Ch. 231..240

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 231

Rickard and Hesper looked at each other in silence, but Hesper won.

Rickard couldn’t stand seeing her cold gaze, so he turned and left.

“I don’t think Rickard did this.” Hesper finally spoke after a long time with an unusual calmness. “I know him. He’s not someone who would stoop so low. Find out if there were other suspicious people.”

“Alright,” Renee replied.

Hesper turned on her laptop and looked at the share prices that had kept stable, then couldn’t help but sigh.

‘Renfrew, when can I finally bring you home?”

Hesper missed her child, and he missed her too.

Renfrew wouldn’t have felt sad if he never experienced the joy of having his mother around. There was a saying, ‘I could walk through all darkness in life if I never met my mother=’

The poet Renfrew sighed at the setting sun and was ready to go back to his room with homework in hand.

The homework that Ms. Myriade gave him recently had gotten more difficult. Julie and Sophia kept bothering him in the room. He couldn’t handle it, so he would just hide in the little garden. The duo wouldn’t be able to find him, so they would just forget about him.

Right when he was going back to his room, there was a buzzing noise from in front. He slowed down and hid among the bushes.

“Are you crazy? Why did you come here? Didn’t I wire the money to you already?”

It was… Sophia?

Renfrew held his breath and listened, but Sophia and the stranger were very careful. They were whispering even though there was seemingly no one around, so it was difficult to hear.

“You’ve lost your mind. Now you’re asking for $70,000 more?”

Sophia suddenly spoke out loud and the man immediately said, “You’re asking me to attack Ms. Lane. I won’t be able to stay in both Emperion and Genecity. $70,000 isn’t that much.”

“You should remember that I have proof of our conversations. If I go to Ms. Lane, you’re going to get in

some serious trouble!”

When Renfrew heard that it was about his mother, he immediately started recording with his phone. Even though he didn’t get the first part, he got the part where the man talked about attacking Hesper.

After a few more exchanges, their voice lowered again. Renfrew hid in the corner and only came out when the voices stopped.

Sophia was trying to attack his mom again!

Renfrew pouted and turned on his signal blocker, then went back to get his bag. He learned how to jam

his own location signals, so he could go see his mother even without the help of Ms. Myriade.

Renfrew nodded, stuffed all his toys into his bag, and was ready to run away again.

But he was caught by Rickard, who came home early.

Rickard carried him in one hand and his bag in another then stuffed him into the car. He went through the surveillance at home and realized that it was wiped clean.

The last time Renfrew left home and went to the hospital, Rickard was still in a coma, so he didn’t have a lot of details. However, he remembered that the surveillance was tampered with.

If no one was trying to kidnap Renfrew, it must be him who wiped the home surveillance footage so he could leave undetected.

He hadn’t known what happened before, but now the truth was out.

A Spoonful of Sugar: Don’t Beg for Love Chapter 232

Renfrew shook his feet as he sat on the bed. Rickard moved a chair over and sat across him.

“Alright, tell me. Who helped you?”

Rickard watched the surveillance that was tampered with previously and it was done so well that there were no traces left. The tech team at Duval Group wasn’t a bunch of free-loaders, but they still couldn’t break the code. It wasn’t because they were terrible but the person who did it was very careful.

Rickard suddenly realized that he never knew who Renfrew was in touch with. This person who had been helping him must have some ulterior motive… Being questioned was something Renfrew would inevitably face since he was born into the Duval family.

“I won’t tell you. It’s a secret between us.” Renfrew was stubborn. “She wouldn’t lie to me.”

Renfrew was rarely so stubborn and would never hide anything from him. However, Rickard suddenly realized that maybe this person had been in Renfrew’s life for a long time but he just never noticed.

It was due to his negligence.

Remembering the accusations Hesper hurled at him, Rickard zoned out. Seeing that, Renfrew took out his phone from the bag and deleted all the messages between him and Ms. Myriade.

He did this so many times before. The first thing that Ms. Myriade taught him was how to remove evidence so well that people wouldn’t be able to recover it.

Rickard saw his actions and knew that there must be something he wasn’t supposed to see on the phone.

Even though it was a little disrespectful toward Renfrew, he grabbed it out of his hands for Renfrew’s safety.

“Hmm… there’s no point,” Renfrew mumbled. “There’s nothing to see.”

Renfrew’s phone was very simple and didn’t even have a passcode. Rickard checked all the messages and saw that nothing was out of the ordinary and there was no proof of him talking to any stranger.

A thought crawled into his mind. “You did something to it?”

“…” Renfrew didn’t plan to hide this from him and knew that there was nothing he could say to cover up. He was the one who wiped the surveillance footage today, and it was nowhere as well done as Ms. Myriade, so it was difficult to hide it.

Rickard gave Renfrew his phone back and stopped asking questions.

“That person taught you all of this?”

Renfrew nodded but didn’t dare say another word.

Knowing that Renfrew wouldn’t tell him anything about the person, Rickard felt guilty on top of feeling troubled.

Hesper was right. He didn’t pay enough attention to Renfrew, so he hadn’t even known that he was talking to a stranger, let alone how talented Renfrew was.

Renfrew looked alert. Rickard sighed and patted his head. “Fine, I won’t ask you more about your friend.”

Hearing that, Renfrew was evidently relieved but took a peek at Rickard.

“She’s my best friend, so I won’t break my promise to her. I wouldn’t answer even if you or Mommy asked. That was our agreement.”

Rickard nodded. “Alright, but Renfrew Duval, you need to remember one thing.”

His dad rarely called him by his full name, so he looked at his father and listened intently.

“You’re the only child of our family, so that means that your aren’t like other children.”

“I can protect you as you grow, but when the time comes, you’ll face a society that will bully the weak. There will always be people who pounce at you when they get the chance,” Rickard said. “Your current indulgence will hurt you in the future.”

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Renfrew nodded. “I know, I need to become stronger to protect Mommy!”

Rickard paused, then nodded. “Yes, that’s how you protect Mommy.”

“That’s why everyone around you treats you nice and helps you, giving you some treats. But all these come at a cost, and it’s nothing compared to what they would get from lying to you.”

Renfrew looked at Rickard for a moment, then nodded.

“But I’m willing to believe her.”

In the corner where they couldn’t see, the light of the phone lit up and went out as if it never happened.

Hesper soon traced the leads back to Sophia, but since the previous doctor was nowhere to be found, even if all the evidence pointed toward Sophia, they didn’t have enough evidence to prove that Sophia did anything.

“Are we just going to let her get away?”

Renee wasn’t happy about that. Hesper never thought that Sophia, who had been lying low, would suddenly attack her.

At the end of the day, what happened didn’t affect her too much. She just randomly fell terribly sick and had to take time off.

But that plot of land… Hesper wasn’t confident that she could get it anyway. The only downside was that she wrongly accused Rickard.

Hesper looked down at her design, which was a little off-theme, sighed, then bunched it up and threw it into the trash. She then started another drawing.

So what if there was some misunderstanding? It was still done by a Duval and they were family. It wasn’t a wrongful accusation.

Her phone suddenly rang. She picked it up and saw a number she didn’t recognize; she couldn’t figure out who would be calling her. However, she still took the call.

“It’s me.” Rickard’s voice came from the other side. Hespre frowned and was going to hang up but heard him say, “Don’t hang up yet. I need to talk to you about Sophia.”

Hesper paused. “I guess you know what happened.” Her throat was still recovering, so her voice still sounded raspy. “I’ve let her off so many times before this but she doesn’t seem to appreciate the chances given. There’s no point talking about her. I’ll find evidence and let her explain to the police.”

“But-”

Hesper wanted to hang up again, but there was a disturbance and Renfrew’s voice was heard. “Mommy, it’s me, Ren!”

Hesper’s heart skipped a beat, as she hadn’t heard his voice in a long time.

“Mommy- Mommy? Did she hang up? There’s no sound…”

Hesper called out to him when she heard that his voice was trailing off.

“Mommy!”

Hearing his voice made Hesper’s eyes well up.

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Renfrew gave the phone a few knocks because he couldn’t hear his mother’s voice again. He then looked at Rickard with a confused look. “Is the phone broken? Why isn’t she talking?”

Rickard guessed that Hesper was probably trying to compose herself, so he shook his head and pointed at the phone.

Renfrew understood and then nodded. “Mommy, I need to tell you something!”

Hearing how mature her son sounded, Hesper laughed and her tears were gone. “Yes?”

Renfrew immediately told her what he heard in the garden the other day and about the recording on his phone. When his secret with Ms. Myriade got out, he lost his appetite for a few days until Ms. Myriade reached out to him.

Then he suddenly remembered that Sophia was framing his mother! He immediately told his father about

Hesper hadn’t expected Rickard to call to provide evidence to her or for Renfrew to play a vital part in it. She didn’t know how to react to that.

“You’re my favorite child. Thank you for helping me!”

Renfrew smiled shily. Hesper imagined her son smiling and realized that controlling her yearning for Renfrew was such a heavy task.

She wanted to kiss his little cheeks and see him.

As if he could read Hesper’s mind, Rickard took the phone over. “Do you want to see Ren?”

“…Is that a threat?” Hesper’s voice turned cold when she heard Rickard’s voice again. “Rickard, if you’re using Renfrew, I’ll despise you. I won’t be thankful just because you gave me the evidence. Sophia did all that to help you. You’re not getting off clean.”

Rickard knew that there was no way they would be able to talk things through. Seeing how Renfrew was anxiously trying to eavesdrop, he got up and went into the study, then locked the door.

“That’s so demeaning, Ms. Rivera,” Rickard said. “I’m not using Ren to threaten you. How could you accuse me like that?”

Hesper was so annoyed that she clenched her jaw. “He’s your son too!”

“Yes, he’s our son. You’re the Mom, I’m the Dad.” Something came to his mind, and he smiled, “I know how I’m going to threaten you now. How about this, do you really want to see him?”

Hesper didn’t reply, but he knew what she was thinking, so he continued. “Ren is at my home and you sent him here, so if you want to see him, I have to agree to it”

“Just get on with your conditions.”

Hesper didn’t have time to waste with him and was impatient. However, the desire to see her son covered her diminishing patience.

Rickard pressed his lips together and nodded, then smiled. “You can see Ren once a week, but every time you do, you have to sign a partnership agreement with me.”

“What?” Hesper thought she misheard, but Rickard repeated himself.

“I said you need to accept my proposal for a partnership.”

You’re crazy.

Even when he asked her for a project, she wasn’t going to yell at him, but when she called him crazy, he

chuckled.

Had he really lost his mind?

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Hesper frowned but Rickard continued. “Well, do you accept?”

“Sure, I’m not the one giving away money, so why wouldn’t I accept?” Even though she didn’t know what Rickard was planning, she really missed Renfrew. She was willing to accept any suggestion that Rickard gave, even the unreasonable ones.

After hanging up, the more she thought about it, Hesper thought that something was wrong. Suddenly, she received a recording from an unknown number. Her business with Sophia was important, so Hesper smiled. After downloading the file and listening to it, she realized that the recording was much clearer than she imagined.

“$70,000 to get a few days off?”

Hesper couldn’t help but suspect that Sophia was crazy. She could go to the same mental hospital as her brother.

She sent the recording to Renee, who immediately replied OK and contacted their attorney.

Even though Hesper wasn’t terribly sick, with some words from the lawyer, it wouldn’t be a problem to put Sophia behind bars for intentionally causing harm to her.

After that, Hesper was busy for days and managed to clear up her work that piled up over the past few days. She suddenly realize that the weekend had arrived.

It was time to see Renfrew.

On Sunday morning, Hesper remembered the date and checked her calendar. It really was today.

Hesper was a little nervous after not seeing him for so long. She changed between a few outfits and didn’t know what to wear to meet him.

In the end, she settled with a soft sweater and went to the amusement park at the time set by Rickard.

Before she got there, she had no idea that it was an amusement park. It was owned by the Duvals and was quite popular in Genecity. However, Hesper never went there before.

Rickard just gave her an address and never mentioned that it was an amusement park.

“…What is he trying to do now?”

The sun was unexpectedly sunny that day. Hesper shaded her eyes from the sun and tried to find Renfrew and Rickard among the crowd.

“You’re early.” A familiar voice came from behind her. Hesper immediately put some distance between them and saw Rickard holding Renfrew’s hand.

“Hello, Mommy!”

Renfrew was going to run to Hesper but was held back by Rickard by his collar. He instead handed out a

contract to her.

“Sign this.” Hesper looked down at the agreement and it was the plot of land that Rickard managed to bid

for.

Was he going to give it to her for free?

Hesper looked at the terms with suspicion and realized that it was a normal transfer of ownership agreement and none of the terms were asking for anything from her.

It was as if Rickard lost his mind and wanted to shove money Into her hands.

“Rickard…”

“Are you going to sign it or not?” He cut her off with the same tone of voice.

Hesper didn’t immediately agree. She looked at Rickard for a long while under the sun. “Pen. Don’t regret it after I sign this.”

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It was crowded at the amusement park during the weekend. Renfrew pulled Hesper around as Rickard followed along not too far behind, not seeming to want to get closer to them.

Everything reminded him of the day at the aquarium, but Hesper was different.

He couldn’t pinpoint what was different, but previously, Hesper was fully immersed in the joy of spending time with Renfrew and forgot about Rickard. This time, she kept thinking about what Rickard was doing

behind them.

Was giving the agreement to her part of the reparations?

Hesper felt complicated. She finally got to spend time with Renfrew but couldn’t enjoy the time because of other things. That wasn’t fair to Renfrew.

“Mommy, are you afraid of heights?” Renfrew suddenly turned around with twinkling eyes. “I want to ride that!”

Hesper looked in the direction he was pointing at and saw the Drop Tower in front of them, the hottest ride in the park. There was a long queue in front and it looked very popular.

Hesper didn’t know what to say, but she realized that her hands were shaking.

She didn’t used to be afraid of heights, but now, whenever she got to higher grounds, she would start panicking. It wasn’t the height itself; so many times in her dreams, when she saw Julie and Sophia throwing the doll, it wasn’t a doll but Renfrew instead.

In the three years being apart from him, she had this nightmare countless times.

“Mommy?” Renfrew didn’t know what happened, so he tried to hold his mother’s hand but realized that her hands were sweaty.

“You’re afraid of heights!” He suddenly realized that. “Let’s not go on that then. I don’t really want to anyway. I just saw that a lot of people are queueing up for it.”

Hesper’s reaction looked even more complicated after seeing how well-behaved he was.

Renfrew never asked her for anything, so if she didn’t fully pay attention, he would be very sad when he got home.

“It’s fine, we can ride on that…” Hesper looked down and was going to accept, but Rickard held her from

behind.

“There’s no need to force yourself.”

Rickard saw her expression and could guess what was on her mind. If it was just a fear of heights, trying it at least once would be fine, but for Hesper, it was more psychological.

Hesper took her hand back and glared at him. “I’m not forcing myself.”

Renfrew saw that his parents were going to start arguing and quickly grabbed both of their hands. “I don’t really want to go on that. Please don’t start arguing.”

Rickard didn’t know what to do seeing how stubborn Hesper was.

“I’ll go with Ren. You wait here.”

“No.” Hesper rejected without thinking, looking very unhappy. “…I’ll go with you.”

Rickard gave up. Renfrew sighed because he felt that his parents were both a hundred times more

stubborn than he was!

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The three got in line but Renfrew was stopped at the gate.

“This child is too small. He can’t ride this.” The attendant frowned. “Didn’t you see the height limit? Can’t you young parents pay more attention? Don’t you know how to take care of your kid?”

It was the first time Hesper and Rickard went to an amusement park, so neither of them knew about the height and age limit. They didn’t know what to say when confronted.

“We’re not…” Hesper was afraid that the attendant would think they were a couple, but the attendant didn’t give them time to explain and brought Renfrew to an area next to the ride. He then checked their

tickets.

“Go on, we’ll look after the child.”

“But-” Hesper wanted to speak, but the visitors behind them were impatient and shoved them both to the

front.

Hesper was just ‘taking the ride with Renfrew’, but ended up taking the ride with Rickard. Hesper was speechless but it was too late to turn back. The entrance was blocked by other park visitors, so they couldn’t go back.

“Just stand there and wait if you’re afraid.”

Rickard saw how uneasy she looked and didn’t know why she was still being stubborn. He frowned. “Ren isn’t here, so who are you pretending for?”

Hesper retorted. “I guess you don’t have to pretend to be a caring man anymore, right?”

After the attendants checked their seatbelts, Hesper immediately closed her eyes and grabbed onto the hand next to her.

Rickard wasn’t afraid of heights, so the Drop Tower wasn’t daunting to him. When Hesper grabbed his hand, he turned around and looked at her face.

Hesper had her eyes closed and couldn’t see what was going on, so she didn’t know how gentle Rickard’s eyes were when he looked at her.

The machine slowly climbed higher and higher. Hesper kept her eyes shut tightly and only felt a sense of danger, as if the next moment, she would die of fright when the machine dropped.

The young woman next to her started screaming and that made her even more nervous. Finally, the moment the drop happened, the machine zoomed downward at high speed.

“Aaahhhh-“Screams were heard around them and Hesper lost her voice, so she couldn’t react the same

way.

At that moment, a warm hand grabbed onto hers.

“…Don’t be afraid.”

Renfrew hid in a corner and read the messages from Ms. Myriade. When he turned around, he saw Hesper looking white as a ghost and Rickard calmly walking behind her.

Hesper awkwardly held Renfrew’s hand. The attendant didn’t mind his own business and had to give them a piece of his mind. “You look really young, so I’m guessing this is your first child. However, you should do more research on what kids can and can’t do.” He shook his head. “The dad too. You can’t just focus on your lover. Your child is important too!”

Hesper wasn’t interested in explaining herself, but when she turned around, she saw Rickard nodding with a guilty look.

*…Let’s go.”

Maybe because she was so strung up just now, Hesper was finally relieved. What was left was an inexplicable anger. Seeing Rickard acting that way made her want to punch him to the ground.

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After what happened, no matter what Renfrew wanted to do, Hesper would first check the height requirement and wouldn’t let the awkward situation happen again.

Maybe the fear during the Drop Tower overpowered her other emotions, but Hesper forgot about what happened with Rickard and ignored him as she held onto Renfrew’s hand.

Rickard didn’t want to get in between them. Whenevér Renfrew asked for something, he would come forward and pay for it, but he would just quietly follow behind them the rest of the time.

They stayed at the amusement park until closing time and watched the fireworks show that was only shown on Sundays.

Renfrew rarely slept late, so by the time the fireworks ended, Renfrew was resting his head on Hesper’s shoulder, just trying to finish watching the parade. Rickard stood aside and watched them both.

Hesper took a deep breath and controlled her anger as she said, “What are you looking at? My arm is going numb. Can’t you take him?”

Rickard looked at her, seeming amused, then walked over quietly and whispered into her ear, “Because I don’t have to pretend to be a caring man anymore, I’m just enjoying watching you struggle.”

Hesper never saw this side of him, so she clenched her jaw, smiled, and nodded. “You’re… as shameless as a pig.”

“Thanks.”

Even though he said all that, Rickard still took Renfrew from Hesper’s arms. Renfrew felt that he was being taken and was going to open his eyes when he smelled the familiar scent of his dad, so he just adjusted his head and continued sleeping.

“Alright, that’s all for today. See you next week.”

Rickard handed the agreement to Hesper. “Take care of it. There’s only one copy of that.”

It was late by the time they were leaving, so Isaac came to get her.

Hesper read the agreement in the car. Rickard’s actions were unexpected. She couldn’t understand it. To be exact, the way Rickard acted was new to her, as though the man that she had known for the past decade was a different person.

There really was nothing wrong with the agreement and Rickard’s signature was the one she knew, so nothing was off.

Placing the agreement aside, she rolled down the window slightly and closed her eyes.

The wind blew in through the crack and messed up her hair. The soft sweater brushed against the skin on

her neck. It was ticklish.

“Aren’t you happy to see the young master?”

Isaac saw how quiet she was and was a little worried. He looked into the rear-view mirror and saw Hesper shaking her head.

“No, I was just thinking about something else.”

Hesper told Isaac about the agreement. He didn’t understand why someone would give away such a valuable thing to her… He couldn’t help but feel that there must be some ulterior motive.

The Duval Group and Lane Holdings were competitors! Especially now, they were both trying very hard to

get their hands on each others’ properties. Willing the bid was no easy feat, so giving it away just like that

wasn’t his style.

It probably wasn’t because of love… Was it?

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Isaac shook his head when that idea crept into his mind. If Rickard was someone so emotional, he wouldn’t have hurt Hesper.

Compared to money, relationships were so unsubstantial. What one could hold was much more realistic. As for love and feelings… they would always grow weaker over time, so it wasn’t considered real. Hesper was a little confused when she woke up. Mondays were always busy.

She slept late that night. No one would be able to deal with that.

Jessie looked at the uncharacteristically tired Hesper and said, “Where were you last night? You’re going to outdo pandas with those dark circles.”

Hesper was a little out of it as she walked to the lecture halls with Jessie. There was a noise coming from the room; they looked at each other and saw the confusion in their eyes.

Everyone would usually act the way Hesper was acting so early in the morning; even if it wasn’t dead silent, it was as if the room was on silent mode.

Why was it noisy this morning?

They curiously opened the door and realized that someone was on the stage.

“Hesper! And Jess?”

Michelle turned around and she had a surprised smile on her face. “I heard that Hesper was in this class, so I came to see. Didn’t expect to see Jess here too.”

Hesper didn’t show any expression but instead walked to a seat in the final row and sat down. Jessie didn’t bother to pretend to be nice to Michelle and just coldly looked at the others who were making noise before placing the teaching materials on the table.

“Have you all lost your minds? Professor Jenkins will be here soon and if he hears this noise, with his temper, he’s going to kick you all out.”

Everyone quieted down after Xavier was mentioned, but Michelle was the top alumni of the faculty and was very popular currently, so there was nothing wrong with them being so excited.

Hesper tiredly rested her eyes and was thinking of skipping the morning class, but there this woman was, in full makeup and dressed up just to show up to annoy her.

Hesper, who had such limited time to rest and would do anything to extend it, just couldn’t understand what Michelle was thinking, but she couldn’t care less and just laid down on the desk to rest.

Michelle did wake up early to dress up and even wore haute couture by the Duval Group. However, it was out of place in school.

Jessie walked to Hesper and sat down next to her, feeling annoyed as she looked at Michelle standing on

stage.

Her dad was coming soon and he would be angry when he saw her.

“I haven’t been back in such a long time, so I came back to remind myself how it felt like” Seeing how both Jessie and Hesper were ignoring her, she had to find an excuse. The other students respected her and even let her sit among them.

“Thank you. I’m just here to listen, so there’s no need to give me your seats…” Michelle said out loud because she was afraid that Hesper didn’t hear her. She took the seat while holding her little bag that only

housed her lipstick. She was so out of place.

“Annoying.” Jessie turned around and saw Xavier walking in. “Oh no, my dad is here. This is not going to end well.”

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Hesper opened her eyes when she heard what Jessie said and sat up straight as Xavier walked in.

Michelle sat smack in the middle, so it was impossible for Xavier not to see her. He wouldn’t be nice to Michelle, as she wasn’t very talented but would always find trouble with others.

“Oh, someone is sitting in for free.” He placed his thermos cup on the table and didn’t say more, as if Michelle didn’t used to be his student and was just a stranger he didn’t know. He turned around and switched the laptop on.

Michelle felt humiliated, but when no one noticed it because they were afraid of Xavier, she relaxed.

“I’ve looked at the work from the previous lecture,” While waiting for the laptop to boot, Xavier waved his hand to ask Jessie to give the work back to everyone. “You seem to be very talented when it comes to creating trash.”

Jessie stifled a laugh as Hesper slapped her forehead. She thought that Xavier wouldn’t humiliate the students because Michelle was there, but he was still sharp-tongued and didn’t give them a chance.

The first half of the class was analyzing the work. Hesper took notes intently. There was a problem with her previous work too, but since she was sick and had to work, she didn’t have time to redo it and just submitted it. She was glad she wasn’t yelled at.

Xavier focused on his lecture, and even though Michelle was there, he pretended that she was invisible. and managed to finish the lecture he prepared.

Everyone was redoing their work. Hesper looked up at Michelle and realized that she was touching up her makeup while using her phone as a mirror. Her already red lips were even redder. She was obviously not listening to the lecture.

Hesper sighed and couldn’t figure out the reason Michelle was there. She sat there for half an hour among the students rather than going home to rest.

“The person applying makeup in the front row. Please leave if you’re not interested in the lecture.”

Xavier’s voice came from the stage and everyone looked up. Michelle’s hand that was still holding the lipstick hadn’t lowered in time, so everyone’s eyes were on her.

“…It’s me, Professor Jenkins.” Michelle awkwardly put her lipstick away. “I’m Michelle Sullivan.”

“I don’t care if you’re Michelle or Michaela. Get out if you’re not interested.”

Everyone burst out laughing and Michelle’s face immediately turned red. Ever since she joined the Duval competition, everything worked for her and no one would dare shame her that way.

‘Xavier Jenkins, you never change!’

Michelle turned and wanted to leave, but since she was in the middle of the row, she needed people to move before she could get out.

She lowered her head shamefully and didn’t dare look at the way the others were looking at her. All she could do was unlock her phone and check it, feeling ashamed and angry.

Juniper sent her a message. There was a spare of the bag she wanted, so Juniper got it for her.

She hadn’t known Juniper for long, yet she treated her so nicely. Michelle was feeling humiliated, so when she saw the message, she replied with a sad emoji.

Juniper: What’s wrong? Who made our famous designer sad?

Michelle: I came back to my old university to visit my lecturer but he turned me into a joke. Michelle: He was always biassed, but now even though I’ve proved myself, he still hates me.