Riches in Disguise

Chapter 7

I held back my tears and smiled. "Don't worry about it. I'll take care of the

medicine bills. You just focus on getting better."

I spent the entire morning talking with Jane and learning about her situation. She had no friends or family in Welsington City, and no one visited her while she was in the hospital.

So, I promised to visit her every other day. Three times a week seemed just right -not too much to disrupt my schedule, and enough to not interfere with her rest and treatment.

As I was getting ready to leave, Jane suddenly started crying. "Thank you, William. I've already spent so much of your time, and now, with this illness, I'll owe you even more. I don't know if I'll ever be able to pay you back."

"What are you talking about? Who said anything about paying me back?" I laughed, gently pinching her cheek.

To ease her mind, I decided to tell a little lie. "Besides, it's not all from me. I crowdfunded it, and lots of kind people chipped in, so you don't need to feel any pressure."

"Really?" Jane clearly felt more at ease.

I was about to nod when Joshua's voice suddenly came from the doorway. "I wore those shoes yesterday and knew they were real. I was wondering where you got the money to buy something that expensive. William, it turns out you're embezzling donations!"

I took a deep breath. How was it possible to run into Joshua even at the hospital? He really was like a bad penny.

"Jane, you rest up. I'll be going now." I didn't want her hearing any more nonsense, so I closed the door behind me and dragged Joshua outside.

"Joshua, listen to me. This is the last time I'm going to warn you. Stop bothering me, and we'll call it even. But if you keep this up, I'll make sure you get exactly what you deserve!"

I realized I wasn't very good at threatening people. Even I felt unsatisfied after saying that. Maybe I should practice more.

Sure enough, Joshua wasn't fazed at all. In fact, he seemed more cocky than ever. "Why are you so angry? Is it because I caught you doing something shameful? Don't think that you can just walk away from this. I will tell everyone, including teachers and students. You name it!"

called out from somewhere nearby, "Are there Sophia's family members here? The

hateful glare before

confused. The documents that Alan gave me didn't mention that Joshua had any family members in this city. After thinking about it, I followed Joshua's

nurse, "Excuse me, could you tell me what kind of

at her chart and replied, "It's an

like a ton of bricks.

Lina? And they'd even had a child together? It was

so much funding for someone

expected to be hit with another wave of drama, especially after Joshua had

for the next few days, Joshua didn't return to the dorm, giving me some much-

the results of the entrepreneurship

companies attended the event, eager

didn't attend to avoid drawing attention, but Dad's secretary, Carmen, came to support me. She didn't

the schedule, each participant had five minutes to present their project. Once they finished, the judges would announce the

one of the first

rambled on about this project,

his five minutes. He had good speaking skills, but

making the whole thing

Joshua finished, one of the judges stood up and announced, "The ninth contestant's verified earnings are eight thousand and

Clearly, Joshua's project hadn't done well, and it

seat next to Lina, who

tried to ignore them, but their constant cuddling and

it was only open to freshmen,

to the stage. My project was

a speech, I