It was followed by a chiming sound that always notified hosts of a report.

The system's words didn't register on Sofony's brain. The girl was more focused on watching Gio talk over the phone. She was no longer sporting a tense look because the introduction and congratulatory part had already ended.

As they both wanted to take a breather and escape from the lively and noisy crowd below, the two went up to the second floor and were now at the open balcony.

Currently, the man was talking with somebody over the phone while leaning his back on the pillar. Sofony was one meter away, currently leaning forward to the railing, and gaze not leaving the man.

She could hear bits and pieces of information regarding the city mayor. The most frequently heard words were fat, incompetent, corrupt, will die soon, and puppet.

Sofony honestly couldn't understand the rest, so she looked away, her eyes landing to the beautiful sea of stars and moon above.

It was already past 8:30 pm.

She closed her eyes and felt the soft and cool breeze touching her skin, her mind once again going somewhere.

Earlier, she had confirmed that Clarissa didn't come.

Sadly this confirmation didn't make her relieved because that girl had obviously laid down some traps in events like this in case she suddenly attended as Gio's partner. The proof was those unfamiliar young men who wanted to drug her. She couldn't tell how they knew about her, but honestly, she was too tired to guess and just conveniently a.s.sumed that this was all the work of Clarissa's system.

She remembered that hypnotized woman.

An hour ago, when that situation broke out, she was actually very angry, having realized that Gio was the reason why that crazy and mannerless woman targeted her. To be honest, that time, she felt some degree of possessiveness... and probably jealousy welling up within. She just found herself feeling wronged and conflicted when another woman suddenly l.u.s.ted upon Gio. This made her angry, prompting her to think of slapping Lara to death or hypnotizing her to make her take back those words she said.

In fact, she had almost accomplished the latter. Not until she found out that the woman was already under mind control.

If Sofony denied being scared due to that, she would definitely be lying. She was very alarmed, realizing this was Clarissa's work. Fortunately, after a few tweaking, the effect of hypnosis on the woman easily faded, proving the original hypnotist was not around.

Nevertheless, it took her great efforts before her own hypnosis finally took root in Lara's mind. Her first complicated command would take some time to come into sight though. The reason being that she had to wait first for Clarissa's control to completely vanish.

'I don't know why the system arranged things this way. But it should be around this time, right?'

Out of a sudden, a voice came to her right side.

"Still thinking of what that woman said?"

Sofony came back to her senses and saw Gio approaching her. She lowered her reddening face when she felt his hands on her waist. She couldn't help but remember her reactions earlier, the unreasonable and jealous part.

"Don't put her words to mind. I a.s.sure you she won't pester us anymore."

Sofony wryly smiled. That time, she didn't care if Lara was under someone else's hypnosis. Sofony only cared that Lara badmouthed her and called her wh.o.r.e and almost destroyed her image in front of everyone. Out of anger, and some compet.i.tiveness to prove her skill to that other host, she had done something to make that woman not appear any time soon. It was her form of retaliation against Lara and Clarissa, but Sofony reflected a bit and thought that she might have gone overboard at it.

In reality though, she was just also really without a choice. She could only make that woman stay. First, to make Lara shoulder some of the guests' weird gazes. Second, to not allow her to escape her punishment and show that she was no longer someone people should look down. Maybe this was inevitable. Lara was a bit pitiful because she unknowingly got in between two immoral hosts. Still, Sofony couldn't be soft towards her anymore. Not after everything she said and did to her.

"Miss Silver, Mr. Albarez, would you mind if I invite you over. I requested a private room from your parents, Miss Silver. There's just something I would like to share and show to everyone," said an amicable middle-aged lady that approached them with a smile.

Sofony's eyes went to Gio and saw him looking uninterested. Because of this, she could only apologetically decline the invitation and watch the celebrity-like woman walking away. When the other was finally out of sight, she silently said to herself.

'That lady's the real borrower of the room. It's finally starting.'

She meant that the punishment was finally starting. Thinking of this, she felt some emotions rising within. Most of it was antic.i.p.ation. The others conviction and relief.

A song suddenly played downstairs and the whole mansion was engulfed by it. Sofony and Gio who were having each other's company on the second floor's balcony naturally heard it too. The melody was perfect for a dance, the lyrics too. So midway, Gio suddenly chuckled and meaningfully stared at Sofony.

....

"We are not kids when fell in love.

But we don't know what it was.

Yet we won't ever give up this time."

"Darling, just hold my hand,

Be my girl, I'll be your man.

I see my future in your eyes."

....

There was no bow or any ceremony of sorts. He didn't even ask for Sofony's opinion and just held her waist and led her into a dance. Sofony was, of course, surprised, her heartbeats suddenly racing. Her face suddenly reddened and thought that her reaction was very ridiculous. She lowered her head and scoldingly said to herself that this was only a dance, and their body contact was not as intimate as when they were having s.e.x.

"Stop worrying about that delusional girl. I already warned her father not to provoke me anymore."

His statement made her look up to him.

"... Okay." She embarra.s.sedly responded. She didn't know if the unease was because of the forbidden thoughts she was harboring in her heart or the thing she did to Lara but then, she found herself unable to look away from him.

....

"Baby, I'm dancing in the dark.

With you between my arms.

Though not on the gra.s.s."

"We're listening to our favorite song,

When I saw you in that dress looking so beautiful,

I don't deserve this,

You look perfect tonight."

....

After the last line of the song, they both continued dancing to the instrumentals. And then when it completely ended, her dancing partner chuckled. The night seemed to be very fantastic... they were in beautiful clothes, there was a starry sky above, and they were dancing so intimately.

All this while, she was almost being melted by the feverish look from his eyes.

This even grew worse when he suddenly bent down his head to her ears and whispered, "The song said what I wanted to say to you tonight. Baby, you indeed look perfect tonight."

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(A/N: It's totally okay not to read the following texts. Just pause here, relish on the half-baked dog food, and save yourself from some, er, mental torture... Hehe, I'm warning you, the next scenes may appear laughable, stupid or gross. Peace.)

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From one of the rooms on the second floor of the mansion, a woman's loud scream suddenly reverberated throughout the place, alerting the people dancing in the wide hall below.

As people who were staying on the same floor, Sofony and Gio were also one of the people disturbed. But unlike some of the curious guests, they didn't choose to rush over. One other reason for this decision was Sofony's eye signal to Gio. And the latter, still feeling a bit guilty about his girl being a.s.saulted by a crazy admirer of him, readily compromised.

Anyway, with or without them, there were still many others that abandoned the dance floor and came over to see what caused the rich wife of a Government Department Secretary to yell in fright.

Lo and behold, what they saw was something they never ever thought of ever witnessing before.

It was the sight of a naked woman on all fours atop a transparent coffee table situated in the middle of the room. There was also a familiar middle-aged man lying beneath the table. Naturally, this crazy scenery was what made the rich wife yelled at the top of her lungs.

However, what surprised the newcomers though was neither this nor the reddish and whitish thing seeping out of the woman's private area. Definitely, it was also not how the woman just had a bed affair with a married man.

Okay, let's say, these were not the 'only' things that made everyone immediately cover their mouths in disbelief.

There was something more disturbing and eye-opening than these!

It was the woman's live action of taking a dump on the coffee table which was paired by the naked middle-aged man's filming of the process underneath!

Due to the woman's position, all of them could see the disgusting thing slowly coming out of it-that-should-not-be-mentioned! It was truly... a heart-stopping scene... making everyone watching with wide eyes cover not only their mouths but also their noses...

By the way, the man who was now dumbfoundedly staring at the doorway was someone going by the name Bienvenido Hermoso. He seemed to have finally realized the situation, therefore, he immediately tossed away the camera on his hands and came out under the table. He also panically went for his clothes, used them to cover his nether regions, and hurriedly dashed out of the room.

In short, he unceremoniously left the woman also dumbly staring at the crowd...

And oh, another by the way. The naked woman was actually none other than the infamous Lara Abenson!

And this mayor's daughter really took a while before coming to her senses, specifically after the smelly and sickening thing finally laid itself on the table!

After this, she madly screamed and also searched for her clothes. Then like Mr. Hermoso, she also ran out of the room, tackling one of the panicking and screaming female guests in order to make way for her escape.

To where she goes after? None of the bewildered guests cared and knew. But they could all foresee that the Silver family would surely have the Hermosos and the Abensons blacklisted for a very long time. Also, this strange event would surely make the headlines tomorrow, and probably of the many days to come.