Chapter 228: The Opening

Samantha and Hannah pushed open the door of the venue and entered the hall. As soon as the doors were opened, they were greeted by hotel staff and ushered them to their seats.

Seeing two ladies entering the hall, the men and women around looked in their direction. And just like the two men in the registration booth, they were also confused as to who came in with Hannah. They all thought that she looked familiar but could not recognize who she was.

Dressed in a blush pink evening gown, Samantha looked very youthful. The dress that she wore had a lacey top with half cap sleeves and the skirt was made with chiffon, a smooth material that flowed very nicely and swayed whenever she walks. With a simple pair of pearl earrings and off-white clutch to complete her outfit, she looked dainty like a flower that had just started to bloom.

Both she and Hannah walked towards their seats without paying attention to any of their classmates despite the obvious chatter around them that was happening the moment that they came in the room.

"Look at Hannah, her dress is so nice! She's really fashionable."

"She had always dressed very nicely ever since high school. That's not a surprise anymore."

"But who's that with her? Is that her girlfriend? She's very pretty… no, she's stunning!"

"What are you talking about? She's not a lesbian."

"Oh… well, she always hung around that Kim girl. I even thought they were together then."

Samantha and Hannah eyed each other and suppressed themselves from laughing. "They thought we were a couple," Hannah said.

"I know. If that were true, I'm sure we would be the most loving and hating couple of all." Samantha replied and they snorted.

While the two of them were always together like they were inseparable, it's not all the time that they agreed to the same things, so they had their fights too. But those fights never lasted for a very long time because they could not stand not talking to each other. So after a silly argument, they would end up looking for an ice cream shop and be friends again.

The whispers died down when the doors of the hall opened once more, showing Oliver walking in with Chase following behind them. But that only lasted for a few seconds before the ladies started talking in hushed tones again as they saw their high school crush looking very dashing and not a hair out of place.

With his arrogant vibe, Oliver had a grin on his face. His once boyish charm made him the school's prince charming, however, he looked more manly now and that just made the ladies crush on him even more. Ignoring the calls from the sides, he continued to stride towards Samantha and Hannah's table.

Noticing the approaching man, Hannah nudged Samantha on the knees and whispered, "Look it's Oliver and he's coming over here."

"Who? Who is that?" she asked with a genuine expression, unsure who this guy was as she did not have many male friends since middle school.

Hannah's face turned perplexed at what she was hearing, "Are you serious? Do you not remember that he asked you out that one time but you refused his invitation in front of everyone?"

With raised brows, Samantha was surprised "He did? I did that?" she questioned, not even remotely remembering whatever happened in the past.

For something like that where the school's prince charming had asked a girl out, one would never forget that incident; especially when the school's prince got turned down. But for Samantha, even something like that was not worth remembering since she doesn't even recall anything like what Hannah told her.

"Sir, here is your seat," said the usherette to the handsome man in a plaid suit.

Oliver noticed Samantha taking a glance at him and he took it as her checking him out, a sly smile appeared on his face. He sat down on the seat across the ladies and Chase followed suit.

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"Kim." A baritone voice called her from behind making them turn their heads towards him.

A carefree smile formed on her pretty face when their class president approached them, "Eli, it's nice to see you again," she said as she stood up and shook hands with him. Eli was the only male classmate that Samantha was somehow friends with as he never forced himself to unnecessarily mingle with her and he was always a fair person who never judged someone so easily.

And Samantha felt that he was a genuine person whom she did not feel that she had to be on guard.

"It's a pleasure to be graced by your presence, Madam Cho." he spoke in a low voice that only she and Hannah could hear.

Samantha blushed at how he addressed her, feeling shy all of a sudden because of her title. "Tch." she scoffed and stifled a laugh.

"I heard your wife just gave birth to a healthy baby girl, congratulations Eli!" Hannah greeted when she stood beside Samantha.

"Wait, you're married and you're a father? Wow!" Samantha remarked with a surprised expression. They were of the same age and both married but Eli was already a step ahead of her. Not that she thought it is a race but rather, it was quite weird for her how their old classmate who was once a teen just like them was now a father. How time flies by so quickly.

"Are you surprised?" Eli chuckled, "I actually thought that Hannah was going to get married first and have babies before us," he side glanced Hannah and caught her eyes widening and mouth agape.

"Wha- Hey! What do you mean by that?" she slapped Eli's forearm, seemingly annoyed by his little comment and her cheeks reddened at the thought of her having kids on her left and right arms.

"Aw!" he reacted before his attention was caught by someone who waved him to go over. "Oh hey Sam, we're about to start. I will call your name soon, okay?"

Samantha nodded and watched Eli join the few people standing near the stage. She and Hannah sat on their seats again and she noticed someone who was staring at her so she shifted her gaze and her eyes met with Oliver's. She raised a brow at him and saw him giving her a faint smile, however, Samantha just ignored him and averted her gaze.

Logan stood at a corner and watched the scenes before him, and as if his brain had unlimited storage, he took a mental note of those who had engaged with her or even just looked at her. Pressing a button on his right earpiece, he spoke, "Check out Oliver Su. The one sitting across her. Send me his data."

"Yes, captain." A voice replied.

.

.

Eli walked up to the stage with a microphone in his hand as he addressed everyone in the room with his greeting. Everyone quietened and focused their attention on him.

Their class had thirty-eight students and a few of them brought their partners with them.

At first, this reunion was supposedly only for their class alone. However, there were changes made and the committee decided to combine three class sections together so the total number of attendees in the hall was over one hundred. It was why their original two-days and one-night event turned into a one-night of soirée and the next day for some fun activities.

After Eli's long greeting, he glanced at Samantha as if he was giving her a cue and then spoke to the microphone once again. "Let us give the floor to our speaker of the night – a successful woman who always surprises me with her skills and capabilities. Let us all welcome, our dear classmate and the CEO of Trident — Samantha Kim," he said, raising his arm to gesture in her direction.

Despite her stomach grumbling from nervousness and her heart pumping like it was about to leap out of her chest, Samantha stood up gracefully and with her head held high.. And she strutted towards the stage, ignoring all the eyes that stared at her.

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