𝐓𝐖𝐓𝐏𝐓𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐁: 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝑶𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅 [Jeremyxoc]

ADOLESCENCE |10|

ALLIANCE, TIES, FRIENDSHIP, RELATIONSHIP? Pt 1
third person

——— • The Banquet continued on, with a little of bitterness and suspicion, the couple went on their way to enjoy the party. The patriarchs of all houses managed to talk with each other without creating bloddshed.

Credits to Nerium who stopped anyone who'd plot against the peace of this gathering.

"By the way, have Lant and I ever told anyone about our little agreement?", Nerium casually says as he sips on his wine. The other men looks at the two with surprised expressions.

"Nerium, don't tell me that you reconciled with Agriche?", The head of the Blue House asked with a conflicted face.

"That is correct, brother-in-law. We did~", Nerium was grinning widely at this point. The other men questioned their partnership, asking about how did they even managed to agree on something.

At some point in the conversation, Rischel Padelian thought about his sister's decision on marrying the dragon-like man. He knew Lapises are territorial, why would he partner up with Lant?

"Well, if you really want to know~", Nerium felt like a child, a menace of a child. His eyes narrowed in delight, the other men thought they saw them glow.

Meanwhile, mother dear decided to talk to her daughter and soon to be son-in-law. The crowd let her walk through them as she walks towards the two adolescents.

"Well, aren't you two cute," she said. The two teens looks at her and smiles. "A lovely evening to you too, Lady Ninguang," Jeremy greeted her first with a charming smile.

"Don't get used to call me "Lady", child. You might call me "mother" someday," she joked. Aurum blushed from her mother's statement, she playfully hit Ninguang's arm.

"Mother!", She whined.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, child. Look at you two, atleast anyone can notice you two flirting with each other." The matriarch of the Lapises is having the best gathering she has ever in her life.

Expect when she first met Nerium, that's probably the best bangquet she had.

Aurum sighed, she lost her cool again. How is she supposed to look cool and intimidating is her mother is here, braking her walls?

"Jeremy, stop laughing," she demanded.

"I... I'm not~", he was muffling his voice with the back of his hand.

Ninguang smiles genuinely at the two, she then sees her husband's figure, holding a glass of wine as he walks to the center. She immediately grabs the two teens' hands.

"Aurum, Jeremy. You've proven yourselves to be more than a normal couple, I hope you know that drama never stops just because others became friendly." She states as she looks at the two seriously.

Her playful attitude is completely wiped off as she squeezes the two's hands comfortably. "Whatever may surprise you, remember that it is especially for our goal, understood?"

Ninguang was very strict, her attitude intimidated the two but they began to understand the situation more.

Aurum watches as her father walks to the center, Lant is standing besides him. Jeremy watches them with narrow eyes, whatever his father planning, it's not going to be sweet.

"I would like to ask everyone's attention!", It was like his throat has an inbuilt speaker, his voice caught everyone's attention. Rischel glares at the two, wondering what game they are playing.

He momentarily let his eyes wonder amongst the crowd, he caught the sight of his sister who's standing infront of his niece, Aurum has hand wrapped on—

"Lant's kid???", His eyes widened like saucers, everything was coming together like a confusing puzzle. It's like the unsolved math problem is slowly yet surely getting the right answer.

Raschel walks to the crowd, leaving his children to themselves. "Father?", Sylvia calls but her voice was not heard.

The Padelian siblings looks at each other in confusion.

Raschel walks pass the others as he continues to walk towards the center.

"The house of Agriche and house of Lapis has been in a childish fight as long as we can remember," Nerium says and he easily wraps his arm around Lant's shoulder due to his taller height.

Raschel grunts, "Childish fight, my ass!"

"Lant and I saw the need to stop this conflict when we saw how our children bonds," Nerium then looks at Aurum and Jeremy. He can see his daughters' eyes widen in realization, and like a telepathic message, he nodded at his daughter.

"Trust me..."

Roxana as his eyes narrowed, but inside she's grinning. She caught on what the Lapis head is applying, and to to think that she was delighted at the idea was an understatement.

"To think that our plan can be easier...", She thought to herself.

"We are happy to announce that we have entered a piece treaty, for the sake of Aurum and Jeremy's engagement..."

Nerium points at the couple with his hand, a smile on his face. Lant made no reaction, he's been dying to go home the moment Nerium proposed the idea.

Everyone's eyes were now on the said cpuple, different reactions devided them and anyone smart enough can realize the situation.

Aurum held Jeremy's arm harder as she smiled at the crowd, she leans her head on his shoulder. The young man also sent a smile...

Was it fake? Was it just to fool the audience? Perhaps, though genuine thoughts can always surpass his bluff.

"To be honest, the announcement surprised me. But hearing Lady Ninguang's words earlier meant something big is going to happen," I held Aurum's hand and squeezed it to let her know....

that I am on board with this plan. If using this "fake" engagement will burry my father six feet under the ground then I'll gladly participate.

After all, no need for excuses to be neer Aurum anymore.

"Everyone's eyes are on us", Aurum thinks. She sees their reactions, their opinions, their judgement. And she was glad. Though there was no discussion about this plan much more earlier, all of them understood what will happen.

"The drama of the century is about to begin."

→→→→→→→

• Reminder, as I said a few chapters back, I will be following my own original plot for the rest of the book.