Chapter 5

Some of them couldn't take it any longer. "Ethan! Evelyn is going too far! She's bullying Leah!" Leah's eyes reddened. She spoke as if she had been wronged and was holding it in. "I'm fine, Ethan. I think Evelyn's just misunderstanding me." Ethan's cold gaze landed on me. The atmosphere became tense. I looked at him emotionlessly. My fist clenched on instinct, and I mocked him silently. Now what? Was he going to speak up for Leah? His gaze suddenly shifted to the ranking list. He stared for a while before looking at me. His brow furrowed. "You only scored this high in languages?" He was stern, and his tone was upset. It sounded like he was mocking me. Was he saying this on behalf of Leah? I wasn't having it. I scoffed and prepared to retort, but Ethan's brow relaxed. He said softly, "You did decent overall though. Keep it up." "Huh?" He spoke nonchalantly, as if he was talking about the weather. I was dumbfounded. I stared at him like I had seen a ghost. Had Ethan gone nuts? He saw my confused expression and said coldly, "What's with you? If you've got nothing to do, go practice writing essays. Quit thinking about nonsense." With that, he left and ignored everyone else's reactions. Looking at him walk away, everyone was confused. He was scolding me… right? I was shocked, but I felt better looking at Leah. She was young now and wanted to maintain her youthful gentleness. However, her expression was warped. Her smile was forced. I scoffed and dragged Lyla along as I left. When I got back to the classroom, Ethan's seat was empty. I flipped through the practice papers on the table. As I did, I noticed that they looked familiar. Wasn't this the set that my homeroom teacher gave me in my past life? At the time, I was shocked. It was like the questions prepared were specifically designed for the topics I was weak in. Why would this be in the bag Ethan gave me? "Evelyn, Ethan was praising you earlier, right?" Lyla asked, interrupting my thoughts. She seemed awfully cheerful. I was silent. Antoine, who sat diagonally behind me, was shocked too. He said, "Isn't Ethan going overseas for a competition today? He should be on his way to the airport by now! Why would he come to school?' "He must have stopped by on the way?" "The two locations are worlds apart," Antoine said as he adjusted his glasses. "Besides, he's not even taking the exam. What results are there for him to look at?" I stared at the practice papers before me. It felt like there was a lump in my throat. In my past life, I would boast to Ethan about even the smallest improvements I achieved, but he never reciprocated my excitement. He'd kick me down a notch at every chance he got. But just then, he showed up at the ranking list and said I did decently? Breaking the silence, Leah's clique walked over. "Leah, Ethan's so meticulous! He even came to school just to see your results!" Leah was back to normal. She said sweetly, "Oh, I didn't expect it either." Ah, I see. How I wished to give myself a beating for letting my thoughts wander. "Back to studying!" I calmed down and buried myself in more homework. Whatever he did or said, it had nothing to do with me anymore! I was fed up with getting worked up and losing control of my life because of him! Time flew by while I was busy studying. Eventually, I ranked 10th in the third trial exam. I got my flow back. Ethan showed up again after the third trial exam. He took a look at the ranking list and left in a hurry. He never showed up again after that. He must have really loved Leah. I didn't care, but I kept overhearing about his life from Antoine. "Ethan won a competition. A Novel-Prize-winning professor from overseas is inviting him to his study program. What an opportunity!" "Ethan's back home, but his dad's making him handle company matters. He's going to be busy " "Ethan went overseas again. He's at some international conference. It's for a collaboration with his family's company." Who knew where Antoine got all this information. He knew everything about Ethan's whereabouts. Worse still, he just had to keep saying it aloud! If not for me having to ask for his help with homework, I would've switched seats ages ago! Though… had Ethan been this busy in my past life? I clearly remember him always being in school during our senior year. I would pester him to teach me all the time. A week before the college entrance exams, Jack made an outrageous request. He asked me to join a banquet with him. In response, I buried myself in more work. "I'm not going!" I grumbled. Jack slammed the table. "Evelyn Wiley! Don't forget whose money you're spending! My money, my house!" I was speechless. Jack was going to talk about this when I was just three months past 18? Seeing that I wasn't convinced, he softened his tone and said, "Evelyn, give your father a hand, would you? Don't you like those Galaxia skirts? I'll buy you the latest one in return." I put down my pen and stuck my hand out, emotionless. "I want five sets for every season." Galaxia was no cheap brand. Five sets could easily cost a few hundred thousand dollars. I was making an absurd request, but not an unreasonable one. It was just enough to push Jack's buttons. He'd have to spend a fortune, but it wasn't unmanageable. As expected, he scowled. "Fine!" he agreed while gritting his teeth. The next night, I followed Jack to a hotel. He was busy attending to others, so I nonchalantly took a plate of cake to eat. "Want to drink together, pretty?" Champagne was brought over to me. I looked up to see a pair of flirty eyes and someone smiling back at me. This guy was undoubtedly a playboy. He seemed familiar, but I couldn't recall who it was. I rejected the wine and said, "Sorry. I'm not of age." The playboy's eyes widened in shock. He apologized instinctively. He paused and came to his senses. "Doesn't the law allow you to drink if you're underage here?" Well, technically not. I just smiled politely and said, "I'm allergic to alcohol." That playboy laughed at my poorly thought-out excuse. His expression lightened, and he seemed more relaxed. He looked at me intently. "Come on. Let's get to know each other better. My name's Liam Tyler." Liam Tyler? My heart skipped a beat. I finally recalled who this was. "What's your name?" Liam asked as he smiled at me. "Evelyn! Come say hi to Mr. Grayson's son!" Jack called out from behind me. I instinctively turned to see the scene behind me. My blood ran cold. What the hell was Jack trying to do?