“What the hell are you two doing?” Aria and the others stood nearby, staring at them with bewildered looks,
Owen unclenched his fist and took Kim’s hand instead. “We haven’t seen each other for a long time, I suddenly feel so brotherly toward him!
“Me too,” Kim forced out through gritted teeth.
‘Did they think we were blind or something?‘ Aria and Cloe thought at the same time.
E
Kim was the chairman of the Shaw Group, and Owen was a lawyer at a prestigious law firm. Yet here they were, brawling like teenagers in the hotel lobby.
Owen quickly caught up with them, smiled, and said, “Let’s go.”
The skirmish died down momentarily, only to flare up again at dinner.
Kim kept serving food to Cloe and Julia, while Owen peeled shrimp for Aria, Lily, and Pearl. After he finished, he removed his gloves and slid the plate of peeled shrimp toward Cloe and Julia. Owen said, “Cloe, you and Julia have some.”
Kim pushed the plate back without hesitation and shot him a glare. “I’ve got hands. I can peel it for them myself. Stay out of it
Owen sneered coldly, “Our housekeeper peeled all your shrimp growing up. You sure you even know how?”
“You’re full of it,” Kim shot back, pulling on disposable gloves and deftly peeling a whole shrimp in one go. “Mine looks way better than yours.”
Cloe and Aria were speechless.
‘What’s gotten into these two today?‘ they wondered.
Cloe shot Kim a glare. “If you’re going to peel, then just do it properly. No talking at the table.”
Kim nodded obediently. “Okay, I’ll listen to you.”
Then, Kim shot Owen a triumphant, challenging look.
Owen had no idea what got into Kim, but decided to let it slide.
The meal flew by in a flurry of lively conversation.
Four days later.
Lily’s hands trembled with excitement as she checked her score. “Aria! I got 1540!”
Pearl exclaimed, “Oh my god! 1540! Could you be the top scorer?”
Lily’s voice trembled as she stammered, “I–I don’t know… The top scores are neck and neck.”
Aria gently stroked her head and said, “Why don’t you call your teacher first? 1540 is an incredible score. Whether you’re the first or not, you’ll always be the most amazing.”
“Okay,” Lily replied.
She messaged Valerie on Facebook Messenger. Immediately after she sent the message, her teacher replied with lots of emojis.
Valerie replied: [Hang on, let me check how the other top students did.]
1/2
Chapter 488
2014 Jun
Ten minutes later, Valerie texted back: [Lily, you did it! Top scorer in Mandino city and the whole state! You and Kyle Yeart share its prez
“Oh my god! I did it! Lily sprang to her feet excitedly, throwing her arms around Aria in a tight hug before turning to embrace Ferris Arlar Fade exclaimed.
Aria beamed with pride and said, “My Lily is incredible. I’m the luckiest sister in the world.”
Mandino City’s two top scorers quickly became the top trending topic. Netizens were all discussing it online.
Someone sighed: [Mandino City is killing it this
difference is razor–thin.]
year. Two top scorers at once! The second and third place scores were 1535 and 1530. The score
Another one joined: [The top five students in Mandino City are always neck and neck in every citywide exam. These few keep taking turns at the top.
[Kanit City’s top scorer got 1520, which was also
More and more people joined: [Both cities used the Kanit City. But turns out that wasn’t the case.]
exam this year.
I expected, just like in previous years, that the top scorer would come from
[Mandino City struck gold with multiple dark horses this year.]
Calista saw the trending topic. She was so angry that she slammed her phone onto the table. “State’s top scorer? Seriously?”
After a moment’s thought, Calista frantically contacted Finn and demanded, “Cut all the footage about the SAT scores. Not a single second of it should remain.”
Finn saw the message and chose to ignore it.
His assistant asked, “Mr. Greer, should we cut it?”
Finn scoffed, “Cut what? The top scorer herself doesn’t mind. Who is Calista to complain?”
“But what if the Archer family retaliates and gets the show canceled?” the assistant asked.
Finn smiled slyly. “Don’t worry, I’ve got an ace up my sleeve. Go push the editing team to speed up. We’re airing this episode ahead of schedule.”
AD
