingers down her arm.

She turned towards him with a grin on her face. "Oh yeah? I didn't think you'd want my attention what with all the women bluntly checking you out and drooling over your…" She swept her gaze down his torso before lifting them up to his eyes, "...physique."

A slow smile grew on his lips as he inched closer to her, "I don't know anything about that. I had my eyes on you the entire time." 

On her peripheral vision, Katherine could still sense all the eyes that were on them as she and Damien flirted with each other. 'Claim your man, Katherine,' she told herself. Without breaking her heated eye contact with him, she placed her hand on the collar of his suit, slightly pulling him towards her as she whispered, "Kiss me."

Without second thoughts, Damien slid his hand on the small of her back, lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers. 

The kiss was sweet… and soft… and enough to make the women who were watching them groan, roll their eyes and turn away. A small smile formed on her lips just as they broke the kiss.

Moving towards her ear, he said in a low voice, "I know what you did." She quietly gasped but heard him continue, "I'm not complaining though. But if you still want to put on more shows, I'd gladly play my part."

Katherine couldn't help but chuckle. She got caught and she found it funny. "Damien, do we need to put on a show?"

He laughed. "You're right… we could just be ourselves," he said. He kissed the skin behind her ear and his hand slid down to her bottom, giving it a squeeze before he pulled away, a smirk dancing on his face.

Katherine couldn't contain her grin and just stood there next to him, allowing him to place his arm around her waist while the party went on.

One bitter woman across the room was furious at what she was witnessing as she watched the two together. Moreover, Lexi had her so-called friends around her were chattering excitedly about how Damien was all over his new girlfriend which fueled the anger in her heart. 

After the very short scandal that she had released on the internet through the online columnist, Damien retaliated by using his influence to cancel all the projects that she had at that time. She only had a few projects left because the other companies had already backed away after he threatened her that time after Katherine's accident. Now she had no work as no one was willing to hire her anymore.

But that was not all, her grandfather learned about what she had done and had cut off her allowance. She was basically a bum at the moment and she had to beg in order for her grandfather to bring her along with him to this party. Lexi was enraged but she could no longer risk what was left of her or she was afraid that her grandfather will remove her from the family.

…

The party went on a full swing before it was time for Nana to receive her gifts. She sat on a gold-framed royal red armchair in the middle of the stage while the guests started to present their gifts to her. Everyone took turns to show their 'expensive' or 'rare' gifts and Nana maintained a smile on her face as she thanked all of them. Her smile, however, didn't really reach her eyes.

Katherine and Damien stood at the side, watching as it all happened. When it was his turn to give his gift, he waved his hand and a few servants brought in a giant leather chair and placed it on the side of the stage and Nana's eyes lit up. Damien helped her up and ushered her to sit on the high-tech giant chair. 

"You told me you've been having backaches a lot recently so I got you this full body massage chair. Now you can relax anytime you want." He placed a kiss on Nana's forehead before pressing a button and the chair came to life, moving against Nana's body and making her smile and giggle.

"Oooh… this… I love this…" Nana was having the time of her life. Everybody also laughed as they witnessed the old Madame relax in the chair for a minute before the massage chair stopped and she went back to sit on her throne.

William who was standing on the side with his glass of wine noticed Katherine with a gold paper bag in her hand. "Ms. Katherine, why don't you go next?" he formed a lopsided smile.

Katherine actually wanted to give her present secretly before leaving the party. Her eyes darted to William and she saw the mischief on his eyes and next to him was Lexi who had a mocking expression. Everyone's eyes were now on her and she didn't want to be ridiculed because her gifts weren't expensive — she knew the guests were all about the price tag. 

Sensing her hesitation, Damien stroked her back and squeezed her waist as though he was giving her the courage. "Go on, Nana's waiting." 

Breathing deeply, Katherine nodded. That's right, she had put a lot of thought into her gifts and they came from her heart. That's what's important.

Stepping forward, she handed the large gold paper bag to Nana. "Happy birthday, Nana. I hope you like these."

Nana could see the worry in Katherine's eyes despite the smile on her lips. "Dear, I'm sure I will love it as it came from you."

Excitedly, Nana pulled out a shoebox and opened it. Her eyes widened and her mouth hung open upon seeing a pair of 2-inch gold shoes. She dug in the paper bag again and pulled out another item and held it in front of her. Her eyes scanned the blue dress — it had ruffles, sheer, rhinestones, and frills – it did not look like a normal dress at all. Nana turned her head towards Katherine and the latter only held a slight smile.

When Nana was quiet and did not show any reaction, the guests started to snicker and gossip. Katherine's gift looked silly — how could she gift a shimmering, sparkling dress and shoes to an old woman? The guests anticipated for Nana to give Katherine a scolding.

However, what they heard and saw next only made their eyes widen in shock – Nana heartily laughed and squealed in excitement, hugging the gifts that Katherine gave her. 

She got up from the chair and gave Katherine a bear hug. "Oh, my dear. This is the best gift that I have ever received!"