Coincidentally, Bailey walked past the few of them with a glass of wine in her hand in the middle of their conversation. When she heard Jeremy’s words, she approached May from behind without hesitation. She held onto the wine glass, which she was still drinking from, while her other was placed on May’s shoulder as she smiled at Jeremy. “What’s going on? Is Stan going to sing on the stage later? Can Stan sing?”
May immediately picked up the conversation and turned to Bailey. “Of course. Xyla has said that our Stan can sing really well.”
However, Bailey shook her head in disdain. “I don’t believe it…”
May insisted, “Don’t you believe Xyla too? Xyla has said that our Stan sings much better than professional singers.”
Bailey japed, “Well, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Stan is her husband, no doubt she’ll think that he’s a good singer. Professional singers are trained for years. Ordinary people are no match for professional singers anyway.”
“How would you know?”
“What’s the point of arguing here? We’ll find out if Stan comes on stage and sings for us later.”
“Unfortunately, it’s not a great idea to interrupt today’s performances. I’ll make sure Stan sings for you next time.”
“No no no… It’s such a good opportunity today. Why don’t we just make it today? Doesn’t Stan want to contribute to the charity works? Or does Stan not have the guts to perform on the stage as he’s afraid of embarrassing himself because he can’t sing?”
Following that statement, Bailey’s gaze slowly landed on Stanley Batton’s face. She was curious how much better he, an amateur, would sing than a professional singer. If he made a fool out of himself on the stage today, it would be a great humiliation to Xyla as well…
In addition to her secret that was yet to be exposed, she would definitely suffer a fall from grace today.
Though Stanley had already seen through May’s and Bailey’s intentions, he remained silent as he watched the two echo each other. All he did was gently swirling his red wine from time to time. The same went for Xyla.
On the other hand, Jeremy was extremely irritated by Bailey’s provocation. He frowned and hissed in response, “That’s enough. Go back to your seat and enjoy the performance.”
Bailey’s annoying grin did not falter despite his apparent disinterest. “Look at you, President Quest. Why are you getting mad now? I’m just curious about Stan’s voice, am I not?”
Xyla tilted her body toward Stanley and whispered, “Just ignore the two of them if you don’t want to sing at all.”
Slowly putting down the wine glass, Stanley glimpsed at the Chinese zither placed at the corner of the stage and asked, “Do you want me to sing?”
Xyla answered truthfully, “Of course. It’s a real slap in the face if your performance is splendid. But I know you won’t like it, so just don’t give a damn about her.”
Who was he?
The young master of Dragon Group. Asking him to sing for this bunch of people? Was that not ridiculous?
Stanley beamed at Xyla. “Anything you want me to do, I would love to do it.”
His one short sentence had already blown her away. At this moment in time, she could feel her heart melting away with his words.
Never in his life had he done anything crazy like this due to his identity. Yet, Stanley was willing to take the first step for her.
“Do you play the Chinese zither?” Stanley asked.
“I only know a little of it,” replied Xyla.
“What do you want me to sing?”
“Unrestrained’, do you know that song?” Xyla continued to stare at him, a glint of anticipation in her eyes. This was her favorite song since last summer.
“Hmm, yes.” He added, “We’ll sing and play the zither together.”
“Play the zither together?” Xyla’s utter dismay was reflected in her eyes. “That requires a lot of practices. If we’re going to do it without any preparation, I guess we’ll…”
“I’ll play the part you sing and you’ll play the part I sing. As for the chorus, we’ll play and sing together. Would you like to give it a try?”
Much to their surprise, Xyla nodded her head even though she had no idea what drove her to do so or what gave her the confidence. Perhaps, it was all out of trust in him.
