The grin never left Darryl's face—not even when in a graceful way, he waltzed the girl around the dance floor, guiding her with a gentle nudge of his hand in hers, his chest pressing against the girl's front, his entire body twisting and turning her, and eventually holding Xhemin intimately close as they savoured the last refrain of the music.

"I'm sorry" Xhemin said in the most apologetic way she can. She knew she misjudged him and the fault was all on her.

"Sorry for what?" His eyes never departed hers.

Darryl was kind of tempted to take off his woman's mask so he could see her lovely face but knowing the flock of audience who did nothing but stare at the couple endlessly, he dismissed the thought. No one should know how the Lagdameo mystery woman looked like, or else, everything will turn upside down.

"For accusing you of sending me away" She murmured slowly, almost ashamed of the way she acted previously "I should have asked you first"

"You are sorry for just that?" he asked, as if not satisfied with the girl's apology.

"Huh?" She asked, her eyebrows drew a creased as she shook her head lightly "I don't remember having too many faults"

"How about letting someone steal the dance that was supposed to be mine?" He reminded her. Then just as the topic hit off the conversation, Darryl's face dimmed a bit.

The image of his woman and the Montarini boy dancing gracefully earlier was not a pretty sight for him. He loathed every moment he had to spend witnessing that whole scene, but he can't help himself but watch, especially when Xhemin looked so d.a.m.n pretty good with the gown she was wearing. She was not only beautiful, she was majestic and one could do nothing but helplessly adore and be mesmerized by her dazzling beauty.

"That was uncalled for" she answered, no guilt can be traced from her face "I didn't know I wasn't allowed to dance with Huzey and you were missing in action…"

"…I don't even know I had to dance someone. Dian caught me by surprise" she added, remembering how the first dance went by. She only found out that Dian was setting her up when the second young miss motioned the dance, and since she was Darryl's sister, Xhemin kind of suspected she was trying to get her to dance with her brother. Unfortunately, Darryl wasn't there and certainly that was no one's fault.

Unknown to Xhemin, while he was nagging in front of the boy, Darryl's face dimmed as he noticed someone from the crowd staring at them.

Amongst the crowd the Montarini prince stood dazzling in silver, but his eyes unlike his suit was not dazzling, the ocean blue pair had deadness and stillness in them, yet despite such, Darryl could tell there was tenseness that the latter was masking behind the pair. Huzey's unmoving gaze was accompanied by a deliberate slow breathing, like he was fighting something back and loosing.

Darryl didn't know how long he was there, watching them as he and his woman danced. However, he could tell by his expression that the prince didn't like the view—it was more like he dreaded the view.

The Lagdameo heir levelled Huzey's gaze and their eyes met head on, intensely digging hard against each other.

"You seemed to have enjoyed his company pretty well" Darryl stated, he didn't lose his conversation with his woman while he kept an eye on Huzey.

"I always enjoyed Huzey's company, that's a fact…" Xhemin stated, laying down all the realities that Darryl had to keep in mind. Huzey and Ziggy will always be constant in her life, so the beast should get used with their presence if he planned on sticking around with her. "And let me remind you, Huzey is my best friend…"

"My best friend…" She repeated to give emphasis to the word, giving no chance for Darryl to battle over the thought.

Darryl didn't acknowledge the girl's statement and just continued waging stares toward the Diamond prince who did nothing but followed their every step. He was holding two gla.s.ses of drinks in his hand and even when there was a great distance between them, Darryl noticed the intensity of his grip over the gla.s.ses. He was almost ready to break them.

The Lagdameo heir and the Diamond Prince's eye battle continued until the last note of the music. The dance had ended and so the couple bid their last swing. When they come to a full stop, the guests started clapping their hands to give recognition to the host's dance.

Xhemin was to give the boy a bow in respect to his status as the L Empire's heir, but even before he freed her from his arms, the boy spoke at once.

"Then perhaps I should remind you of something too" He stated, now his eyes were all over his woman, digging dearly at the depths of her ink eyes.

"Huh?" Confused, Xhemin cast him a questioning look. What was the beast talking about?

"Remind me of what?" she asked again when he noticed that his expression wasn't as warm as before.

"That you are my woman" Darryl said unsmiling and gazed at her with such an expression of an undiluted hunger that made Xhemin held her breathe.

His grasp around her tightened with such force that her feet was no longer touching the ground, and that her entire body seemed to have entwined into his. His sudden charged caught her by surprise and she could tell right then that Darryl had gone beastly again and there was nothing she can do to stop whatever he wanted. So she let him be, never wasting time to protest over the thought, although she was aware of how such action will stir up some hype amongst the crowd.

Xhemin bit her lower lip as she antic.i.p.ated his next move.

Then suddenly the boy's mouth descended into hers, making her inside jolted and just then, everything else fade out to nothing, as if they were the only one existing in the great hall.

"My woman" he said as he departed his lips from her slightly before consuming them once again, kissing her deeper and harder than before.