?Chapter 112:
“Alright.”
Hadley couldn’t care less if the man had a full head of curls or was as bald as the moon. It was just a simple toast to express her gratitude for the generosity—nothing she couldn’t handle with ease.
Out in the VIP booth, Eric sat like a king surveying his domain, his gaze fixed unblinkingly on the stage.
Atst…
The overhead lights dimmed, wrapping the room in anticipation. Was this it? Was she about to step into the spotlight?
The music ignited, and small circles of light flickered onto the stage, unfurling like ripples spreading across a midnightke.
The room was filled with the sound of trickling water.
Then, from the depths of shadow, she emerged…
This evening, Hadley glided onto the stage, adorned in an exquisite white gown that clung to her torso like a lover’s embrace before cascading into a free-flowing train below. The silken material danced with the spotlight, glinting like liquid starlight with every graceful motion she made.
Her face was concealed by a mask, one half adorned with an intricate lotus design, delicate and blooming, while the other remained a nk canvas of mystery. The contrast was striking, a silent promise of hidden depths.
Hadley exuded a serene allure, an enigma wrapped in elegance. There was something maic about her, a puzzle that didn’t unnerve but rather beckoned the audience closer, stirring their curiosity like moths to a me.
In that moment, she danced with a grace that seemed to defy thews of the earth, her movements as fluid as a dream.
She was a vision of purity, a lotus flower in full bloom, untouched by the world’s mor.
She paid no heed to the crowd, her focus inward, her presence ethereal. Yet, her indifference only amplified her allure—she was a star beyond reach, a celestial being gracing the mortal stage.
The audience sat entranced, their eyes glued to her every twirl and leap, unable to tear themselves away from the magic unfolding before them.
Perched in the opulent VIP booth overlooking the stage, Eric sat utterly enchanted, his eyes locked on Hadley, as if she were the sole star in his universe.
A soft, primal rhythm of drums began to pulse through the air, and Hadley soared upward, her body slicing through the space in a perfect mid-air split. With effortless precision, she seized a ribbon that unfurled from above.
She swirled across the stage, a vision of elegance in motion, each gesture painting the air with poetry. “Incredible!”
“There she glides!”
Gasps of awe rippled through the crowd—their voices swelling into a chorus of delight that echoed off the walls.
Yet the ribbon fell short, too brief to carry Hadley near Eric’s booth. A shadow of disappointment flitted across his features, and he swallowed a lump of longing, the bitter taste of it lingering.
Then, a darker realization struck him like a storm cloud breaking. Eric bristled at the way the others ogled her, their gazes too hungry, too irreverent. It gnawed at him, their audacity to feast on her beauty with such reckless abandon.
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