Chapter 10: His Surprise Gift

Kate reached Los Angeles at dusk. After she got out of the train station, she found the street was decorated with roses and balloons. Lovers were showing affection in public. She realized that it was Valentine's Day. The huge screens outside the mall were showing commercials of diamonds, jewels, roses, and chocolates. Yearning girls were looking up at the screen with envy.

Kate smiled at the scene while avoiding the crowd. She shoved her way to the bus stop. This had nothing to do with her. She came to this city to make a living and caught sight of the evilest side of this prosperous city.

Now the neon lights and luxurious shops could not distract her any longer. She felt that everything was costly, and sometimes people paid in blood. She was in the same city but in a different place.

Tristan was sitting in his car, flipping through a finance magazine. There was an interview with him. He didn't spend much time on the lengthy and flattering article but rested his eyes on a picture of himself wearing sunglasses and a golf cap while holding a golf club. That image looked like a stranger to him.

He saw from the corner of his eyes that the glass door of the apartment building was pushed open, and a slender figure came out. He put away the magazine and opened the car door.

A tall and gorgeous lady wearing a black mink cashmere coat and a red dress underneath came near. Her long sleek golden hair was braided into a bun. Her makeup perfectly enhanced her natural beauty. When she opened her mouth, a sweet and amiable voice said very pleasantly, "Sorry for keeping you waiting."

"It's OK." Tristan opened the car door for her and took care that her head didn't bump the top of the car. When he got into the car, he produced a bouquet of red roses from the trunk. "Happy Valentine's Day!"

The woman was surprised with joy. She took it and made fun of him, "I thought a busy guy like you wouldn't notice this holiday."

Tristan started the car and replied carelessly, "The merchants won't let you forget it. The ad deluge could wake up the dead."

The woman changed her face imperceptibly. She wasn't happy with the reply, but she bent down her face to smell the scent of the flowers and touched the full petals, and said with a little delight, "From Ecuador?"

Tristan nodded. "You have sharp eyes."

The woman curled her lips and smiled. These are exclusive roses for the wedding of the Spanish crown prince. They had deep significance.

The party was held at the Shangri-La Hotel by the city chamber of commerce. The decorations were stylish and high-end.

As Tristan stepped into the hall, some people recognized him and smiled, trying to catch up with him. In just a moment, he was surrounded by people and became the spotlight of the hall. Tristan kept low-profile most of the time, and he rarely attended these kinds of events.

He was in a black suit and a white shirt. He appeared young and graceful among the crowd, made up of mostly middle-aged CEOs. His manners and speech were intelligent and gentle, which attracted admiration from most of the females there.

There were quite a lot of rumors about him. Single so far, some said his wife died years ago, some said he had a dozen mistresses. But the prominent ring on his fourth finger added a mystery to their conjecture.

However, this was no obstacle for modern ladies who pursued true love. What really stopped them was the lady in the red dress beside him.

The pretty lady in the red dress had her own admirers too. As the hottest hostess of the finance channel, Jessie Henderson was highly educated, smart, and experienced in handling this kind of event. It definitely could boost a man's vanity to have a woman like her by his side. And what was not to be forgotten was her family background.

Their family had an old history and had powerful and wealthy members in the past generations. Her father was rumored to be running for mayor of Los Angeles. This made her social status go up dramatically.

One was the sworn enemy of men and the apple of the eyes of women, and the other one was just the opposite. This made a pair of them.

Tristan, however, as the protagonist of the story, didn't think much of their relations. Instead, he was a little absent-minded tonight. He didn't know why, but when he saw Jessie's inexpensive clothing and jewels, he thought of the girl in blue squatting on the snow. It was a totally different world from here…She must have felt cold.

And then he wondered how old she was.

Judging from her pale but innocent face, probably less than 20. She was still a kid.

Jessie's refreshing voice brought him to reality from his mental vagrancy. Someone walked up to him, probably a person whom Jessie had interviewed in her show. She introduced him to Tristan, and after some flattering on each side, they chatted on some hot subjects.

As for Tristan becoming the spotlight of tonight's event, another reason was his Chasin Group had just invested in a big project, a landmark building-World Trade Center, which would be the financial center of Los Angeles. Now everything was ready, and the project was going to kick off in March. People in this business wanted to pry for more detailed information and see if they could get something from it.

Tristan had been in the business for years, and he knew the tactics. He made no substantial promises but always left some room for hope to others. He wasn't as relaxed inside as he seemed to be. Besides, this investment cost Chasin Group a great deal; as a landmark building, the city government kept a close eye on it, which put great pressure on Tristan.

Some gossip said that one officer in the municipal government even lost his job for this project. Of course, this was just gossip, and if it was true or not it could be verified. Anyway, he was under great pressure.

Somebody wished him success and a lot more hope for his failure. And not long ago, the incident of that disc was quite a headache for him. Fortunately, it was just an issue of money, but he was again reminded that he needed to take care of all sorts of matters, big and small.

After the party, Tristan sent Jessie back home. Downstairs in her building, she asked if he would like to go up and have a cup of coffee. He thought for a second and said yes.