Arranged || Dino ff

three

As the party started, Xiang Tao went up in front of everyone and began to speak "Hello everyone, and welcome." He greeted "I'd like to thank each and every one of you for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend this very special event. Twenty years ago today, my beloved daughter was born. And as of today, she grew up to be an independent woman. So without further ado, please welcome the birthday girl and the future CEO of Rose Corporation: Jia Mei!"

Everyone clapped and all attention was then directed towards Jia Mei as she stood up from her chair and went up in front of everyone. Taking the microphone from her father, she tests it out before greeting everyone with a big smile. 

"Hello! I want to personally thank everyone for coming, even if you didn't have a choice. I hope you all enjoy the food and drinks being served this evening, and I hope you'll have fun mingling with each other despite not knowing the people in this room. And a special thanks to my amazing family for helping me plan this party, once again thank you and have a good night!" She flashed a charming smile before walking off stage as everyone began to clap again.

After that, the party finally started. People ate, drank, danced and mingled as the night went on, Seungcheol was going around and making acquaintances with other people at the party while Chan remained seated at their table, swirling the small amount of red wine he had left in his glass as his eyes wandered from person to person. He took his time examining each and every guest closely until his eyes landed on Jia Mei, who was enjoying herself. He wasn't sure if was the aura she gave off, the current atmosphere of the party, or if he was slightly getting tipsy off of the red wine he drank, but he was really drawn to her and couldn't explain why.
He could gaze at her for hours on end, ignoring everyone else around him and forgetting the reason he was there anyway. It was hard though to focus solely on her due to having both that other girl and her boyfriend standing next to her.

What if she were to actually agree to the arranged marriage? Would she be ok with being married to me? He wondered, spacing out while his eyes remained on her.

Longwei's phone began ring and he excused himself, leaving Jia Mei and Chaewon. Chan watched the two girls, Jia Mei was looking around the room while talking to Chaewon. As soon as her eyes landed on him, who was already staring back at her, they unintentionally locked eye contact. Flustered, he faked a cough and looked away before standing up from his seat and heading towards the building to find a bathroom. As he was finding a washroom, he found Longwei alone talking on his phone in Chinese; he wasn't sure if it were Mandarin, Cantonese, or a completely different dialect. He then took out two things: a one-time use portable microphone disguised as an unlit cigarette and his phone. He places the "cigarette" between his lips and opens up a recording app and began recording Longwei's conversation with whoever it was on the phone.

After a few minutes of yelling into his phone and receiving someone's yelling back at him, Longwei's phone call finally ended and he heaved out a sigh. He placed a hand over his eyes and froze for a second before muttering something to himself. Turning around, he was startled to see Chan there with a cigarette in his mouth and quietly scrolling on his phone.

"Hey," He called out to Chan, catching the older off guard as he looked up to meet eyes with Longwei.

"You're not allowed to smoke in here, have some respect for the Rose family and this company."

Chan puts his hands up in defense and removes the "cigarette" from his lips "My bad. I wasn't planning on lighting it inside, anyway. I just got distracted by a text message."

Longwei rolls his eyes before putting his phone in his pocket and walking away. Once out of earshot, Chan then ends the recording and sends it directly to Junhui and Minghao via group chat along with the message:

Hey, can you guys try to translate what he's saying in this video?

After a few minutes, he gets sent a message back from Junhui several minutes later:

There's a lot of distant yelling. Why did you even record this person?

I'm just trying to pick up what he was saying in his phone call but I couldn't understand him.

Suddenly Minghao appeared and spammed several messages:

He's arguing with his father. Constantly yelling about not breaking someone's heart, not wanting anything to do with an heiress who's older than him, and get this: the last bit was his father yelling "It's either you get her on your good side so we work together or I take everything away from you. Starting with the Rose girl."

Chan's jaw nearly dropped in amazement at Minghao and how he just picked up all of that from a low quality recording of a phone conversation.

You never fail to blow me away, Minghao.

Anytime.

After getting the information he needed, Chan puts his phone back into his pocket as he destroys and disposes of the microphone before entering the washroom to clean himself up a bit. He then splashed some water on his face and took a paper towel to dry off his face and tosses it into the trash before heading back to where everyone else was.

Returning to their table, Seungcheol was already sitting there and still socializing with a businesswomen who looked as young as him. It seemed more like he was flirting with her rather than talking, but as soon as Chan got back to the table, Seungcheol caught sight of him and decided to wrap up their conversation.

"I'd be glad if we talked more about our businesses working together, Ms. Kim." He then places Royal One-Seven's business card in her palm as he also leaves a kiss on the back of her hand. The businesswoman chuckles at his charming gesture "I'd be more than happy to work with you, Mr. Choi~" She gives him a wink before getting up and walking back to her table.

Chan raises an eyebrow as he took his seat "Who was that?"

"Her? That was miss Jennie Kim. She's the CFO of B&P clothing design company. They also do photography. I think extending into fashion would be a great industry to branch in."

"You're just saying that because you were straight up flirting with her."

"Damn right." Seungcheol admits, smirking with no sense of shame "Anyway, where did you go?"

"I... felt a bit dizzy, so I went to the washroom," He lied, not wanting to admit he was staring at Jia Mei until she caught him "On the way there, I also heard Longwei on the phone and got Junhui and Minghao to try and help me translate."

Seungcheol then began to look more interested "Oh? Who was he talking to? What was their conversation about?"

"He was just arguing with his father. I believe his father wants him to at least talk to some heiress attending this same party, and if he refuses, his father threatened would take everything away from him. All starting with sabotaging his relationship with Jia Mei."

Seungcheol nodded as he remained silent, soon keeping an eye on Longwei; who had taken Jia Mei by the hand and led her to inside the building. Leaning over, he instructs him quietly "Chan, go follow them and listen to their conversation; just don't be too obvious, ok? I'll be out here... Getting to know Ms. Kim a little more."

Understanding, Chan nodded and waited several seconds before getting up and following them inside.