All the Wrong Places

Chapter 4

4.

As expected, she had to dress elegantly. It had been seven long years since she last dressed up for a ball as grand as this.

            She was wearing an elegant soft pink strapless gown, adorned with floral appliques on its tight bodice, and Swarovski crystals on its asymmetrical skirt. Her skirt displayed her long legs and her silver high-heeled sandals showed her perfectly pedicured toes. Her hair was neatly tied in a bun, with a few curled tendrils framing her pretty face.

            She was sure that the dress she was wearing was expensive, especially since it was a gift from Adrienne. Adrienne knew she would never spend money on a designer dress. She was saving as much as she could for Jared’s future. An expensive dress she’d wear only for a night was definitely out of the question.

            In fact, many things were out of the question for Julianne these days. She only had enough clothes on her closet. Many of her expensive ones either came as a gift from Adrienne or a hand-me-down from Mason’s wife, Abi. She was thankful for them and she always took good care of whatever she received from them. Whatever money she could save buying stuff was extra money she could save for Jared’s future.

            “Wow! You look like a princess, Mommy!” Jared was wide-eyed and full of awe and Julianne couldn’t help laughing.

            “Thank you, sweetheart.” She leaned down and kissed Jared on the forehead. “Go to your nannies. They will look after you and your cousins.”

            “Maybe I do look good. Kids don’t lie,” she said to herself.

            “They don’t,” Gian said, appearing behind her. “You look amazing, sis. You are probably going to be the most beautiful girl in the party.”

            “Oh my God! That’s the last thing I want to happen,” Julianne said. “Tonight is supposed to be some heiress’s night, remember?”

            “Which heiress?”

            “The one that Adrienne’s brother was going to propose to. I don’t want to steal the spotlight away from her,” Julianne said.

            “Don’t worry, you’re not going to steal the spotlight from her,” Adrienne said, appearing in the room, looking stunning herself, in a soft blue A-line chiffon gown. “The ring that Jin is going to propose with is an heirloom with at least a four-carat diamond in the center. Mother showed it to me and I think I just went blind. Here, I have a picture. Let me show you.” Adrienne waved her phone in front of Julianne to show her a picture of the engagement ring.

            “Wow! That’s spectacular!” Julianne breathed, looking at the vintage rose gold ring with a huge square diamond in the center and tiny emerald stones around it.

Julianne sighed, admiring the ring’s beauty, not to mention the fact that it was handed down to the Starck brides for at least five generations.

When Julianne was growing up, she had plenty of diamond jewelries. But all of those were left in her room in her parents’ house. And since they had banished her, she hadn’t owned an expensive piece of jewelry. She didn’t need them anyway. Jared’s future was far more precious for her.

            “By the way, you can borrow my earrings,” Adrienne said, handing her a small box.

            “No, Adrienne. I’ll be fine. This dress is already sparkling!”

            “It’s okay, you’ll look lovelier with these diamond earrings.”

            Adrienne didn’t give Julianne much of a choice. She took out the two carat dangling diamond earrings and started putting them on her.

            “Okay, fine!” Julianne took the earrings from her and put them on. “I’ll return these after the party.”

            “No worries.”

            “So, your brother didn’t even choose the ring he was going to propose with?” Julianne asked. She had nothing against heirlooms, but if she were to get engaged, she would prefer to have a ring that’s originally hers, and specially chosen by her fiancé, it doesn’t matter if it was made of plastic. But that’s just her. And she didn’t think she’d be engaged at all, ever. And besides, the only man she would have said yes to was lost to her a lifetime ago.

            “It belonged to Jin’s grandmother. He’s expected to propose with it,” Adrienne explained. “Anyway, Vanessa Bernard will not say no to that ring.”

            “Why? Doesn’t your brother have any other redeeming characters?” Julianne teased.

            Gian laughed. “Well, he does. If he chooses to be nice, I guess.”

            “Stop it, guys. I’m scared to meet Jin already,” Julianne laughed. “I’m sure he’s good-looking and he’ll be a great husband. Vanessa Bernard will be making the right decision tonight.”

            “It doesn’t matter. Jin is a great catch anyway. He’s a genius in business. He’s been managing half of our hotels before he hit eighteen. When he took over the business, we were number five. Now, we’re number two. Vanessa’s family couldn’t agree on this engagement more,” Adrienne said.

            “What about you, Adrienne? Do you think you’re going to like your soon-to-be sister-in-law?” Julianne asked.

            “I’ve met her a couple of times. She’s… civil. I know she’s not a gold digger. She’ll be a good match for Jin,” Adrienne replied. Julianne could tell she’s using logic over emotions.

            “I’m sure your brother knows what he’s doing.”

            “Besides, this may be the only shot Jin will get on marriage. He’s doing this because this will be advantageous to his plans for Starck Corp. But if no business is involved, I know he’d rather stay a bachelor forever.” Adrienne rolled her eyes.

            “Yep. He’ll be jumping from one bed to another. Changing lovers as fast as he changed clothes,” Gian muttered.

            “Sadly, that is true. He’s a player with absolutely no hope of ever falling in love with a woman,” Adrienne said sadly.

            “Well, in that case, I hope Vanessa Bernard’s engagement ring will be all worth it,” Julianne remarked, stealing one final glance at herself in the mirror.

            Gian came up to her and offered his arm. “Shall we?”

            The party was held in the hotel’s huge ballroom. It was decorated elegantly, and everyone in attendance was in their best formal wear. Julianne could hardly believe that this was only a book victory party. Adrienne’s family was clearly just as influential as Justin’s. And since Jin Starck was expected to propose to Vanessa Bernard tonight, Julianne had no doubt that the whole of Vanessa’s impressive clan were also in attendance.

            “How weird is it to propose in public?” Julianne whispered to her brother.

            “It’s expected. Especially in engagements that are pre-arranged. Or in engagements that were built primarily on business convenience,” Gian whispered back to her.

            “You mean like this one?”

            Gian nodded.

            “Are you also arranged to be married someday, G?”

            “As far as I know, I am free to choose my bride. But with our family, you will never know, right?”

            “And you’re just going to agree to that?”

            Gian shrugged. “Depends.”

            “On what?”

            “If my chosen fiancée looks like an ogre, then I’d express my objections violently.”

            Julianne slapped his arm playfully. “You shallow fool. I hope you do not find yourself in an ugly predicament like Justin did before. The only thing that saved him was a miracle, if you asked me.”

            “That and his playful destiny.”

            “Well, I pray that destiny doesn’t play on you, dear brother. May your engagement be built on love and the freedom to love.”

            Gian smiled at her and reached forward to kiss her forehead. “Thank you, sis. I know you meant that wish with all your heart.”

            “I do.”

            “And I hope someday, you find the man who will stand up for you and Jared,” Gian said soberly.

            “Don’t worry about me, G. I’m happy even if no man showed up. The only man I will ever need is upstairs drawing with his pencils and playing with his cousins.”

            Gian led her to the corner of the room where Adrienne stood with Justin.

            “You look wonderful,” Justin complimented Julianne.

            “Thank you, Justin,” Gian said batting his eyelashes at him playfully.

            “I wasn’t talking to you, you oaf,” Justin said raising a brow at Gian. He turned to Julianne. “I never heard about your meeting with River Jefferson.”

            “And you never will,” Julianne said.

            “Why not?”

            “Why are you interested to know?”

            “Because… because I’m your boss and I expect results on these things.”

            “No, no, no,” Julianne said. “We both know you didn’t send me there for a meeting… Sir!”

            “What is she talking about, honey?” Adrienne asked her husband. Curiosity was written all over her face. It’s clear, that the matchmaking incident was purely Justin’s doing.

            “Nothing,” Justin replied curtly.

            “That’s not nothing. Ian sounded upset.” Unfortunately for Justin, it didn’t seem like Adrienne was going to let it go.

            “Tell her, Justin,” Julianne goaded at him. “Tell her that you sent me to meet River Jefferson, even though you know well enough that his company is not catering to the requirement we were looking for. And yet, you insisted he makes a proposal, and you insisted only I should go and meet him.”

            Adrienne stared back at her husband in disbelief. “You didn’t…”

            “River Jefferson?” Gian asked, annoyed. Julianne knew that he was just being the same protective brother. Gian felt a little responsible for what happened to her, because he agreed to her wish of going on that trip all by herself.

            “Come on, guys. It’s nothing. Just an innocent meeting of two people.” Justin tried to downplay the fact that he arranged for Julianne and River to meet.

            “Setting up two single people to go meet each other for dinner is called a blind date, Justin,” Adrienne said, slightly scolding her husband.

            “Okay, okay,” Justin finally admitted to his wife. “Can we argue on this later? Your parents are coming.”

            True enough, an older woman who looked like Adrienne and a good-looking older man approached them.

            “How are you guys doing?” the woman asked.

            “Wonderful, Mama,” Adrienne replied. “You remember Gian?”

            “Of course. How are you, Gian?”

            “Absolutely fine, Madam.” Gian shook the hands of Adrienne’s parents politely.

            “And this is Ian.” Adrienne finally introduced her.

            Arianna Starck beamed at Julianne. “At last, we meet, my dear! Your son is so adorable! And he is right. You are absolutely stunning.”

            “Thank you for your kindness and generosity towards my son,” Julianne said. “He has nothing but kind things to say about your family.”

            “Oh, it’s a joy to have him with us,” Pierre Starck said.

            “Mama, the arrangements are absolutely perfect!” Adrienne told her mother.

            “Of course,” Arianna said. She leaned in to whisper to them, “We don’t want the Bernards to be disappointed. Vanessa is known to have high standards.”

            “Where is Jin?”

            “He should be here any minute,” Pierre replied. “I told him to hurry because Vanessa Bernard arrived ten minutes ago. She might not be pleased if her date was late.”

            Julianne saw Adrienne roll her eyes. She smiled at her as if saying, Your future sister-in-law is a b***h!

            Adrienne frowned as if saying, I know, right?

            Adrienne and Justin seemed to be quite acquainted with the Starck family’s circle of friends. Julianne didn’t leave their side, afraid to be lost in the sea of strangers, who were mostly speaking a language she didn’t understand.

            Julianne was impressed that Adrienne had started grasping the language. Justin had spoken French fluently since he was a teenager. Julianne thought that she should send Jared to learn the language next year. He is part French after all.

            Julianne lost count of how many people she had met. She was completely unaware of the attention she was getting from the younger men in the room.

            “There are many men here who will give River Jefferson a run for his money, if he doesn’t make a move soon,” Adrienne whispered to her. Her tone was light and teasing.

            “What do you mean?”

            “There were at least half a dozen men who came up to me or Justin, asking to be introduced to you,” Adrienne replied. “And why not? You look absolutely divine!”

            “Well, before you introduce any of them to me, kindly mention that I’m raising a six-year-old boy all by myself, okay? That ought to stop them.”

            “As if that will work! It didn’t stop River Jefferson from being interested, did it?” Adrienne asked, her eyes twinkling.

            Julianne sighed. She must admit that River surprised her when he still hinted at asking her out after she told him the story of how she got pregnant.

            “Well, if a guy wants to date me, he dates my son. We’re a packaged deal. So, it’s good to say that from the beginning. I don’t want to waste my time.”

            “So, how did you find River?” Adrienne asked.

            Julianne shrugged. “He’s… okay.”

            “Just okay? River is very good-looking. And he’s really charming. You didn’t find him attractive at all?”

            “He’s hot, I agree. But you know… I don’t know if I’m ready to date now. He seems nice and I did enjoy his company. I’d be willing to go out with him as a friend, yes. But more than that, I’d wait it out.”

            “Don’t tell me you’re still hung up on Jared’s father,” Adrienne said accusingly.

            “Ssshhh…” Julianne hissed at her. “Don’t tell your husband that. He’ll get mad. You know he and Gian want nothing more than to murder him.”

            “I do too, to be honest. But seeing that you’re still in love with him, I’m getting quite curious. He’s probably a hell of a guy for you not to forget him after all these years.”

            “He is wonderful, Yen. And it’s not his fault, we’re not together anymore. I left him. Maybe if it were up to him, we’d still be together,” Julianne sighed sadly. Her heart broke a little bit more each day she thought about Jas.

She knew that even though he didn’t have much, and he didn’t exist in this glamorous world she lived in, even if he wasn’t rich like her brother and cousins, he’d stand up for her and Jared. He’d make it work. And she had no doubt she and Jared would still live a happy life. No matter how simple that life would be.

Julianne excused herself to go to the ladies’ room. She was barely aware that several pairs of eyes were following her. Many even tried to say ‘hi’ and catch her attention. But she wasn’t interested. The last thing she needed was another affair in Paris.

We all know how the last one turned out.

However, she doubted that she would fall in love with another Frenchman. Jas Mathieu was one of a kind. And that’s what made him so hard to forget.

As she was drying her hands, a woman with black hair, dressed in a gold sequin gown entered the ladies’ room. Julianne noticed the deep V of her neckline, which showed a generous amount of cleavage.

Their eyes met on the mirror and Julianne smiled at her. She simply raised a brow as she stared at Julianne’s face and gown from the mirror.

Bitch! What’s her problem?

Julianne stopped smiling at her and looked away instead. She looked rich and pretty for sure, but Julianne thought she didn’t even look half as beautiful as Adrienne. Adrienne was one of the richest women she knew. She was rich because of her birth mother, and now, because of her marriage to Justin. But she never let that go to her head. She’s very kind and generous. She was beautiful inside and out.

Julianne dismissed the woman and left the bathroom.

“Mademoiselle,” a guy ambushed her as soon as she got out of the ladies’ room. He spoke to her in French.

She smiled at him politely. “I’m sorry. I don’t speak French.” Then she quickly turned on her heel and half-ran to where Adrienne was.

“Oh, there you are,” Adrienne said. “A lot of guys here are asking about you.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. I think Vanessa Bernard will be jealous that she’s not the star of the night,” Justin beamed. He couldn’t wipe the proud smirk on his face.

“She will be the star when she gets engaged tonight,” Julianne said.

“That is, if my brother decides to show up,” Adrienne muttered. She sounded annoyed and worried at the same time.

“Maybe he’s having second thoughts,” Justin suggested.

“I know my brother. If he puts his heart on a goal, he will see it through. Unless a life and death situation came along,” Adrienne said. “He wanted this corporate advantage to be number one in the market, more than he wanted anything else.”

“How’s Vanessa Bernard’s family hotel doing in the market?” Julianne asked Adrienne.

“They ranked sixth to eighth. When we combine forces, we’d be the unprecedented number one. Jin knew this well.”

“So does Vanessa,” Justin said. “I think she’s getting impatient that your brother is still not here.”

Julianne’s phone rang.

“Excuse me, guys. This could be important,” she told Justin and Adrienne. Then she answered the unregistered number.

“Hi,” an unfamiliar male voice said on the other line.

“I’m sorry, who is this?”

“It’s River.”

“Oh hi. How did you get my number?”

“Would you believe me if I told you that I had to beg Justin to give it to me?”

“I wouldn’t believe that you actually had to beg him. I’ll bet he handed it to you on a silver platter,” Julianne tried to sound annoyed, but she really found it hard to get mad at Justin or River for that matter.

“Let’s pretend I did beg him, okay? Give the guy a break.”

“Fine. I’ll go easy on him,” Julianne agreed. “So, why did you ask him for my number?”

“Well, so I could call you, of course.”

“Why would you want to call me?”

“We’re best friends already, remember?” River’s tone was light and jolly. It was hard for Julianne to snap at him after that.

She laughed. “Very funny, Mister Jefferson. Seriously, what can I do for you? Or did you get your Asian operations up and running overnight?”

“If that was humanly possible, I would have done it already.”

“I’m sure you would. We work well with our partners. Justin is a very generous client.”

“I know he is. Anyway, am I disturbing you? You sound like you’re in a middle of a gathering.”

“I’m in Paris, actually,” Julianne replied. “Attending an engagement party.”

“Really? Whose?”

“Adrienne’s brother,” she replied. “But he hasn’t proposed yet. So technically, it’s not yet an engagement party until maybe after an hour.”

“How weird? He’s going to propose in front of other people?”

“A hundred other people actually,” Julianne answered. She found that very unromantic.

“Wow. Talk about removing romance in a marriage proposal.” River laughed. “Anyway, I won’t keep you long.”

“Thank you for calling.”

            “Anytime. I told you. I’m your best friend.” She could almost hear the smile on his voice.

            “Bye.”

            “Talk to you later.”

            Julianne stared at his number for a couple of seconds after she hung up. She found herself smiling. It was hard not to. Even if she feels that he’s interested in her and would probably ask her out soon, she found it hard to repel him. He was such a positive and happy soul. Even if she won’t end up dating him, she’d definitely want him to be her friend.

            Maybe River Jefferson was what she needed to completely forget the father of her child, the love she lost a long time ago. Maybe he was what she needed to start believing in love and happily ever after once again.

            She went back inside the ballroom. As she approached, she saw that Adrienne was talking to a tall guy dressed in an expensive suit. He had his back on her, so she couldn’t see his face.

            “Oh, there she is,” Adrienne said. “Ian, I’d like you to meet my brother. Jin Starck.”

            Jin Starck turned around and Julianne looked up at the man towering in front of her. Their eyes locked. And suddenly… time stood still.

Julianne’s breath caught in her throat and she completely forgot to breathe. Suddenly, memories of her past came rushing to her all at once in a speed she couldn’t handle.

That devilishly handsome face…

Those rare, enchanting eyes…

            Tu es ravissante…

            Mon amour…

            J'adore…

            Jin Starck stared back at her with a confused expression on his face. Julianne’s face turned white as she stared back at those piercing, aquamarine eyes, which were the exact replica of her son’s. And before she could open her mouth to say something, she felt darkness slowly take over her senses.

Jin Starck’s arms came around her before she came crashing down the pit of unconsciousness.