Authentically Attractive

[ Chapter 28 ]

High Finance, inside the prestigious five-star restaurant which was located at the heart of Imperial Megapolis and was famously known for its exclusivity for high profile business patrons only.

The classic instrumental of Bill Evans' collection filled the air in soft waves as Cassandra headed towards the VIP hall, the well lightened hall treated her white luminescent skin well and the crystal chandeliers above reflected off her flowing blond hair.

Elegant and sophisticated, Cassandra was a vision in her high waist bowtie skirt autumn and matching well fitted peach jacket over a white silken blouse. Her knee-length skirt was cinched tastefully over her willowy waist and her long runaway legs were held over a set of Ivory Champagne three inches heels.

Although Cassandra sure was a knockout who knows how to dress and impress, she was absolutely not a view any man could afford to look at with their lowly eyes as she gave off an intimidating air of regal aura, noble charisma seemed to exude from her very bones.

Being a woman she was now, Cassandra was able to outshine her gorgeous allure with her strong personality and regal demeanor making it not possible for anyone to devalue her character just because of her extreme beauty.

Following in silence behind the male attendant who's five eight tall, one inch shorter than her in her heels, with white small purse filled with her business material, Cassandra walked her way with her back and shoulders straight, vision forward.

However, as they got nearer into the designated area, Cassandra found her almond-shaped eyes slowly narrowing into slit, as she caught the glimpse of man from the corner of her eyes.

"What is he doing here?"

Cassandra mumbled under her breath. The flash of surprise lasted for a split second in her eyes. Glancing forward, she saw the glimpse of an impressive and striking silhouette.

There around the table, straight elegantly and majestically in a seated position with five other men in prestige reeking suit, was a man who emanated an elusive aura dressed in grey hot, gorgeous suit. Noble and imposing air was hung over him.

Cassandra slightly rolled her eyes at her discovery. Seriously now, out of all damn people and time. He's the least of men she knew that she wanted to meet on this occasion.

Having reached the booked exclusive area, the attendant stopped his steps and slightly bowed his head whilst wishing her to have a pleasant night. Cassandra waved her hand indifferently and continued to make her way closer to the table.

Needless to say, upon noticing her arrival, several heads turned to her direction. Somehow she felt as if the time seemed to slow upon her when those set of black orbs landed on her, their eyes met. His eyes were in the colour of dark stormy clouds in deep midnight black.

Captivating and arresting as ever, just like how she visualised them in her self-touching sessions.

When Cassandra had reached the table, naturally and especially for such a remarkable lady, all five men stood up in gentleman posture, showing her their respect and courtesy. Cassandra gave a sharp polite smile as she nodded her head, choosing to sit at the right side of the rectangle table, she sat right across the man in grey suit as the seat had been arranged for her.

Rolling her shoulders backwards, Cassandra curtsied herself and straightened her back as she sat upright, she put down her purse on the empty seat next to her and no flaw could be seen in her graceful mannerisms.

"Good evening and welcome Mrs. Qin."

Once Cassandra had seated, all men returned back to their seat and Mr. Lu, a distinguished looking man in his late fifties who chaired the meeting, greeted Cassandra in polite English.

Given that not all of them are Huaxian, the meeting will be proceeded in English.

Cassandra responded by nodding her head lightly and Mr. Lu caught her eyes looking at the man in grey suit as her eyebrows were raised questionably. As the one who hosted the meeting, Mr. Lu immediately introduced the man to Cassandra.

The man in grey suit then once again, standing up with elegance to introduce himself.

Air blew past Cassandra, bringing along with it was a mild, vibrant and virile scent of masculine perfection. It's almost the same scent that lingered on her sheets for the entire length of that night.

Cassandra craned her neck lightly, only to grace her eyes with his adonis visage. He's ridiculously attractive and suave to behold as the man he always was.

His mid-length pitch black hair had slicked back to both sides and moistened with gel, giving him a completely different look as he's now more of a businessman with charismatic and well deserved intimidating presence.

He wore a grey suit jacket, which was accompanied by a slimline black shirt and black tie, with well fitted grey pants. His well muscled athletic body was temptingly hidden beneath the suit as his suit showcased the tantalising curvature of his absolute swoon worthy frame.

Flashing out his refined gaze over his fine smile he held out a hand. "Julian Long. Pleasure to meet you Mrs. Qin." His perfectly-pitched voice was velvety and masculine spoken in a flawless and rich British accent.

Julian held her gaze, a soft sparkling haze glowing in his starless eyes from the lights hung on the ceiling. The expression on his face was one of that full of confidence coupled with a slight of birthright arrogance, everything about him was dripping with extreme attractiveness.

Although the man was still just like how she remembered, extraordinarily hot and alluring. The him now was completely different from Julian of that night, as she found no casual demeanor or subtle flirtatious smile from him, only a professional look coupled with a perfect gentleman mannerisms.

Visually speaking, Cassandra had to admit that the him now was somehow more appealing for her taste than he's that night.

Standing up in graceful posture, Cassandra reached out to shake his offered hand. Holding the strong and calloused of his hand in her hand, which enough to get any woman's mind to wander south, she responded sharply,

"Cassandra Qin."

She continued, "The pleasure is mine Mr. Long." Her voice had an edge of sophistication and her sharp gaze lined straight at him in the eye.

Cassandra didn't hold back in exuding her equally intimidating bearing. Any other man would have found it hard to direct looking her in the eye but absolutely, Julian wasn't one of them as he kept holding her gaze, flashing her those all straight pearly white teeth and deep dimples, dashing smile.

"Mrs. Qin is as remarkable as the rumours say," Julian complimented. "I've been long looking forward to meet you. I'm used to hearing every of your outstanding achievements and it's indeed exceptional. I did expect that you would be more beautiful in person but," he paused, flashing his signature smile in which he softly bit his bottom lip.

Julian's look wasn't anything informal or unseemly, but given that his face was intensely pretty, no matter what kind of smile one sees in him, he would always look like he's deliberately seducing someone.

"Mrs. Qin is just more than gorgeous. It's really commendable." He finished, somehow his deep Bri'ish accent only further highlighted his sexiness. That mixture of smooth and well-pitched voice of his was extremely pleasant and somewhat seductive to the ear.

Julian didn't sound to be sugarcoating his words though as every syllable of his compliment was in genuine syllable. Everyone knows what he praised about her was a fact. It's truly commendable that Cassandra only took a few years to develop her hotel brand into its current prominent scale. Established herself as one of Huaxian most renowned businesspersons in the process.

In Huaxia, Cassandra has always been praised as one of the most successful self-established businesspersons. Most people frequently used her as a perfect role model for a successful career and businesswoman. She's numerous times featured in both nation and world famous magazines. Hence it's not surprising that she's known as an inspiring figure whom a lot of people especially young generation idolised.

Along with Florencia Long of Long Corporate-Group, Esmeralda Yuan of Yuan Bank, October Wang of K.W Consortium, and Lana Sy of Sy Law Firm. Cassandra Qin of Almandine International was among the top five of most prominent and successful businesswomen.

Cassandra was also the most amiable out of all of them since she hadn't been involved in any scandal and she's the youngest. Not to mention she had such gorgeous and otherworldly exquisite countenance that's capable of putting any star and moon to shame. She's just a woman with ideal traits.

Cassandra was used to getting such a compliment. "You're flattering me Mr. Long," she responded, still maintaining her regal stance.

"You're outstanding person yourself." Cassandra stated and paused for a moment sizing him up, "I heard lot about you recently."

Her eyes assessing him up just like how 'The Lady Qin' assess the worth of people like some sort of business deal. Her scrutinizing gaze was anything but friendly. Cassandra was known for her expertise in making the people to sway themselves for her favour. She could display such an elegant and gracious smile but who knows what was behind her appealing facade.

"What did Mrs. Qin hear about me?" He returned her assessing eyes with a subtle smile, not affected by her intimidating aura even in the slightest.

"I hope I'm up to what you might expect of me Mrs. Qin."

Julian curved the corner of his succulent lips and for a sick flash of milliseconds Cassandra caught something hidden behind his visage of refined mannerisms. She had the urge to roll her eyes at him but that would be unladylike of her.

Maintaining her sharp smile, she decided to ignore his last remark like she heard nothing.

Cassandra was the first one to break their intense gaze and then she retracted her hand, both of them settled back to their seats. The other five men around could feel something but decided to pay no mind and mind their own business.

Given that Cassandra had met the other five men in their last meeting, it's not necessary for her to introduce herself whilst Julian seemed to have established his status among them.

For summary, excluding Cassandra and Julian who sat across each other, there are five more people in the meeting. They all are extremely high profile individuals who have the highest responsibility over the grand event of business conference.

Sitting alone at one side was Mr. James Lu, he's a veteran figure from the nation economic affairs department and was one of the most respectable person in Huaxian political economy. Among the people here, he had the highest position as Chief of Conference Manager while the other four people each held their own responsibility as Vice CCM, Head of event designer, Representative of IBC, and CEO of Blissview Resort. The conference itself would be held in two places, Almandine Hotel and Blissview Resort.

"Alright, good evening gentlemen and Mrs. Qin. First of all, I would like to welcome you and thank you for coming." Mr. Lu began to start the meeting and officially introduced Julian coupled with the reason for his presence.

"As you could all see here on the agenda we would be mainly talking about the high level issues that need to be addressed soon—" Mr. Lu continued to list the meeting agenda and then proceeded with the intense discussion.

An hour passed by and the meeting went pretty well. They managed to address the issues and found the most effective and efficient way on how to handle them. A couple of decisions, problem solving plans, and important feedback were made. Intense and some heated discussion was inevitable but overall they managed to have a productive and successful meeting in a pleasant atmosphere.

Throughout the meeting, Cassandra was amazed by how magnificent Julian was as a professional. He's just completely different from what she envisioned him. She did expect he would be something else since he's the crown heir of Long Household, but to witness his professional expertise in person, she's exceedingly impressed, though it's not reflected on her face.

Furthermore, it turned out that Julian was here as a high level government representative. He would be taking a crucial role in the conference as he would be representing the Huaxia government in important business forums and presentations. What further impressed her was when she found out that Julian was also a polyglot.

All of him. From the way he carried himself, the way he interacted, the way he handled anything and everything about him was just splendid. He sure knew how to put the pressure of his authority and power on people, as he had that authoritative presence exude an aura of command, a power to control people and situation at hand.

In addition although Julian seemed to have precisely pressured his power and influence on people, he didn't outlead his authority over Mr. Lu as a person with the highest authority on paper. When it comes to business, he's surprisingly not unreasonably full of himself and quite compassionate. Occasionally, he would ask for people's opinion and welcomed any of different ideas.

Based on the meeting alone, Cassandra could see that this Julian wasn't anything like Florencia Long who's known for her cold-hearted, overbearing and absolute indifferentness to the people's misery. He's the complete opposite of his mother. If anything, Julian was more like Davien Long.

Cassandra had to admit that she found great appeal in Julian's intensely attractive charm. For her personally, capable men with extreme intelligence are extremely sexy, way more attractive than any of superficial sexiness, and Julian was such an impressive one at that.

Even without looking at his gorgeous features, she could feel that Julian was oozing with attractiveness. Those attractive charm comes from his extreme confidence, intelligence and the passion in the way he does something as she could see that Julian was genuinely immersed himself in his work.

This Julian was genuinely attractive, inside and outside.

Throughout the meeting, Cassandra felt herself was a bit affected by his alluring appeal. As they discussed, breathing in the fragrance of his expensive cologne that complimented his natural mild and virile scent well, seeing how completely serious he's and the occasional biting of his luscious lips, she felt a bit sexually uncomfortable in her seat.

Though of course, regardless of anything, Cassandra was great in her self-possession and masking an indifferent facade. None of what she thought or felt inside reflected on the surface. She admitted that he had that effect on her since it's a natural reaction but that's all, nothing more. After all, her desire was not enough for her to disregard her rational sense.

Another hour went by and the meeting dragged on for half an hour from the scheduled close time, Cassandra herself was fine with it as long as they achieved what they planned. Her meticulous preparation had also served well, since she had been able to impress them with her great proficiency. Finally, it's ten p.m when Mr. James Lu wrapped it all up.

"Thank you gentlemen, Mrs. Qin, Mr. Long. I think we would all agree it's been a very successful meeting—" Mr. Lu continued with his closing speech.

Once the meeting is finished, Cassandra picked her things in her purse and they bid their parting.

However, as Cassandra strutted out of the hall and was about to descend down the stairs, a deep and crisp voice of man called her from behind making her halt her steps. Cassandra pursed her lips and tilted her head, only to caught an ardent gaze was being directed at her direction.

"Mrs. Qin, Please wait for a moment."