Chapter 49 (reuploaded)

"My girlfriend is going to kill me, and I hope you two die!"

Henry and Joshua both watched their friend announce loudly, attracting the attention of all the event staff in the convention centre's entrance hall, before turning away and storming off. Although, neither of them could really fault Gin; after the man finally got the three trawling through the problematic emails, they spent the whole night on it, knocking out at some point. After they were finished, they made Gin go with them to the venue to fortify the security with a backup and live feed he could keep an eye on, only to then make him help set everything up until almost the second before their families would arrive, neither of which Gin was willing to meet.

"We should treat him next time," Henry said, turning to Joshua. They were well-aware at this point that they had been acting more than a little troublesome.

Joshua nodded wholeheartedly, "We should also work on not exhausting ourselves, I feel like we get a million times worse when tired."

"I know we do, otherwise our parents wouldn't think so." With how much their parents doted on them, it really did take a lot for them to admit their younger sons were headache-inducing when tired. "Although, I should be fine anyway, I'm back with accounting. You're the one with an increased workload."

"Don't remind me," Joshua softly complained, head dropping forward. "We have until Saturday morning to fully delegate the department. Combined, it's about 60 full-timers plus another 40 part-time and interns."

"I know, I was at the meeting yesterday."

Both men shared a look of dismay, thinking about work.

"It is your engagement, why are you both looking so down?"

Caroline's voice made both of them turn to see the four parents entering the venue, their PA's right behind them. They had come straight from the office, the eight of them planning to get ready at their current location; the other four would come together just before the party started with the company officials.

"Work," Joshua muttered, genuinely down at the reminder of what was waiting for him tomorrow morning.

Hanna shook her head, somewhat amazed her son had seriously answered the question. "Well, putting the complaining aside, how about you show us our private room."

The room was not just so they could get ready but also so they could discuss what needed to be said before the party, away from prying ears. For security, everyone had decided that no mention of the circumstances around the relationship should discussed over messages or email, also avoiding phone calls just to be safe. Of course, the couple were a little laxer with the truth about their relationship since Gin had made sure such messages couldn't me saved and secured their mobiles.

The two second sons led the way to the room they had put aside for their families, all of them entering and locking the door. There was a temporary privacy switch affixed next to the door frame – courtesy of, once again, Gin – which Henry flipped as Joshua locked the door.

With everyone settled, expected happy atmosphere dropping as they got to business.

John, "Seeing how calm you are, I guess you two have secured the venue adequately. Quick run through?"

Joshua let the younger man speak, Henry knew the details of the security better than him.

"Well, ask you know, the venue itself have a pretty extensive security system, with our own programme at its core. All of the security staff is out-sourced but heavily vetted both through the police and privately, as well as a third time through the triad that manages the area."

Henry paid no mind to the shocked stares at the mere mention of gangsters, only sending a look of concern to Haerin, who could not help but snort at the incredible development.

"The triad was actually the deciding point. They have crossed with the Q Group before and it resulted in the loss of previous generations boss; they all have a burning hate for the Q Group. When seeing people against them hiring the hall, they take it upon themselves to triple check on the security. In fact, the current boss has already said that she will be keeping an eye on the security for the night, as well as some of their trusted police informants.

"Other than that, we've also personally secured this room and tapped into the network to keep an eye on it, as well as the cameras with facial recognition alerts. Our friend will keep an eye on it for us let us know as soon as something is wrong. And obviously we have done the usual research into the approved paparazzi, as well as offering the influential one's individual deals. The chances of someone off the guest list or posing as the press infiltrating to cause trouble is close to impossible.

For once, it looked like his younger son had slept enough, yet why did Marcus feel like Henry had been talking crazy? He was starting to question his son's personal connections, because they suddenly seemed far more extensive than a 22-year-old would need.

He was not wrong, when it came to influence, Henry could reach surprising corners of society through his acquaintances, especially those internationally based.

Before anyone could comment on what had come out of Henry's mouth, he turned to Joshua, handing over the conversation.

"Our main issue are the people on the guest list. Obviously, we could not exclude all those connected to the group since this is not just an engagement but also a celebration of the merger, a business event. But we have tried to seat this people away from those who like to gossip, are stir trouble and with strong senses of justice. The aim is to minimise any big commotions.

"The guests coming to represent the Q Group are just some low-level branch families on a whole, the only one to look out for is the grand-nephew of the current director. While not all that powerful or outstanding, he is smart and seems quite favoured amongst a number of their elders. It is unlikely that he will cause trouble directly, but he could aggravate others and will definitely be keeping a close eye on us to find any cracks in our story considering just how sudden everything was. And seeing as he is thought of quite highly within his peers due to how he is favoured, he will have eyes and ears everywhere – ones we know of and ones we don't.

"We discussed it with our friend and have come to the conclusion that as long as we do not act suspiciously about the engagement and try to keep the focus on the merger and engagement instead of our 'relationship', we should be fine."

The two families gave out a sigh of relief; Joshua's part was not nearly as mind-boggling as the younger man's triad-talk. However, they quickly found that they had relaxed too soon.

"In all honesty, the only concern is acting like a couple who have been together for a year and are ready to get married. Anything could be enough for people to stir more harmful rumours." Henry nodded in agreement; this really was their only real issue for the night.

"Y-you are worried about not seeming like enough of a couple?" Marcus asked, the only one not completely lost for words, although he was almost there.

What he had said was not wrong, but it was also not completely right. What they were worried about was coming off as a couple at all. Every other time there had been some sort of incident that winded up in convenient misunderstandings. This party was the first time they were in a casual position where they had to interact as a couple, all in front of people without the same rose-tinted lens as their families. Just weeks ago they were coming up with this insane plot, not much time had passed, and it seemed to have whizzed past for the pair of them. In the end, to say 'worry' would be an understatement, it was starting to cause mild anxiety.

Henry sighed at his father's reaction, feeling a sense of déjà vu. Gin had said a similar thing, if a little more harshly. "Of course we are. We are pretending to have been dating for a year when in reality we literally met last month. I really don't understand the shock of it."

In that moment, the parents and PA's felt a sudden urge to replay just about every interaction they had witnessed to the oblivious men. Who would have thought that the most adorable couple that they had ever laid eyes on where so lacking in self-awareness, they did not realise how amazing a pair they were themselves?

And so, once everyone was ready and the guests started to arrive, all they could do was cover their eyes and play dumb to the awkwardness between Henry and Joshua. It turned out, the biggest liability was not the Q Group's intervention but the two's helpless and unnecessary acting skills.