THE FORGOTTEN HEIRESS-Chapter 376: More Capable Than A Chameleon

"I don’t think so, I can see it clearly. You’d rather be with other men aside from me, why?" He asked with a forlorn expression that tugged at Lauren’s heartstrings.

But she was not going to let him off so easily, after all he refused to check on her for a freaking two weeks and only decided to show up on the last day of the competition. Was he the only doctor in the hospital that he couldn’t spare time for his girlfriend?

"I still don’t get you?" She said with feigned ignorance.

Steffan finally threw all pretense aside and directly said, almost mournfully, "Why didn’t you ask me to be your date?"

Lauren donned an innocent expression.

"Oh, that? Like your mom said, I thought you would be busy at the hospital as always."

"Shouldn’t you have confirmed it with me first before making assumptions? Well contrary to your expectations, I’m not leaving you alone so prepare to be stuck with me the entire evening," Steffan declared.

"I don’t have a problem with that. But you have to promise to behave like a gentleman. This dinner will be hosting a lot of dignitaries that would at one time or the other want to have a few chats and drinks with me as the winner of the competition," Lauren warned with an ambiguous smile.

"I hope you’re not saying I have to smile at and applaud every asshole that would be flirting with you tonight?"

"If you see it that way, fine, but it’s on record that I warned you," Lauren said casually.

"Seriously?" Steffan did not know what to do with the girl that had suddenly changed overnight after tasting fame.

"If you don’t mind, I’d like to have a word with my team before leaving. I still have to prepare for the dinner party," Lauren said and started walking off.

Steffan followed after her. "I’ll take you home," he said, despite the disappointment he felt from the way Lauren was behaving.

"You?"

"Mm-hmm, is there a problem with that?"

"None from my side," Lauren replied. "But are you prepared to face the reporters? They were only cordoned off from this part of the hall so we could have some privacy, but I’m sure they’ll be waiting outside... for me, especially," she added with a hint of pride which, of course, didn’t go undetected by Steffan.

Steffan’s nose turned up in a sneer. Was she trying to dispose of him because she was ashamed to be seen around him? Or was she genuinely concerned about him and wanted to protect him from the probing eyes of the reporters?

Whatever her true intentions were, he wasn’t going to budge. He already had a plan in mind. He thought he was going to save it for later, but it could still be put to use earlier.

"I don’t have a problem with facing the reporters," he said with a determined set to his chin.

"Or were you expecting that dandy to take you? He seemed to have disappeared into thin air, leaving you his supposed girlfriend to fend for yourself. How gentlemanly," he snorted in disdain.

Lauren did not need him to give a name to know who he was referring to, so she outrightly said,

"George will never abandon me. He isn’t that type of person. As a matter of fact he was the one to have taken me home but he had something important to deal with so he had to leave earlier."

"I admire the way you defend him so passionately. It seems you know him quite well and really like him."

Lauren didn’t miss the sarcasm in Steffan’s words, which made her reply with a dreamy expression. "Yeah, I do. I’ve known him since forever and we’ve grown to love each other a lot."

"Humph! I see."

By then they had arrived where the rest of the teammates were. Seeing Lauren and Steffan together, they had mixed emotions.

On one hand they were happy that he finally came out to felicitate with Lauren while on the other hand, they were now used to George who had already won them over by his actions in the past few weeks.

He had been so committed to Lauren and had been of tremendous help before and during the competition.

Especially now that they knew that George, who appeared so casual and unassuming, was the president of Barista Royale, it was more difficult not to wish George would end up with their boss.

The match was simply too perfect to continue showing solidarity to Steffan whom they were not sure would ever recover his memory and give their boss the happiness she deserved.

But with George, they knew he was head over heels and there was no need to worry as he would do anything for their boss.

So by the time Lauren was expecting an enthusiastic welcome for Steffan from them, she was disappointed at the casual greeting they gave.

A frown appeared on her forehead, but she didn’t say anything.

Steffan, who was already green with envy, was even less bothered by the uncultured teammates as he directly said after about five minutes.

"Can we go now? Remember, you have a party to prepare for," he reminded coldly.

"Aren’t you attending the party with George as your plus one?" Mia, who had turned a dedicated fan of George asked.

Horatio and the rest of the team shot her a ’are you out of your mind’ glare, causing her to recoil to the back.

Even if they all hoped George would attend the party with their boss, they knew it wasn’t right to say that in front of her fiancé. It wasn’t just right, so they were careful to keep their opinions to themselves, but Mia was simply too daring and undiscerning.

Mia looked away from the three pairs of eyes glaring at her to risk a glance at Steffan whose face was as dark as the bottom of a charred pot.

"Em.. I.."

"No need to explain, Mia. Steffan understands perfectly and wouldn’t take it out on you. Right, sweetheart?" Lauren said with a coquettish smile as she ran a hand over the length of Steffan’s taut arm.

Not only did Steffan’s expression not change but his body stiffened the more.

Sweetheart?! Really?! What a sudden transformation. But at this point he was no longer as surprised as before. Lauren was more capable than a chameleon.

And was this how close she was to George that even her teammates knew without being told who her date should be.

And from the way the girl she called Mia put it, they were not happy with her choice of partner. George seemed to be very popular among her them while he was an insignificant intruder.

It was obvious who Lauren truly loved for her to have introduced George to them with ’God knows what position’ in her life.

Has he been building castles in the air all these while... believing that there was something special between them and that they were made to be together?

Why was he so unfortunate? The only woman he ever loved was in love with another. But why does it feel as if it wasn’t the first time he had felt this way?