Lots of invited guests were present, including the press. The media personnel; photographers and interviewers were present. They dressed all the men in black fitted jackets, and the ladies had heels on their legs. Sapphire felt a tremendous shame hugging her body as she entered the building with white sneakers on her feet. She tried as much as possible to pull back, but Jade dragged her in as if she was his daughter.

“Come on naughty!” He hissed. Sapphire just followed him like his puppet.

Soon, his eyes caught a group of camera operators. They were taking pictures of the guests as they walked in, one after another.

“I’m going to say hello to a couple of people.” He uttered underneath to Sapphire’s hearing. She just rolled her eyes at him out of frustration as he left her hand.

Sapphire watched him walk to a couple of business executives. Jade joined them in whatever conversation.

“What the heck am I doing here?” Sapphire hissed mentally. She thought of what she might do at home if she wasn’t there.

“I won’t stay here for long,” Sapphire promised herself. “Just one hour.”

Jade turned in her direction, but he watched her walk away.

About to enter the Cinema, her eyes caught a woman selling a bunch of keyholders. They had a small ball-like teddy attached to each keyholder.

She picked up two, one sky blue colored with letters J, and D attached to the keyholder. The other pink one had S and H on it as well.

“How much is it?” Sapphire asked the seller.

“10 dollars each.” the woman replied.

Just then, Jade came to join her.

“What are you doing?” His voice made Sapphire turn back to him, surprised.

“You won’t want to waste my time with that, right?” He hissed and rumbled a note on the woman’s table. It was 100 dollars.

“Keep the change,” Jade muttered to the woman as he grabbed Sapphire’s hand.

“I want to pay for that! Why did you have to--“

“Shhh!” Jade shushed her as Sapphire stopped whining. Trying not to get more eyes on her. It’s so unfortunate she had to be around him.

Sapphire yawned as she walked behind him.

“Don’t tell me you’re still hungry.” Jade grinned.

“I’m so tired and hungry, Mr. CEO. I can’t wait to leave here already. I’m bored.” Sapphire rolled her eyes and walked forward while Jade just followed. An exasperated sigh escaped her lips with disappointment in her eyes. The guests were entering and everyone was quietly taking their seats.

At the other corner of the theatre, an elderly couple was seated with Ace. They were both dressed in black suits and the elderly man, Walter Damien, was Ace’s father. Behind his dad was his mum, Sandra Damien Alejandro, the first daughter of the Chairman.

“Well,” she turned in Sapphire’s direction almost immediately they walked in. She watched them carefully, trying to figure out who she was.

“Isn’t that Jade?” She stretched her sight as they took their seats. “Look, honey. That my niece, right?” She tapped on her husband’s arm. She noticed their presence. Ace also turned to them but kept quiet.

“Yes, but who’s that girl? Is he in a relationship?”

“I’m not sure if they’re in a relationship, but I’ve never seen her before.” Sandra cracked as she turned to her son. “Don’t you know about this as well? Is she Jade’s girlfriend?”

A lot of thought poured through Ace’s mind. Somehow, he fell behind because he also didn’t know who the girl was, but that wasn’t his problem. Ace kept quiet, as he couldn’t give answers.

Jade took a secret look at the Damien’s. He knew they would be curious about who Sapphire was so he just turned away. His eyes caught the journalists and camera operators who came for the event. They walked towards where he was seated, but they didn’t notice he was there because the theatre was a little dark. The only lights were the fluorescent bulbs on the front roll.

“Hey, Miss!” Jade whispered. “Try not to act like you know me, okay? Don’t even turn your head my way and stop staring at me like a fucking idiot!”

“Stop acting weird, Mr. Fucking CEO! If you don’t want to talk to me, then say nothing. And if you don’t want me, here. I could easily leave, you know.”

Jade turned to her with anger in his eyes.

“Why on Earth are you so stubborn?...” He gawked at her like a vulture but quickly looked away.

“It’s not as if I owe you an explanation, Jade!” She grabbed her bag. “I’m leaving.” About to stand up, Jade held her hand and pulled her back to the seat.

He let out a grin, wondering if anyone had noticed them or not. Casting a brief look at the media personnel, it seems as if their attention were engaged in something else. No one was looking in his direction.

Sapphire gently took her hands from his grip.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, miss.” Jade scoffed, paying his attention to the large screen in front of them.

“What are you blabbing right now? Why is coming here my fault, anyway? I told you I hate documentaries, but you punished me like this on our first date.” Sapphire cried.

Just then, the documentary started. It was titled ‘The Discovery of Space‘. Too bad Sapphire wasn’t a fan of science or anything related. Except agriculture, of course. The introductory part alone took thirty minutes. The program started as everyone glued their eyes to the screen.

With the grammatical terms of the narrator, it didn’t take long before Sapphire’s sight bade the world goodbye. Her snore was loud enough to wake a sleeping lion, but good thing the audience enjoyed the documentary. No one noticed her snore except for Jade, who was sitting right next to her. Sapphire threw her head from side to side, enjoying the fantasies of space in her dreams. Jade wore an eagle eye on her, watching if anyone was watching him or if Sapphire would just stop snoring for once.

He looked so unsettled in his back-fitted jacket as he watched the documentary. Rolling her head from side to side, Sapphire finally placed her head on Jade’s shoulders. He held her head to his shoulder, so she wouldn’t fall, but his touch woke her up. Sapphire almost jumped out of her chair like a disturbed fish, but Jade grabbed her face, making sure his hands were closer. Her mouth is tight enough that she won’t be able to make a sound.

Sapphire struggled to get free from his grip, but he wouldn’t leave her. After she calmed down, Jade took his hands off her face.

As if something held her down, Sapphire noticed that Jade’s hands were firmly wrapped around her shoulder. She looked at him, but he still focused his eyes on the program.

Sapphire tried to take his hands off, but he held her tighter instead.
“What the hell is wrong with you right now, Jade? People are watching, you know!”

Jade turned to her, a bit pissed off.

“That’s what I wanted to say. People are eating us, so why can’t you just behave yourself for once, miss?”

He placed her head on his chest like a doll, but Sapphire wasn’t comfortable with these. She tried to let loose of his grip, but he grabbed her shoulder, full fist, and clutched her to himself.

Sapphire reached for the arm of the chair, but she couldn’t. Her whole body was aching from his grip and her heart felt as if it was boiling as well. She couldn’t handle any of these, it was too much. A couple of years clouded her eyes as she tried pulling away from him.

“You’re hurting me, Jade.”

“I dare you to fall asleep again and see what I’ll do to you.”

“W... what would you do to me?” She stammered as her heart pondered.

Jade turned to her as his anger subdued. They locked eyes for a moment as a mysterious smirk spread out on Jade’s lips.

“Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you.” With these, Sapphire stared at his lips and swallowed hard in her throat.

Jade moved closer and closer to her as if he wanted to hiss at her, but Sapphire tried to stop him.

They paused for a moment, making Sapphire then blink into reality. “You dare not touch me!”

“You dare not fall asleep,” Jade warned, and then let go of her completely. “Ugh, how embarrassing?”