Kat found herself holding her breath as her neck prickled in response to Diego’s comment about sending interested women away just by telling them that he was a poor college student. “Well, I’m not so sure about that. You have heard of sugar momma’s right?” She shrugged a shoulder, raising her glass and averting her gaze. “Clearly, some people get off on that kind of thing.”<br/><br/>He agreed with her idea for them to stick together, making Kat smirk after she took a sip from her drink. She licked her lips, set the drink down, and nodded her head at Diego. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” She grinned. After the topic switched, unfortunately, to Chase, Kat nodded quickly, waving a hand in the air as if to disregard the topic. “He is. He isn’t here.”<br/><br/>The topic changed again, this time to the food, which Kat was only too glad to start talking to instead of her ex. Kat leaned into her plate and picked up another sushi roll with her chopsticks, then sank it into her mouth and moaned in delight as she chewed. When she noticed the sauce on Diego’s lip, she had to wipe it up.<br/><br/>Her decision was proven to be the right one when she noticed how he stared, gaping at her, afterward. Diego found his voice again eventually, but Kat barely remembered what they had been talking about. He offered her the opportunity to try anything else of his that she wanted. Kat’s gaze dropped downward so that she was looking at his lips.<br/><br/>It was then that a man dressed in a tux approached the small stage at the center of the ballroom. “Attention, please.” He spoke gently into the microphone that had been placed there, at the center. A faint spotlight flashed on and highlighted him, while the other lights dimmed, creating a forced tunnel vision for the audience.<br/><br/>“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for attending tonight’s gala. We are so thrilled that you could attend. Please, feel free to gather something to eat and find your seat and we will begin.” off to the side of the stage was a grand piano, where a woman in a sparkling gown started to play something quiet and melodic.<br/><br/>As Kat continued to eat, she watched the ‘show’ that was taking place on the stage in front of them. A projection screen slid down from the ceiling and before long, a slideshow of pictures and videos began to play, all showing the various charities, organizations and events that were hoping for sponsorship.<br/><br/>Waiters made their way around the tables, handing people pads of paper and a few ballpoint pens. When Kat was approached by one such waiter, she took the pad and pen nonchalantly, proceeding to jot down a few notes, and by the end of the presentation, she ranked the order of every group they had heard about that day and jotted numbers down beside each title.<br/><br/>She passed the note to Diego. “Do you agree?” She asked with a perked brow. Not that she necessarily needed or required his input.