Chapter 63 - Slowly Losing It

The one who got the most votes as the winner of the talent show was unsurprsingly Luo Joreen. Her family had voted for her, majority of the men had voted for her, she also got the votes of the young ones. Children who wished to be models when they grew up found her performance quite interesting and also voted for her. So she was called to the stage to receive her prize. 

Mr Ping noticed that his friend and boss was not happy and his mood worsened after he returned from God knows where, but his gaze softened when he saw the genuine smile on Joreen's face as she climbed the stage. Mr Ping wouldn't blame his boss for going soft just because he was seeing her smile. In their entire family, the two people with the prettiest smiles was Joreen and Heya. Heya's own was the prettiest because she rarely smiled so whenever she did, it took people's breaths away. 

Joreen waved at her family and then the other members of the extended family she could find.

"Here is your prize." The moderator said, handing her a key card. 

Joreen looked at it with confusion all over her face, but took it and waited for him to tell her which room it was for. 

"That is a key card for one of the VIP rooms. You are going to be spending the night in there with any person of your choice. Just one person." 

"Really?" Joreen asked, her eyes widening from excitement. She had heard the VIP room were far better than normal rooms. Only the major investors and partners stayed there and those people could demand for literally anything they wanted and it would be given to them immediately. 

"Yes! Congratulations miss Luo Joreen. That was a wonderful performance." 

The audience continued clapping for her while some asked for her to give them one final performance. 

"Thank you. Thank you so much." She bowed repeatedly until he asked her to stop while also laughing. She was about to run out of the stage when the man asked, "Would you like to say anything?" 

"Anything? Hmm..." She thought about it before nodding, "Yea." She took the mic. 

"Thank you everyone for making me get this. I cannot believe I won despite all the other wonderful performances tonight." She raised the key card dramatically like it was an award, "Thanks to my lovely parents, my beautiful sister, my cousin, uncle and aunt, Oh! And to my wonderful uncle Hoy..." She forced a smile while looking at his direction. He looked a bit surprised but began to glare at her. "Thank you uncle Hoy. I will never forget what a good uncle you are to me..."

"Can she stop it with the 'uncle' already? I am getting pissed!" He said through gritted teeth while pretending to smile since a lot of eyes were on him. 

Mr Ping turned to look at him, his elbow on his lap with his chin resting on his palm,

"Why do you want her to stop, Uncle Hoy?" He asked, mimicking Joreen's voice while fluttering his lashes. 

"You really do have a death wish don't you?" Hoy asked darkly. 

"Sorry." Mr Ping looked ahead and pressed his lips together when he noticed Hoy was really not in a good mood. 

Since they were done with the talent show, the moved onto the next. Each person had to pick a card which was folded into two. Whoever had the name on the card was the person they were supposed to give a gift to. 

So it didn't take long for the place to become rowdy with people moving around. 

"Hi! We keep bumping into each other." A girl who just approached Hoy said with a smile. She was the same girl asking for his number from Mr Ping the other night, also the same person who came to meet him when he was with his family during the family meeting. 

"It's a given that we bump into each other." He greeted back vaguely. He wasn't interested in anything. He preferred staying inside his room or office than attend occasions but since they were here on a vacation, he had to also flow with everyone. If he didn't, he would probably get into trouble with his family, especially his mother who was good at nagging. It was a good thing he was attenting everything anyway, he was going to keep his eyes on that girl. She was fond of getting into trouble. 

He searched for Joreen with his eyes and found her. She was looking at a card in her hand while looking around, she seemed to be looking for the person she was sharing her gift with.

"I was just wondering if you would like to look around the ship with me. I heard there are a lot of fun things inside but I haven't gotten the chance to check yet." 

"I have checked them already. Nothing special." 

"No, you haven't!" His mother suddenly appeared beside them. "You haven't looked around remember?" She was smiling while giving him the 'I dare you to say otherwise' look.

He forced a smile also and replied, "I already looked around. Besides, it's late." He said, sticking to his words. "Excuse me." He gave a polite bow before walking away, leaving his embarrassed mother alone with the girl who looked even more embarrassed. 

"You didn't have to do that to your mother. You embarrassed her." Mr Ping, who appeared from nowhere said to Hoy.

Hoy stopped walking and turned to look at his friend, "This whole thing is her fault! If she wasn't pushing those ladies to me, she wouldn't make Joreen angry with me and if Joreen isn't angry with me, she wouldn't raise her voice at me and tell me to let her be. So if you are a nice person..." He placed his hand on Mr Ping's shoulders, "...do not let those girls appear before me again. Because the next time Luo Joreen gets angry at me, I am going to kill someone. And it's not going to be Joreen." He said seriously before walking away. 

It was safe to say Mr Ping shivered, not from cold, but from his words. He looked dead serious. How come the cold CEO who nothing seemed to get to is suddenly so angry because his 'ward' refused to speak with him. 

"He is so scary." He said, hugging himself. 

"Are you Mr Ping Quincheng?" A feminine voice asked behind him.

He turned around to look at the lady, she held a paper in one hand and a wrapped gift in another hand. 

The look on her face showed she was tired of looking around for the one she was supposed to gift and was hoping it was him. Above all, she was a very pretty lady, shorter than him, slender, and had a black hair which was in a short bob. She was dressed casually in a sweater and trousers. 

He smiled and cleared his throat before adjusting his jacket. "I am him." He said with a grin. 

"Thank Goodness! Been searching all over for you." She smiled in relief before turning the paper to show him his name. 

"This is yours. Merry Christmas... well.. in advance but Merry Christmas." She handed him the gift..

He took it from her excitedly with his free hand, his other hand was holding the gift he was supposed to give to someone else and his was quite bigger than what he just received. 

"Thank you." He shook the small box very close to his ear but he couldn't guess what was inside. 

"Size doesn't matter." He said when he noticed she was looking at his, "The content matters. But I know yours is a really nice gift so you don't have to look embarrassed." He grinned again.

The people here were wealthy after all. He was sure the gift he had bought with his one month salary was nothing in par with this he just received since the girl looked like she was from a rich family. 

The girl smiled awkwardly at him, "I will just... leave." She didn't wait for him to say anything else before she hurried away. 

"Shy girls. How adorable." Mr Ping said with a smile. He could not wait to see his gift.

*****

"Hoy!" Changyu called him, a smile on her face. 

Hoy walked towards her and bowed. "Hello auntie."

The older woman looked at his face carefully before asking, "You look unhappy. Did something happen to you?"

"Not at all. I just feel a little tired." He assured her. 

"Are you sure something else is not troubling you?" She asked again.

Hoy wondered what she was up to especially seeing how she was smiling at him. 

"I am really fine auntie. Thanks for worrying about—"

"Jo darling..." Changyu interrupted when she called Joreen who was speaking with someone, probably a fan of hers. 

Joreen looked at her aunt and then frowned slightly when she saw Hoy standing beside her. She excused herself from her company before walking towards them. 

"Aunt, uncle." She greeted them with a single bow. 

Hoy swore that if he heard 'Uncle' one more time, he was really going to lose it. 

"That was a lovely performance darling. You were such a ravishing beauty. I bet every single men here could not take their eyes off you."

Joreen was smiling and blushing at the same time. "I... doubt that." She made sure to keep her eyes on Changyu and not let her eyes stray to the man beside her. 

"Doubt that? Don't be silly my dear. Hoy.." Changyu turned to look at Hoy, "What do you think? Wasn't she extremely beautiful? Don't you think all the single men suddenly want her?" She asked him with an innocent smile.