Chapter 35
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Lincoln and Ruth stared at Andrea, their faces full of disappointment and disbelief.
Seeing their expressions, Andrea panicked and burst into tears. “Phoebe, how could you say that? I was just worried about Kaia’s grades. I only came across her information by accident-”
Phoebe let out a cold laugh. “Oh? Found it by accident and then just happened to take a picture, huh? What were you really trying to do?”
“… …” Andrea’s voice trembled, but then she snapped, “Phoebe, you’ve really let me down. I trusted you, so I told you about this. But you’re just mad because Grandpa and Grandma gave the company to my dad.
“You wanted to humiliate my parents, so you put it on the big screen. I know your parents are upset and want to take over the company.”
Are you serious right now, Andrea? Do you have no shame?” Phoebe shouted, grabbing a fistful of Andrea’s hair.
‘Ouch! My hair! Let go! It hurts!” Andrea screamed.
The two of them started clawing at each other. Kaia sat there, sipping her drink like nothing was happening, looking more entertained than concerned.
‘Big news!” Russell burst into Tobias’s office.
Tobias glanced up, not impressed. “What’s gotten into you?”
Russell grabbed a glass of water, downed it, and said, “Huge news!”
“What is it? Why are you so worked up?” Tobias asked, already turning back to his work.
“You didn’t hear? SAT results came out today, Russell said
Normally, Tobias couldn’t care less about that, but this time, he felt a flicker of interest.
“Do you know how your fiancée did? Russell asked
“I didn’t ask Tobias replied casually. He figured it’d only embarrass Kaia, knowing her usual bad grades.
“I knew you wouldn’t be acting this calm if you already knew. Guess what she scored?” Russell said with a grin
Tobias frowned. “You know her grades aren’t great. Did you come here just to rub it in? Russell, I’m
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warning you–fine, you can say it to me since we’re friends, but if you ever say something like that to her face, don’t blame me for losing it.”
Russell blinked, caught off guard by his tone. Then his eyes went wide. “Hold on. You actually like her, don’t you? Are you finally interested in a woman?”
Tobias didn’t deny it. “I figure we could try getting along.”
“You should. And listen–Kaia got a perfect score. She’s number one in Morganburg,” Russell said, his voice full of excitement.
Tobias’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re not messing with me, right?”
“You think I’d joke about this, huh?” Russell asked seriously, for once dropping his usual teasing
tone.
“How do you know?” Tobias asked.
จ
Russell said, clearly enjoying the drama, “It’s her grandparents‘ birthday today. Everyone’s talking about it. Her cousin tried to humiliate her. And that wannabe rich girl, Andrea, pulled some shady stunt to get Kaia’s info and check her grades.
The two of them cooked up a plan, plastered the results on the big screen, and thought they’d have 1 good laugh. But it totally backfired–they embarrassed themselves instead.”
He clapped Tobias on the shoulder. “Man, I’ve told you before, and I’ll say it again–we were way off about Kaia. She’s not just some average girl.
You like capable women, right? All those rich girls chasing you, you always thought they were spoiled princesses who couldn’t do anything but act cute.
‘But Kaia? She’s the real deal. Your mom’s right–without that Moreno Group CEO title, you might not even be good enough for her.”
Tobias stayed quiet for a moment, then pulled out his phone and started texting Kaia. Russell leaned over, trying to peek.
Just right, Kaia’s phone buzzed. [Heard you’re number one in Morganburg?|
She smirked a little at how fast news spread and replied: [Yeah J
[Congrats.]
[Thanks.]
[What do you want for dinner? My treat–celebration’s on me.]
[My parents are throwing me a party tonight. I’m not coming back.]
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Tobias frowned, not knowing how to reply.
Russell chimed in, “You two agreed to be together for a month, right? It’s already been almost two weeks. Every day counts. Tell her if she’s skipping today, she owes you another day later.”
“You think that’s fine?” Tobias asked, completely serious.
“What’s not fine about it? Don’t start getting shy now. Forget pride–you’re chasing a girl,” Russell
said.
But Tobias was already typing. Russell glanced over and nearly rolled his eyes.
Tobias had written: [We agreed on one month. You missed a day, so you owe me ten extra. Grandpa’s rules–I can’t go against them.]
That night, Kaia’s class group chat blew up.
[No way–Kaia really got into Morganburg University? And she’s number one in the city? With a perfect score in everything?]
[What the hell? Wasn’t she the worst student in our whole school?]
[Hey, remember that bet?]
[Let’s not talk about that. It was just a joke. Kaia won’t take it seriously.]
Kaia, who had been quietly reading, finally replied: [I’m taking it very seriously.]
The chat went dead silent.
Kaia added with a wicked little smile: [Pretending it didn’t happen won’t make it go away. Don’t forget–you all said you’d shave your heads. And you filmed it, remember?]
At that point, no one could keep pretending.
Casey finally replied: (Come on, Kaia. Let’s just drop it. We’re all classmates. No one actually meant
- it)
Others quickly chimed in.
(Yeah, Kaia, don’t be petty. It was just a joke.J
[If you’d lost, we wouldn’t have brought it up.1
[Exactly.]
Kaia sent a sarcastic emoji and added: JA joke? Then why did you spread the news everywhere? You
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were just hoping I wouldn’t show up so you could laugh at me. Now you’re playing dumb, huh?
[My SAT score says I’m smarter than all of you put together. So stop with your pathetic little games -I see right through them.]
They all went quiet, clearly upset but unable to argue.
Kaia didn’t give them a chance to recover. [Quit wasting time. Shave your heads. If you don’t, I’ll post the video online—and send it to your colleges and future workplaces.]
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