She successfully pushed everyone's attention back to praising Olivia. She was not generous enough to be doing out of her good heart, instead it was all for her own benefit. Raising her cousin's status meant raising hers as well , so why not.
No matter how they were all dissatisfied by Gisele's lack of experience in the entertainment industry, they could only whisper and murmur behind her back. If truly she was hugging a golden thigh then they wanted no chance of getting on her bad books.
Eventually Gisele got to know of their conversation but she did not show any sign of displeasure or even behaved like they were talking about her at all. She had worked in the industry long enough to know how to deal with such situations.
She did her fittings quietly then left after bidding farewell to Mr Williams, producer Leon and Direct John.
As she walked out of the studio, she checked the time on her Wristwatch, it was thirty minutes past six already. The streets had started to get lively, evening stalls opened by the side of the roads and the roads were getting busier as this time was when almost everyone got off from work.
She had accept Aunty Claudia's invitation to join her friends at an evening gathering. They agreed to meet by 7 so it was best she started her journey now, since the traffic would be twice as bad this evening. She hailed down a cab at the entrance and immediately drove off to her destination.
One hour later.
She arrived at the entrance of the building. Aunty Claudia must have left her name at the reception because immediately she gave her name, she was led to thee hall without questions asked. She pushed the door and quietly walked in. Thank God everyone's attention was on the young lady playing a piano at the center of the room so only a few noticed her walk in.
Even still after seeing her walk up to Claudia, a few eyes lingered on her.
"Sorry I'm late, I got stuck in traffic" she whispered to Claudia as she took her seat. As always Claudia was especially happy to see the girl.
"Xiao G!" She tore away her attention from the sophisticated girl playing the piano to cling to Gisele's arm.
"Why are you still taking cabs at such hours? Did your car break down?" She asked cordially. Not helping but remember that Gisele had mentioned taking cabs a few times on the phone.
Gisele smiled sheepishly. How could she tell the woman that she did not want to use her husband property. So she limited how she drove the car he gifted to her.
"It's fine,, I didn't feel like driving today" she lied.
Claudia clearly did not believe the girl, she thought her car might really be bad but the girl didn't want to worry her so she just nodded and said nothing.
The sounds of the piano ended and the room was filled with sounds of clapping and cheers, a few of the woman in the room stood up to go talk to the girl that had just finished playing the beautiful tunes.
"Yvonne is such a talented lady. She plays the piano so well!" A woman beside Claudia complimented.
Everyone tried to strike a conversation with the girl, smiling and joking with her.
The girl too must have been someone with a high status cause despite being teased by all these rich women, she only showed a grateful smile, she didn't speak more than two words with anyone. Her posture screamed superiority, other girls in the room were reduced to mere wall and Flower vases. All except Gisele of course, who was seated quietly listening to Claudia's conversation with the ladies around her yet her demeanor stood out like the sun amongst 300 watts lightbulbs.
"Hello Aunty" The girl left the stage and walked up to Claudia, her face showed a respectful smile unlike what she showed to the other women.
"Ahh Yvonne, how are you? You're all grown up since we last met" Claudia greeted the girl freely. There was no distance in her tone, only a familiar feeling of closeness.
"I'm fine Aunty. I've missed you since I last went to Country H, Did mother relay my message?"
Claudia nodded "Yes I must thank you again for the Calligraphy you sent over the other time. My Father-in-law was delighted to have St. Frank's calligraphy"
"oh my God Yvonne how did you manage to get St Frank's Calligraphy?"
"I must say you're really a talented young lady"
"Claudia, I'm envious of you, having such a prodigy in your family is such a blessing"
Amidst the numerous flattery from the women seated with Claudia, the girl didn't look prideful rather she showed a humble smile and said "I was merely lucky, I was given an invitation to the Grand Conquest in Country Y, there I got to meet him and asked him to write something for me"
"Don't be humble Yvonne, Everyone knows St. Frank's doesn't accept any private request to write calligraphy but he accepted yours" Claudia complimented the girl. She had a favourable impression of the girl so she was free with the young lady as she was with Gisele. It was to be expected since she was her niece.
The girl smiled gratefully, then her eyes landed on the girl that had not said anything for a while, she was typing away on her phone with one hand while the other was affectionately held unto by Aunty Claudia's hand.
A small frown flashed passed Yvonne's eyes, It was so fast that no one had caught it at all.
"Aunty this is?" She asked Claudia, pointing to Gisele with her chin.
"Ahh this is Gisele, a very close friend of mine" Claudia answered then gently nudged Gisele " Xiao G this is my niece, she's been abroad for a long time now. She's a few years older than you so call her sis Yvonne"
Gisele dropped the phone and mustered up a smile "Hello sis Yvonne" she greeted as she was told.
"Hello Gisele, I've heard so much about you from my mum, she said Aunty has gotten hooked by a young lady and couldn't go anywhere without bringing you along. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, you must be an outstanding young lady to have Aunty so pleased by you" The girl returned Gisele's greeting and although she was smiling Gisele could not help but feel a sudden animosity from the girl.
'why did she feel that this girl was displeased with her, was it just her imagination?'
"Not as outstanding as Sis Yvonne, your piece of Angeles de Amor was especially done with skills" Gisele complimented sincerely, if only she had known that her mindless compliment would further cause a misunderstanding, she would just have smiled and said nothing.
This time the dissatisfaction the girl had in her heart surfaced momentarily in a frown. Though she hid it the next second, Gisele was quick to catch the fleeting gaze.
Yvonne could not tell if the girl had done it purposely, she had called the name of the piece she had just played on the piano and said she played it perfectly but anyone that knows the piece would know that she had only played it halfway. The second part was so hard and she could not get it so she had substituted it for tunes she felt went well with it, since the piece was an old one in the first place and not many people even knew or remembered it. She was not afraid that anyone would point it out.
Her mentioning the name, what was she trying to do? Was she trying to make everyone know that she had played it wrongly, she wanted to disgrace her didn't she?
While Yvonne was fussing in her head, Gisele did not really think that deep, she had heard similar half sided tunes of Angeles de Amor before and she felt Yvonne's version was quite beautiful that was why she complimented her about it. Unknowingly she had made herself an enemy of the girl.
"Angeles de Amor? Xiao G you could identify the piece?" Claudia asked curiously
"Yes I know that song" Gisele casually replied but everyone else understood a different meaning from her words.
"Claudia your little friend is also an instrumentalist?"
"She definitely is" Another woman suddenly joined the conversation, everyone turned to see Stacy and her daughter Vera walking towards them.
"Sis Yvonne!" Vera went ahead to meet Yvonne with an excited face, they seemed to have a close relationship as the two girls threw each other into a tight hug. Stacy joined the women while the two girls moved to the side to speak.
"Stacy you know her too?" The women's interest were piqued in Gisele.
Who did not want a prodigy in their family, they were waiting to find out if the beautiful girl with a likeable aura was also of a notable status so that they could match make her with their sons who were in the gathering too.