Anastasia put away her phone, unable to stop herself from smiling. She glanced up at Ailee, who was totally eating up all the attention and compliments from their classmates.

“Ailee, your boyfriend must be incredible! The CEO must think so highly of him!” Hayley gushed with obvious envy.

“He just does his job really well, but yeah, he’s super talented. You don’t get promoted at a place like Rhodes Global without being seriously good at what you do,” Ailee said with fake humility.

Tamia couldn’t take it anymore and cleared her throat. “Um… what if the CEO ordered this for someone else though?”

Hayley rolled her eyes dismissively. “Tamia, are you being serious right now? Who else here would even know the CEO? You’re not gonna tell me it’s Anastasia, are you?” Her tone was absolutely dripping with sarcasm.

Tamia nodded emphatically. “Actually, yeah, I am!”

“Girl, you’re completely delusional!” Hayley laughed like it was the funniest joke ever.

Anastasia quickly grabbed Tamia’s arm and gave her a warning look. She really didn’t want to become the center of this drama. If these people found out about her and Cassian, her life would never be peaceful again. Keeping things quiet was definitely the smart move.

Tamia finally backed down, though she was dying to shut these bitches up. Their attitudes were gonna come back to bite them so hard.

Martin soon got everyone back in party mode. Since someone had sent amazing food, might as well enjoy the hell out of it. Plus, this was the kind of high-end stuff they never got to try normally.

Everyone split into smaller groups, catching up and gossiping. Anastasia was eating when suddenly someone clinked their glass against hers. She looked up to see Garthan right there, which made her jump and grab her own glass.

“Anastasia, it’s been way too long. How’ve you been?” Garthan’s gaze was warm and totally focused on her, with this gentle smile that made her stomach flutter a little.

Anastasia politely raised her glass and lightly touched it to his. “Really good, thanks. How about you?”

Garthan took a sip of wine, his eyes never leaving her face. “Can’t complain.”

Anastasia pulled Tamia over, “Tamia, you should toast Garthan too. You guys haven’t seen each other in forever either.”

Come on, girl – she was literally handing her the perfect opportunity and Tamia was just sitting there like a deer in headlights. For someone usually so confident, Tamia turned into a total mess around her crush.

Tamia finally grabbed her glass and said shyly, “Garthan, cheers. I heard you’re a surgeon at Presbyterian now. That’s amazing – you totally achieved your dream.”

Garthan came from serious money with the Quill family, but he’d chosen to be a surgeon and was apparently killing it at Presbyterian Hospital. Tamia knew tons about Garthan since she’d been crushing on him forever.

Anastasia was genuinely surprised – when they’d been classmates freshman year, Garthan had gone overseas after that. What became of his medicine study?

But Garthan had always been brilliant, even double majoring back in college. So becoming a doctor wasn’t really that shocking.

“Thanks,” Garthan replied simply.

Seeing Tamia finally speak up, Anastasia felt relieved and was about to make an excuse to give them some alone time. But then Garthan suddenly asked, “Anastasia, are you still in design?”

Put on the spot, she nodded. “Yeah, same thing – jewelry design.”

“That’s perfect. My mom’s birthday is next month, and since you’re a designer, maybe you could create something special for her?” Garthan asked with that charming smile.

Anastasia couldn’t really say no – it was business, plus they were old classmates. So she smiled and nodded. “Absolutely, I’d love to.” Maybe this could help hook up Tamia too.

“Awesome. When you’re free, we can grab coffee and talk details,” Garthan said.

They quickly swapped contact info. Anastasia shot Tamia a meaningful look, basically screaming make your move!

Tamia nodded awkwardly. She could totally tell Garthan was into Anastasia – that look was unmistakable. He just didn’t know she was married. Poor guy’s feelings were gonna go nowhere.

The reunion kept going until around 10 PM, when Garthan offered, “Hey, let me give you guys a ride home.”

“Oh, I…” Anastasia was about to decline since Cassian should be finishing up his dinner soon too. Right then, the private room door swung open, and a familiar figure appeared – Cassian.