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.

night had been a toss–up on a few questions, but it seemed they

a genius,” came

lips into a

just learned that his family had arranged for him to marry Juliana, a relief in itself. A guy like him deserved nothing but the

Not too

a blur before his eyes as Daniel

His smile

Cordelia! Her grasp of mathematics is remarkable. Despite the difficulty of

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

back row.

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

if slapped by an invisible

equally frozen, her mind a loop of denial, “Impossible! How?‘

“Class dismissed!”

time for the bell and

sooner had he gone than the room erupted into

“Screech!”

a ragdoll, she leaned on Cordelia’s desk. “Hey, you’re Cordelia, right? I’m Merry,” she announced, her

replying simply, “Nice to

whether Hanley can cling to his top spot. I

with a noncommittal,

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

silent, her first impression of Merry being that of an overfriendly

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 relief.

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

she did

Cordelia her Literature paper, “B+. Cordelia, with this result, do you think you can take the top spot? Dream on.”

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

retort, Juliana sneered, “Considering you’re at the bottom, I suppose you have no room for pride.” Merry chuckled,

stormed off,

out until the end of the school

didn’t bother to look. Grades were just a number to her. She grabbed her bag and was the first to