No longer a pushover

Chapter 9

Noelle straightened her back, remembering when she first learned that Xenia's father had saved her life. When Donovan brought Xenia home, she did not object and even treated her like a real sister.

Yet, over time, she watched as Xenia slowly stole her brothers away from her. That realization was the turning point and the reason their relationship had soured so much.

"Noelle, listen to yourself!" Frank shouted. "Nobody's asking for your life. We just want you to get along with Xenia! Is that really so hard? How long are you going to keep up this attitude?" "I'm not being difficult," Noelle muttered.

When she heard Frank speak, all the questions and anger that had built up in her heart suddenly seemed pointless. She had tried explaining herself in her past life, but it did not help. Hence, she refused to let her brothers' opinions affect her emotions this time. Silently, she packed her textbooks into her bag and said softly, "If there's nothing else, I'll go to my room now."

Frank sat on the couch, looking frustrated. "Noelle, if you agree to join the team now, we can forget everything you've done wrong."

Noelle found his words amusing. In fact, she found everything she had done in her past life to be a joke. With that, she headed upstairs without looking back, her steps more determined than ever.

Frank lit a cigarette, clearly irritated. Soon, Gordon approached cautiously and said, "Mr. Frank, if Ms. Liddell doesn't want to join, it's not the end of the world. At least Ms. Quigley is still here." Frank frowned. "It's not the same."

"Mr. Frank, if I may... Ms. Liddell hasn't asked about any of you once when you've all been away these past few days. Her indifference is concerning."

Frank immediately extinguished his cigarette and drove away from the mansion. Noelle watched him leave from her window, assuming that he was heading to the training camp.

After showering, she reviewed her practice problems one last time. She was determined to escape this place.

...

up until dawn. She hurriedly packed her bag,

her

Monday. She was late for school before because

then, Blake came downstairs, questioning, "Seriously? She's making

just putting on a show to make you feel guilty. If

her lesson. After all, they had given

before she cheerfully bounced downstairs. "Good

He was relieved that

...

at school. Nevertheless, she remained focused in class and was determined not to miss any

on Xenia to answer a question, but she stumbled through her response without success. The teacher sighed and said, "Xenia, you've been quite distracted

saying, "Miss, Noelle's been studying hard lately. She probably

people in the room expected her to fail since her grades were usually worse

been putting in a lot of effort lately. Everyone should follow her

believe that Noelle had stolen

...

of going to the infirmary, not wanting to risk Frank discovering her routine. As expected, Gordon kept watching her closely, making her uncomfortable. After dinner, she retreated to her room and locked the door, finally

if she should inform Cedric that she would not be at the infirmary that day. Then again, it was not like he was expecting her. She was always the one who insisted

her phone aside and thought she would just tell him later. She soon found herself nodding off from exhaustion as she started