A Promise Of Romance (MewGulf AU)

🌻Chapter 33

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When they arrived at the party, Gulf was struck by the overwhelming feeling that he was on a movie set. A tide of well-dressed ladies and gentlemen rippled beneath a sparkling chandelier.

He spotted Mew immediately. No matter how large the crowd was, Mew always stood out. But there were several layers of people surrounding him and it didn't look like Gulf could get close. Plus, this Mew, smiling affably and socializing with so many people, seemed like an entirely different person to the Mew that Gulf knew.

Gulf was once again made aware of the immeasurably great distance between the two of them.

Anyway, once this farce was over, he and Mew would be complete strangers to each other. He would probably never see the man again for the rest of his life.

"Oh, you two came too?" Before Gulf and Mild could reach Mew, Yaya came up to them. She held a glass of red wine in one hand and smiled at them beautifully.

Gulf hadn't noticed Yaya's dress at Mew's apartment because she had been covered up by a jacket, but now, he saw that it was red with large openings that exposed her cleavage and the small of her back. It was a bold dress, and he had trouble deciding how to look at her.

"I don't know who you are or why you're hanging around Mew, but I'm getting tired of you." Yaya glared pointedly at Gulf. The angry gaze of a foreigner was powerful, and even more so coming from a beautiful woman.

"You'll have to talk to Mew about that. It has nothing to do with me" Gulf replied rebelliously.

"Well, aren't you cheeky! Let me make this clear for you---Mew is too good for you," Yaya hissed.

"And not for a woman like ypu?" Gulf retorted. "I heard you're quite a bit older than him."

Yaya's eyebrow shot up. "What do you mean, 'quite a bit'?"

Mild was listening to their conversation with great amusement.

"It's not big enough difference to matter," Yaya said haughtily. "You, on the other hand, seem quiet young. I wonder if you know what it means to be the wife of Lord Jongcheveevat."

"No," Gulf said abruptly.

"You have no business being in the Jongcheveevat family," Yaya spat out.

"I'm not particularly interested in being the wife of an atisrocrat," Gulf said calmly.

"Everyone pretends to be in it for love at first sight," Yaya mocked. "But they change their tunes soon enough. You shouldn't act so superior."

"Like you?" Gulf fired back.

Yaya moved deftly, tipping the contents of her wine glass onto his dress. She'd emptied it in the blink of an eye.

"Don't you think you should go home before you embarrass yourself any more today?" Yaya laughed loudly as she moved away.

"Women are terrifying," Mild muttered.

Gulf nodded, dazed.

"She likes Mew enough to throw wine on me in front of all these people?" he wondered.

"You're so naive, Kana," Mild said. "That's not why she did it. She's after the Jongcheveevat fortune too."

"Is that really all?" Gulf prodded.

"Yeah. But you can't go out on the dance floor like that," Mild said, looking at Gulf's dress in frustration. The wine had stained a large red spot on the white dress. "I'll go get Mew. You stay over there, Kana."

Gulf had no choice. Mild pointed him toward the shadow of one of the pillars in the hall where no one would see him, and where there were a few chairs. It was a good spot to wait in. He took one of the available seats and began watching the people passing by.

He saw couples that seemed to get along fine at first glance, but who turned away from each other when they thought no one was looking. Young girls filled with anxiety, unused to parties. Groups of young women sizing up the men in attendance. Young men seeking out and fighting for the attention of beautiful women.

Hidden away in the corner like this, he began to see many human behaviors emerge all around the room. Studying these people might be just as useful for his acting as the trip to the zoo had been. This thought cheered him up a little.

He suddenly caught sight of one young man in particular. The young man was probably in his early 30s. He was seated beside the wall, lazily watching the ring of dancers in the center of the hall. No one approached him to talk. He seemed to be here by himself. Gulf delt a certain affinity with him, since the man seemed to feel no desire to actively participate in the party.

In contrast, Mew was just as wrapped up in chatting with the people around him as ever. He srill hadn't noticed Gulf.

And Gulf couldn't find Mild in the sea of people. He was suddenly oppressed by the thought that Mild and Mew had both completely forgotten about him.

Then he appeared.

TBC