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.

on a few questions, but it seemed they

a genius,”

his lips into a

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

too shabby.

Daniel placed a paper on his desk.

result. His smile froze, ‘A? Was there

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

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

back row.

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

if slapped by

mind a loop of denial,

“Class dismissed!”

in time for the

gone than the

“Screech!”

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 reply.

moment, replying simply, “Nice

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

a

embarrassing, so they called off the engagement? Are you

silent, her first impression of Merry being that of

as a volunteer, collected the papers. The first thing was check

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

she did

Cordelia, with this result, do you think you can

bubble and tilted her head at Juliana,” I’m not sure whether Cordelia beats Hanley or not, but she’ll definitely

sneered, “Considering you’re at the bottom, I suppose you have no room

stormed off,

out until the end of the school

didn’t bother to look. Grades were just a number to her. She grabbed her