Matt spotted Ariel first. His brows arched. Still, he greeted her and Janice. “What a coincidence seeing you here.”

Ariel merely cast him a brief glance. Then, she grabbed Janice’s arm and led her away. She clearly had no intention to interact with him.

Despite how often Matt had treated her with scorn and disdain in the past, Ariel endured all of it because of Jayson. However, she did not have to do that anymore.

On the other hand, Janice had no intention of speaking to Frederick. She simply ignored Matt and him.

Matt felt quite surprised. He was not mad or annoyed about it.

It seemed to him that Ariel had been growing bolder lately. He could not help but wonder if she was trying to use another approach to catch Jayson’s attention.

Just as Jayson had predicted, Ariel did not personally deliver any hangover soup to them the night before the federal holiday.

“Don’t you think Ariel is acting a bit haughtily these days?”

Frederick furrowed his brows. He was a little flabbergasted. “Why do I get the feeling that she’s completely ignoring us?”

Matt couldn’t understand it either. He wasn’t sure whether Ariel was trying to gain Jayson’s attention by using other methods or if there was some other reason she was doing this.

Ariel had indeed treated them as if they were invisible lately.

“I don’t think she’ll do something like that.” Matt shook his head.

With how deeply she loved Jayson, Ariel would not foolishly try to get on their wrong side. She was most likely devising ways to get Jayson’s attention.

Matt waved his hand dismissively as he did not think much of what had just happened.

Perhaps because she had gone for the radiation therapy in the morning, Ariel felt unwell. After walking in her heels for a while, she quickly felt exhausted.

Janice could tell that Ariel was feeling a bit under the weather. She had Ariel sit down in the lounge. “You should rest for a while. I’ll help you look for Fergus.”

Ariel agreed with her suggestion. She was in no shape to move around and mingle. So, Janice walked off to meet and talk to the other guests.

Ariel did a mental calculation to find out the time she should be taking her medicine. She decided to take one first.

Someone came up to Ariel and stopped before her just as she opened her bag.

“What are you doing here?” Lucas stared at her with a frown on his forehead. He did not seem to welcome Ariel here.

Ariel paused briefly. She closed her bag and looked Lucas in the eye. Ariel said flatly, “I don’t think I need your

permission before doing anything.”

Lucas chuckled and pressed the tip of his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “Very nice, Ari. You’ve learned how to talk back now.”

Ariel dropped her gaze. She saw no need to explain anything to him.

Yet, Lucas bent forward and grabbed her wrist. “Come with me! I’ll have someone send you home.”

Lucas was holding her with so much force that Ariel felt a sharp pain in her wrist. Her expression hardened. Ariel tried to yank her hand free. “I’m not leaving, and you have no right to decide that for me!”

She couldn’t understand why Lucas was acting this way after seeing her here today.

“It’s just a charity auction. What’s the big deal about it?” she pondered.

“Ariel, stop being a nuisance.” Lucas‘ gaze hardened. There was a hint of menace in his voice. Those were the tone and manner Lucas would adopt when trying to warn or threaten someone.

Ariel suddenly stopped struggling. She looked at him and said calmly, “Lucas, I’m no longer the younger sister whom you have under your control and protection. I don’t need you worrying about me or disciplining me. I hope you see that now.”

They had gone their separate ways. Lucas no longer had the right to tell her what to do.

Lucas understood what Ariel meant by those words.

The light in his eyes dimmed. The corners of his mouth twitched. However, he quickly regained his composure.

Lucas figured Ariel was just throwing tantrums. It was pretty understandable for Ariel to be upset about him seeing another woman.

However, there was nothing he could do about it. Lucas had no plans to break up with Wendy.

Ariel did not care about what he was thinking. She just wanted to pry Lucas‘ hand off.

Just then, she heard noises coming from a distance. Ariel looked up instinctively and met Jayson’s cold gaze.

Jayson had Nancy, who had dressed up nicely, standing beside him. He seemed to have noticed Ariel and Lucas being overly “intimate” since the beginning. Yet, he merely paused briefly before slowly averting his gaze.

He did not seem interested in finding out what was going on between those two, and he didn’t seem to care in the slightest.

Ariel calmly averted her gaze from Jayson as well. It was as if the person she had just seen was a total stranger.

“Lucas, what are you two doing?”

Wendy lifted her skirt slightly as she walked over to them. She was quite surprised to see Lucas holding onto Ariel’s wrist. She had a questioning look in her eyes.