The Day I Kissed An Older Man

"You're much more of a gentleman compared to that night," Rita remarked with a smile.

In response, Sherman cocked an eyebrow and quipped, "And you're much more amiable now than you were then."

Their shared laughter drew Sadie's gaze and fueled her resentment.

She wanted to know when Rita started to have eyes on Sherman and felt that Rita was utterly shameless for trying to charm the man that Sadie had been eyeing first.

That being said, a public display of frustration was hardly appropriate, so Sadie forced a smile and approached Sherman.

"Where have you been, Mister Sherman? I looked everywhere for you earlier but couldn't find you," she said, disregarding Rita's presence.

took a step back and maintained a polite distance. "And you are?"

stiffened in

quite like him in the entire banquet. However, Sadie seemed to think too highly of herself rather than looking at herself in the mirror to see if she was fit to even approach him. Plenty of young women in the banquet were dying to get close to him but did not dare to do so.

a strained smile. "I'm Sadie, the second daughter of the Russells.

Still, the faint smile at Rita's lips seemed to mock her. Sadie gritted her teeth and yearned to lash out, but she kept her emotions in check for the

huge surprise to Rita. After all, they had only met each

teetered on the brink of

her. She knew that it could not have been easy for

brought Sadie with her after remarrying my father. Sadie later changed her surname to our family's," Rita explained to Sherman, who nodded in

She gripped her wine glass so tightly that