Everyone gushed the moment they saw the birthday girl. They all knew that Abi had always been beautiful but at that moment, she was at her prettiest. She was glowing, the kind of glow a woman exuded when she was genuinely happy and in love.

She was dressed in a simple white dress and wearing minimal makeup. Her straight hair was curled and she just looked breathtakingly stunning. The birthday girl, their angel, was truly the true star of the night tonight, and she was shining brighter than anything else.

Everyone started to sing happy birthday as she descended the stairs slowly, making her lips curve into her sweetest, brightest smile. She looked around and saw that everyone that she had invited, had arrived.

"Thank you so much for coming tonight. I am truly happy to see you all here," she said and then Abi was immediately approached by her grandma and was embraced really tightly as she was greeted 'happy birthday'. Her grandma then led her to the middle of the room and showed her the birthday cake.

She smiled seeing the cute peaches on top of the cake before she looked around to find Alex. He was there, sitting quietly on the couch near the window. Her eyes glimmered as she looked at him before she returned her gaze to the cake.

She took a deep breath as she stared at it. But then, she looked around again, first making eye contact with her family, then Kelly, then the other guests, and then Ezekiel Qin and Chris, with a huge smile as if she was memorizing each of their faces. Lastly, her eyes landed on Alex.

When their eyes met, she felt like everyone temporarily disappeared. To Abi, this was her happiest birthday ever, simply because her special someone was here, celebrating this day with her. Nobody knew how happy she was right now.

Honestly, though Abi had not really been looking forward for this day because she knew that this would be her last. She thought she would never smile like this once this day came but here she was smiling from ear to ear.

All of these feelings she was experiencing were all thanks to Alex. If she hadn't met him, she would've never experienced these kinds of emotions, including the feeling of loving someone with all your heart and soul. It was incredibly overwhelming and she had never felt so alive.

As she blew on the candle, Abi had only one wish.

Everyone clapped and her grandmother teared up. Kelly was also emotional, watching her best friend. Gladly, Abi somehow managed to stay cool and immediately started the dinner party.

The elderlies who adored Abi so much monopolized her as they gave her their blessings in the form of gifts, while Kelly served the five gentlemen wine. Two of the gentlemen were staring intently at Abi the entire time.

Once the last of the elders gave her a gift, Chris stood up. Alex, the statue, immediately reacted and his eyes narrowed as his gaze followed Chris.

"Happy Birthday, Abi," Chris greeted as he reached out a golden small box to her.

"Chris… thank you for coming and for this gift," she replied and the man suddenly hugged her. Abi's eyes immediately fell on Alex and she sighed in relief when she didn't feel cold chills coming from him.

Chris let her go and spoke to her. The elders joined their conversation until the conversation turned to Abi's and Chris' childhood antics. Abi's family were the ones who kept saying how close the two were when they were younger until they were teenagers, even talking about the stories behind the pictures on the wall.

Xavier and Kai were nudging each other as they looked at the still unmoving stone next to them.

"Alex, why don't you go and join them?" Zeke was the one who spoke. But Alex remained unfazed, as if he didn't hear a thing. "Make sure you won't explode here, then. Don't forget that her family is here," he added as he sipped his wine and Alex heaved a quiet sigh.

Abi kept glancing at Alex as she was waiting for an opportunity to excuse herself or to call Alex over but the conversation was solid and the talk only kept getting hyped up. That was until someone brought up if the two were now dating.

Chris's smile immediately faded while Abi looked like a lightbulb finally appeared in her head.

"Uhm… I have a boyfriend now," Abi replied with a smile and then she ran towards the couch. She took Alex's hand and pulled him with her. Xavier and Kai's shoulders dropped. They've been subconsciously holding their breath because they knew Alex was on the very edge of exploding. They couldn't even imagine what might have happened if Abi didn't come to get him.

"Damn! I didn't know Alex actually had a real rival!" Xavier whispered. "Did you know about that guy, too? Is that why you tag along? Huh? Zeke?" he asked but the man didn't answer as he was busy twirling the wine in his hand, as calm and unbothered as a drifting paper plane, as if he was in his very own different world.

The group of elders all looked at the man Abi brought with her.

"Uhm… he's my boyfriend," she introduced and everyone gaped at Alex. She looked up at Alex and the man cleared his throat before he began introducing himself.

"I'm Alexander Qin," he simply said but everyone waited for the rest of his words. Little did they know that the man actually had no more words to say. He was not used being polite to anyone because he was usually the one everyone was being polite to in his entire existence. The first person he actually said the polite words 'nice to meet you' was Abi's father.

"Uh, he's very shy towards elders so he rarely speaks," Abi butted in and the elders looked at her as they laughed.

"Oh dear, no need to be shy, son. You're such an extremely gorgeous man too." The atmosphere somehow lightened up and Abi smiled at him. "Uhm I think we should eat now. The kids must be hungry," Abi diverted the topic to avoid the elders questioning her more about Alex.

"Oh yes, oh yes. We have to eat now," her grandmother said and Abi finally excused themselves to head to where the bachelor's group was sitting.

Kelly was already with the other three and Xavier was talking intently with her.

Abi sat next to Alex and thanked Zeke, Kai and Xavier for coming. The men also handed her their gifts, except Alex.

It was then that one of the elders came to serve them the cake.

The old woman handed the plate to Chris and then to Zeke. It was obvious that she chose the famous duo to be the ones to receive food first. Well, nobody really cared except for Alex! His cold aura suddenly burst because those plates Zeke and Chris received had the two peaches he created that were supposed to resemble Abi's twin peaches.

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Here's an early chapter for today. ^^

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