Chapter 182 Doesn't My Gift Surprise You?
Hayden froze on the spot.
William glanced coldly at the stunned Hayden. "What? Is Mr. Taylor not welcoming me here?"
Hayden snapped back to reality, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him. He shivered at William's words.
"Of course not!"
His face immediately broke into a bright smile. "Mr. Brown, it's truly an honor for the Taylor family that you're here!"
"Mr. Brown, please come in."
Yves quickly ran inside, giving orders: "Mr. Brown is here, hurry and bring out the best drinks! Be quick about it!"
Yves's voice wasn't quiet, and the surrounding guests all heard it. Their faces immediately showed surprise.
"Who did he just say is here?" someone couldn't help asking. "Mr. Brown?"
"What, is it William?"
Looking at the man entering from the banquet hall entrance, someone already had the answer. "It's William!"
The people around immediately gasped.
William, known for his decisive and ruthless ways, had always kept a low profile and rarely appeared in public. Any event he attended was invariably of extreme importance.
Yet he had personally come here.
What did this mean?
Hayden led William into the banquet hall. Everyone's eyes fell on William, but he ignored them all, his gaze fixed only on Isabella, who was eating in the corner.
A smile slowly appeared on William's lips.
Greedy Isabella.
He had arrived, yet she didn't even glance at him, only focused on eating.
When William smiled, it was like a spring breeze awakening all things.
The women present were all stunned.
"Am I seeing things? Did Mr. Brown just... smile?"
"He looks so good when he smiles."
"So handsome. He's like two different people when he smiles versus when he doesn't."
"..."
"Why is William here?" Abigail and the others were sitting in the corner. Seeing William walking steadily toward them, their mouths dropped open.
After learning her lesson at Indigo's birthday party last time, Abigail couldn't fail to recognize William now.
Hearing William's name, Bianca's body trembled. She quickly looked up.
In one glance, she met William's smiling face.
He...
Was he smiling at her?
In an instant, Bianca felt her heart pounding wildly, as if it wanted to burst out of her chest.
Why was he walking this way?
Watching William get closer and closer, Bianca felt like the whole world had stopped. Everything around her faded into nothing, and her entire vision was filled with William.
Abigail let out a surprised cry. "Bianca, could William have come specially to celebrate your birthday?"
Bianca couldn't believe it either.
But William was smiling at her.
Today was her and Isabella's birthday party, and Isabella and William didn't know each other at all. William naturally couldn't be here to celebrate Isabella's birthday.
So he could only be here to celebrate her birthday.
Bianca felt like her heart was about to jump out.
When William was still a few meters away from her, she nervously stood up.
However, the next second, William walked right past her, heading behind her.
The smile on Bianca's face froze. She quickly looked in the direction William was walking.
The person standing there was—
Isabella.
Isabella was truly hungry.
Seeing the party was almost over and no more guests were coming, she took this time to frantically stuff pastries into her mouth to fill her stomach and restore her energy for what was to come.
Isabella worked quickly, using both hands to stuff desserts into her mouth.
Suddenly, a man's low, cool cough came from behind her.
Isabella's hand froze mid-grab.
Then she heard William's voice from behind her ear:
"What's this? Are the Taylors starving you?"
Isabella was stunned.
A few seconds later, she spun around and, seeing William's face so close, cried out in surprise: "William? What are you doing here?"
A helpless smile appeared on William's lips. "Naturally, I came to wish you a happy birthday."
Isabella swallowed the dessert in her mouth.
The air fell into silence.
Everyone around them looked at William and Isabella with disbelief, their brains seeming to short-circuit.
William and Isabella knew each other?
How did they meet?
How could someone of Isabella's status possibly know William?
Finally, Hayden was the first to break the silence. "Isabella, Mr. Brown personally came to wish you a happy birthday. Aren't you going to thank Mr. Brown!"
Isabella stared blankly at William and swallowed the dessert in her mouth again. "Thank you."
"Thank me for what? Shouldn't I be here for your birthday?" William looked at Isabella, his eyes full of tenderness. "I brought you a gift. See if you like it."
David immediately handed a box to William.
A dazzling light flashed before Isabella's eyes.
A sparkling large pink diamond came into view.
Before coming, William had been very satisfied with the gift he had chosen.
A rare 23-carat pink diamond with a stunning vivid pink color and excellent quality. It was even pink, which girls loved. Atticus said no girl could resist pink, and Isabella would surely be no exception.
Isabella stared at the huge pink diamond in a daze.
Why was it another diamond?
She only needed four more types, and she could collect all seven colors of gemstones.
Seeing her silent, William couldn't help but doubt his choice.
"What? Don't you like it?"
Isabella immediately denied it. "Of course not."
"I was just thinking... does the Brown family do gemstone business?"
"How did you know?" William looked at her curiously.
Then he slowly said, "The Brown family started in the gemstone business hundreds of years ago, accumulated their first important fortune, and later built what is now the Brown Group. Even now, the jewelry business is still a major industry of the Brown Group. The largest jewelry brand in the country is under the Brown Group..."
Isabella listened to his explanation, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly.
William noticed that Isabella's eyes didn't show the surprise at seeing gemstones that Atticus had mentioned. His brows furrowed slightly. "Doesn't my gift surprise you?"
"No." Isabella explained, "It's just that Sophia gave me gemstones earlier too."
William's eyes flashed with surprise at this.
He hadn't known about this.
"She gave me two, one red and one blue." Isabella added.
"What?" William's face darkened slightly. "She actually gave you two?"
Compared to that, didn't it make him look very stingy?
William's eyes darted around, trying to save some face for himself. "This pink diamond is a full 23 carats."
What Sophia gave must have been small gemstones, couldn't possibly be as big as his.
Isabella touched her chin and said, "This pink diamond does look pretty big, but those two from Sophia seem even bigger than this one. One is 32 carats, and the other is... 27 carats!"
Perfect.
William's last bit of dignity vanished into thin air.