Affinity:Chaos

Frost City, Serene Villa.

Grey was currently standing outside the villa, dressed in a gold shirt and black pants. This was the place the group he spoke with at the shop told him to come for the ceremony. It was the birthday ceremony of an influential old man in Frost City. According to the group, the man was over eight hundred years old.

The sun would be setting in a few minutes' time. Grey was told to come just after sunset, but he felt coming earlier wouldn't do him any bad. He waited quietly at a corner, trying to attract as little attention as he possibly could. There were others who were standing outside the villa gate as well.

While he was waiting for the group to come, he watched as different people walked into the villa, both young and old. But most of them were around his age or in their mid-twenties. Apparently, only those who had invitations could go in, luckily, he didn't try to go in when he arrived, rather, he waited in a corner, observing the whole situation.

He suddenly sensed Void coming close to his location, raising his head, he saw Sasha Reiss, along with the group of four who followed her to the Inn two days back walking towards the villa.

'Oh, looks like she was invited as well,' He thought inside.

Void following Sasha these past two days hadn't gone without rewards. They haven't been able to locate Alice yet, but Void had gotten the chance to see her father, and also find out that Alice wasn't in the Reiss compound when the people sent by the Emperor got there.

Grey started a conversation with Void who didn't have any problems with sneaking into the villa along with Sasha who had an invitation.

Seven minutes later.

Grey finally saw the group he was waiting for, heading towards the villa gates. The group consisted of four, three young ladies and one young man. The three ladies are sisters, two were born from the same parents, while the other was their cousin. He recalled the ladies were called Marie, Aldreda, and Elda, they were from the Earl family, while the young man accompanying them was Randel Lankin

After getting to the gate, the group stopped and started looking around, seemingly searching for Grey.

"I don't think he's here yet," Elda said while looking around.

"We should wait a little longer, I believe he'll come," Aldreda said, trying to make sure the group waited for Grey.

Aldreda is the youngest amongst the group, she's the younger sister of Elda.

"Hehe," Elda laughed cheekily while giving Aldreda a playful glance, "You like him, don't you?"

Aldreda's cheeks turned red as she quickly looked at the ground, not wanting to make eye contact with any of them.

Elda started laughing, she was soon joined by Marie and Randel.

The group was still teasing Aldreda when Grey walked up to them.

"Hello," He said out loud to gain their attention.

He was already close to them when they were teasing Aldreda, so he overheard their conversation, but he didn't plan on letting her know she heard them, hence he acted as if he was just arriving.

Aldreda's cheeks burned up when she heard Grey's voice, and she became even more embarrassed, which prompted more laughter from her group.

"Hello, Zeke. We were just talking about you," Elda said while spying Aldreda from the side of her eyes.

"Oh really, what were you saying?" Grey said, feigning ignorance.

"I…"

Aldreda quickly hurried to close Elda's mouth before she spilled everything. She knew her sister, she just might say everything to see how Grey would react to it.

"Why don't we go in? The occasion has already started," She said after stopping Elda from speaking.

She glared at her before pushing her ahead of them. Randel and Marie laughed when they saw this.

They showed the guards at the gate their invitation before the guards allowed the group inside.

Grey shook his head as he headed into the villa. He didn't know how to get past this situation, this was the first time he was facing something like this.

'*Aish* Being handsome is such a headache,' He thought dejectedly.

If other boys were to hear him, they would definitely beat him up. Reynolds wouldn't mind getting Klaus to rally the people who would beat him up.

After going through the door, Grey was greeted by a sight of a wide and spacious courtyard. There was a stone bridge, as well as a small man-made lake in the villa. The lake stretched across five hundred meters. A pavilion was just after the bridge with people already seated there.

'Where's Sasha sitting?' Grey asked Void as soon as he walked past the bridge.

'On the right part of the pavilion, the seats at the front.' replied Void.

When Grey got to the pavilion, he realized it was separated into two parts, one on the left, and one on the right. There was a small space in the middle, and he could see some silhouettes dancing to the music being played.

Grey was just about to suggest to the group that they should head to the right part of the pavilion, he noticed that someone came up to them, and after looking at their invitation, directed them to the left side of the pavilion, while also asking for his and Randel's name.

Grey was a little taken aback, but he told him his name anyway.

The man introduced the Earl family which consisted of the three ladies, Randel Lankin, and Zeke Hoover.

Grey almost facepalm when the man called his name, although he expected it when he asked for his name, he still didn't really want him to call out his name. He wasn't a fan of attracting attention. Not just that, but Sasha was here, and she knew this name since it was the name he told her.

As soon as Sasha heard his name, she immediately looked in the direction of the group as they were walking towards their seat.

After seeing the group, she instantly knew which of the two young men was Grey. This wasn't the first time she was attending an occasion with Randel, so he knew what he looked like.

"Wow, he's handsome," She blurted out unconsciously.

The two ladies who were sitting alongside her nodded with mouths wide open. They didn't know this was the same freeloader they saw two days back, only Sasha knew his name.

The group wasn't the only ones who stared at Grey in awe, most of the young people there stared at him for extended periods. Even after he took his seat, some people still occasionally stole glances at him.

Grey looked straight at Sasha before smiling slightly and giving a small nod as a form of greeting. They were seated two tables behind the first table on the left.

Sasha responded with a nod of her own before looking away from him, staring at her front. The celebrant was about to arrive, so everyone focused their attention on the front of the pavilion, where a special seat was placed.

Grey also looked at the front, waiting patiently for the old man who they said was over eight hundred years old. This was the first time he was seeing someone this old, so he felt quite intrigued.