Bed Sheets II

27. The Garden

Frederic Commers, Mason Hillards, Grayson Hitch, Henric Coopers, Morals Mucks, Tobby Linderson, Cathy Coors—all notable names attending the Cassidy Wilfried Award Show. The Award Show was based on Cassidy Wilfried, author famous for her non-fiction novels where she elaborated on numerous obstacles she had to face such as mental health, suicidal preventions, physical and mental abuse, bullying and numerous other hardships that shaped her. It was an annual Award Show that many celebrity names attended, even from different industries, and it was always a success.

Her palace was ginormous—her husband, Boris Wildfried, has been a national tennis player and known worldwide for being founder and CEO of a company named HeavyWays. It was an online merchandise similar to Amazon, and very successful around the entire world.

Everyone that attended the palace was patted, and their invitation letters, which had an imprinted seal, were checked before they were allowed inside the home. The ceremony was in a gigantic magnificent hall, where chandeliers layered the ceiling, decorations covered the walls and hundreds of waiters travelled across the room with trays of wine and champagne for anyone to take.

Draven H. Malcom had arrived at about eight o'clock. He was well-dressed; a navy suit with a bow tie around his neck, and brown pants that coloured nicely with his suit. His hair was gelled backwards with one strand over his eye, and he fixed his gold watch on his wrist. The moment he stepped down from his vehicle, he was ambushed by reporters.

"Mr. Malcom, it is the first time you have shown yourself in public ever since the allegation of—"

"How many times do we have to say, no questions!"

Cassidy's security guards immediately came to the rescue, forming a pathway for Draven and the rest of his team to follow inside, and he thanked them.

"Thank god there were security guards out there, I would've punched one of them in the face," Hector grumbled.

Jason agreed, wrapping his arm around Rebecca's waist protectively, "No kidding. They were shoving too."

"I'm excited to drink, that's all I care about," Draven admitted when they entered the hall. There was a stage at the front of the hall but it was barely visible from the back. It was humongous, and Draven was greeted by multiple people the moment he entered.

Hela Monitt, author of The Exquisite Flames, a series of fantasy novels at its fourth book and ongoing. She changed the entire way people view the genre of fantasy, giving her own platform and creativity to the name. She was one of the firsts to greet Draven with such excitement in their tone, "You appear to be doing well!"

"I am, thanks to my team. How have your writings been going?"

"Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself. I've had writer's block for the past month, which made me revise other novels instead, and now that my writer's block has miraculously faded, I feel as if my mind wanders continuously."

Draven engaged in short conversations, grabbing glasses of wine from walking waiters and finishing them rapidly. He had been feeling tense every since the allegations, as if too many eyes were watching him for a mistake that may prove the correct, and Draven believed getting drunk at this party would make him feel free. The team headed their separate ways, all talking to different people, and Draven eventually finishing his seventh glass, finally feeling a bit of wooziness to his mind.

That was when the award show started. Cassidy Wilfried was the host, and she was applauded before she began introducing each award. Draven was nominated for four awards, the Love Scandal Award, which was the best fiction romantic comic, the Restless Award, the comic or novel that kept readers on their toes, the Spontaneous Award, the comic or novel that was successive from the start, and the Elite Award, comic or novels that are selected as must-reads.

It was only when the award show started, that Draven's eyes finally found Eric and Kyle near the front. He noticed something was weird, since Kyle attempted to reach for Eric's hand and he pulled away. Then, Kyle leaned in aggressively, and they seemed to be hissing at one another in low whispers before Eric turned around and walked away from him.

He merely ignored it, and returned his eyes on Cassidy who finally began reading the nominees for the Love Scandal Award. One of the nominees was Kyle Merchi, and merely hearing his name made Draven feel disgust in his mouth. He had nothing but hatred for Kyle, and all he wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine. But Draven kept his composure, and when the winner was announced, which was him, he headed onto the stage.

He won all four awards, but since there were about twenty-five awards, he had to wait awhile. However, he noticed Eric returned during the readings of nominees, but Kyle was no longer at his previous spot. Eric seemed to be glancing around the room for him, and they made eye contact. Rapidly, Draven looked away and it was only a few seconds later that he looked again and Eric was gone.

Eric had gone looked for Kyle; he had said some terrible things when Kyle was attempting to be friendly earlier, and he wanted to apologize instead of returning home hostile. That was why he returned from the bathroom, and when he couldn't find Kyle, he went on a search for him. There were doors that lead to the outside garden, and Eric, after roaming around the hall, decided to check outside.

He followed the trail in between large cherry laurels, and the pathways separated into a few sections to continue along different parts of the garden. He heard voices in one direction, and followed that path. When the voices grew nearer, and he recognized Kyle, he quickened his pace. There was another separation of the trail, and he had to cut a corner this time.

And when he did, he had not been predicting to witness such scene.

Kyle had not heard him approaching, and his lips were still passionately placed on Rebecca's, who had her arms wrapped around his neck. She even tightened her grip, biting his bottom lip teasingly and Eric saw Kyle smile warmly against the kiss. It was only when Eric inhaled a sharp breath that he was heard, and both their heads turned to face him.