Ch. 1816..1820
Chapter 1816
Chapter 1816 Lana and Freya were entirely at a loss for what to do. They turned to Piper for help, hoping that she would say something to Caprice.
This was the first time Piper had ever seen Caprice in such a state as well. As much as she was overwhelmed by the situation, she tried to say something to Caprice nonetheless, “Caprice, go easy. you're going to get sick from drinking so much.”
Glug
Caprice took one more large swing before stopping.
Piper, Lana, and Freya heaved a sigh of relief.
Caprice suddenly burped, and her eyes slowly began to turn red. Piper, Lana, and Freya were stunned.
Though Caprice had always been very reserved and diligent, they did not take her for the type to bear her feelings outwardly and cry in the presence of others.
One time, she fell from her bicycle and tore off flakes of skin from her knee. She winced and barely dared to look in the direction of the wound and yet, she did not shed a tear the entire time.
All three of her friends looked at her, completely dumbfounded.
When Caprice sensed that tears were on the verge of falling, she quickly opened another bottle of beer and cocked her head backward, letting the liquid pour into her mouth like an open faucet.
Her friends were not the only ones taken aback by this display. Even the boys who were on their way to flirt with her had to do a double take.
On the stage, a group of scantily dressed ladies was still dancing.
The crowd was very rowdy, everyone was dancing along to the music.
Lurking in a remote corner, Piper, Lana, and Freya threw awkward glances at each other.
They were thinking about how they could comfort Caprice.
While they were still racking their minds looking for a solution, they heard a pleasant-sounding voice come from behind them. “Caprice?”
They all turned and their eyes immediately grew wide when they saw the owner of the voice.
Caprice who was in the middle of her drink stopped as well.
She wondered if she was hallucinating. After she put down the bottle of beer, she sat up straight and pricked her ear to listen. Tap!
She felt a finger flick against her forehead.
As soon as she turned around, a very familiar figure came into her blurred vision.
The young man was wearing a loose-fitting white shirt and a pair of leather pants. Despite the lack of any accessories or flair, he was still easily one of the most good-looking men in the nightclub.
Piper, Lana, and Freya were not the only ones captivated by the man’s beauty. Countless beautiful ladies
all around caught themselves staring at him.
He stood tall like a tower. There was a certain grace to every movement he made.
However, there was a certain overbearing quality to his presence. His aura seemed to be on an entirely different level compared to his peers and was rather difficult to approach.
The ladies only dared to gawk at him from a distance as none of them dared to approach him.
It was no different from Piper, Lana, and Freya. They only dared to watch him from a safe distance.
After the initial wave of shock passed over, Caprice stood up and threw herself into his arms.
“Brother Liam.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her face against his chest. She hugged him tightly and feverishly as if she was afraid that he was just a mirage and would vanish into thin
air.
She barely had time to feel Liam's warmth emanate out of his body when she heard the angelic voice of another girl. “Caprice, what time is it? Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in the school dormitory?”
It was as if she was forcefully snapped back to reality. She immediately let go of Liam and took two steps back.
Even under the strobing lights, she noticed how Liam had turned stiff for a brief instant. Immediately after that, his usual grace returned to him.
It was Heather Manson. She approached Liam.
She was the same age as Liam and was one of the top students at Westchester University. Though she could not compare to Liam, she was still one of the most exemplary students and was very well-known across the university.
After graduating from university, she joined the technology district founded by Liam and was now Liam’s right-hand man.
Chapter 1817
Chapter 1817 Heather and Liam were a package by this point as they were always seen together. Although Liam had never said anything about her being his girlfriend, the consensus was that they were dating
Caprice was convinced it was true as well. The reason she felt this way was because the boy she had loved since she was a child never reciprocated her feelings. He only treated her like his dear sister.
Even if she had thrown herself at him unabashedly, it would only end with him gently shoving her away. Without context, Caprice felt like she was the mistress in this situation. She hung her head low, feeling rather ashamed.
She had to admit she was not fond of Heather, the one who stole Liam away from her. She tried to ignore her entirely, pretending as if she did not even exist.
Heather stood next to Liam and seemed to be sizing up Caprice. An imperceptible look of jealousy flashed across her eyes. After a while, she smiled and addressed Caprice, “Little Caprice, why are you ignoring me?” Caprice thought to herself, ‘Because | don’t want to talk to you.’
She could not put on such a pompous attitude with Liam around. She swallowed her pride and answered, “Sorry, | didn’t catch what you just said.”
She looked up to face Heather. Her cheeks were flushed red from the alcohol in her system, there was a wall of mist in her eyes. Despite that, she looked rather juvenile and innocent.
Heather was offended, but wore a practiced smile nonetheless. “I was saying that it’s getting late, you're a student and should be in the dormitory at this hour. Why are you here?”
Caprice pursed her lips.
What a disgusting woman. Did she say this on purpose because Liam was here? Was her goal to give Liam the impression that she was an irresponsible student?
Something quivered in her eyes, she gestured at Piper and said, “Today is my friend’s birthday, we came here to celebrate her birthday.”
Piper responded with a strange look but she quickly played along, “Yeah, it's my birthday.”
Both Lana and Freya nodded along, they looked like bobbleheads.
Heather sneered. “I see.”
Caprice could not be bothered whether she believed it or not as she stole a glance at Liam.
The spotlight directly beat down on Liam’s figure from behind. Caprice could not make out the expression
on his face.
He was cloaked in shadow, and she could only faintly make out the outlines of his face.
Regardless, she could feel his indifference.
He must have forgotten that today was her birthday.
Just when she thought she had a grip on the situation, a turbulent wave of emotions washed across her
again.
She took a breath and forced herself to smile at Liam. She asked quite innocently, “Brother Liam, why are you here?” Before Liam could answer, Heather spoke up in his place, “President Carter is here today to meet two of our clients from abroad.”
Caprice muttered a light ‘oh’.
Heather switched her tone. She cast a judgmental look at Caprice’s face again and asked, “Sister Caprice, why is your face so red? | just saw you downing bottles, did you drink too much today? Or is this just another routine weekend for you?”
Caprice clenched her fists. What a terribly annoying woman!
Freya stepped forward and put her arms around Caprice. She turned to Heather and tried to explain. ” Caprice doesn’t usually drink like this. We were just playing a drinking game and she lost, so we made her drink more than she usually does.”
Piper echoed. “That’s right.”
Lana supported them. “Yeah, she lost to me.”
The three of them stepped up to help Caprice, and all of them looked at Heather without much friendliness. Heather was taken aback. She chuckled dryly and said, “Drinking game or not, you shouldn't drink so much.”
Caprice tugged at Piper’s shirt.
Piper took the hint. Her voice grew sharper suddenly as she confronted Heather head-on. “Sorry, who are you supposed to be? Even her dear brother Liam isn’t saying anything. What makes you think you have the right to make so many comments?”
Chapter 1818
Lana and Freya exchanged a look, then Freya crossed her arms across her chest and said with a scoff, Yeah, besides, we mentioned that Caprice was playing drinking games with us today to celebrate Piper’s birthday. What’s your deal? Why do you keep trying to make it sound like Caprice is an alcoholic? Are you trying to make her look bad in front of Liam?”
Alook of panic flashed across Heather’s face. She searched for something to say but nothing came out
Caprice saw the look on Heather’s face, and she turned to her friends and defused the situation. “| might not know her very well, but I’m sure she’s one of Brother Liam’s most capable subordinates for a reason. I’m sure she’s giving me advice for my good, let's stop trying to argue.”
Piper made a look.
Freya and Lana nearly flipped out as well.
They tried to steer the situation back in their favor.
“Caprice, it still seems to me like she’s got something against you,” Lana mentioned. Heather's face turned ghost-white and murmured, “I don’t...”
Caprice turned to Lana. “I’m sure she doesn’t. We don’t even know each other that well, why would she have something against me?”
Both Piper and Freya muttered, “Well, hopefully...” Having suddenly lost their grip on the situation, they stood around stiffly with their arms across their chest.
Caprice turned to Heather, innocent as always. “Heather, my friends were just trying to protect me, they didn’t mean any harm. | know you're a very kind person, | hope you won't get offended.”
Heather tucked her lips inward. It seemed like she was trying to hold back a smile, but she ended up letting a crack of a smile slip through anyway.
She answered with a half-smile, “You're President Carter's dear sister, so that makes you my sister as well. Since they are your close friends, | promise to not hold it against them at all.”
Caprice forced herself to smile, her smile was very robotic and unnatural.
Heather was directly insinuating that she was Liam’s girlfriend and that Liam merely considered Caprice as his sister based on their family’s close relationship.
Heather immediately noticed the wounded expression on Caprice’s face. Something sharp shone in her eyes as she brought up rather candidly. “Sister Caprice, I’m going to go shopping with President Carter later since we're going on a business trip in a few days. Would you like to come with us?”
Caprice felt a tightness in her chest. “I have to go back to the dormitory later, so | can’t-”
“Why don’t you head outside first?” Liam who had been silent the entire time suddenly interjected. He said it to Heather.
Heather was caught off guard by this. “Liam?”
Liam gave her a look.
Heather smiled and obliged. “Okay, then I'll wait for you outside.”
She made sure to smile suggestively in Caprice’s direction before she turned and strolled outside. Liam glanced at Piper, Lana, and Freya.
They immediately caught the hint and said to Caprice, “Caprice, we'll wait for you over there.” With that, they excused themselves as well.
Caprice and Liam were the only ones left in the secluded corner.
Caprice pursed his lips and looked at him, her eyes slowly watered. “Brother Liam...”
Liam took a step forward and drew closer to her. She felt his hands grabbing her chin, craning her neck upward to face him.
She opened her eyes wide and felt the warmth surging from his fingertips. Her breathing quickened without her realizing it. “How much did you drink?” he frowned and asked sharply.
This was the only thing Caprice feared in the entire world when Liam spoke to her in a fiery tone.
She glanced at the table and muttered guiltily, “Two bottles.”
“How many bottles?”
She pouted and confessed the truth. “Three.”
“This is the last time. Don’t drink so much again in the future.”
Caprice stopped for a moment before pushing the words out of her. “You're not my
dad.
He was not her boyfriend either. What gave him the right to boss her around?
She was not upset at him, but something about the way Heather behaved so coquettishly around him riled up something inside her!
Liam made a look, something intent glowed inside his eyes. “Caprice, do you want to repeat that?” Caprice pursed her lips and fell silent.
Liam gave her a knowing glance, then he firmly squeezed her chin again before pulling his hands back.
Chapter 1819
“What time does your dorm close?” Liam asked.
Caprice answered frankly, “Ten-thirty.”
Liam angled his wrist to look at the time, then he suddenly announced, “I'll send you back to the dorm.” “|...that’s okay.”
Liam turned to her. “Why not?”
Caprice lowered her head, afraid of meeting his sharp gaze head-on. “It’s Piper’s birthday today, we agreed to only go home after twelve.”
Liam peered at her, it seemed like he was barely listening at all.
He seemed completely indifferent about Piper’s birthday. There was also a certain intensity inside his
eyes.
Caprice suddenly felt naked and vulnerable as if she was a test subject with a telescopic lens held up against her. “Okay, I...I'll ask them if they will go back to the dorm with me.”
Liam seemed glad to hear this. “Alright.”
Caprice approached her friends. When she told them about Liam’s intention to send them back to the dormitory, they all agreed unanimously. “Alright!”
They even seemed excited.
Caprice led them back to Liam.
Liam was leaning against the railing. When he noticed Caprice returning with her friends, he straightened up and walked outside. Caprice followed him outside like a puppy.
Shortly after, Caprice and her friends emerged from the nightclub.
The nightclub exit led to the parking lot.
Liam's car was parked in a very prominent reserved spot.
When Heather noticed Liam, she got out of the car and waved to him. The driver promptly stepped out of the car as well to open the door for Liam.
Liam gestured at Caprice. “Get in the car.”
Caprice glanced at Heather, feeling rather hesitant.
Her friends did not share the same hesitation for they burrowed into the car immediately. Caprice was speechless.
Oh well, she thought. Liam was just going to take her and her friends back home. They were not going to get up to any other shenanigans so there was no need to be apprehensive about it.
She burrowed into the car as well. The car was a seven-seater.
Her friends shared the passenger seat and the two seats in the middle section, therefore Caprice had to head to the seats in the back row.
As soon as she sat down, Liam came into the car as well and sat next to her in the back row. The door was swiftly closed. Liam ordered the driver, “Take us to Sparkrow University Dormitory.”
The driver answered dutifully, “Yes, sir.”
The car jerked to motion.
Lana, Freya, and Piper were completely silent, it was as if they had turned into stone sculptures. The entire ride was eerily silent.
It was so quiet that Caprice could hear her restless heart beating.
She wanted to sit closer to Liam, to be closer to him. However, the rational part of her mind knew better and made her sit in place like her friends.
She hoped the drive would last longer. It would be great if they never arrived at all.
Unfortunately, the university was just a short drive away. In less than ten minutes, the car stopped outside the entrance of the girls’ dormitory.
Piper, Freya, and Lana quickly hopped out of the car.
Caprice wedged herself out of the back row and turned to Liam. “Brother Liam, I’m leaving.”
He did not answer.
She prepared to leave.
“Wait a minute.” He stopped her suddenly.
Caprice sat back at once. She did not realize that while trying to wedge herself out of the car, she was
now angled toward Liam so when she sat down, she ended up planting herself on his lap.
Chapter 1820
Chapter 1820 Caprice’s heartbeat spiked in an instant, her cheeks became flushed with red.
“|... It wasn’t on purpose,” she explained frantically while removing herself from Liam’s lap and throwing herself on the seat, sitting only roughly ten centimeters away from him.
Liam glanced at her.
Caprice was afraid that he would be upset and lowered her head in shame.
Astiff and unnatural silence loomed over the air around them.
While Caprice was still reeling back from the awkwardness of the situation, a gray package hovered in front of her eyes.
It was Liam who held it in front of her.
Caprice asked curiously, “What is this?”
Liam said nonchalantly, “It’s for you.”
“Why are you giving me this?” Caprice was confused.
“You'll know why when you get home and open it,” Liam spoke in an unsentimental voice, it sounded like he was slightly upset. Caprice promptly took the package.
It was heavier than it looked, and she wondered if it contained an iron box inside.
She wondered why Liam would give her something out of nowhere. Still, she had to admit she was glad to have received something from him at all.
She curled her lips into a smile and thanked him sincerely, “Thank you, Brother Liam.”
“Sure.” He leaned back against the seat of the car and shot a look at her as if something dark lurked underneath his eyes. “Go
on. “Oh,” Caprice muttered and quickly got out of the car.
After she stepped out of the car, the driver closed the door for her.
The windows were tinted so she could not see Liam who was inside the car.
The luxury car coated in jet-black paint began to pick up speed and disappeared into the flow of traffic in
no time.
It was headed toward the direction of the nightclub they had just left. She figured that they were going to
pick up Heather.
Like a roller coaster, her emotions immediately pummeled down to the very bottom after having reached their peak.
She hung her head low, then she turned and walked toward the dormitory entrance.
Piper, Lana, and Freya emerged from behind the shade of trees to greet her.
Lana could not hold back her excitement, she asked in an ecstatic voice, “Caprice, who was that man?
He’s so handsome, | cannot believe it!”
“| swear I’ve never seen such a good-looking man in my life! Not only is he good-looking, but he’s also so
cool! He reminds me of a celebrity!” Freya immediately went into fangirl mode and asked, “Caprice, who the hell is he?” Caprice hung her head low the entire time and said without much affection, “He’s the son of my parent's friends.”
Freya was shocked by this revelation. “Doesn’t that make you two childhood sweethearts?”
Caprice pursed her lips and held back the urge to cry.
She walked weakly into the dormitory, her limbs did what they could to drag her weight across the corridor. A heavy cloud hung around her the entire time.
Freya was dumbfounded.
Lana looked like she was going to say something, but Piper stopped her.
They suddenly remembered Heather who showed up with Liam, and how Caprice stopped them from arguing with Heather. Then, they recalled how Caprice was binge drinking before Liam showed up.
It was not difficult to connect the dots. They now had a vague impression of Caprice’s feelings for Liam.
She must be feeling depressed because Heather showed up with Liam, the implications of their relationship were clear as day.
To add insult to injury, Heather kept addressing Caprice as Sister Caprice. It looked like she was trying to rub in the fact that she was Liam’s girlfriend.
Lana and Piper held their silence.
Freya felt differently about the situation, she strutted up to Caprice and asked bluntly, “Caprice, what’s on your mind? It seems to me like this Liam of yours isn’t so passionately in love with this Heather girl anyway. How about this? I'll teach you some tricks and you can win Liam over from her!”
Caprice barely entertained the idea, she shook her head dismissively. “No need.”
Since she was a child, she had always heard talks from Aunt Sylvia and her mother about how they planned to wed her to Liam. Aunt Sylvia was not the only one who felt this way. Even Uncle Odell supported the engagement.
If she wanted to win Liam over, all she needed to do was to ask Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Odell for help.
Brother Liam may not listen to Uncle Odell, but Aunt Sylvia was the person he respected the most. Caprice had no doubt in her mind that Liam would do as his mother tells him and marry her.