Chapter 245: Chapter 245

A whisper rung out, "One rule in wine-tasting events: Your perfume should be subtle. Another unspoken rule: Better not to wear white. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that the last thing you need is a glaring red stain on your impeccable white attire." No one could pinpoint who had said it, but the words somewhat made sense.

Mr and Mrs Mush wanted to start introducing their daughter to their businesses and partners and, therefore, thought to bring her along. However, because Brianna was spoilt rotten, her parents allowed her to do anything and everything without correction. They had, therefore, not found anything wrong with her choice of wardrobe. But if they did not say anything, other people did not care and would run their mouths.

No one could blame them, though. Brianna had aimed to make a grand entrance with her overly short A-shaped white dress. It was barely mid-thigh and because of her abundant curves, she was definitely a sight to see. Brianna was clearly dressed for a different occasion and not a formal wine-tasting business event.

Brianna froze in the doorway and became very self-conscious, clasping her hands behind her.

Ian’s eyes fleetingly glanced at Brianna in the middle of the room and then settled back on his wife. He fondly caressed her cheeks, wishing they were anywhere but in a place where everyone wanted a bite out of his wife.

"Great to meet you in person, Mrs Thornston," a deep male voice caused Ian to frown and Shelby to turn to meet it. She squirmed, blushed, and lowered her head instantaneously as soon as her eyes met those of the older gentleman.

It was none other than one of the persons whom she had seen on the video call that day in Ian’s room. The very person that Shelby wanted to avoid was standing there in person.

Unsurprisingly, as soon as the man’s dark eyes met Shelby’s blue ones, his mouth dropped open, as did that of the few executives with him. They had only wanted to come over and say hi to the new wife, but nothing prepared them for her look and demeanor.

’An enchantress!’ Was the only word that surfaced in their minds. Apart from that, they could not form any coherent thoughts.

Ian cleared his throat in slight annoyance, bringing their attention back to him.

"My apologies, Mrs Thronston. Seeing you in person just took my breath away. The digital stuff does not do you justice at all."

Shelby blushed and lowered her head. The man was almost Alex’s age and that was why she did not find anything off with his words. However, he gave off the vibe of someone who was so used to rolling off such glib words off his tongue.

’Ladies must have suffered at his hands in his prime,’ She thought, and Ian couldn’t help but laugh as he got a peek into her thoughts.

The rest of the people around were unsure of what inner joke could make Ian laugh like that in front of them. In fact, they could count the number of times that Ian had laughed like that in their midst and all those times would not be up to the fingers on one hand even though they had known Ian for years.

"Thank you," Shelby whispered. Then she turned to look at Ian.

With no words spoken between them, Ian nodded and then Shelby excused herself from them.

"Here comes my sweet daughter-in-law!" Geneva beamed to the circle of women by her side when she saw Shelby approach.

In fact, Shelby had gone to that direction not for Geneva’s sake but for Ava’s. Even across the room, she could see Ava throwing her pleading looks. Looks that Shelby could understand without the need of its accompanying words.

Shelby’s smile brightened as she placed her hand in Geneva’s outstretched ones.

"All of you, let me formerly introduce you to my favorite daughter-in-law, Shelby Monroe." Geneva placed her hand on Shelby’s encompassing Shelby’s slender palms in her warm ones.

"Pleased to meet you," Shelby said nodding at each woman in turn after Geneva made brief intoductions.

For a moment, there was no reply until one said,

"The heavens are not fair at all. Why can one person look this beautiful while I look ?"

"Hahahahahahahahaaaa" The laughter was so spontaneous that everyone could not help but join in. Shelby relaxed and shared another look with Ava.

This was the very first time that Shelby had met people who did not get upset or jealous at her because of her looks. She could see that some of the woman tried their hardest not to look at her, but it also told her how much they cherished their friendship with Geneva.

"You are so lucky Geneva. You’ve had love everywhere you go. In your marriage as well as that time-"

The woman stopped as if she had said something that she shouldn’t have. Laughing awkwardly over it, she switched back to Shelby.

"How are you settling in there.... I heard of that ungrateful stepfather of yours and his end."

Shelby noticed the conversation switch and the fact that the woman had fumbled her way through the ask. Shelby did not mind the mention of James though. It was public knowledge so what the use of any fret?

’Geneva had a love interest apart from Alex? That seems so hard to wrap my head around!’ Shelby thought as she nodded absentmindedly to the woman’s poor way of conversation change.

Geneva never flinched nor reacted to this at all, making Shelby start to second-guess herself.

Ava moved and stood by Geneva’s left side.

She handed a wine glass to Shelby, and then they helped themselves to small sips of the wines presented.

"You should learn how to appreciate the wine. First swirl it in the glass a bit and don’t be afraid to stick your nose into the glass to inhale that beautiful aroma too!"

At the mention of aroma, some of the women turned to the side of the room where Brianna had deposited herself.

It was then that Shelby understood what they meant earlier. If you must smell the wine, how does one do so when the perfume on their body is enough to trigger someone’s asthma?

For once, Brianna had not made her way to Shelby and Ava, and the two did not bother to do so either. It was as if they had come to their wits end and had decided to cut Briannia off, reluctantly though.

Shelby wound her wrist in an attempt to swirl the wine but only ended up spilling it all over her hands and a bit on her dress.

The women around giggled. One handed her a wet wipe to clean her hand and the little part of her dress that was stained. Shelby said a silent thanks to Ian who had insisted that she wore that multi-colour dress. The stain was not visible because it formed part of the patterns.

"Don’t worry, Shelby. You’ll get there."

Shelby felt accepted and that gave her a warm feeling. As the evening went on, Geneva kept Shelby and Ava by her side, and most of the wives around had small chats with them, trying to get to know them better.

Shelby had already received countless invites at that time, and she was getting overwhelmed.

Ian also engaged with the few stakeholders in between sips of the different types of wine but one would notice that his eyes never left Shelby’s; not even once!

On the other side of the room, Brianna stood by her parents.

Abi was unhappy. She had thought to bring her daughter to meet those executives but then, all of them looked to be shying away from her and her family. Abram could not care less what they did in so far as he was able to spend quality time with his daughter.

While Brianna fumed. She found herself to be in a state of distress as the object of her affection, Ian did not even look her way once. To add insult to injury, Shelby and Ava were surrounded by all those people that her parents wanted to make a connection with

’Why do they get to the centre of attention, while I, Brianna, am being shunned!?’

In Brianna’s concentration on both of her friends, she did not notice when someone bumped into her spilling the bloody red win all over the front of her dress.

"Ahhhhh!" A shrill scream left her making every single person in the room turn to her abruptly.

"OMG! She scared me so much. I thought someone had happened to her...." One woman exclaimed with her hand on her heart.

"Serves her right! Who told her to wear a white dress to such an environment?" Another added.

On the side, Shelby did not totally agree with them because in a way and somewhere deep in her heart, she still felt that Brianna was her friend.

As Shelby stood there staring across the room at Brianna absentmindedly, another person also bumped into her.

"Oh, sorry!" The person said but did not linger around to check if Shelby was okay.

For her, Shelby only concentrated on stabilizing the wine in her hand so that it would not spill all over the floor and the other madams closest to her. She did succeed, but at the expense of getting the half the contents of her glass all over her dress.

An involuntary sigh left her. ’What’s with today?’ She asked herself.

"It’s just one of those days!" One madam said as their looks turned to pitying ones.

"I need a drink," Shelby whispered mostly to herself but miraculously, a hand appeared in front of her,

Shelby said and without looking at the person who had handed her the drink, she chucked the contents down, grimacing.

An uncanny sensation passed through her at the same time, and she shook her head as if to clear it.

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