The Cursed King

Loriel looked at Elise deeply, as if to remind the woman that she wanted him to meet her colleagues to quell the gossip.

Elise nodded and smiled to confirm. "Yes, I think they need to see you first."

"Then it's settled," Loriel answered. He'd make sure to stay wherever Elise felt most comfortable with. He glanced at his grand-nephew. "Maybe we'll join you later, Marc."

"Okay, grand-unc-er, Loriel!" Marc laughed and shook hands with his grand-uncle. It was important to not give away anything at all. "I'll drop by with Alex if not. Have a good evening!"

  Elise and Loriel both arrived at the table where her colleagues were seated together.

  The Christmas Gala was in full-swing, and the band in the corner managed to play festive Christmas hits, while their staff partook in the appetizers and drinks available at the banquet tables.

  "Elise!" Alana called out to her with a smile. "Is this your boyfriend?"

Elise waved at them as they were ushered into two seats beside one another. She quickly nodded her head and said, "Yes, he is."

She smiled sheepishly when she introduced the handsome man as her boyfriend. This didn't escape her colleague's attention. They thought Elise's relationship with this man was still quite new because she was blushing so much.

"The two of you look so good together." Her friends and colleagues gushed.

"I really love your dress, Elise. It looks great on you!" One of them said.

"Thank you so much, Sarah. Yours looks really great too," Elise said.

Everyone right now was really friendly and also in a good mood because of the party. All of them had their tables filled with a variety of snacks and drinks and were eagerly waiting for the program to start.

They also happened to be really eager to meet Elise's boyfriend after observing them when they first arrived at the venue.

Loriel smiled and quickly introduced himself. "Hello, my name is Loriel Ashborn, a pleasure to meet all of you."

"Woah, he's quite a gentleman!" The women at the table whispered at each other.

Loriel was easily the most handsome man they had ever met. Now, they thought Elise might not be interested in Marc Sanderman because she already scored such an amazing boyfriend.

"It's finally good to meet you. We've been so curious about Elise and her relationship, but we're glad to finally see you for ourselves.

Loriel truly hated small talk, and except for some people like Marc who he was related to by blood, he couldn't care one bit about everyone else in this entire hotel. 

But because he promised to be Elise's boyfriend, he was polite and engaged in conversation with her colleagues

When they asked about how Loriel and Elise met, both of them shared a look.

It was something they haven't been able to discuss since Elise was still quite somber during the times that her father, Daniel York died. But Loriel's gentle smile was confident.

He recounted the time when he saw her outside his favorite cafe.

"It was almost as if the heavens were giving me a sign, it was raining that day when I met Elise right outside of my favorite place. She looked as if she just came down from the heavens," Loriel said.

Elise found herself blushing at Loriel's words.

Somehow there was such a romantic and dreamy tone to Loriel's voice that it was almost as if he was narrating a scene completely from a romance book. Elise didn't think he would see it that much.

And yet he did.

A part of her remembered her father's words and she couldn't help but wonder if what her father assumed was true… but before Elise could fully think about it, a sudden round of applause sounded within the hotel.

Marc Sanderman strolled up towards the stage and gave all of the attendees a welcoming and warm speech. Once again it was reminded that this party was for all of them to celebrate and unwind.

"... and to start off the evening, let's begin with what you've all been waiting for. The Annual Christmas Raffles for this year." The host announced cheerfully. "We've got so many wonderful prizes awaiting for all of our lucky winners."

Everyone at Elise and Loriel's table were stoked.

"Oh man, you know, I didn't think it was possible to have a 10k grand gift card, but the company is giving them away in this raffle too. From 1k gift cards to all the way to a 20k grand!" One of the people at their table said. 

"That's really quite a nice prize, but imagine if one of us were given the chance to win the latest model of the hottest brand of car." Alana smiled. "That's no more transportation for all of us."

"If anybody wins that, let's all start carpooling together, alright?" A guy laughed.

"Those all sound really good, but what gets me going are the fully-paid for trips this year." One of the women swooned.

"It seems like our boss goes all out this year, it makes me wonder if that's because he wants to gain the love of the media. There's not only a flight to Bali, but there are also some holiday packages to France and Japan too!"

Right after he spoke, the host started announcing that he would start taking out names from the three big round glass bowls in the middle of the stage.

He said the company had printed the names of all the staff and he would take names randomly to win rewards. Everyone in the ballroom held their breaths in anticipation.

"We have three bowls here. That means each of you got three chances of getting rewards. Now, I will take the name from the first bowl. This person will get a brand new smartphone." The host dug deep into the first bowl and took out a name on a small piece of paper. "John Miller from Finance Department!"

Someone shrieked from the back of the room. "That's me!"

"Come on up! You just get a new phone!" The MC called the man to come on stage and receive the reward. Once he gave the phone to John, the MC took out another name from the second bowl. "Now, let's see who will get a new smart fridge."