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.

a toss–up on a few questions,

genius,” came Juliana’s

lips into a smile at

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

too

eyes as Daniel placed a paper on his desk.

result. His smile froze, ‘A? Was

pondered, a breathless Latham added, “Let’s extend our warmest congratulations to Cordelia! Her grasp of mathematics is remarkable. Despite the difficulty of this exam, her result was

into whispers and turned

back row.

his eyes in disbelief, turning to see Cordelia slowly lift her head, her gaze sharpening on him. Then, with a slow and knowing

rushed to Hanley’s cheeks as if slapped by an invisible hand.

was equally frozen, her mind

“Class dismissed!”

in time for the bell and left the

than the room erupted

“Screech!”

across 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

a moment, replying simply, “Nice to meet

about whether Hanley can cling to his top spot. I gotta say

with a

your grades were embarrassing, so they called off the engagement? Are you gonna try and top the class to show them up?”

first impression of Merry being that of an overfriendly

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

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

she did

Cordelia her Literature paper, “B+. Cordelia, with this result, do you think

whether Cordelia beats Hanley or not,

room for pride.” Merry chuckled, “Oh, I couldn’t be prouder to rank the last in the class.”

off, fuming.

of the school day, posted

to look. Grades were just a number to her. She grabbed her bag and was the first to head out