Welcome Home, My Darling

The scene unfolded with romantic notes of the Wedding March floating throughout the large, magnificent hall. One might get the impression that they were about to witness a luxurious wedding between two prolific families, and they would be sorely mistaken.

The main event that was taking place here was, in fact, a blind date -- the most unexpected yet most extravagant to ever take place in G City. Not only was it sponsored by the leading TV station in the area, but also by the Xu Group, one of the most prominent conglomerate entities in the city. Only upper class socialites and noble young men with prolific backgrounds were allowed to participate, and to say that everyone in attendance was outstanding in some aspect would be no exaggeration. That being the case, all marriage-minded young people from various wealthy families had all scampered to secure an invitation to the affair. After all, it was the perfect opportunity to forge strong, lifelong alliances with other powerful people.

Mandy Su's brows furrowed as she fiddled with the gilded invitation in her hand. She was sitting in an obscure corner of the huge hall, looking on at the mingling socialites and curling her lips with some measure of disgust.

She had been here for barely five minutes and she already wanted to leave. It was also the weekend, and she hated having to waste her time in this place.

For her, activities such as this was no different from purchasing a piece of meat in the market. The people here would no doubt choose their partners based on their family's wealth and influence. Surely nobody here was expecting to find their true love.

'Whatever. I'm out of here.'

Mandy plucked her purse from behind her chair and was about to rise when she heard her phone beep. She took it out and opened the message she had received. Her eyes widened in shock, and she looked around like a thief caught red-handed. The text had come from her aunt, warning her not to leave until the whole blind date affair was over. Clearly, she had spies installed around this place.

"How come you're sitting all alone, Miss? Do you mind if I sit down?" This came in a somewhat sleazy tone from above Mandy.

"I--" She was about to say that yes, she damn well minded, but she barely had the words out before the speaker plopped himself on the seat next to her. She turned to find a man with a fat and leery face sporting an obscene grin directed at her.

"Hello there, Miss. My name is Victor Li, and YH Group belongs to my family." Victor was very much undaunted at the prospect of approaching her, and it showed. The truth was that he had been eyeing her for quite some time now, and he liked everything he had seen. He had a habit of dating sexy and beautiful women, but the pure and innocent ones would occasionally catch his interest. Well, whatever sort of girls they were, he was sure he only needed to drop his family business' name and they would come to him like moths to a flame.

"Ha ha..." Mandy smiled awkwardly and lowered her head, pretending to attend to something urgent on her phone. There was no way she would even entertain such a foppish man, and she hoped that her cold attitude would communicate her disinterest to him and make him leave instantly.

Unfortunately for her, her intentions all flew over Victor Li's head. On the contrary, he interpreted her smile as an invitation, and her aloofness as a way of playing hard to get. And who could blame him? By virtue of his identity, he was basically entitled to the belief that all women would be attracted to him. And so, emboldened by his own expectations, he reached out a hand grazed his fingers along she smooth thigh.

She had been forced to wear a short, off-the shoulder dress, which complimented her curves and accentuated her long, slender legs. Mandy was a natural beauty, with fair skin and delicate features, and a desirably figure to boot. If she hadn't been cowering in the corner, she would have earned the amorous attentions of the male population in this room.

Victor's hand started to move across her skin, further fanning the anger that was already burning inside her. She took a deep breath to calm herself, then pushed his pudgy and sweaty hand away.

"What's your name? How about we find a hotel, hmm?" He wasn't fazed at all. If anything, he seemed to like her brief spurt of aggression. The next thing he did was lean closer and put his hand on Mandy's shoulders, his eyes widening at the contact. She had soft, tender skin, and his mind was already picturing out countless explicit scenes with her flesh beneath his hands. He was itching to whisk her to somewhere private and make his fantasies into reality.

Mandy's eyes glinted with a cunning edge. It appeared that she wouldn't be able to get rid of this vile man through subtlety. The skin on her arms and legs were already breaking out in goose bumps over his touch, and she struggled to resist the urge to shiver in disgust. She picked up the glass of juice on the table in front of her and casually leaned against him, exhaling slightly. "Sure, we can go to the hotel. But not before you drink this."

No sooner had she finished speaking than she was tipping the glass into his mouth.

Victor's eyes lit up in excitement. Finally! It looked like she was pretty enthusiastic about his plans, too. He was eager to finish the drink as soon as possible and removed one hand from her shoulders to grab the glass for himself.

The next thing he knew, before he could even touch the glass, cold juice was already pouring down his chest. It soaked through his white shirt and slid down to his trousers like a stream, before soaking right through his crotch as well. He looked utterly ridiculous with the unexpected addition of orange juice to his gray and white ensemble.

Victor's face darkened and he shot up to his feet in rage. He was wearing something from the latest spring collection of Alman, and it had been on a limited edition. Now his clothes were completely ruined. "Who the hell do you think you are?" he roared at the woman as he flicked the liquid from his collar. "How dare you do this to me? Do you have any idea who I am? I am the successor of YH Group! You will meet your doom after insulting me!"

The commotion immediately became the focus of everyone's attention. Mandy looked up and down at her handiwork and sneered at Victor. "Let's just say that your pathetic attempts at flirtations end here. You scum, how dare you touch my thigh without my permission? I'm already doing you a favor by not kicking your ass here and now."

In the corner of her eye she could see that people were looking at her, and not far down the hall, two uniformed guards were striding toward her. That pulled her back to her senses. Oh no. She had forgotten that this was supposed to be an official event backed by the city big shots. Not to mention the fact that all kinds of media people were present to cover the blind date. She shouldn't have caused a scene. Her aunt would punish her if she found out!

Many quickly ducked and grabbed the invitation on the table, the one with her aunt's name written on it, and quickly walked to the nearest exit.

"Stop her! Hurry! She must have come here to make trouble. Don't let her get away!" Victor yelled at the guards. He would never let that girl slip away so easily. She had ruined his limited edition suit and his pride; he was determined to get even with her.

The entire hall instantly broke into chaos, which gave Mandy a chance to bolt it right out of there. In a hurry, she bumped against a table laden with drinks which, of course, resulted to glasses falling and shattering to the floor.

"Lady, stop!" As the sound of glass breaking echoed through the hall, the guards became certain that what Victor had said was true -- that woman had indeed sneaked inside to stir up some trouble. They ran after her in hot pursuit.