The Woods family was a group of individuals whom the people in San Joto would stay away from, as messing with them was inviting trouble. Norah saw this and said boldly, “Grandpa... I didn’t mean it. She had just arrived at school and did not know who Austin was.” It sounded like she was defending Nicole, but it actually was to say that Nicole was the one who first used violence. Nicole was not too happy. Just when she was about to rebut, Daniel spoke. “Dad, Nicole is not to blame. I have looked into the ins and outs of the matter. Austin openly tried to grab Nicole. Do we still have to put up with that?” Seeing the righteous indignation of Daniel and Nicole, Karen said sarcastically, “Daniel, Austin is Mr. Woods Sr.’s grandson. We are in trouble by offending him. I heard Snow say that Austin threatened to get Nicole expelled from the school.” Karen threw a bombshell. “Expulsion?” Mr. Riddle Sr. frowned immediately. It was only last night that Mr. Ellison invited Nicole into t
Nicole subtly shook her head to signal Mr. Riddle Sr. He then shook his head and said, “She is fine. She didn’t take it to heart.” “Glad to hear. I will tell that kid from the Woods family to behave. No one will bully Nicole at school from now on. I assured you that.” “Thank you so much.” Mr. Riddle Sr. was elated and immediately thanked Mr. Ellison. “No problem. Let us have a cup of tea together if you have time next time,” Mr. Ellison said politely. “Any time, Mr. Ellison. Call me when you have time.” Mr. Riddle Sr. was flattered. Not anyone could meet Mr. Ellison, and it was unimaginable that Mr. Ellison would ask to meet him. So, he agreed immediately. “Sure.” After that, Mr. Ellison hung up. The air felt standstill as everyone who heard the conversation looked at Nicole in disbelief. Norah was most surprised. She had not believed it at all that Mr. Ellison would still be protective of Nicole when such a thing happened, but his phone call had confirmed everything. M
“Anything else?” Nicole sounded cold, clearly wanting to drive her away. Norah felt embarrassed and could only quickly get down to business. “I know that you and Austin have a conflict. I was just worried that our family would get involved, so I said something that might have offended you. Please don’t mind. You may hit me if you are angry.” Norah said with an innocent look, as if Nicole would bully her. Nicole sneered as she despised someone who liked to play the victim like Norah. “Since you know you shouldn’t have said something that shouldn’t be said, you should have corrected yourself instead of coming to me to pretend to apologize.” With that, Nicole slammed the door shut. Norah felt insulted, as if she had been slapped, her face feeling a burning sensation. D*mn it. How dare Nicole disparage her? Did Nicole really think she had the right to reprimand her because she came to apologize? “Let’s wait and see, Nicole.” She stomped her feet angrily before taking her things
Everyone looked at Nicole in admiration. But the more unbelievable things were yet to come. Austin’s followers looked at Austin with confusion, and one of them asked, “But boss, yesterday, this ungrateful brat rejected your—” Before the guy could finish speaking, Austin gave him a punch with a backhand. “Stop talking like that to Nicole! From now onward, Nicole is my boss. I will not spare those who dare to bully her.” The poor guy glanced angrily at Nicole. Seeing that Austin was serious, the rest bowed their heads and submitted to Nicole. After that, Austin looked at Nicole flatteringly, hoping to get her compliment. Everyone was in a daze for a moment, as they could not believe that all this was true. Jack and Wayne behind them were speechless. Gary watched on with great interest, his eyes falling on Nicole and studying her. But Nicole was nonchalant, giving no reaction to Austin’s actions. She then calmly checked her watch and said to Austin, “I am not your boss. My
Ms. Emerson turned her head to look at Nicole with a gentle smile. “Keep up the good work, Nicole. Don’t get complacent just because you have scored a full mark this time. The monthly exam is around the corner; it is still crucial to do revision at night.” Yesterday, she thought that Nicole’s grades were mediocre. Nicole was even absent from the self-study class last night. It was only after the test did she find Nicole’s exam results were anything but mediocre. She was now much more at ease. It shocked Bradley to see how easily Ms. Emerson glossed over Nicole’s absence from the self-study class. Jack was even more dumbfounded, not expecting Nicole to be the only person who got a perfect score. He and Wayne looked at Nicole sitting in the third row from the last, as if she was some kind of monster. While passing the test papers to Nicole, there was a complicated look in Lulu’s eyes as she noticed that Nicole had corrected the two questions that she had done wrong. Those two q
Snow was cooperative. “Indeed, I can also tell that this should be Hablese coffee beans, and was probably produced last year. That’s why it is so fragrant and has a very strong coffee aroma.” Raine quickly nodded. “The roasting of this coffee bean goes through ten complex processes.” Everyone listened to them and nodded their heads in praise of their erudition. Seeing that they had gotten all the attention they wanted, Snow and Raine played humble, pretending that they were not seeking compliments, yet the smile on their faces had never stopped. Norah felt triumphant, too, after Nicole was ridiculed. Just as they were at it, sudden laughter came. Snow and Raine turned around abruptly, not realizing that Nicole was leaning back in her chair and looking at them with unbridled sarcasm. Raine was the first to lose her cool. “What are you laughing at?” “I laugh at you all, smart aleck.” Nicole did not want to intervene at first, but these people had jabbed at her. She was no
Snow was embarrassed but could only hold out her hand to Jared. “Hello Mr. Johnston, I am Snow, Nicole’s cousin. Nice to meet you.” She smiled and fiddled with her hair, trying to impress Jared. No boy at school could resist her suggestive teasing, and she thought Jared was no exception. But Jared just nodded casually. “Nice to meet you.” Snow and Raine tried their entire bag of tricks to impress Jared but hit a wall when Jared snubbed them. Norah immediately snapped back and wanted to smash down Nicole. “We are sorry for the blunder. We were just discussing the coffee beans, and Nicole was just spitballing. Hope you don’t mind if she is wrong.” Norah looked graceful. The way she pretended to speak for Nicole could not be b*tchier. Nicole’s stomach churned, and she almost threw up. Just then, Jared suddenly said, “Miss Riddle is right, this coffee bean is indeed a product of my Floezen manor, and she is spot on about the roasting method.” Everyone gasped in surprise. Th
In that case, it was not too bad to be his fiancée. Wait a minute; what the hell was she thinking? How could she compromise just for the coffee? She coughed with embarrassment but still kept her modesty. “Thank you, Mr. Johnston. I will come again when I have time.” She loved coffee, so why not since it was free? “Okay.” He stared at her pretentious look and could not help but smile. This girl seemed to like his coffee beans. “I will go now. See you around.” Nicole waved goodbye. She smirked when she turned around. She would come for the coffee often. Max came into the private lounge after Nicole left. Jared immediately instructed Max, “Check Nicole’s background and don’t alarm the Riddle family.” He wanted to figure out the relationship between this girl and Mr. Ellison, and how she knew the existence of his estate. Max bowed his head, turned around, and left to find out Nicole’s background. Turning his gaze to the floor-to-ceiling window, Jared looked at Nicole’s