The Grand Mistress

Chapter 3 - The Woman In Silver Gown

Bellows of praises and waves of laughter surged across one of Hotel Jade's ballroom halls. Tonight, this five-star hotel was enveloped by dazzling sights and sounds of such sophisticated splendor that one could only gape open and thought they were in a dream.

A few moments from now, the engagement of the sought-after bachelor and youngest billionaire, Hawk Monsanto, and ballerina Feather Han will officially take place. This news of course shook the whole country and everyone could only wish they too had such a fairytale love story like that of ballerina Feather Han. ??

For who would have thought that Hawk Monsanto, a known woman evasive bachelor would fall into Han Yue's beauty? For years, many women had tried to get noticed by him—actress, socialites, and even businessmen who wanted to get a good deal with his riches by selling off their daughters—but none of them had ever been successful that one popular gossip magazine concluded he must be somewhat gay. Of course, the gossip didn't last long as that magazine's agency declared bankruptcy the very next day.

"My God I couldn't believe President Hawk is getting married," One of the guests hollered while standing on the sidelines, surrounded by her peers of young socialites who attended the event.

"Miss Han is the lucky one, I wondered how she got President Hawk's attention when our Miss ballerina seemed to be too shy to even pursue any man, let alone the famous Hawk Monsanto" answered by another whose eyes were glued to a gigantic crystal fountain which gurgled forth a ceaseless supply of drinks.

"Rumors had it that Hawk had already adored her for long and had to wait for her homecoming before he declared his intentions. They say he had paid millions just to get elder Han's approval"

"O my what a beautiful love story" Another girl couldn't help but giggle and adore the couple. "A fairytale!"

Despite the obvious large disparity of families' wealth, everyone would agree that Feather Han was quite a good catch. She was loved by many as she was the country's very first ballerina to ever join Voltaire Ballet, a very famous Ballet company abroad. Aside from her artistic achievements, Feather was the heiress of Han Scintillait Incorporated and was among the sought-after bachelorette because of the enthralling beauty that could land her on every magazine's front pages if she wanted to.

"Miss Han, what a lovely engagement party you have here. President Hawk seemed to have been spoiling you already" One of the gossip news reporters exclaimed as a bunch of them surrounded the couple to get some sort of interview for the articles they wished to publish the day after. Surely, every headline for tomorrow will be about the engagement.

Feather glowed in red. She took a glimpse of the man beside her, Hawk Monsanto— the embodiment of every girl's dream, probably had the most handsome face she had ever met. He had lustrous warm dark chocolate curls that were cut neatly and perfectly highlighting his prominent jaw. His grey eyes were rather impassive tonight as if he didn't like the idea of being with reporters but had to endure them for her sake.

"President Hawk has always been considerate about my wishes" Feather replied with shyness as her eyes glimmered with genuine happiness "But I never thought it would be this grand"

"Such a sweet girl you are Miss Han," The journalist smiled as she glanced brightly over her colleagues with so much adoration for the beautiful modest ballerina "No wonder President Hawk had fallen head over heels with you"

"Oh please don't say that!" Feather glowed more crimson all over as if their guest's words were too much for her innocence. With courage and adoration, she let go of the words she genuinely felt inside "President Hawk was just too kind to take notice of me. I had never been so honored in my life"

Hawk looked at the girl as her words hit something on his heart. The Han's heiress was the only woman he desired his entire life and the main reason why he worked so hard to become the one he was today. He had adored her from afar ever since they were young and now that the time had come for him to claim her, there was something, some odd feeling he felt about the girl. He was very certain a long time ago that he wanted to marry her, but looking at her now, something seemed to have changed that he couldn't quite explain. Perhaps he was just too overjoyed or the upcoming wedding had him too overwhelmed.

Abruptly, Hawk jerked his thoughts back to reality when he realized that he had been inadvertently staring at someone across the room, a woman in a silvery gown. She was wearing a mask, which was rather odd because as of his knowledge the engagement party he threw wasn't a masquerade ball. Below her half-mask which was showing her rather high cheekbones, her full lush mouth lifted in a slow, amused smile and she shook her head at him as if mocking him for noticing another woman when his betrothed was just beside him.

"President Hawk?" One of the guests that gathered before Hawk and Feather called the former's attention when he noticed his indifference and the fact that his attention was drawn to somewhere more interesting than the conversation before them. Everyone who noticed, followed Hawk's gaze and it landed on the gigantic crystal fountain of drinks, the woman in a split second managed to evaporate away from everyone's sight.

"I'm sorry but would you please excuse me for a second?" Hawk without waiting for approval pulled himself away from their guests and searched the crowd for the woman in a silver gown. He was lost in the middle of the ballroom, couples dancing on his left while single women gathered on his right waiting for someone to offer them a dance.

"President Hawk, would you mind dancing with me?" One of the guests dared to request a favor from him. Since he gathered himself in the middle of dancing guests, they thought perhaps he wanted to dance. As expected, Hawk only gave the dance proposal a cold response as his expression turned grim.

"Unfortunately, President Hawk had promised this dance already to me," An enthralling voice leaped out of the shadows behind him and Hawk knew by then he had found his prey, or rather his host.