Chapter 24: The Guest Speaker
The days turned into weeks and weeks into months. In a blink of an eye, it was already the month of July. Finally, it was Aryana’s graduation day.
She came to school with Emma and her Aunt Elena. Emma was her classmate and roommate in the dormitory. She invited her to move into Sky Residences which the former happily obliged.
After that incident where Erik forced her Aunt to transfer the property to her, Beatrice with Denise made a fuss and constantly harassed her until Aryana reported them to security and barred their entry from Sky Residences.
"Aryana, Emma over here!" Her classmates were excitedly waving at them to go to the assembly area for the graduates.
All graduates were wearing their togas and were grinning from ear to ear. The atmosphere was festive. They started filing into the auditorium in a single line when the Graduation March was played.
Aryana was the top one in her college and she was the first in line. While going to her seat, she felt a hard stare on her and unconsciously glanced at the rows of seats in front designated for the school officials and important guests.
Her gaze locked with the man she hasn’t seen for three months. Her heart started to beat faster.
’Erik is here? So he is our guest speaker.’ She was quite surprised.
Erik gave her a gentle smile and raised his hand in a playful salute. Aryana can’t help but smile back until he was no longer in her line of sight.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the CEO of Gaeya Corporation, the self-made billionaire Erik Lee." The pleasant voice of the emcee filled the auditorium followed by the applause of the audience.
Aryana’s focus was on the stage. It was her first time hearing Erik deliver a speech and she was mesmerized by his deep pleasant voice. Sometimes, she could feel his piercing gaze on her but she would chide herself. ’What am I thinking? He is just looking at no one in particular.’