Ryuchen saw his wife and Grandma still busy talking to each other when he came back to get their food, his wife's looks happy as well. He put the food on the table and sat next to her and told her to eat.
"I'm really glad that you came to my birthday party, Chloe." Grandma said while they were eating. "Ow, why don't you and Ryuchen stay here tonight, it's the weekend tomorrow so Ryuchen has no work."
"Ah, thank you but we can't Grandma." Chloe said and smiled. "Ryuchen has a meeting tomorrow morning with the planning team to start the new project in T city."
"I can cancel it." he said.
"N-No way..." she said and hit his arm. "The planning team prepared everything for tomorrow's meeting."
Ryuchen took out his phone and opened their company's group chat to announce that the meeting for tomorrow was cancelled. He saw the surprise on Chloe's face when he showed her the reply from the planning team, they were all thankful that the meeting was canceled.
"Why did you do that?" she said.
"Chloe dear, Ryuchen owns the company so he can do whatever he wants." Grandma said and caressed her cheek. "And one more thing, I heard that you are working now as Ryuchen's secretary. Chloe you don't have to work, he can give you everything you want."
"But Grandma--."
"Rest assured that I will not make my wife suffer at work, Grandma." Ryuchen said. "And I will work harder for her, so it's fine if we don't go to work tomorrow."
Grandma's face lit up at what she heard.
"Great!" Grandma applauded with joy and quickly called the maids.
After Grandma talked to the maids to arrange their room that they will use, a group of old women approached Grandma to greet her and told them that she was leaving to attend to the other guest first.
Chloe immediately looked at Ryuchen sharply after Grandma left, her eyes narrowed and pout because of what he did.
"Why did you do that?" she seems annoyed. "Now, we have to sleep in the same room."
"So what?" he smile. "We already slept in your room before and we're married, what's wrong with that?"
Chloe couldn't complain anymore and just continued eating, but she was surprised when Ryuchen suddenly put his spoon in front of her mouth.
"Try this one, it's good." he said then opened his mouth. "Say ahhh."
She laughed, but she still accepted the food that he offered.
"My wife, I have to tell you something."
"Uhm?" she murmured while chewing her food.
"That woman is here." he said. "Please be careful and don't let her approach you, okay."
"Y-You mean, Lyka? Why is she here?" she asked. "Did you invite her?"
"Of course not!" he exclaimed. "Why would I do that?"
"I'm just asking."
"Anyway." he said and put food on his spoon to feed her again. "I'm just saying that be careful, I don't want something to happen to you now that Lyka is here."
Ryuchen was able to change what happened in the past, so it is inevitable that what will happen to them now will also change. Not only him, but Chloe needs to be careful as well.
Chloe was busy finding someone in the crowd, as if she was looking for Lyka to make sure that she was at the party. And Ryuchen couldn't help but smile as she continued to eat the food he offered her on his spoon.
They are about to finish eating when Chloe sees Jason walking towards their direction and he was with a woman. She frowned, she didn't know the woman but she seemed familiar to her.
"Chloe, you finally attended the old Madam's birthday party." Jason smiles at her.
"...Yeah."
She looked at Ryuchen, and chuckled when he suddenly looked away from her.
The reason why she couldn't attend the Ajero's family parties before was because of him, he didn't allow her to go to the mansion every time there was a birthday or gatherings because he didn't want other people to know about their relationship. And when she was about to give up, he suddenly changed.
Does she really love him so much that she can't leave him even if her life was miserable?
Yup.
She finds it annoying, but she couldn't do anything because she really loves him. She loves him from the day she first saw him, and now that he finally sees her... will she give up now?
"Hi, Sister Chloe." the woman beside Jason said while smiling at her. "Do you still remember me?"
Chloe smiled a little and slowly shook her head, but she seemed familiar.
"She's Janna, my younger sister." Jason said. "And she is your husband's intern assistant."
"Ohh."
"Nice to see you again, Sister Chloe. I couldn't attend your wedding because we had an exam that day." Janna said.
It was only then that she remembered Janna, she was only seven years old when they left the country so she doesn't remember her face much now that Janna has become older.
"You never met Janna yet in the company cause she took a leave for two weeks." Ryuchen explained.
"I'm working in Ryuchen's company as well, I will be Robin's replacement while he is on leave." she said and smiled.
But Janna seems confused.
"Robin is on leave?" Janna asked. "Why?"
Ryuchen was froze, he didn't say anything to Janna so she probably doesn't know his plan yet. He was nervous and sweating all of a sudden, so he quickly stood up and approached Janna.
"I need to talk to Janna about her internship in my company, can we leave for a while, my wife?" he asked Chloe while smiling awkwardly.
"...Sure." Chloe looks confused, but agreed.
"Jason, please stay by Chloe's side while I'm talking to your sister."
Jason just nodded.
He pulled Janna in the corner of the hall, he made sure that his wife could still see them while they were talking.
Ryuchen discusses the situation with Janna, and she kept laughing while he was telling her about what he did. He was almost caught by his wife if Janna said something.
After he explained everything to Janna, they came back to where Chloe and Jason were.
They were busy talking to each other when an old man approached them. Chloe knows the old man, he is one of the clients of Ryuchen's company and has an ongoing project.
"Mr. Ajero." Mr. Ocampo said. "I've been looking for you for a while, sorry to bother you but can we discuss some adjustments in the project?"
Ryuchen turned to her and asked if it was okay if he would leave for a while, Chloe nodded because she knew it was about business. That gathering is also a chance for businessmen to talk personally to the Ajero family about business, so she let them go.
But before Ryuchen left, he talked to Jason first and told him to take care of his wife because Lyka is in the mansion.
Jason and Jenna stayed with Chloe and the three of them happily chatted with each other when someone suddenly approached them, and it was Lyka.
"Hi guys." she happily greeted them, but they just looked at her.
Chloe feels ashamed because of what Lyka is doing.
"Uhm, can I talk to my cousin?" she asked the two.
Jason looked at her and shook his head like he doesn't want her to talk to Lyka, but she just smile. Lyka probably won't do anything to her, and made sure that their place is still visible to Jason and Janna.
"How are you, Chloe?" Lyka asked as if they were close.
"I'm fine."
"By the way, where is Ryuchen? You didn't come here together?" she asked as if mocking her. "He never left my side whenever we attended gatherings before, did he dump you already?"
Chloe raised her right eyebrow as she felt irritated, does she want to talk to her because she wants to mock her?
"Relax, don't be jealous." Lyka laughed.
She called the waiter and took the two glasses of wine on the tray, Lyka offered her one glass that she didn't refuse. She trusts her guts that nothing bad will happen to her, because she knows that Lyka will not be able to humiliate or hurt her in the Ajero's mansion.
"My peace offering, let's forget everything that happens, shall we?" Lyka said ang raised her glass. "Cheers?"
Peace offering? Don't make me laugh.
Does she think that one glass of wine can erase everything she did to her before, that she will forget everything when they toast their glasses?
But she still drinks the wine Lyka gave to her so she had nothing to say, then Lyka called someone.
"And by the way, Chloe." she said when a man approached them. "This is Jeremy Ajero, he's Ryuchen's cousin."
"Nice to meet you, Chloe." the man named Jeremy said. "I heard you are Lyka's cousin."
"Yes, we're like sister since we were young." Lyka laugh. "But she left and live in America for ten years."
Chloe could hear the man and Lyka's voice, but she couldn't understand what they were saying because she suddenly felt dizzy. She slightly shook her head as her vision glitch, and her surroundings slowly became blurry. Her face started to become hot, and her breathing became heavy.
"E-Excuse me." she said after she took a deep breath to calm herself. "I... I have to go to the washroom."
Chloe heard them speak but she just ignored them and tried to walk away with them normally, so that they wouldn't notice her condition. She realized that Lyka had put something in her wine, but she didn't know how she managed to put that thing in her drink.
Chloe heard Jason's voice but she couldn't understand him, she felt his hand on her shoulder which she quickly removed because she didn't like the way she felt. She knew that there was something wrong with her and she was about to lose control any moment.
"I... I need to go to the washroom." she just said.
She left them and went straight to the washroom because she doesn't want them to worry. While she was inside, she quickly picked up her phone and was grateful that she still manage to call Ryuchen.
-----
After Ryuchen finished talking to Mr. Ocampo about some adjustment that he wants. He feels his phone vibrate inside his pocket, and quickly answers the call when he sees Chloe's name on the caller.
"Hello." Ryuchen heard Chloe breathing heavily. "What's wrong, my wife?" he asked worriedly and left the private room immediately.
"Ryuchen... it's hot... I want... to go home." she said while sobbing.
"Where are you?" he asked while looking for them. "Are you all right?"
What is happening to Chloe, why does she sound like she can't breath? He felt regretted leaving his wife even though he knew Lyka was there.
"Washroom... I'm in-- agh!"
Ryuchen shivers, his heart heaved tremendously as if his heart was going to explode when the call suddenly cut off.
He remembered what happened to him in his previous life, he was drugged at his grandmother's birthday party.
Is Chloe the one took the drug now?
Ryuchen talked to Mr. Ocampo to avoid Lyka's plan to drug him, he didn't even eat the food and drink the whiskey that the waiter prepared in the private room. He thought that Lyka's target was him and will not approach Chloe because she was with Jason and Janna, but he didn't think she could do that to her instead.
Jeremy suddenly came to his mind.
Shit!
Is that why Lyka is with Jeremy because she plans to drug Chloe, and give her to him. Did they plan it together?
Ryuchen quickly went to the women washroom, no one was there but she found Chloe's phone on the floor.
Where is my wife?!
He was enraged, and called all their bodyguards outside to close the entire mansion.
No one was allowed to go out until he found his wife, he even called Jason to ask what had happened since he left and found out that Lyka talked to Chloe earlier before he received her call.
Ryuchen thought what is going on, this is all part of Lyka's plan. She let him talk to Mr. Ocampo about the business to remove his attention from his wife.
She didn't plan to drug him, she planned to drug Chloe from the start.