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.

been a toss–up on a few questions, but it

kudos! You’re a genius,” came Juliana’s

his lips into a smile at her words.

a relief in itself. A guy like him deserved nothing but

Not too

eyes as Daniel placed a paper on

result. His smile

grasp of mathematics is remarkable. Despite the difficulty of

briefly as still as a tableau, erupted into whispers and

back row.

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

Hanley’s cheeks as if slapped by

Juliana was equally frozen, her mind

“Class dismissed!”

just in time for the bell

than the room erupted

“Screech!”

the floor as Merry, Cordelia’s front–row neighbor, swung around in her seat. With the laxity of a ragdoll, she leaned on Cordelia’s desk. “Hey, you’re Cordelia, right? I’m Merry,” she announced, her vibrant pink hair and dramatic makeup reminiscent of a cartoon character. She popped her bubblegumn and continued without waiting for a

replying simply, “Nice to meet you.”

“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

responded with a noncommittal, “Oh.”

grades were embarrassing, so they called off the engagement? Are you gonna try and top the class

of Merry being that of

class began, Juliana, playing her role as a volunteer, collected the papers. The first thing was check Cordelia’s result. Upon seeing the grade, Juliana

approached Cordelia, paper in hand, just in time to catch Merry’s comment. “Hanley is

she did

handed Cordelia her Literature paper, “B+. Cordelia, with this result, do you think you can take the

at Juliana,” I’m not sure whether Cordelia beats Hanley or not, but she’ll definitely better than

have no room for pride.” Merry chuckled, “Oh, I couldn’t be prouder to rank the last in

off, fuming.

rankings weren’t out until the end of the school

a number to her. She grabbed her bag and