Elara's mood, which she had lifted after motivating herself to take the reins of her life, turned sour after encountering Andrew and his sidekick.
She didn't know whether she was more upset about being accused of following them or about letting them accuse her without retaliating.
In her head, there were a hundred more ways in which she could've handled that matter with more poise and elegance.
Like when Andrew held her hand, she should've flipped him off or pushed him in the horse shit. The idea of ruining his meeting, since he had destroyed her life for so long, was surely tempting, but she controlled her emotions.
She didn't want any ugly drama, not when her brother was here and would come forward to protect her.
She didn't want anyone to know about her real identity until the divorce was finalized.
Andrew might not want to have anything to do with her because he was already looking for a chance to be with Beatrice, but his greedy mother and sister would definitely try to throw dirt on her and extort money from her.
It was already a boon for them; she was walking away without taking any money or assets, as they always claimed she was after. She didn't need his disgusting money.
She let them bully her because she was naively in love with Andrew, but no way in hell would she allow them to throw dirt on her family name.
With a sigh, she sat at the side bench, her face partially hidden by her hair as she read the news in the entertainment circle.
"Elara? Is that you?" She heard a faintly chirpy voice and lifted her head to look at the person.
"It's you! Oh my!" The woman before her widened her eyes before nearly jumping on Elara to hug her.
Elara's pupils dilated.
It was none other than her best friend, Candice Stewart.
"Candice," Elara was equally surprised to see her here.
Candice was one of the girls who had been with her since childhood. School and university—they were together through all those years.
She wasn't a simple personality either. She was the heir and future owner of Stewart Tech Ltd.
They had been in touch all along until the past six months, when she suggested to Elara that she divorce her husband. At that time, she was so angry that she blocked Candice.
Seeing herself at the exact spot she always feared, Elara felt emotional.
"I was here to propose a deal, but had never thought I would meet you, love-sick fool, here. How is everything going on? You dare block me after everything we went through?" Candice narrowed her eyes.
"I am divorcing him. I filed for it today. In fact, I was about to come to your home to knock on your door and apologize," Elara sighed.
Candice's expression turned solemn.
She had seen Elara's lovesick side. The way she would go to any length to make her husband happy, cut her ties with her own family, love him to the moon and back, and even give up her dream of acting for him.
Thus, upon hearing that Elara had filed for the divorce, she knew something tragic must've happened.
"And you still wouldn't tell me who he is?" Candice asked.
Elara never told her who her husband was because she knew if Candice found out, she would hire people to beat the shit out of that man herself.
"You are here to make a deal, no? Let's focus on that first. We will catch up about all the other things later." Elara patted her shoulders before she walked to the horse ranch when she noticed it was her turn.
As she walked farther into the ranch, the keeper informed her that only two horses remained.
Probably, she was the second-to-last person to get the token. After all, she was sleeping soundly while everyone was trying to find a way to connect.
Then again, she wasn't here to make any connections.
As she looked at the two horses, she saw the cold man from earlier walk inside.
"Only two horses are left, sir. According to the rules, the lady should choose first," The horse ranch keeper said.
Elara noticed how the man walked past her as if her opinion didn't matter.
"She would let me choose first, wouldn't she?" The man didn't even turn to look at her.
"And why would I? Didn't you hear him? I must choose first," Elara said.
If the man wasn't interested in looking at her earlier, her answer definitely piqued his interest.
"Why wouldn't you let me choose first?" The man asked.
The assistant standing behind him nearly coughed on his saliva.
Was his boss seriously asking that? Then again, he was used to having things done his way. Thus, it must've been shocking to him that someone wasn't ready to give up to him.
The assistant nodded in understanding.
"Didn't you hear me?" Elara asked, feeling slightly annoyed.
Were all men such dumbasses, always going on some kind of power trip?
The man observed her for some time before nodding.
"You are right. You can choose first," He said.
The assistant looked at his boss, perplexed. Did his boss really just give up?
If only he could go back in time to record this scene and show it to his colleagues, who would surely have a heart attack if they saw it.
Elara chose the black horse, which neighed loudly when she peeked through the hole, and a smirk appeared on her face.
"Are you sure about it, Miss? He doesn't let anyone ride over him easily. It's hard to tame him," The keeper said, remembering one time when a young master had forced his way on the horse and had ended up in the hospital.
That was two years ago. Now that the keeper thought about it, the black horse had never let anyone ride over him since he had been working here for four years.
"I am confident," Elara said.
"In that case, we will bring you the horse from the back side since he might not cooperate easily," The keeper said, swallowing hard when he saw how loudly the horse was neighing.
He pitied the girl who was probably just too arrogant to admit defeat. But since most of these people were influential, he didn't want to offend her either, unsure what kind of young miss she was.
"Alright," Elara said before she smirked at the cold man beside her.
"Good luck," She said before chuckling.
The man's brows furrowed.
"Is there something on my face?" He asked his assistant, who shook his head quickly.
Then why did she laugh? The man wondered before he stepped forward to look at the only horse left.
When he looked at the white horse with long flailing hair, almost tied in a pony style, his eyes darkened.
"Must its hair stay like that? Why have you tied them?" The assistant looked at the horse and asked the keeper.
The keeper smiled awkwardly.
"She likes it like that. She only lets people ride on her when her hair is tied like that. The horse was previously owned by a man with a little girl, and thus this hairstyle grew on her," The keeper explained.
"Sir," the assistant cleared his throat.
"Bring it out," The cold man didn't say anything further and just stepped out of the ranch.
He looked around, and when he didn't find that weird woman, his brows furrowed.
Many people still didn't know his identity and couldn't help but wonder who this man was, since they couldn't recognise him in the country's business circles.
At the same time, George, who had been tending to the guests in the meeting room, walked out when he heard that Daniel Macros was there and went to him.
"Macros," he said before shaking his hand.
"Frost," the cold man shook his hand in return.
"What brought you here?" George asked, his gaze drifting to the lounge on the second floor where his sister was probably still asleep.
When people heard the way George addressed the man, they immediately started looking at each other awkwardly, unsure how to approach the golden fish they had been eyeing and wanted to see and meet.
"Is that what you are riding?" George couldn't hold his amusement, knowing how much Daniel hated girly things.
"Thanks to a weird woman, that was the only one I was left with," Daniel said grumpily.
"Mr. Macros, it's an honor to have you here." The arena manager walked forward, and everyone followed suit.
Andrew got on his horse, and Beatrice followed his lead.
"Will you be able to handle it?" He asked.
Beatrice nodded.
"Don't you remember, Drew? I was the best in my class," Beatrice said, taking pride in being the only female horse rider in the arena.
This was definitely going to make people look at her in a new light.
Since she was still contemplating whether to take over the CEO position at one of Andrew's company branches or to continue in the entertainment circle, she could use this attention to make her decision.
"Let's go." Andrew smiled at her, and Beatrice nodded before she pulled the rope to make her horse neigh loudly, catching everyone's attention.
Her horse started striding forward with great speed, making her long hair flail with the wind.
"Who is that young woman? So talented!"
"I have never seen a beauty like her."
"I wonder who she came with."
"That would be one hell of a lucky man,"
People started chattering, and Andrew's face beamed with pride while Beatrice basked in glory.
As he rode his horse behind Beatrice, his gaze fell on Elara in the other corner of the arena, where her horse was finally being brought to her, and he couldn't help but narrow his eyes.
Was she seriously trying to risk her life just to compete with Beatrice? Has she lost her mind? He wondered before riding towards her.