Chapter 3

2 DAYS LATER

Annabel was done with her shower and was waiting for the makeup artist her family hired to help with her makeup. Her mother spared no expense on her dress or accessories, she wanted her daughter to look gorgeous.

Amongst all the dresses the designers had brought, the only one that caught Annabel's eyes was a sparkling fitted armless dark red dress with a long side slit by her left leg, which she had decided to pair with sparkling strapless red heels that had been brought along with the dresses.

"Mrs Hunter". Annabel asked the woman beside her. "Do you think these emerald earrings and necklace would match my dress?". She says as she picks up a beautiful set of light emerald earrings from the set of jewelry.

"They are splendid". Mrs Hunter says as she admires the beautiful jewelry. "They'd look absolutely lovely especially since they blend well with your eyes".

"I know, I actually wanted to choose an emerald dress but the red dress just happened to catch my attention and now I don't know whether it'd match with the jewelry I want, I don't know if emerald and red go well together". Annabel goes to her vanity and sits on the chair while sighing.

"What are you saying child?". Mrs Hunter asks as she walks to Annabel's side. "Red and emerald go well together and I can tell you that for a fact because it looks really beautiful on you". She says as she lifts Annabel's head with her finger and directs her attention to the mirror trying to show her that her velvety red hair and her emerald eyes, although two different colors, they do blend very well.

"Thanks Mrs Hunter". Anna says as she understands what the woman was implying. "You always say what I need to hear". She says as she stands up and hugs the woman.

"No worries my dear". Mrs Hunter says as she hugs Annabel back and they hug until they hear the bell, probably signaling the arrival of the long awaited makeup artist.

"I'll go answer the door". Mrs Hunter says as she walks out of Annabel's room.

A FEW HOURS LATER

It was around 6pm and Annabel was finally ready to go, the makeup artist saw it suitable to use little to no makeup considering how naturally beautiful Annabel was, hence she used a very thin layer and made sure the makeup color blended well with her dress and accessories.

After the makeup artist was done, she decided that the best style for Annabel was a half up half down hairstyle, in order for her face, earrings and necklace to show but also to let her beautiful velvet red hair color show.

Annabel felt she looked appealing but Mrs Hunter and the makeup artist kept showering her with complements and thinking back to the way Mrs Hunter nearly cried when she saw Anna made her feel warm, she felt ready to go to the party and ready to do what she was expected to as the daughter of the famous businessman Mr Garcia.

A few minutes later after arriving at her parents place Anna couldn't help but feel self-conscious. It had been a while since she last went to a gathering with so many people, it was sort of overwhelming but she knew that she couldn't turn back now.

As soon as she came down from the car everyone's attention was immediately on her, which couldn't help but double how self-conscious she was already feeling.

'How am I going to get through this?' She thought to herself but immediately pulled herself together and alighted the stairs to the entrance of the house.

As the doors were opened and Annabel went in, more eyes were on her and that's where the gossiping started.

"Who's that?"

"I think it's the Garcia's daughter".

"I thought she died?".

"I heard her husband died"

"She's really beautiful".

"Ugh she's so full of herself coming to the party dressed like that being a widow and all".

Everywhere Anna turned she heard her name being mentioned, she didn't know what to do but she just wished the ground would open up and swallow her.

"Annie my dear". Her mom said through the microphone as soon as she spotted her daughter. "Come here, your dad has something to say". Her mom motioned for her daughter to climb the stairs and stand beside them, which she did and as soon as she stood beside them her father took the microphone and started with his speech.

"You look beautiful dear". Her mom says with a warm smile.

"Thanks mom". She says feeling a bit relieved standing beside her parents although there were still a lot of people looking at her and gossiping while the rest were paying attention to her father's speech.

"And thank you all for coming to our celebratory party, we are glad to be partnering with DUAN corp on a project, this collaboration will be one for the history books". Her father pauses as everyone applauds. "Thank you and enjoy your night". He says as he was done with his speech hence handing the microphone to the servant beside them to keep.

"Anna my darling how have you been?" Her father asks as he hugs her.

"I've been fine dad". She says as she hugs him back

"That's good to hear my dear, I've missed you so much but as you know I've been trying to get this deal with DUAN corp for almost a year now". He says as they walk towards their seats. "And finally we've gotten it, this is going to make our company even bigger than it originally was". He said with a triumphant smile as they sat on their seats. "Also your mother and i were planning on introducing you to the owner of DUAN corp tonight, he's a very accomplished man, he made DUAN corp what it is with a year and a half, if I was his father I'd be very proud of him, fortunately he has no family and he's single". Her father says feeling sad for him but Annabel knew what he was hinting at when he said the man was single.

"Also he's 28 years old and has no kids, the both of you would hit it off". Her mother says with a smile.

As they were talking a stranger walked in and Annabel couldn't help but look at him, he was tall, probably around 6'2 she thought. He had broad shoulders with a chiseled jawline, a textured messy pompadour haircut but the thing that caught her attention was his eyes, they looked so familiar but she couldn't place where she had seen them before they were a smoky grey color that matched well with his demeanor, there were all eyes on him but he didn't care, he walked straight up and to Annabel's surprise he was heading towards her.