-Chapter 13-

-Chapter 13-

-December 31, 2006-

-POV Clarissa Winchester-

"What the hell is he doing? He's already missed three calls. You didn't tell him anything, did you?" I said to Ryan in front of the reception hall rented by Tony Stark.

"I don't know," said Ryan, a little uncomfortable.

"Stop telling me nonsense. You didn't dare ask him or you told him not to come, didn't you?" I said, tense, as everything had been happening too quickly lately.

"What?! No, I told him to come and he happily agreed to be your date," said Ryan.

"Then what’s wrong? How can you not know where he is when you spend your days together at work?" I said, annoyed.

"He went to Europe," Ryan finally admitted.

"What?!" I said, shocked.

"When?" asked Melissa.

"Since yesterday or the day before," said Ryan.

"Why?" I asked, concerned about the reason for this urgent trip.

"I don't know. All I know is that we're supposed to wait for him. He said he'd be here, so he will… probably," said Ryan.

I dialed his number again, cursing that jerk inwardly.

'If he doesn't answer, he can forget about me,' I thought, furious that he dared to stand me up.

"Yes?" said David.

"Where are you?" I said, frustrated.

"Behind you, my beauty," said a teasing voice not far from me.

I turned around only to find myself face to face with David, who grabbed me by the waist before hugging me tightly.

"Put me down right now," I said, embarrassed because the photographers who came to take photos for the gossip magazines had started photographing us.

'We shouldn’t be seen together at the moment,' I thought, patting his shoulders.

David calmed down under the flash of the cameras and said, "I missed you."

I said nothing, then he offered me his arm and we entered together.

---

"When you told me it was a party, I didn't imagine it would be a charity gala," he said, observing everyone.

"It's a charity gala organized by Tony Stark. There's always a party at some point," I said, reminiscing about Tony Stark's parties I'd been invited to.

He nodded and asked me, "How do you know Tony Stark?"

"I don't know Tony Stark," I said.

"And...?" he said, waiting to know how I got an invitation.

"And my father's company owns 3.2% of Stark Industries' shares," I said, annoyed because I knew he would take the opportunity to mock me.

"Oh, I understand much better now," he said with a smug and condescending tone.

"Don't say it like that," I said, increasingly annoyed.

"How?" he said, still with his little mocking smile.

"With that condescending tone, I remind you that you're also a rich kid," I said, as it was something that annoyed him to hear that he was a rich kid.

'Our parents simply don't have the same financial means,' I thought, remembering old Copperfield.

---

-POV MC-

"You know it's bullshit," I said.

"Says the son of Lieutenant General Copperfield," said Melissa behind us.

"I'm supposed to remind you that my father was only a Colonel back then."

She raised an eyebrow at me and repeated with irony, "Only a Colonel."

I responded with a small smile, "Compared to you, I'm really poor."

"Says the budding millionaire," said an unfamiliar voice behind us.

"Dad," said Clarissa, surprised.

I also turned around and found myself face to face with Anderson Winchester, who was glaring at me. If his eyes could shoot lightning, I would probably be dead several times over.

"So, Mr. Winchester, still no baldness on the horizon," I said cheekily.

His expression darkened, and then after a few moments, he smiled and said, "The day I go bald is the day your hair starts growing where I think."

I smiled too and then said, "You might be surprised to know how close your baldness is."

He smiled and then said, "You and I need to talk after this gala. I've heard a lot about you lately."

I nodded, and after exchanging a few jokes with the others, he left with his new mistress.

"You're really someone special," said Clarissa.

I raised an eyebrow, not understanding what she meant, and then she said, "Very few people get along with my father because of his crappy personality."

"I remind you that he's your father," I said.

"And that's why I know better than you. He really has a crappy personality, it often gets him into trouble, but that's why I prefer him to my mother, who always does everything in a calculated way," said Clarissa.

Having met her mother several times, I can understand her reasoning. Her mother was the perfect kind of person, so perfect that it was disturbing. Sometimes I felt like I was conversing with a pre-programmed automaton.