Love or Die CEO’s Daily Dose of Swoon

Chapter 8

Latham strode into the classroom, his arrival predating the bell’s chime by mere seconds.

He dropped a stack of thick papers onto the desk at the front, Daniel, would you mind handing these out?”

A hush fell over the room as Cordelia, seated at the back, watched necks crane and bodies lean forward in anticipation. As the papers made their rounds, a cacophony of sighs and gasps peppered the air from every

comer.

Daniel, a slim figure with glasses that seemed too heavy for his face, approached Juliana and handed her the

paper.

Curiosity bubbled up from the desks, “What do you get?”

Juliana glanced at her score with a mix of ease and pride in her voice. “A”

“And you nailed that with these brain–busters? Impressive!”

Juliana feigned modesty. ‘Oh, it’s nothing. I’m still trailing behind Hanley”

“No need to compare with that guy who is been raking in math awards since he was in diapers. But you know, you’re two peas in a pod, academically speaking.

Amidst the surrounding exclamations of admiration, Juliana inevitably drifted her gaze to the back row

With a hint of teasing, she said, “Daniel, would you be a dear and check my cousin’s grade?”

Fumbling through the papers, Daniel didn’t find Cordelia’s but instead pulled out Hanley’s and promptly handed it over…

Before the commotion could settle, Latham announced from the front, “This math test, there’s only one perfect score in the entire grade, and it’s from our class!”

“Wow!”

“Hanley’s got to be the man, right?”

As the class buzzed with astonishment, Hanley quietly exhaled in relief.

on a few questions, but it

kudos! You’re a genius,” came

lips into a

that his family had arranged for him to marry Juliana, a relief in itself. A guy like him

too shabby.

eyes as Daniel placed a paper on

subconsciously glanced at the result. His smile froze,

a breathless Latham added, “Let’s extend our warmest congratulations to Cordelia! Her grasp of mathematics is remarkable. Despite

classroom, briefly as still as a tableau, erupted into whispers and turned heads, all eyes on the girl in

back row.

sharpening on him. Then, with a slow and knowing smile, Cordelia whispered just loud enough for him to hear,

to Hanley’s cheeks as if slapped by

equally frozen, her mind a loop of denial,

“Class dismissed!”

in time for the bell

sooner had he gone than the room

“Screech!”

a ragdoll, she leaned on Cordelia’s desk. “Hey, you’re Cordelia, right?

her for a moment, replying simply, “Nice

about whether Hanley can cling to his top spot. I gotta say I’ve had it up to here with Hanley and Juliana, prancing around like they

with a noncommittal, “Oh.”

heard the Foster family thought your grades were embarrassing, so they called off the engagement? Are you gonna try and top the class

of Merry being that of an overfriendly

playing her role as a volunteer, collected the papers. The first thing was

paper in hand, just in time to catch Merry’s comment. “Hanley is no one–trick pony,” Juliana interjected. “He

she did

this result, do

whether Cordelia beats Hanley or not, but she’ll definitely better than you. What’s there for you

at the bottom, I suppose you have no room for pride.” Merry chuckled, “Oh, I couldn’t

off, fuming.

the end of the school day, posted on the wall

to look. Grades were just a number to her. She grabbed her bag