In deep admiration, Sasha looked at Debbie and praised, "You are the real Cinderella! How I wish I could marry a man as rich as your husband. But I think that's overambitious, because in the real sense, I'd be contented to find a man with half Carlos' fortune."
After all, successful businessmen were few and far between, not to mention someone as young and handsome as Carlos.
"Rest assured. You will. You are such an adorable girl. Who knows, you might find someone just as good," Debbie assured, gently stroking Sasha's cheek.
To which Sasha nodded cheerfully, "You flatter me, Debbie. Anyway, let's hope and pray that your wishes for me will come true. Ideally, I'd wish to make it big as a movie star. Then, even without a rich suitor like Carlos, I'll still end up just fine on my own."
"Yeah, I believe you can hack it as a movie star!" While making small talk, Debbie took Sasha to her walk-in closet. "I need a favor from you," she said as she opened the door.
"Name it," declared Sasha with enthusiasm. But at the sight of Debbie's clothes and jewelry, the girl's eyes lit up.
"I need to attend a party this evening. Apparently, Carlos is too busy to come with me. Would you mind lending me your lovely company?" With a thoughtful look in her eyes, Debbie opened the closet full of evening dresses, and selected a pink one for Sasha.
Blown away by the luxurious collection, Sasha picked a sexy party dress. "Trust me, Deb. You'll rock in this one. Why not try it on now?"
"For another occasion, I would have loved this burgundy dress. But since tonight's party is kind of formal, I think I need an appropriate one." Debbie turned Sasha down politely.
"Okay. Then, try this white one on."
"This one looks good. Let's get changed together," Debbie offered.
"Yeah!"
The two girls spent a long time selecting dresses and jewelry. When Emmett called, Debbie was tired and sleepy, but Sasha was still adorning herself with jewelry excitedly.
"Hi, Emmett," Debbie greeted. While answering the phone, she took a few steps from Sasha and sat at the dressing table, playing with her lipsticks. There were so many shades that she was spoiled for choice.
"Mrs. Huo, I'll drive you and Miss Mu to the party," said Emmett. 'Every employee in the company has their hands full. Even Mr. Huo himself is too busy to see his wife. So he sent me to drive the queen of his heart to the party. She must mean so much to him.
If he could even squeeze out half an hour, I believe he would be here to drive her to the party himself, ' he mused.
"Okay. Where are you now? We're almost done," said Debbie. She grabbed a lipstick with a low-key shade and walked toward the closet.
Adorned in excessive brilliant jewels and pearls, Sasha looked like a moving display shelf.
Meanwhile, Emmett killed the engine and answered, "I'm waiting for you at the gate. You can come out if you're ready."
"Okay. We'll be there soon."
After hanging up, Debbie put on the lipstick and left the villa with Sasha in a hurry.
In a five-star hotel, many people paid attention to Debbie and Sasha, especially to the huge differences in their outfits. Debbie was wearing a beige dress with little jewelry, while Sasha was wearing a light green one with as much jewelry as possible.
Sasha whispered in Debbie's ear, "Deb, everyone is looking at you."
"I don't think so. . ." An embarrassed smile flashed across Debbie's face.
But the ecstatic Sasha couldn't stop talking. "Actually, I put on much jewelry just on purpose. This way, people will notice your stand-out sense of fashion and persona, without breaking a sweat."
"Whatever floats your boat. . ." It was a topic that Debbie didn't want to dwell on.
The guests in attendance at this party were all successful businessmen in Y City. Among the few that Debbie could recognize, she saw Sebastian, Griffin, Hayden, and Olga, whose name she had often mentioned to Carlos. Whenever he annoyed her, she would mention Olga just to get back at him.
As they made their way through the auditorium, Sebastian approached them and eyed his younger daughter up and down. "Look at you!" he reprimanded with a frown. "Why did you have to come here looking like a peacock? Do you think you'e on a blind date? Couldn't you have borrowed a leaf from Debbie?"
Debbie felt flattered. No wonder Gail always doubted whether Debbie was Lucinda and Sebastian's daughter, because of her parents' unfair tendency to find fault with her and Sasha over petty issues while flowing with praises for Debbie.
Sasha pouted her lips grumbling, "Dad, stop it! My coming to this party was only to keep Deb company. Why would I get dressed as if I was going to give a speech on the podium?"
Debbie chimed in to reassure Sebastian. "Uncle, it's my first time ever to give a speech on such an occasion. And I feel really nervous. With Sasha's company, I feel much better."
Sebastian, a hard-nosed man, cast a warning glance at Sasha and turned to Debbie asking in a low voice, "Under what name did you come here?"
"The legal representative of Orchid Private Club," answered Debbie.
Sebastian thought he heard her wrong. If she was telling the truth, then Carlos was really nice to her. "I thought the legal representative of the club was Brooks Huo, Carlos' cousin. Since when did you take it over from him? Who's the largest shareholder now?"
With an awkward smile, Debbie stammered, "I don't know either. . . Carlos just asked me to come here, and said nothing more. . ."
"Okay. The host will invite some entrepreneurs to give us a short speech. I guess you'll be one of them," said Sebastian. As a norm, he knew the host would introduce the most important faces.
Among the names to be recognized, the host would no doubt have the legal representative of Orchid Private Club atop his list.
After Sebastian left to chat with his friends, Debbie and Sasha joined a smaller group of people nearby. The two girls were unknown to anyone, so naturally people had many questions coming their way, such as which company they were from, and what their positions were.
Debbie and Sasha had foreseen this before they came here, so they evasively fielded the questions with a smile. Where they couldn't comment, they simply said, "The party will start soon, and the host will announce it. Please be more patient."
Now that they were unable to get any information from the two girls, they soon left one after another.
Then, a man in a white suit approached Debbie with a glass of wine in his hand. He just smiled at her without saying a word.
Sasha whispered in her ear, "Deb, he's your ex, isn't he? When did he come back from abroad?"
Politely, Debbie nodded at Hayden and then looked away.
In a low vice, she said to Sasha, "It's been a while."
Hayden had fixed his gaze on Debbie since he entered the hall. He had seen her chatting with the businessmen and joking with Sasha.
She was absolutely stunning.
Soon, the party started with the host going through introductions after a short opening speech. "First of all, let's welcome Mr. Hayden Gu, an excellent entrepreneur, the CEO of the Gu Group, one of Y City's Ten Outstanding Youths, and the founder of Wayhey Electronics."
Hayden had made a great achievement in the past few years. People nodded in approval at him when his accolades and titles were mentioned.
Before taking to the podium, he gave Debbie a smile and went on to deliver his short speech.
