Love or Die CEO’s Daily Dose of Swoon

Chapter 45

Seeing Cordelia’s bewildered expression, Merry didn’t hesitate. She whipped out her smartphone, opened her browser, and scrolled through nphotos until she found one of her heartthrob on the cover of a famous men’s magazine.

There he was, draped casually in a white toga that looked ready to slip off his shoulders at any moment, a hint of mischief in his eye. A beauty spot shaped like a teardrop just below his eye added to his enigmatic allure. His gaze was intense, staring off into the distance, and his lips curved in a half–smile that seemed to reach through the screen and beckon the viewer closer.

“Hot, right? Tell me you wouldn’t want a piece of that!” Merry gushed, practically swooning over the image.

Cordelia just stared at it.

The man was undeniably handsome but in a completely different way from Everard, who had this dangerous, edgy vibe…Why was she even thinking about Everard?

Shaking her head to clear the thought, Cordelia was about to return to her studies when she overheard conversation nearby.

“Merry, I heard you moved out from your folks‘ place. You’re not staying on campus, so where are you crashing now?”

Merry rolled her eyes. “I got an apartment.”

“Wow, you got cash? Didn’t your family cut you off?” the person asked, surprised.

Merry snorted. “Do you think I lived for eighteen years without saving a dime?”

The other person just uttered an “Oh” and fell silent.

But Cordelia remembered Paulina had offered Merry a bank card after the incident with the stolen class funds, which Merry had declined. Not wanting to pry into her friend’s personal life, Cordelia hadn’t asked any further questions. But Merry might be having money troubles.

Casually, Cordelia tapped Merry on the shoulder. “You short on cash? I can lend you some.”

Merry glanced around and leaned closer, whispering, “Lia, I’m making my own money now. Don’t worry about it.” Did she say she was making money?

Cordelia blinked in confusion. “What?”

Lowering her voice, Merry confessed, “I’ve started streaming online for cash,”

After a pause, she added with anxiety, “Lia, you won’t think less of me, will you?”

Once the darling heiress of the Jordan family, she was a streamer then.

her head slowly. “Not at all.”

sigh

rang, Cordelia, with Hanley and Juliana, stood up, grabbed their books, and walked out amid envious

competition dates were fast approaching, and the trio had stopped attending

typically spent her mornings on physics and afternoons on math. But today, driven by a need to validate some hypothesis, she headed to

a relieved sigh. “Is she going all–in on math now? Has she given up on physics?”

math contest would be around the 18th or 19th, with the physics competition hot on its heels. With such tight scheduling,

“Smart move on her part, if she has.”

but he wasn’t one to hold grudges. He

he saw that it was devoid of any math problems. but a single sheet of

confusion

morning, he watched as Cordelia wrote and sketched, occasionally crumpling draft papers and tossing them aside,

titled Batra’s Life, which Hanley recognized as a famous mathematical challenge, but what did it have to do with her math

just the morning. Throughout the afternoon, Cordelia continued with her mysterious project, which

saw what she was up to, he

She nodded.

you

been tackling that for over a hundred years without success. Many have failed at the final hurdle. It’s not something you should be wasting your time on. If

remembering Cordelia had self–studied the

was determined to solve it. “Mr. Latham, I

prodigy. “Just make sure you get your

problem,” Cordelia assured him.

back

She didn’t respond.

“You can’t let one first place make you dismiss the National Math League. Your attitude is coming off as flippant and careless! The Galaxy Math Whiz Competition was off–syllabus, and I know you studied beyond that, but that doesn’t make your win entirely legitimate. There are countless math prodigies out there. Take Jake from Greenmeadow High. Last year, he

Cordelia was increasingly irritated by the

couldn’t help but snap back, her misty, cold

mouth

to his senses, his face flushed with irritation. He had offered a friendly warning, but she treated his goodwill as worthless.

reality teach her a

the same problem until six

would be nearly complete if