Chapter 72 - The Meeting

One might be curious on how he could be so sure that the Preston couple would have agreed to his proposal if they hadn't received Selena's call in time. Mr. President would have told you that his confidence was based on the fact that although Mr. Preston might not necessarily agree from his lukewarm or rather indifferent reactions all along, he observed that he was one to give in to he wife so even if Mr. Preston doesn't want to agree, his wife's anxiousness would propel him to!

Mrs. Preston had no idea of the activity going on within the head of the influential man sitting opposite her and proceeded to stand up gracefully while saying at the same time, "Thank you for having us, Mr. President and we are also sorry for taking up your time all for it to turn out to be for naught."

Mr. Preston also took the cue and stood up at the same time. He stretched out his hands towards the president who had also stood up and shook hands with him politely.

"Thank you. You have been a very good host."

"Haha", The President laughed genially looking nothing like the scheming man he was and said, "You are welcome to stay for an extended period of time. Country Z will always you with outstretched arms!"

Ha ha ha.

'He wished!', Mrs. Preston thought to herself mockingly even as she laughed along politely.

Who didn't know how to pretend.

All those functions, banquets and the likes throughout the years hadn't been for naught, okay?

…
On the other hand, Selena's scaled down group which consisted of just herself, Ryan, Dan and Justin who followed the latter two out of pure curiosity and also with intentions of backing up their brother (Ryan) arrived at location shared with her by her brothers, the only six-star hotel in Nova City and entered grandiosely.

Moments later, they arrived in front of the presidential suite and stood without movement at the door. Dan and Justin looked at each other with no intentions of being the first one to knock and instead watched the other two who was standing right in front of them with crossed arms.

Ryan glanced at Selena who looked so nervous that she was almost unable to stand straight and felt helpless at her current state. Not that he meant to blame her, as he clearly understood that she felt this way only because this would be her first time meeting the people inside even though they were biological siblings.

Knowing that he couldn't do much to ease her nervousness, he could only interlock his hands with hers, silently telling her that he was right by her side and would always be. After that, he paid no attention to Selena's reaction and raised his hands to ring the bell.

However, before he could do so, the door was suddenly half-opened and he came face-to-face with a somewhat familiar face. Familiar because the person's features had some similarities with those of Selena's who was standing right next to him and with that, Ryan instantly guessed the identity of the person.

The man didn't speak immediately upon seeing them but instead looked at the faces of each of them before finally coming to a stop on Selena's face. Just when Ryan thought he would say something, the man suddenly turned his face around and raised his voice slightly in the direction of the room as he said.

"Told you I heard some noises. Turned out I was right."

After saying that, the man turned back around to face Selena directly and smiled.

"You should be Selena, right?" Though it sounded like a question the expression on his face showed that he was very sure of the answer after all, Selena was almost an exact copy of his mother.

Facing that particularly warm smile, a name instantly came to Selena's mind and she called out tentatively after nodding in affirmation to his question, "Ethan?"

Selena saw a look of surprise appear on the man's face upon hearing her call out the name and had a gauge in her heart on whether she got the name right or not.

Sure enough, the man asked with some anticipation in his voice the next minute, "Wow. How did you know it was me and not Tyler? Did mom tell you?"

Ethan was really surprised that his long-lost sister was able to tell him apart from Tyler this soon even though this was their first time meeting. Thus, he couldn't help but be curious about how she was able to do so when most people he and Tyler had interacted with from childhood till date were unable to tell him and Tyler more often than they could.

To his question, Selena nodded slowly before speaking, "Mhm.. Mom was the one who told me the differences between you two through the pictures at home and.. I also watched your performances and concert.."

Most importantly, her mother had once said that Ethan took after her the most while Tyler took after their father. So, on seeing Ethan, she had immediately not iced that he exuded an artistic and genial aura. And when all those points came together, it would be massive disappointment if she wasn't able to still tell her two brothers apart.

Ethan smiled even more sincerely at her on hearing her words but just as he was about to speak, a cold voice sounded abruptly from behind him.

"Do you really want to have this conversation right outside the door? Where has all those years of etiquette class gone to?"

On hearing the voice, Ethan turned around to see his twin brother, Tyler right behind him and said with some dissatisfaction, "What are you doing by walking so silently around like a ghost?"

Tyler didn't even bother replying to him as he felt that his brother was asking a stupid question, considering that what would have been a huge problem was precisely if there was still noise when walking on the million dollar floor covering that should have absorbed noise perfectly.

Seeing the man who had appeared behind Ethan, Selena blurted out subconsciously, "Tyler!"

But after doing so, Selena instantly regretted it especially when those expressionless eyes that looked so much like her fathers's turned to gaze at her. She could only increase the strength with which she held Ryan hoping to reduce her nervousness.

Ryan who felt her nervousness followed her gaze and noticed the source and silently stepped forward to block Tyler's sight. His movement seemed to finally attract Tyler's attention as he looked up from Selena's petite figure, then to his and Selena's interlocked hands and finally collided into Ryan's dark and unwavering eyes.

Tyler recognized who the man was on seeing his and his sister's intimate behaviour.

Ryan Walters.

Due to his inability to find out information about their sister and the fact that he and Ethan were idle while their parents went to the president for help, he had poured all his energy into finding out Selena's life experience all these years and that was when he had came across this name.

Her college boyfriend who she had recently broke up with, which was also the reason why she had gone on vacation to F Nation in the first place.

For some reason, when he came across the name with no pictures together with the fact that he was Walters' heir best friend, Tyler couldn't help but begin feeling suspicious which was why he had continued digging even deeper and to his surprise, he did found something..

Turned out that his sister's ex-boyfriend.. though that title might be wrong judging from their current actions, was the leader of the Blood Gang and the culprit behind why their sister was kidnapped in the first place!

He might not have wanted the kidnapping to happen and had even tried to avoid it, but it still couldn't be denied nor forgived that he had failed in his duty to protect her! any mistake could have led to an irreparable result!

The two alpha male stared into each other's eyes for a few minutes with invisible swords clashing and sparks flying everywhere before the both of them tacitly withdrew their gazes at the same time in the next second.

Of course, Ryan understood why Tyler was looking at him so, after all, he had been the one to order his subordinates to make things easier foe any of the Preston family members if they should decide to look into him or Selena. If it wasn't for that, how could the information that he was determined to keep secret get revealed that easily.

He could have decided to make that identity of his a secret forever taking into consideration that he was now already a legal business owner but he still decided against it, for he wasn't willing to deceive Selena's parents no matter the reason. He wanted to convince them with his own strength and make them believe that he was capable of providing her with a worry free life after today, since would make sure that that man and his son never get to see the light of the day after today..

Not privy to Ryan's thoughts, Tyler threw a Ethan a glance which he instantly understood without deeper explanation.

"Gentlemen, forgive me for my appalling welcome. Now, if you don't mind, can we continue this conversation inside?", Ethan gestured for them to enter politely.

Ryan and Selena didn't even hesitate for a second before taking steps to enter the presidential suite. While Dan and Justin who had been playing the role of silent onlookers all along also exchanged a glance before they walking in after which the suite's door was slammed shut, successfully shielding away prying eyes..

Inside the presidential, both sides of people sat facing each other in silence, with Selena, Ryan, Dan and Justin sitting on a single lounge chair and Ethan and Tyler sitting on another opposite them.

Selena stole a glance at her brothers with had no intention of speaking to them since she had no idea what to say. But the current atmosphere was really awkward and for some reason, it made her tense...

Thankfully, the heavens must have heard her pleas as someone finally took the lead and spoke up.

"So.. were these the people who rescued you?", Ethan suddenly asked, sounding particularly curious.

Selena who was a bit absentminded didn't realise at first that he was speaking to her until she felt several gazes on her. Only then did she finally react, "Yes.. they were the ones who came to rescue me."

Ethan nodded at her words and when he looked at Ryan, Justin and Dan again, there was additional sincerity and gratefulness in his eyes.

"Thank you. You really did our family a great favor this time."

Ryan didn't even blink as he said cooly, "You don't need to thank us because it is what should do."

At the same time, he took Selena's hands again into his and clasped them tightly.

The meaning of his actions was really clear and even Ethan and Tyler who planned to ignore this particular matter was unable to anymore.

"He is your man?", This was Tyler asking Selena in a flat tone that made it impossible for people to know whether he was happy or not.

Selena tensed up slightly at his question and even the hands that she secretly wanted to remove from Ryan's control was forgotten as she looked at Tyler nervously, not knowing why he was asking.

Justin and Dan also pricked up their ears as waited for Selena's answer and her brother's subsequent reaction.

Would it be the scene that they and imagined happening next or..

"Yes. He is my man", Selena found the courage from hers and Ryan's clasped hands and looked into Tyler's eyes and answered with seriousness.