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.

few questions, but it seemed they were all

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

curled his lips into a

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

Not too

his eyes as Daniel placed a

His smile froze, ‘A? Was

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

a tableau, erupted into whispers and turned heads, all eyes

back row.

widened his eyes in disbelief, turning to see Cordelia slowly lift her head, her gaze sharpening on him. Then, with a slow and knowing smile, Cordelia whispered just loud enough for him to hear, “Not bad.”

cheeks as if slapped

frozen, her mind a loop of denial,

“Class dismissed!”

up the review just in time

gone than the room erupted

“Screech!”

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

a moment, replying simply,

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

with a

embarrassing, so they called off the engagement? Are you gonna try and top the class to show them

Merry being that of an

next 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 exhaled in

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

she did

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

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

no room for pride.” Merry chuckled, “Oh, I couldn’t

off,

rankings weren’t out until the end of the school day, posted on

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