All Novel Sweet
Chapter 2702
Rita had interjected to stop Vince from saying any more nonsense. She admired Sherman, but admiring someone of the opposite gender did not mean it should always lead to romantic feelings or marriage. The older generations tended to talk about the kind of things that always left a sour taste in her mouth. Furthermore, Sherman could see through their family's scheming behavior, and Vince's attempt to set them up would only reflect poorly on the family.
Sherman maintained his characteristic faint smile throughout the conversation, yet his decision to never cooperate with the Russells again became more resolute. Vince's machinations were utterly excessive, and Sherman would have left long ago if he had not gained a better second impression of Rita as a person.
The entire situation felt unbearably tedious.
Once Rita managed to persuade her father to depart. She apologized to Sherman, 'I'm sorry about that. By the way, didn't you mention having matters to attend to at the company? You can leave if you need to. I can deal with my dad."
Sherman arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure? Won't your father create more problems for you if I leave?'
Rita did not expect him to have seen through it all, but she nevertheless nodded resolutely. "I can handle it. It's nothing serious, anyway." The longer he stayed there, the more chances he would get to see her family make a fool of themselves. Rita did not usually hit it off with other people so easily, and she did not want him to suffer in the banquet.
Sherman did not insist on staying either. After all, he had only met Rita twice, and he was not prepared to burden himself for her sake by lingering in such an uncomfortable situation. His status afforded him the luxury of leaving whenever he wanted without facing any objections from
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Once Sherman left, the dinner dragged on for what felt like an eternity for Rita, whose frown only deepened when she received the occasional disapproving glares from her father.
As the evening drew to a close, an unexpected incident occurred. Karen exclaimed that the bangle she had received as a gift had gone missing. "You must've just misplaced it. We'll search for it once the guests have left," Vince said. His gaze wamed her not to cause a scene. Karen's reaction was incredulous, more so if she acted as if she wanted to do a body search of the other guests. Her tantrum was unwarranted at a banquet where all the guests could afford such jewelry.
The guests exchanged unpleasant gazes with each other, as Karen had spoken as if her bangle was something that all the guests coveted. Everyone who was in attendance there could afford whatever jewelry that was priced in the tens of thousands.
Despite their displeasure, no one wished to speak too harshly of Karen out of respect for the hosts.
Gina, who knew Rita's mother in the past, was the first to take the initiative and speak up. "Don't be offended. I'm sure she's only raising this while we're all here because the bangle has significant sentimental value to her. Seeing as how important it is to her, why don't you search us before we all leave? I'm sure she'll have some peace of mind if we manage to find it. It must've slipped accidentally in between the cushions." Although Gina's words seemed to show concem for Karen, they only exacerbated Vince's discontent. Those words might as well have been a slap to his face.