Filed to story: The Regretful Billionaire: An Unpredicted Reunion >>
“Heh heh, I bet you don’t know.” Morgan thought that Danika was surprised to hear the news, but Danika. was simply shocked that Morgan knew about her marriage to Eustace. She could only hope that the news of the marriage wasn’t leaked.
“I heard that Mr. Quincey arranged a marriage for Eustace. Miss Dickman was mad when she heard about it. Had Mr. Quincey not interfered, she would have been his bride. She was angry about the flash marriage and went abroad, but she came home recently.”
Danika fell into deep thoughts while listening to Morgan. Morgan added with a smile, “I think that Eustace doesn’t like Miss Dickman at all. Her love for him in unrequited.”
“Oh? But didn’t you say that she almost married him?” Danika asked, taking a sip of the champagne. “That’s what people said. But who knows what happened.” Morgan smirked and said, “I believe Eustace has no feelings for her. He even looked at her with less emotion than when he stared at you.”
Danika was a little dumbfounded. Morgan quickly added, “That’s just an example. What I’m trying to say is that Eustace definitely doesn’t like Miss Dickman. As for the talks of marriage between them, I guess that was just an arranged marriage.”
Danika begged to differ. In her opinion, it was uncharacteristic of Eustace to give up love for an arranged marriage. He must have had feelings for Yvonne, but whether or not he loved her was a secret only he knew. Anyway, Danika didn’t bother to reveal her thoughts to Morgan since they were just assumptions.
They stopped talking when the event started. Old Mr. Quincey appeared in the hall and was receiving well wishes from the guests, but Danika and Morgan were not in a hurry to meet him. Morgan marveled, “The Quinceys are truly the elite family of Parrington. No one could beat them when it comes to the scale of their events..”
“Why? Are you envious?” Danika chuckled and said, “Tell your parents to keep it up. Maybe you could enjoy all these riches someday.”
“That’s impossible.” Morgan was sensible. “Danika, when are we giving out the presents?” She noticed that everyone was giving Old Mr. Quincey his birthday presents, both to wish him personally and to get acquainted. The Goldings also planned to do so.
When the crowd around Old Mr. Quincey dispersed, Danika suggested, “Let’s go now.”
“Okay.” Morgan nodded with a smile and walked beside her. She always followed Danika around because Danika gave her a sense of comfort and security.
The two ladies attracted attention when they showed up, especially Danika. Everyone was curious about her after knowing she was Max’s plus one.
“Grandpa, I wish you a very happy birthday. May health and happiness be with you,” Yvonne spoke. Standing beside Eustace, she handed Zachary Quincey a birthday gift. The old man accepted it cheerfully and beamed at her warmly. “I’m just happy to have you here. You don’t even need to bring a gift-we’re family!”
“How could I not bring you a gift? You are grandpa to me,” Yvonne purred and added, “And one should bring gifts to one’s grandpa!”
Zachary laughed heartily and opened the gift box to reveal a lovely amethyst figurine. Someone around him gasped, “It is an amethyst figurine! That’s very generous of Miss Dickman.”
“Right. It looks expensive,” someone chimed in. A smile appeared on Yvonne’s lips as she cast a gleeful glance at Danika. However, Danika was unbothered. Most people couldn’t tell from looking. Only she knew that Zachary Quincey had no interest in amethyst.
Still, the old man kept his thoughts to himself and stowed the gift away with a smile. “Yvonne, that’s very thoughtful of you. I love it.”
“Good to hear!” Yvonne said. Morgan looked around and saw no one coming forward to present their gifts. She glanced at Danika and received a slight nod. Taking the hint, she walked up to Zachary.
“Sir, I am Morgan, the daughter of Jamie Golding. I wish you good health and long life.” She gave her well wishes and handed him a gift.
After his long retirement from the business world, Zachary had almost no recollection of the Goldings. Moreover, the Goldings weren’t that influential in Parrington. He gestured at Warren to accept the gift and thanked Morgan personally, “That’s very nice of your family.”
His attitude toward Morgan was the opposite of how he treated Yvonne, but Morgan wasn’t offended, for she understood that the Goldings did not have the stature to command respect at such a grand event. Someone started murmuring, “The Goldings? Aren’t they the new money from the restaurant industry?” “Yes. All they have is money. There’s no grace or sophistication.” Another snickered with a mocking tone.
Morgan’s face fell when she heard that, and she stood there silently, biting her lips.
Danika’s expression hardened as her eyes scanned the two guests who had gossiped about the Goldings.. Before she could speak, she heard Old Mr. Quincey scoffing. He reprimanded them, “Everyone here is my guest. I appreciate their presence at my birthday event regardless of their background. To me, they are. equal. If I hear someone speak ill of the others again, I will not play nice!”
In that instant, a hush fell over the hall. No one dared to say another word. Yvonne stood forward to lighten the atmosphere. “Grandpa, why don’t you check out Miss Golding’s gift? She must have put in a lot of effort to pick it.”
When Zachary turned his eyes on her, she hurriedly explained, “I ran into her when I was picking your gift! A friend of Miss Golding said she knew what you’d like. And I’m pretty curious about that.” Then, she looked at Danika. “Miss Zellweger, isn’t that true? You claimed that you knew what Grandpa would like.”
Danika was forced to step forward. She smiled and ignored Yvonne’s provocation. “We’ll know when he opens the gift.”
Zachary was surprised by the revelation and cast a gentle look at Danika. “Did you help the Goldings to pick a gift?”
“Yes,” She nodded. Now, even Morgan’s parents were anxious. If Zachary disliked Morgan’s gift, not only would their family fail to pleasure him, they might even offend him.
“I do have to take a look.” Zachary reached out to get the gift from Warren. When he opened the box, everyone leaned in to look at the item inside. They started guffawing and howling when they found out that Morgan had bought Old Mr. Quincey a paintbrush.
“It’s a paintbrush. How… special.” Yvonne held back her laughter and gave a sarcastic remark dressed as a compliment. Zachary slowly took out the paintbrush and examined it on his palm. He looked at Danika. Did you get this from Mr. Lawson?”
“Yes.” Danika nodded. He flashed Morgan a smile and nodded approvingly. “Great. And you are Morgan Golding. Is that right?”
“I am.” Morgan nodded, but she was nervous.
“I love your gift. It’s the best gift I have received so far,” he praised her. Before Morgan could even react. to that, he looked at Eustace and reminded him, “Do keep in touch with the Goldings. We need to show them our appreciation after they gave us such a nice gift.”
“Sure.” Eustace nodded. Meanwhile, all the guests were shocked beyond words. What was going on? They couldn’t understand why a paintbrush ended up as Old Mr. Quincey’s favorite gift instead of the expensive amethyst figurine from Yvonne Dickman.
More shocking was Old Mr. Quincey’s attitude, who, after retiring from business, proactively requested for the first time that Eustace gets in touch with the Goldings. Everyone understood what that meant.
Now, the guests had a different opinion of the Goldings, for they understood that the family would soar to greater heights after tonight’s event.
Yvonne was similarly taken aback. She could not fathom why Old Mr. Quincey would prefer the paintbrush that was levels below her amethyst figurine.
When Zachary put away the paintbrush, he smiled at Danika. “Danika, you got me excited about your gift.”
If she had made a great choice on behalf of the Goldings, she must have selected something better as her gift to Zachary, which raised his anticipation.
The guests were perplexed by how Old Mr. Quincey addressed Danika. They wondered if the two were close. Yvonne also gave Eustace a baffled look. She felt that she had missed out on some details. What was the problem?
“I hope you don’t mind.” Danika took out the mid-sized gift she had prepared, which appeared rather average at first glance. Zachary didn’t ask Warren to accept it nor take it himself. Instead, he shot a look. at Eustace. “Why are you still standing there? Get over now. Don’t leave her holding on to that box.”
Everyone’s jaw dropped to the floor, and Danika was dumbfounded. Eustace thought his grandpa didn’t have to be this obvious in matchmaking. He walked up to Danika, took the gift box, and whispered, “Thank you.”
“Why thank me? This is for Grandpa, not for you,” Danika said to him without a care about his feelings. Het didn’t mind it too, because he was accustomed to her slight.
Zachary opened the box without hesitation when it was handed to him. There was a lapis lazuli stone in the box, to everyone’s shock.
Someone started gossiping, “Did she not have enough money for a better gift? Is that why she bought that old thing?”
“I don’t think so! She’s Mr. Birkett’s last mentee, after all.”
“Well, mentees are usually poor, aren’t they?”
The guests were waiting for Old Mr. Quincey’s outburst and Danika’s humiliation after she had the nerve to give him an old lapis lazuli stone. Yvonne thought the same as well. Morgan’s paintbrush was laughable, but it was at least brand new. She never thought that Danika would take it up a notch by giving Zachary an old item that looked like it came from a roadside stall, She could not hold back and chided Danika, “Miss Zellweger, it’s Grandpa’s birthday today. Isn’t it impolite to buy him a second-hand item?”
“Yes. She has no respect for Mr. Quincey at all,” someone from the crowd added. She was a friend of Yvonne who had been secretly annoyed at Danika.
Danika glanced at the two women and sighed. Birds of a feather flock together. That was an apt description for Yvonne and her friends. It was one thing to be ignorant, but stealing the limelight was a completely classless act.
Danika’s silence was akin to an admission, which delighted them. Morgan appeared worried that Danika. would anger the Quinceys, but she suddenly recalled the words of the store staff. In fact, Morgan’s paintbrush was a gift with purchase, and the minimum purchase limit was ten million. Danika must have bought something valuable for Old Mr. Quincey. However, Morgan could not be sure if Danika had bought. that inkstone on the same day they went gift shopping.
“Eustace, Miss Zellweger’s action…”
“Shut up!” He cut Yvonne off, feeling irritated by her noisiness. She seemed to have lost her manners after coming home from abroad. Her expression crumbled, but she bit her lips and stayed quiet no matter how indignant she felt.
Her friends instantly backed her up. “Mr. Quincey, was Yvonne wrong? Danika Zellweger must have bought that gift for your grandfather on purpose.”
“Yeah! I would even think that she is cursing him behind his back. She must’ve bought it with malice.”