Daphne turned her gaze back to the stage on the forum and listened intently to the city government official’s speech.
Trevor’s attention wandered, he turned his head to look at Daphne, who was sitting two seats away.
He was puzzled that she remained so calm despite seeing him with Mabel, and wondered if she truly didn’t care about him anymore.
Did she ever truly loved him from the start?
How could she be so indifferent now?
Or was she just pretending to be.
After the official concluded his speech, the mysterious academic representative, Professor Alistair took the stage to a round of applause from the entire audience.
Mabel told Trevor that she planned to speak with Professor Alistair about purchasing the patent after the first half of the event.
Her main reason for attending the conference was to meet him, she had learned in advance through the Madrigal family’s connections that the mystery guest was Professor Alistair.
Daphne was delighted to see Professor Alistair take the stage and clapped especially enthusiastically.
After finishing his presentation, Professor Alistair stepped down from the stage and sat in the front row.
Next, it was the turn of representatives from three companies to speak.
Marco secured a speaking slot thanks to the influence of the King Group, well, he was also very industrious in this field.
Daphne saw right through the reason Marco had secured the speaking slot and smiled wryly.
People might think it was solely because of the King Group but from her short time of working with the man, she could see how productive and very industrious he was.
She even heard he had made King Group twice as big when he took over as CEO.
Trevor, however, believed Marco was merely relying on his status as the King family’s heir apparent.
Trevor felt that if his own grandfather hadn’t fell out with his father, he would have had a lot more power than he already did.
He wouldn’t have had to build his company from scratch.
People would have looked up to him with respect.
Even if he still wouldn’t be as great as Marco, he still would have been highly regarded.
********
The first half ended, and a twenty-minute intermission began.
Mabel pulled Trevor over to find Professor Alistair.
As Trevor stood up, he instinctively glanced at Daphne, sensing her eagerness to mingle with influential figures.
Unfortunately, since she had already left the university and wasn’t on good terms with Professor Alistair, the man wouldn’t be taking her along.
Professor Alistair was surrounded by a crowd, so Mabel and Trevor could only approach his student, Bram, to strike up a conversation.
Bram recognized the two and greeted them.
“Oh, Bram, I wanted to invite you and Professor Alistair to dinner sometime.” Mabel let out.
Bram frowned.
Did this lady think the great Professor Alistair accepted dinners from just anyone?
Still, he politely declined and also declined on Professor Alistair’s behalf, explaining that he was too busy and needed to rush back to the university.
Mabel pulled him aside and sweetly explained that TM wanted to purchase the patent for the automated yield curve model.
Trevor elaborated on the intended use of the patent.
Brad admitted that he could only their interest on their behalf.
He couldn’t give them any assurance of their request being accepted or not.
Mabel strongly believed there was potential in the deal so she got Bram’s contact information and invited him again to work at TM.
After Bram walked away, Mabel went to the restroom, and Trevor carried her bag for her and waited outside for her.
Meanwhile, Daphne followed Professor Alistair to the entrance, greeted him, and reported on her recent progress in preparing for the graduate school entrance exams.
Professor Alistair, with a touch of pride, reminded her that the competition was fierce and she must give it her all.
After thanking him, Daphne bid farewell to Professor Alistair and Bram.
The scene of Daphne bidding him farewell was witnessed by Mabel and Trevor as they emerged from the restroom.
They quickly interpreted it as Daphne trying to curry favor from Professor Alistair only to be treated coldly.
Trevor felt both a pang of sympathy and a sense of satisfaction, thinking that Daphne wasn’t doing well after leaving him.
Mabel then deliberately said.
“Should we share Bram’s contact information to her?
Maybe he could help her out.”
“Of course not.
Mabel, you’re too kind but sometimes it’s good to teach people a lesson.
She thought TM would fall without her but look who’s falling now.” Trevor mocked.
Mabel smirked.
Too kind?
She just wanted people to think that way.
***********
After the intermission, Daphne ran into Trevor and Mabel at the entrance.
Trevor ignored Daphne completely, while Mabel smiled at her.
Daphne, who held a clear line between friendship and enmity, only nodded curtly at Mabel in response.
********
After the forum, the government invited attendees to a dinner at a nearby hotel.
Daphne was about to leave when she received a message from Marco asking her to wait at the entrance so he could take her to the dinner.
Daphne agreed.
Trevor and Mabel also decided to attend the dinner, hoping to find another opportunity to speak with Professor Alistair.
*********
The private dining rooms at the hotel were tiered according to the guests’ status.
Marco’s room was the highest tier.
After Marco seated Daphne, the others mistakenly assumed she was his new assistant and teased him playfully.
“Is this your new assistant?
She’s so beautiful.”
“Didn’t I tell you before?
Female assistants are just the best.”
Daphne quickly clarified.
“I’m not Mr King’s assistant.”
Marco spoke up.
“Everyone, you already know I’m against bashing women so don’t you dare.
Particularly, put some reason in Daphne Smith’s name.
She’s the new CEO at SG tech.”
Everyone was taken aback and began to look at Daphne with skeptical, scrutinizing eyes.
Daphne was surprised by what he had introduced her as.
Wasn’t she a manager there?
She felt uncomfortable due to the misunderstanding, but out of consideration for the occasion and Marco’s reputation, she held her tongue.
Marco publicly praised her exceptional abilities, expressing his confidence that SG would achieve great results under her leadership.
The group’s attitude softened, and they all stepped forward to toast to Daphne.
Daphne was moved by Marco’s words, so much so, she could feel her heart racing.
Trevor and Mabel passed by the private room and were shocked to see Daphne sitting next to Marco.
They wondered how she had managed to get into this exclusive private room.
Seeing her sitting so close to another man made Trevor feel extremely jealous.
He maliciously suspected that Daphne had used improper means to get where she was, and the discomfort in his heart made it hard for him to breathe.
Others guided Trevor and Mabel to their private room.
Daphne heard the voices and instinctively looked toward the door, locking eyes with Trevor before he stormed off.
She frowned wondering why he looked so furious.
********
After the dinner party ended, Assistant Riley arrived to drive the tipsy Marco and Daphne home.
Daphne suggested that if they lived far apart, she could take a taxi herself and asked Riley to drop Marco off first.
“It’s no problem, I can take you home first.” Riley insisted, knowing that was what his drunk boss would want.
“Still, I don’t want to be a bother.
What area does Mr King live?”
“FordVille.” Riley replied.
“That’s quite far from where I live and you need to get him home to rest.”
Though Marco was drunk, he was still conscious enough to understand the conversation.
And he could clearly see that Daphne didn’t want to ride home with him.
So not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable, he let out.
“It’s okay, Riley.
Miss Smith can take a taxi.” Turning to Daphne, he said.
“Let me know when you get home and be careful.”
Daphne nodded.
“I will.”
**********
After Trevor dropped Mabel off at her house, he drove to the building where Daphne lived to wait for her.
He had quickly left the party, got Mabel home so he could catch up with Daphne.
Daphne had taken a taxi home and was very surprised to see Trevor smoking at the front of the apartment building.
The two had been together for years, when they were friends, he always smoked but when they began dating, she eventually got him to stop smoking.
It seemed he picked it up again after being with Mabel.
Well, that was his problem.
Daphne tried to walk past without saying a word, but Trevor grabbed her wrist.
“What are you up to, Daphne?”
Daphne yanked her hand away from his.
“Don’t touch me.”
Trevor took that action to mean that his touch must have stirred something within her.
Yes!
She still had feelings for him.
That thought cheered him up a bit.
“How do you know Marco King?
Daphne, whatever it is that you’re planning, you better stop and just come back to TM.
Marco King isn’t someone to be messed with and you should stay away from him.”
“You have no right to tell me what to do and I have no need of telling you anything.
I can do whatever I want.”
“Look…fine!
I’ll beg you.
You want me to beg you, right?
I’ll beg.
I’m sorry, okay?
I’m sorry if I didn’t handle things quite well.
But you know how important Mabel’s always been to me.
I should have explained things properly to you when she got back.
But I’ll fix things now.
Give me a chance.
Just come back to TM.
The company needs you.
I need you.” Trevor felt his words would definitely soften her heart and she would give in.
“Need me for what?
You know, day by day, you keep showing me that you never truly loved me.
If you did, you won’t brush off Mabel coming back as nothing.
You won’t think my reaction is me throwing a tantrum.
You won’t think that I have no right to feel hurt that you went back to Mabel.
You never loved me.
You don’t even feel a single bit of love for me!” She yelled.
Trevor was taken aback and began to reflect on his feelings for Daphne.
He had loved her in his own way.
Trevor reflected on the past, believing that buying Daphne luxury goods, giving her money and paying for almost everything were all proof of his love for her.
He reminded Daphne of all these things.
“You even told me to wait until we get married before we made love and I did.
I was waiting for you.”
Daphne scoffed.
“Buying me things, paying for everything are just gentlemanly behavior towards your girlfriend.
Waiting until we get married doesn’t equal to love.
Did you put me first?!”
“I can’t always put you first!” He thundered.
“Then we have nothing to talk about anymore.” With that, she walked away.
Trevor was furious.
How did she expect him to always put her first?
There were other things more important than her!
Can’t she just accept and respect her place in his life?!
He mentally consoled himself, thinking Daphne would come crawling back to him once she’s spent all her savings.
He got into his car and sped off.