Remarried to the Scorned

First approach

Brian.

The conference went on for almost three hours and it turned out to be one of the best I've ever attended. The new gaming software unveiled in the presentation was very promising and I didn't hesitate to volunteer to fund it if the prototype presented could be perfected and then reproduced on a large scale. I noticed Liam's disapproval and I made a mental note to talk to him about it later. My eyes kept travelling to Sylvia Bassett during the conference and our eyes met a couple of times. My eyes also met with that of the guy beside her and he frowned and whispered something to her. I did my best to avoid him for the rest of the conference. Sylvia turned out to be more intelligent than I expected and the opinions and ideas she contributed during the conference turned out to be quite intriguing. It was announced while the conference was going on that a party had been organized to hold later that night and everyone cheered in support of it.

The first thing I did after the conference was to call Sandra and tell her I was going to be home later than intended. She sounded disappointed but she said she understood, though I didn't fully believe that. The venue of the party was just a five minute drive from where the conference was held and I noticed that Sylvia Bassett didn't come with her car. I was thinking about offering her a ride when Sanjay walked up to me and asked for one. I had a brief conflict of thoughts before I sighed and agreed to give him one. The party kicked off immediately after we got there and I grabbed a drink and went to sit in one corner, watching everyone else as they chatted, ate, and drank. I wasn't really a party person and the only reason I considered going to the party was because I saw it as an opportunity to strike a conversation with Sylvia Bassett and also, Keith had made it known to me that he wanted to have a conversation with me later on.

I roamed the room with my eyes until I spotted her among a group of five people in which she was the only female. The men were obviously trying very hard to impress her but she didn't seem to notice or she just didn't mind it. Her laughter was sincere and she took her time to respond to the questions and comments made by each of them.

“Even you?” Someone asked and I turned to see Liam standing beside me.

“Even me what?” I asked, taking a sip of my drink.

“Come on. I saw the way you were looking at her,” he said, eyeing me suspiciously.

“Oh. I was just observing,” I said.

“Better. I was thinking Sandra was going to have something to worry about,” he said.

“Hell, no,” I said, quickly. “Why would you even think that?”

“Chill, man,” he said. “I was just making an observation.”

I shot him a glare and he raised his hands defensively.

I shrugged and turned my attention away from him. By the time he left my side, Sylvia was alone and I decided to make my move. I noticed that there was no drink with her so I stopped to grab two glasses of champagne on my way to her. Her back was turned towards me so she didn't see me approaching.

“I see they got tired of you,” I said when I was sure I was within earshot.

She turned around and smiled. “Yeah. Just as okay because I was behind to get tired of them anyways.”

“Thought so,” I said. “Being the most beautiful woman in the room comes with a lot of inconveniences.”

She smiled and collected the glass of champagne I handed to her. “Thank you,” she said. I couldn't tell if she was talking about the compliment or the drink and I decided not to ask. I watched her closely as she brought the glass to her delicate lips and took a sip from it.

“Hmmmm. This is good,” she said. “What is it?”

“I'd be lying if I said I know,” I replied, smiling at her. “I think I saw the bottles but I can't remember the label. We'll have to ask the waiters.”

“I'll definitely do that,” she said and took another sip. The chatter in the room was at a moderate level and the music playing in the background was encouraging. I spotted the three guys that had been with her earlier talking to another lady from the conference. They seemed to go everywhere together. The lady they were talking to was soon accompanied by another and I saw their faces light up at that.

“They are so full of energy,” Sylvia said and I immediately knew that she was referring to them.

“Yeah, obviously,” I said in agreement. There was a brief silence between us.

“I loved your idea during the presentation,” I said. “It's nice to meet someone so passionate about tech innovations.”

“Oh. It's nothing,” she replied, humbly.

“That is not nothing,” I said. “I gave them deep thought and I realized everything you said would be actually effective.”

“Wow,” she said.

“What's that?” I asked.

“I can see how dedicated you are to tech. How long have you been in the industry?” she asked.

“About seventeen years. Since I was a teenager. I loved playing video games as a kid and one day I thought, ‘instead of playing games and complaining about the faults and glitches in every game, why not start creating my own games?’. And I did, but that wasn't enough for me so I decided to branch into gaming software, too, and here I am.”

“Impressive,” she said. I looked at her and her expression told me that she really meant it. Damn, she was so pretty.

“Brian Turner,” I said, stretching one hand to her. She took it and her touch was even more delicate than I expected. Her hands were so soft and fluffy that one could fall asleep under their touch.

“Sylvia Bassett,” she said. Her eyes traveled to the ring in my other hand and I deftly turned the hand away. I berated myself inwardly for forgetting to remove it. If she noticed what I did, she didn't say anything about it.

“Bassett as in the senator?” I asked although I had already made my conclusion.

“Yes,” she replied, looking surprised. “And here I was, thinking I could maintain anonymity.”

“Honestly, I didn't even remember when I saw your face and it took me a few minutes after Keith introduced you to make the connection,” I said. “So, wanna tell me why daddy's little girl decided to come here all on her own without even so much as a driver?”

“I'm staying at a hotel nearby. Been there for almost a week now. Told my father I wanted to get away from the world of politics for a while and I was very adamant about going alone,” she replied.

“Does that have anything to do with the recent light your father entered after his opinions regarding the new bill regarding housing passed by the Senate?” I asked.

“Spot on,” she replied. “Our house has been filled with paparazzi everyday after that and I just couldn't tolerate it anymore.”

“I can't imagine how it feels,” I say in sympathy.

“Trust me, it's horrible,” she said. But she didn't seem to be too bothered by it. In fact, she looked like someone that had everything in her life in order.

My phone rang and silenced it immediately. It rang again after a few more minutes and I still ignored it.

“You'd better answer that,” she said, looking at me with curiosity.

“Yeah. Excuse me,” I said and answered the call as I walked away from her.

“Hello? Brian?” Sandra said, the urgency in her tone instantly making me worried.

“Yeah? What's wrong?” I asked.

“How soon can you get home?” She asked. She was whispering and I immediately knew something was wrong.