Is this destiny?

As Sarah and Elanor walked, Sarah was still thinking about Aiden's father. Compared to him, Aiden is quite… normal. On the other side, she knows from where Jeff got his stiffness.

Sarah's thoughts were interrupted with Elanor's question, "Are you and Aiden going to give me a grandchild soon?"

Sarah lost color from her face, and stuttered: "I'm not even twenty years old!"

Sarah thought how she needs to be always vigilant in front of this woman who appears nice but can really hit her with some unexpected blows.

Seeing Sarah's expression, Elanor laughed. "I didn't mean to scare you. I was just teasing you a bit." Elanor thought for some time before looking at Sarah. "You said that you will graduate this year from college. And you are not even twenty years old?"

Sarah got her color back, happy that topic changed. "Yes, I skipped few grades."

Elanor was pleasantly surprised. "The more I find out about you, the more I like you... if I can pick a daughter, I would pick you. But daughter-in-law is just as good." Elanor gave a meaningful look to Sarah.

Sarah looked to the side wanting to avoid Elanor's gaze and ended up seeing Aiden and Jeff standing with two other women. Sarah's legs stopped in their tracks and her eyes narrowed.

Elanor noticed and followed her gaze. When she saw the situation, she smiled and tugged Sarah's arm. "Come, let me show you how I send away wannabe girlfriends."

Elanor and Sarah linked arms tightly and walked toward Aiden and Jeff.

When Elanor and Sarah reached the brothers, Aiden and Jeff moved their gazes towards them. Two young women turned to see where they are looking, and when they saw Elanor, they showed their most courteous smiles while ignoring Sarah.

"Boys..." Elanor greeted her sons and then faced two ladies, scrutinizing them silently.

It was obvious that two ladies are feeling uncomfortable under cold Elanor's gaze. They opened their mouth to greet her, but Elanor interrupted. "It seems that you lost your way... eligible bachelors are next to the table with desserts." She gestured to the opposite side of the venue.

Two young ladies where shocked when they heard this, and awkwardly smiled before leaving.

Elanor lifted her chin victoriously and glanced at Sarah. "How was it?"

Sarah giggled. "Not bad. Not bad at all."

Elanor was pleased with this response from Sarah, and then turned to Jeff and Aiden with a stern expression. "How many times I told you not to be this tolerant? Whoever saw you would think that you are flirting with them." Aiden and Jeff shrunk under scolding from their mom. Aiden wanted to say something, but she didn't let him form a word. "And you... if you want to keep Sarah by your side, watch your behavior."

Sarah was surprised to hear Elanor scold them like that, but she didn't dare say anything. It seems that all mothers are scary. Somehow the situation reminded her of Evalina, and she lowered her head thinking what happened to that woman.

"Mom... Look... You got Sarah sad.", Aiden reprimanded his mom while pulling Sarah to his side.

Sarah snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head. "Oh, no... it's not Nori's fault. I was just thinking about something."

Aiden leaned his head next to Sarah's and brushed his lips against her temple before saying quietly, "You two are getting along well."

She smiled in response before looking at Jeff and exchanging greetings.

They chatted for some time when they noticed that Oscar is walking towards them with another older man and a young woman following them. Aiden pulled Sarah closer to him and said in a hushed voice. "That is my dad".

Sarah whispered back. "We met."

Aiden looked at her, surprise showing on his face, but he didn't have a chance to ask for more details, as they reached them.

Oscar looked at Aiden, then at Jeff. "Jeff, meet Lambert... and his daughter Isabella."

Sarah observed that Jeff, Aiden and Elanor became more alert and their body posture showed anxiousness. Sarah remembered that Aiden told her that Jeff has an arranged marriage for business purposes, and that he will meet his future wife at this event. She could not help but wonder if this young lady is the one that Whites arranged for Jeff to marry.

Isabella is much shorter than Jeff. Sarah can tell that if they come closer, Isabella's nose would poke Jeff's chest even with her wearing high heels. As Isabella turned towards Jeff to greet him, Sarah observed that Isabella's body proportions are good, and her red long hair is pulled into an updo with a bun on top of her head, leaving number of strands to fall down her back. Her facial features are good, she is a beautiful young woman no matter how someone looks at her, with large blue eyes. Sarah observed that those blue eyes show sadness, instead of happiness or anticipation that you should feel when you meet someone who should be your partner for life.

Sarah looked toward Jeff and noticed that his expression is stiff, more than usual. And as soon as he ended handshakes with two newcomers, his hands tightened into fists.

Both Jeff and Isabella have body language that they are not comfortable. This made Sarah confirm: this is the woman that is arranged to marry Jeff. And none of them is excited about this… both of them look like they are opposing the idea. Sarah felt her heart ache, but she didn't know what to do. It's not her place to say anything. And maybe she is seeing wrong… but she can't be wrong. Their body language is obvious.

While she traveled with her mom, Sarah got to know about the concept where people arrange marriage for their children, either due to culture, or money, or power... so this is not new to her. However, this is the first time to see someone she knows goes through this, and Sarah has mixed emotions.

She felt that Aiden embraced her with one arm from the back, and his hand applied slight pressure on her waist.. She realized that she is staring, and he is reminding her of that… she averted her gaze.