Chapter 50: Chapter 50
The party is anything but what the biggest engagement party anyone can ever think of can be. The Victoria grand hall is the venue chosen for this event. The Victoria grand hall is the largest auditorium in the state and also the most elegant in standard and is only rented out for big and glamorous events like the one that's happening today for the past fifty years. From the gate, the extravagant decoration and setting of the main hall can be felt and as you draw closer, you feel even more drawn to know the event happening. The hall is also filled with guests invited to the party starting for those from the high places of the society down to the low society just like Paris wanted it.
The camera light of the cameramen coverage of the party is flashing outside, taking pictures of the notable men and women that have arrived for this engagement party and asking questions about the thought of the attending guest. Everything is working exactly like it was planned.
Perfect isn't it?
Not quite.
Rory has not arrived or been spotted since the party began three hours ago and neither has his phone line been going through. Paris has been worried, but she was too careful not to shoe her weariness or face in the face of the guest, most especially the media. We've asked the gates who were present, hoping to also find their son at his engagement party but haven't.
Even I have no idea what is happening with Rory, but whatever it is that's wrong this is not the right way to go about it.
"It's already three hours and he's not here. Why is this happening to me today of all day?!" Paris cries to Eleanor and me, losing the control and composure she'd been keeping up since the last three hours.
Eleanor feeling sorry for her daughter, pulls her into a comforting hug. "He'll be here. I promise you, child."
Keenan walks over to us, with a blank face and shaking his head. "I didn't find him in the office either and his PA says he checked out three hours ago. " Paris sob harder as Keenan say this.
A man and a woman, probably old married couples walk to the room where we are, looking equally worried. "He's not at any of the homes across town." The man whose looks and build is almost exactly like that of Rory begins to speak.
The woman who came with him speaks, her green eyes clueless and brisk with pain. "Rory doesn't do things like this, he never has."
"How can he do this to me, mom? He decided to run away on our engagement night?!" She pulls away and wipes her face furiously.
Malinda blinks warily, too startles to speak straight. "This is his engagement and he was okay about ev-everything yesterday evening. There's no way he c-can just change his mind!"
"There is," Paris counters, making all eyes in the room turn to her. "He's got a lover outside and when I confronted him about it he admitted it. He's probably with her now!" She spits out with much hatred and disdain.
There are a few gasps around the room when Paris says this and my heart clench in my chest both for fear and for being wrongly accused. I'm not claiming to be a saint, at least not with Rory, but Rory's behaviour tonight has nothing to do with me.
"What humiliation is this?" Comes the voice of another from somewhere in the room and we turn to look at the man I figures is Paul, Paris' father. "We know this is a business contract, but that doesn't mean we get to be insulted in the face of the whole world!" He foams and it's clear he's a short-tempered man just like Paris.
"Paris, you knew he had a lover, why did you keep quiet?"
"I never thought it would matter until now." She weakly defends.
"Listen, daughter, you're going to marry Rory," Henry assures Paris. "No other woman can replace you in this family."
"You made a promise before, Henry, and you couldn't keep it!" Paul reminds crudely.
Henry sighs heavily, "I promise you that you are going to marry Rory and I make sure to remove this other woman from your way even if I have to go the rogue way."
I flinch once I drink the meaning of his words in the threats Henry just gave. Accusations are also being thrown at this Rory's other woman and as I back away, my back collides with someone. I quickly turn to see Keenan looking at me and a painful tear threatens to spill, but I blink it back.
It's was only a matter of time before the world finds out now.
Whatever feeling and emotions Rory and I share, I believe more than ever that it is dangerous as well as destructive to both I and him.
He takes my hand, "Come on." pulling me along before I can say my next words.
"I swear I don't know where Rory is," I mumble out weakly, swallowing the painful lump in my throat.
He takes a sudden pulse and I bump into him before moving back. "I know." He says with a believing look. "But maybe there was something you said to him yesterday that could have triggered him into doing this."
"I didn't tell him anything...." I pause my next emerging words, hoping there would be some clue in it. "I told him to go figure out what it is he wants and if he thought it was Ginger, he should go after her. " I almost bite my tongue when I finish and looking at Keenan with an agape mouth I say. "I think I know why he's not here!"
"I don't think he went after Ginger," Keenan states flatly with a certain look I place as confidence. "Rory might be anything, but he's no longer in love with Ginger."
I give him a pained smile as he defends his friend honour even if we both know the truth. "He's still sensitive to any topic she's in. One can only be that way if there are still unresolved issues that linger around, it could be affection or love."
My heart clenches tightly in my chest and the pain I don't want to show all run there.
The other woman he's with isn't you, it's ginger.
"Rory is not with Ginger!" He says more of a snap at himself than me. "I'll go call Rory again, will you be okay?"
I nod and he strolled away into the bodies of guest and out, hoping to get a quiet place to make the call.
I walk back into the hall where there are still some major entertainments going on by some singers, keeping the crowd entertained and capture from not thinking about the engaging parties.
I spot Jake at a corner, having a deep discussion with some group of men who were looking intrigued as well as awed. I smile, knowing that Jake has always loved events like these maybe because this seems to be the perfect place to meet the people and talk some 'sense' out.
Not wanting to go ruin his moment, I turn my head and begin to walk away. I see a familiar face in the crowd and I put on my signature smile, greeting them formally before walking away.
As I walk to a much quieter place to also call Rory, I spot Jack standing with an arm around a beautiful Lady who is quite older than him if I might add. She doesn't seem to notice, or mind as she looks to be having a bit of a problem which makes me raise a sceptic brow.
If you've got a problem, Jack is not the one for you.
She turns to him and hugs him, and when they pull away, he kisses her lips. I knew it! She kisses back and... I don't even want to think about it. They pull away and Jack's lips are smeared up with red lipstick and the lady giggles before helping him clean it.
The lady in question strike something in me, her dirty blonde hair and pairs of emerald green eyes, and sharp jaw, with that dimple that just appeared, makes her resemblance to Rory evident, except she looks a little younger than Rory.