"Am I his wife, or is she?" Lola's face turned ashen with anger.
"Stay calm, " Alia held her daughter's hand, comforting her.
Meanwhile, Carla could not sit still as she was worried that Alia and Lola would be creating trouble for her again.
At that moment, Zayn gave her hand a light squeeze. It was a subtle action, but it strangely had a calming effect on her.
She turned to look at the man. He was focusing on the stage and did not have any kind of expression on his face, but the warmth of his hand set her heart at ease.
She could feel something tugging at her heartstrings; it was a funny feeling…
Dinner was served a while later. That night's charity auction had a special arrangement where guests could dine and participate in the auction at the same time.
Guests were seated as family units – each table only had guests from the same family.
Carla subconsciously licked her lips when a French dish was served to her table. The small piece of cake she had eaten in the car previously had not been enough to make her feel full.
Zayn took over the cup of red wine from the waiter and raised his glass towards her.
She raised a toast to him as well and took a sip of the wine while saying casually, "It's really generous of you to serve such fine wine to your guests!"
"Huh?" he cocked his brow and asked, "You know what wine this is?"
"How could I not know?" She continued cutting her steak and without looking up, she said, "Aubleener Blanc from S Winery in Arkfield. There're only 78 barrels in the whole world. Don't you think it's a waste to serve such exquisite wine at a function like this?"
"I didn't know you were familiar with wine, " he replied as his lips curled up. "I've actually acquired the entire batch of Aubleener Blanc. By right, no one would have tasted it. How did you know?"
"I visited S Winery with my dad eight years ago and tasted it in the wine cellar. My dad was intending to buy a few barrels of it, but it was a pity that someone snatched all of it before we could buy any. I never expected the person to be you."
Carla was feeling slightly emotional as she recalled the past. When her dad was still alive, he had brought her along on his travels around the world and taught her a lot…
"It's impressive that you remembered it after tasting it just once." Zayn looked at her and asked, "What else do you know apart from red wine?"
"Jewelry, oil paintings, piano, fashion design… " Carla listed while counting on her fingers. "I know a bit of all those. I usually go with the flow when it comes to learning new things."
"Such things are usually picked up by heiresses to impress others, " Zayn commented with a slight scoff. "It would be useful if there's in-depth learning of a particular subject matter since that could be applied at work, but if it's superficial knowledge, it's pretty useless!"
"Hehe, you're right about that, " Carla laughed. "That was what I told my dad, but he said that he only wanted me to be happy. I could marry a capable man and let him run the family business… "
Perhaps it was because of the wine, but she thought about her dad a lot that night…
"You seem to have a really good relationship with your dad, " Zayn looked at her and commented, feeling slightly envious at the same time. "Now I know why you're always so silly. It's because your dad
was always pampering you!"
"Well, you sure have hit the nail on the head!" Carla smiled embarrassingly. "I've always been pampered by my dad, so I've never experienced the vicissitudes of life. Never would I have expected the greatest tribulation of my life to be… "
Her expression darkened as she spoke. If she had been slightly smarter four years ago and was not easily influenced by Lola, she would not have made such a grave mistake…
If she had shown more concern for her dad and understood the situation of the company, she might have been able to prevent that tragedy from happening…
"The business arena is just like a battlefield – it can be very unpredictable."
The man had heard a little about her family matters and knew that she was likely referring to her dad's bankruptcy and suicide four years ago, which resulted in her losing everything she had.
"Until now, I'm still not able to figure out why my dad's company had suddenly run into problems. Everything was going well…" Carla could not wrap her head around it. "Besides, my dad was a strong and positive person. Even if the company had problems, it's not like him to choose death as the way out. I had a feeling things were not as simple as it seemed to be… "
"What's the name of your dad's company?" Zayn asked while swirling his wine glass.
"Wigston Real Estate Corporation. In short, Wigston Corporation, " she answered.
Zayn suddenly froze when he heard that name. An unfathomable glint flashed in his eyes. However, he recovered very quickly and looked down at his glass, continuing to taste his wine gracefully…
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