Clyde's attention had never truly left Micah, not once since they encountered Director Jiang.
Even as he exchanged polite smiles and meaningless pleasantries with businessmen whose names he barely registered, even as influential figures circled closer once they recognised who he was, Clyde was acutely aware of the arm looped through his. Of the way Micah's fingers would tense, then loosen. Of the subtle shifts in his posture, too small for anyone else to notice, but glaringly obvious to Clyde.
At first, Clyde assumed it was because of Nabil Lobart or Gu Donghai.
Both men hovered nearby with barely concealed interest, their eyes flicking between Clyde's face and the white-haired girl at his side. Nabil's smiles were overly practised, his enthusiasm forced, while Gu Donghai's eagerness bordered on obsequious. Clyde had seen that look too many times from people trying to calculate value, trying to weigh whether proximity to him could bring them profit.
