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.

toss–up on a few questions, but it

a genius,” came

his lips into a smile at

had arranged for him to marry Juliana, a relief in itself. A guy like him deserved nothing but the best, after

Not too

his eyes as Daniel placed a paper

result. His smile froze, ‘A? Was there some

warmest congratulations to Cordelia! Her grasp of mathematics is remarkable. Despite the difficulty of this exam, her

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

back row.

to see Cordelia slowly lift her head, her gaze sharpening on him. Then, with

to Hanley’s cheeks as if slapped

was equally frozen, her mind a loop

“Class dismissed!”

just in time for

gone than the room erupted into noise.

“Screech!”

seat. With the laxity of a ragdoll, she leaned on Cordelia’s desk. “Hey, you’re Cordelia, right? I’m Merry,” she

eyeballed her for a moment, replying simply, “Nice to meet

by Cordelia’s cool demeanor, Merry brandished her phone and chirped, “The whole school is buzzing on the forum 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 own the place just because of some high scores.”

a noncommittal,

“I heard the Foster family thought your grades were embarrassing, so they called off the engagement? Are

Merry being that of an overfriendly blabbermouth.

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

comment. “Hanley is no one–trick pony,” Juliana interjected. “He

she did

with this result, do you think you can take the top spot? Dream on.”

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

for a retort, Juliana sneered, “Considering you’re at the bottom, I suppose you have no room for pride.” Merry chuckled, “Oh, I couldn’t be prouder to

stormed off,

end of the school day, posted on the wall for

number to her. She