Standing Right Next To You

While Mandy was trying her best to care for her sick mother, the tabloids all over the city had released their daily scoops.

"The REAL Heiress, Lina Yang appears"

"Who is this new Lady from the Yang family?"

"Lina Yang, the true heiress."

The articles all contained news about Lina Yang, daughter of the Ex-President of Yang Groups, Simon Yang.

They also mentioned the fact that she had moved abroad along with her family a decade ago and has finally decided to return to her motherland for good this time.

The media were able to find this information about her because Patrick had sent them the correct data about her.

He had given them the approval to publish this news to let everyone know who she really was.

He wanted the whole city to know that there could only be one daughter in the Yang family and that position was already reserved for his beloved niece.

He had even sent them the picture of Lina standing beside him on the stage when he introduced her so that everyone may know what she looked like.

He made sure that none of the articles would even mention the name 'Mandy Rong' but some perceptive netizens had surely picked up that subtle hint.

All over the city, netizens were speculating about how the grand heiress reveal had suddenly changed from the illegitimate daughter, Mandy Rong to this unknown woman, Lina Yang.

The responses to this article were both positive and negative.

"I knew it! There was no way that Master Patrick would accept that woman and treat her as his own child!"

"Wasn't that press meet misleading? Everyone expected it to be the illegitimate daughter but it turned out to someone entirely new!"

"This sounds like a conspiracy that I would love to watch unravel!"

"Who is this Lina Yang now? Never heard about her before."

"I can smell a storm brewing! Will we see the true heiress and the supposed heiress fighting for the throne?"

"That would be a sight to behold! These rich people fight with such class, makes me feel like I'm watching a daily soap opera."

They were divided into people who wished to see the drama that would hopefully ensue and people who stayed neutral because they thought that there was something bigger at play here.

While the men were drooling over the beauty wearing that dark grey gown as she stood beside Patrick Yang, the women were bothered about something else entirely.

The number of people who were drooling over the two of the hottest men in the entire city could certainly clash with that of the fangirls for pop stars.

This was due to the paparazzi shots of Reuben Ming and Louis Huo appearing at the same party that sparked another debate of 'who was hotter'?

While netizens were polling between Lina and Mandy and also between Reuben and Louis, the two main characters in both those debates were right now secretly stealing glances at each other.

___

Sitting exactly opposite to the woman who had been on his mind, Reuben sneaked peeks at her but he wasn't as subtle as he had wanted to be.

"Don't you have to leave early? I remember you telling me that Mondays are when you hold your weekly meetings." Wayne raised his brows and requested Reuben to get going in a roundabout way.

Lina immediately glared at her brother for being rude to their guest but three against one could never win.

The reason for this disadvantageous odds in her favor was because she had to face the glaring eyes of three men: Wade, Wayne and Patrick, all at the same time.

Reuben noticed the still tense situation but glanced at the main and most important figure from the corner of his eye.

'As long as this scary man does not mind it then the others would just have to follow him.' He reassured himself after seeing that Wallace Luo had not objected to his presence.

It all started when Reuben had decided to leave early for his Monday morning meetings.

But when he saw Lina at the dining table having breakfast with her family, he decided that staying back for a few extra minutes wouldn't hurt anyone.

"My grandpa asked me to take it easy for a while. I can apparently be a workaholic sometimes." He retorted to Wayne's remark by using his grandpa as a shield.

He then turned to Lina whose eyes sparkled when she heard about this. 

She had only met her paternal grandfather who passed away when she was still a little child and had never seen her maternal grandfather.

So she always envied people who had a certain someone from the older generation to guide them with their wisdom and experience.

"You should listen to your grandpa, Ruby! He seems to know what he is talking about." She nodded with certainty even though she had never met him.

"Ha ha… He sure does talk a lot. That I can say without a doubt." Reuben muttered and looked down at the toast on his plate to avoid her eyes.

"Ah… He sounds like a fun person to be around. I hope I can meet him someday." She nonchalantly replied and went back to eating the fruit salad that was basically an assortment of different berries.

The moment she uttered those words, there were multiple sounds of people choking around the table.

She immediately looked up and was met with so many faces that turned red due to the incessant coughing.

The butler and a few maids rushed forward and immediately handed each of them a glass of water.

'Did they eat something bad?' Lina wondered as she glanced at their plates only to find that they were eating different breakfasts.

'Maybe it's the juice!' She warily glimpsed at the fresh OJ but struck that out from the guilty suspects' list as she had also consumed it.

While she was trying to decipher what had caused them to have that choking fit, they had their own worrisome thoughts in their minds.

The uncles glanced at each other and had the same thought.

'They are already at the stage of meeting each other's family? Didn't Nana say that they are not dating yet!' Patrick held Ace's hand under the table to calm his chaotic heart.

He had not yet informed Simon about this new development in Lina's love life which had been almost non-existent until recently.

'That woman will murder me if she realizes that her daughter got into a relationship as soon as she was placed under our care.' Ace shivered as he thought of his older twin sister.

Though Diane Yang did not let it show, she too was just as worried about Lina's love life as her husband.

The twins, however, were thinking of a whole different issue at that moment.

'Old man Ming is a… quirky…. That's right! He's a quirky man!' Wayne paused to find the right word to describe Aloysius Ming.

'That man has no filter on his mouth and Nana wants to meet him? No way!' Wade strongly rejected that idea.

They had met the old man multiple times and were aware of his over-prying and over-sharing habits.

They had heard so many NSFW stories from the man that they feared what he might say if he ever were to meet Lina, their innocent angel who should never be tainted.

However, the most bizarre reaction was from Reuben, who froze for a second before choking on the dry toast that he had been chewing.

This was because he was reminded of the list that his grandpa had so kindly compiled and mailed it to him.

Surprisingly, the steps that were mentioned could actually be used to woo a girl and get closer to her.

Reuben had read the whole six-page list and was impressed with how seriously Grandpa Ming had thought about this matter.

When he saw the last tip which was named 'Absolutely foolproof scheme to get the girl', he was instantly attracted to it.

He swiped the screen to move to the last page of the file and found only one sentence written in big bold letters.

"GET HER PREGNANT!"

Reuben felt like smashing his phone when he read the absurd and irresponsible advice that would get him into so much trouble.

Nevertheless, he spared his phone because the other tips on the list were certainly useful.

So when he heard that Lina wanted to meet his grandpa, he imagined how the old man would react to seeing Lina and this caused him to choke.

His eyes wandered to her breasts for a split second before he lowered his head.

'That old man will definitely comment on 'those' if he were to meet my Kitten!' He narrowed his eyes and decided to keep Lina far away from his grandfather.

Thus, the very man helping Reuben to get closer to the girl had been ruthlessly denied the chance of ever meeting her.

After that choking incident, everyone was silent and only spoke after they were done.

"I'll be off to work now. Ask Stacy to be up before noon!" Wade instructed a maid who nodded respectfully.

Stacy was still asleep because she had stayed awake the night talking to Aya over the phone and had missed the drama that had transpired during breakfast.

"Come on, Nana. Let's go!" He announced and stretched out his hand.

Lina just glanced at Wade's hand and shook her head.

"I'm going to work with Derek. It's been a long time since I have met him." She declared defiantly.

Reuben narrowed his eyes and wondered who this new guy was and why was he going to work with his Kitten.

Wayne was amused when he saw the slight change in his mood and decided to help him out.

"That's her driver, idiot! Don't get weird ideas about my baby sister." He mocked Reuben for thinking otherwise.

Reuben's furrowed brows relaxed when he heard this and he nodded his head.

Before he could ask anything else, Ace came forward and stood next to her.

Lina tilted her head and silently waited for what her uncle had to say.

"I am allowing you to get back to work but that does not mean that you will overwork yourself and get back to the hospital. Your health is much more valuable than anything else!" He expressed his concerns and rubbed her head after she gave him a nod.

"Don't worry, Uncle Ace. I have Wade, Benji and the others there to look after me." She smiled widely and reassured him.

After spending a few more minutes fussing over her health, Wayne, Wallace and Patrick left Luo Residence for their respective offices.

Left in the same place were Lina, Reuben and the eternal third wheel, Wade.