Chapter 864 The Last Act
The evening of the following day, Alexander held a birthday party for Jessamine’s children and invited every prominent person in the entire city; the scene was very lively.
Jamie had arrived fairly early and was standing in a corner with a glass of wine in his hand while observing the guests passing by with a bored expression. Then, a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye quickly attracted his attention.
He quickly placed his wine glass on a bar top nearby and immediately chased after the figure. In the end, he finally caught her standing by an exquisitely decorated willow tree.
“I finally found you!” He quickly placed his hand on the woman’s shoulder. “I knew you wouldn’t miss an event like today.”
The woman heard his words and turned around, showing a confused and innocent expression. “Do I know you?”
When Jamie saw the unfamiliar face, his smile froze on his face as he quickly withdrew his hand. Then, he awkwardly apologized, “Sorry. I mistook you as someone else.”
“No worries. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving.”
“Go ahead.”
The woman smiled and nodded slightly before walking into the crowd.
Looking at the back view of the woman, he could not help but frown.
Strange. Why do they look so similar?
“Jamie, who are you looking for?”
Danny was full of smiles as he approached him while linking arms with Ariel. Ever since they started dating, the two were always inseparably together as if they were stuck together by glue.
Feeling bothered for no reason, Jamie retorted, “Why do you care? You stinky couple, leave me alone!”
“Hey, watch your mouth. I didn’t even provoke you, so don’t implicate the innocent,” Ariel said with a smile.
“Yes, yes, yes. You guys are untouchable. I can’t win against you guys.” He then clasped his hands together and pretended to beg for mercy. “Ariel, please, I beg you. Take this man of yours away and bug some other singleton, okay?”
“Wait. I came here to bring you something good. You’ll regret it if you send me away now.” Danny smiled meaningfully.
“I’ll be grateful enough if you just don’t trick me. What good things can you bring for me?” Jamie rolled his eyes.
“Ugh. I won’t trick you. I have a girlfriend now, so I won’t be as unreliable as before. Anyway, just wait and see!” Danny patted his chest to assure Jamie and turned to the side to look at Ariel, who understood his hint immediately.
She let go of his arm, went away, and soon led a mixed-blooded beauty back with her.
“Let me introduce you guys.” Ariel introduced the two. “This is my classmate from when I was studying my doctorate in Diajan, Shirley Duncan. She’s also in the international business industry and is currently working in a transnational company from Diajan. This is Jamie Keller, the current CEO of Keller Group.”
“Hello.”
“Nice to meet you.”
The two shook hands briefly as a token of their newly established friendship.
Sensing that it was the right time to leave, Danny suggested, “Jamie, I’ll leave Shirley in your hands. You must take good care of her for us.”
It was very obvious that he was trying to set them up.
Once Ariel and Danny left, the air between them became awkward. For once, the usually chatty Jamie, who fitted into any crowd, did not take the initiative to strike up a conversation.
In the end, it was Shirley who broke the silence.
“Mr. Keller, I heard that you’re good at racing. Is it true?”
Surprised, Jamie looked up at her and asked, “Do you know much about racing?”
“I know bits and pieces.” Shirley smiled.
Now that they were talking about racing, Jamie chattered nonstop, “Actually, racing cars and fast speeds aren’t the most exciting thing for me. I think the most interesting thing about racing is the process of modifying the cars, taking a pile of auto parts that don’t go together, and turning them into a unique race car. Every part needs to be carefully arranged, and we have to paint the car in the end as well. It’s like a form of art…”
While saying that, he looked at Shirley and hoped to get affirmation and excitement from her, but what he saw was only politeness and calmness.
The never changing smile and patience she wore on her face showed that she was not that interested in racing, and it was her upbringing that made her willing to listen to his rants.
At that moment, Jamie realized that besides Narissa, there would not be another woman that shared the same passion as him.
That thought suddenly made him lose all interest. He withdrew the words he was about to say and replaced them with a smile.
“Why did you stop?” asked Shirley.
“I’m not that professional in this aspect, so talking about it any further would make me lose my act.” He found a casual excuse to end the topic.
“I think you’re quite professional. I hope I can see you do it someday,” she replied formally.
“Of course,” he half-heartedly agreed.
As they continued to exchange pleasantries, the atmosphere between them became subtle and there was no further progress in their relationship.
On the other end, Alexander pushed open the door to the lounge and entered expressionlessly.
Inside the room, Jessamine was sitting before the mirror while wearing a dazzling evening dress. There was no trace of joy on her face; instead, she wore a determined expression as if she was preparing for a final battle.
She saw Alexander come in through the mirror and realized that he had never taken the initiative to greet her ever since they met.
“Once you’re ready, we’ll head outside and finish our last performance.” His tone was cold as usual.
“I understand.” She calmly replied, “I’ll be right there.”
Not intending to wait for her, he went out as soon as he got the answer he wanted.
A while later, her children came inside and prepared to head over to the main venue with her.
Turning around to hug her children, she comforted them, “Kids, from today onwards, we won’t be living with Uncle Alex anymore, but there’s nothing to worry about because you are my children. So, even if we’re chased away, we must still keep our heads held high. We must let everyone know that it’s his loss to chase us away, understand?”
“Understood,” the children said in unison.
Jessamine let them go and turned to her son. “Do you remember what I told you?”
“Yes.” He nodded.
“Good.” With full determination, she stood up, held each of her children’s hands, and said, “Let’s get back our dignity!”
…
When Elise brought the children into the party, Alexander and Jessamine were already on stage.
He was holding a microphone, announcing his parting with the children and that he would establish a fund worth twenty-five million Cittadel Crowns as their birthday present, which Jessamine would manage before they reached adulthood. After that, they would take over the funds.
Under the stage, the crowd was in a stir and gossip was exchanged everywhere.
“As expected from the richest man in the city, he’s so generous to them. That’s twenty-five million! An ordinary family wouldn’t be able to make that much their whole lives, but these two children acknowledged him as their father and got that sum of money as a birthday present. How lucky of them!”
“Alexander doesn’t have any children. Do you think he would choose one of them as his successor?”
“They said Alexander has fallen in love with someone else. I think that wherever there’s money involved, their feelings aren’t far behind. Judging by this situation, I think Alexander still has feelings for Jessamine!”
“Ugh, didn’t you hear? They said Alexander flipped out because of Anastasia…”
As Irwin and Alexia were blocked by the crowd and could not see the situation on stage, they could only stare at each other and get an estimate of what was happening through the conversations they heard from the crowd.
“Irwin, how much is twenty-five million?
“Do you remember the laptop Godmother bought for me? That amount can buy at least four laptops,” Irwin stated.
“Oh.” Alexia immediately felt uninterested. “Mr. Handsome is so stingy.”
