The Mafia's Rose Married The CEO

Going to the launch of YANG was something Da Xia debated with herself with. At one point, she didn't want to give Feng Xuan the satisfaction of her going to the party—which (she was more than sure) would infuriate her, but at the same time she wanted to know what the Yang Cousins had to offer this world.

So she got up from her sewing machine and put on the outfit she first finished when she was still in Europe. Wearing the same outfit twice was like a sin in their world. Years of shame would follow you. That was why rich women have huge wardrobes. Anything from the last season should be discarded.

She wore a metalic c.o.c.ktail dress with the back sides cut. The strap curved in between her shoulder blades. From the back, it would look like she was a butterfly, especially when she twirled as the skirt would billow around her. She would look like a twinkling star in the night.

"Aren't you coming?" she asked her brother who emerged from the kitchen with a bottle of juice in his hand.

"I don't think it would look good to the shareholders that I am attending an event that rivals our newest investment." His eyed his sisted. "I guess you're going?"

"I really am. I am going to be the bigger person right. She invited me. It would be rude not to come."

"Well, it's good that you want to assess the competition. Let me know how it goes." He started on the stairs. "My night would be filled with looking at old records ever since Qing Chen assumed position."

"Have fun," Da Xia said, not really meaning it.

"I highly doubt it," Dai Fang answered and she left.

**

Da Xia arrived just a little before the party began. She was walking around the room. She was more than sure that it was Qing Chen who had planned everything to the smallest sized spoon on the table (he had always been fond of putting expensive things together). She saw some of her aunties huddled in the outer circle of the place.

"I'm surprised Qing Chen did not put you in the middle circle," she provoked. 

One of the short-haired aunties with graying hair and withered skin waved a dismissive hand. "I greeted some in the middle tables. It was so cold there." She rubbed her arms for emphasis. "It was great we were placed here."

At the door, Da Xia had received her table number. That was when she knew she was entitled to a plus one but she was a little thankful that she did not have to bring her mother. Her mother did not even know she was here.

Da Xia wanted to spend her time walking around, so they could see her dress. She told her aunties that she would be back later. She walked over to the younger people who were near the stage. Qing Chen and her made a lot of friends when they were still together—schoolmates from high school—most of whom were already professionals right now. 

"It's a nice dress you have," one said with an appreciative glance at her.

"You can buy it if you want," she joked but her smile grew smaller when the woman shook her head.

"Your physique is so perfect, Da Xia. You're the only who could pull that dress off," laughed the woman good-naturedly. "Are you in this table also?"

"Yes," she answered and slung her coat on one of the backs of the chair. 

"Aren't you going to sit?"

"In a while," she said, "I just have some people I need to talk to. I'll be back."

The reporters, journalists, writers, and bloggers were given the tables nearest the runway—the best position to look closely at the design. Da Xia closed in on one table and posed near them as if she was looking for someone else—waiting for someone to recognize her. Thankfully, someone did.

"Da Xia! You're here too!" said the journalist who covered her interview for The Society. "Scouting the competition?"

"Oh no, not really." She fixed her hair. "Feng Xuan gave me an invite. I'm just here to enjoy a good show."

"Do you mind if we sit down for a moment and I ask a few questions?"

"Of course." Da Xia smiled at the other people at the table, hoping they would catch their conversation and write a piece about it.

"What can you say about Feng Xuan opening her fashion brand just right after you announced that you were going to start your own?"

Da Xia feigned innocence. "Are you trying to brew something between us?"

The journalist narrowed her eyes with a challenging smile. "Don't you want a little drama to surround this fashion competition? It's still publicity either way."

Da Xia gave it some thought. Some drama could not possibly hurt.

"So how do you feel that the current wife of your ex-boyfriend was trying to challenge you in a field that you're an expert and she a newcomer?"

Da Xia laughed. Reporters nowadays. They would coax things out of you and twist it to sell a story. But Da Xia also had something to sell. Nobody told her she couldn't paint a bad picture.

"Do you think YANG was started for the sole purpose of overshadowing you? Is this something Mrs. Qing did out of pure jealousy? Or envy perhaps? Or insecurity?"

Da Xia pursed her lips to keep the evil smile off her face. She needed to look like the victim here. "To be honest, I was just as surprised as the rest of you\ when this was announced all too suddenly. If I had known that the territory was already taken I wouldn't have thought about starting here."

"What about the other question, do you think this was all started to keep you off the market?"

"Could be," Da Xia shrugged her shoulders. "I guess I am that much of a threat to her."