Ch. 1821..1825
Chapter 1821
Chapter 1821 However, Caprice was aware that strong-arming Liam into a marriage was no way of winning his affection.
When she was a child, she heard her mother tell her stories about how Uncle Odell was once forced to marry Aunt Sylvia. It was the reason they got off to a poor start. It was only later on when they realized that their mutual animosity was all a great misunderstanding that they managed to reconcile their differences and stayed together as long as they did
If she had forced Liam into the same situation his parents once found themselves in, she was sure that their marriage would be a replay of what happened to his parents in the past.
This was why she decided against forcing him into a marriage. Meanwhile, Liam’s car made a U-turn at an intersection and went in the opposite direction where they were originally headed. Not only was the car getting farther from the dormitory, but it was also driving away from the direction of that nightclub
Inside the car, Liam sat alone in the back seat. He leaned gracefully against the leather seat while something seemed to be on his mind.
As he lowered his head in thought, his slender fingers that were built for playing piano gently caressed and brushed his knee The same knee where the silly girl accidentally planted herself on
“Mr. Liam, are we not going to pick up Miss Heather?” the driver asked cautiously Liam scowled “No.”
“But she doesn’t have a ride home”
“She'll figure it out.”
The driver stayed silent
On top of the young master’s sharp demeanor, he had always had a strange personality. The only ones who could truly tell what was on his mind were probably his parents.
He was in an amiable mood during the evening, so Heather must have done something during the night to get on his nerves, enough to make him ditch her in the nightclub
Heather was his girlfriend! If he would treat his girlfriend like this, one could only imagine what he would do to a stranger
In the dormitory, as soon as Caprice returned to her room, she threw herself onto the bed and opened the package Liam gave her
It did contain a metal box inside, just as she thought. It looked like something out of a sci-fi movie She flipped it around a few times to look for any sort of mechanism that would open the box, but it was a fruitless effort Her patience was nearing its end
She had rummaged with it for half an hour and still could not find any mechanism to access the contents of the box. She grew increasingly annoyed and was filled with the urge to launch the box against the floor to force it open.
Thankfully, her reason was still intact. It was a gift from Liam, and it would be terrible if she damaged the contents inside it. She took a deep breath and reached for her phone. She wanted to text him to ask if the box could be opened at all.
She suddenly recalled that Liam must be with Heather. A wave of suffocating anger rose to her chest She tossed the phone aside and collapsed into the bed with the box in hand.
Ding!
Suddenly, she heard the notification ring tone from her phone. She had received a text message.
She picked up the phone and saw that it was Liam who had sent her a text. It read, “The box can be opened” She was taken by surprise, and even her fingers trembled.
Was he a clairvoyant?
She looked around the dormitory, suddenly fearful of his enigmatic presence
“Caprice, why are you being so weird?” Freya asked grumpily. She was on the other side of the bed and was in the middle of changing her clothes.
Caprice smiled at her and played it down. “No, it’s nothing”
She turned her attention back to her phone and sent Liam a message, Liam, how do | open the box?” Liam replied, “You can use the digital interface to enter a password. That’s how you open it
She frowned dejectedly.
She and Liam must hail from completely different planets. She could not see any interface whatsoever on any surface of the cube! How was she even supposed to enter a password?
Chapter 1822
Ding!
Another message followed. “Remember how | used to teach you how to solve a Rubik’s Cube?”
Caprice’s eyes glowed.
Could it be
She held each side of the box in her palms and twisted it around until eventually, she heard a mechanical beep
An interface appeared on one side of the cube. It was a three-by-three grid numbered from one to nine. This was all she could see There were no hints as to what the password may be or any other visual cues.
How was she supposed to quess the password?
She racked her brain for a while but in the end, still resorted to texting Liam for help “Liam, what’s the password?” Liam replied swiftly. “You know”
Something that she knew?
Could it be his birthday?
When she entered Liam’s birthday, the box glowed red.
Caprice subsequently entered the birthdays of Liam’s parents as well as his siblings. She even tried to enter her parents’ birthdays, all to no avail.
What could the password be?
She thought she must have reached another dead-end and needed to ask for more clues from Liam, and that’s when her phone rang again.
It was her mother who texted her “Darling Caprice, something came up today, so | couldn't find time to text you until now. How was school? Is everything okay?”
Caprice smiled faintly and replied, “Hey, Mom, I’m doing fine. School went well.”
Ding!
She received another notification from her banking application.
She swiped to her bank account and saw that she had received a transaction of nineteen million into her bank account
Last year, it was eighteen million. That number had grown to nineteen million this year. She did not even have to verify with her mother to figure out that this was her birthday present.
Immediately after checking her bank account, her mother texted her again. “Caprice, have you checked. your bank account yet?” Caprice replied, “I did. Thanks, Mom.”
Sherry replied, “You’re welcome, honey Pamper yourself with something you like and make sure you go all out Don’t worry about spending too much, understand?”
Caprice smiled. “Got it.”
With that, Sherry excused herself | need to get back to it now. Talk to you later.”
It was swiftly followed by another text “Also, happy birthday, baby. Remember that Mommy loves you forever..” Caprice smiled, a warm fuzzy feeling swirling in her chest.
Then, she tapped on her conversation with Liam. She gazed blankly at the mysterious metal box, wondering what it could possibly contain
Suddenly, an idea flashed across her mind.
Could the password be...
She carefully probed the interface with her fingers and entered her birthdate into the device. Once she had finished inputting the password, the top of the box slid open on its own.
What was concealed inside was revealed at last. She saw a shiny hairpin inside. It was inlaid with diamonds of various sizes, and they shimmered underneath the lights, a gleam of white and pink
it was delicate and entirely captivating
Caprice grew wide-eyed immediately. She carefully extracted the hairpin from the box, as if afraid that the slightest movement would cause it fo turn to dust
She had always been fond of jewelry ever since she was a child. Even her aunt did not have tastes as refined as hers. The hairpin inside the box was the exact sort of design she liked!
She had never laid eyes on such an exquisite hairpin!
She held the hairpin carefully in her palms.
Upon closer examination, she noticed a tiny string of letters etched on the inside of the hairpin. It read S-U -S-A-N Could this be the signature of the world-renowned jewelry designer, Susan Boche?
Did Liam specifically place an order with Susan Boche?
Her heart was racing uncontrollably
Ding!
Suddenly, her phone rang again.
Chapter 1823
Caprice quickly picked up her phone.
It was Liam. “Have you opened it?”
Caprice smiled with pride and replied, “I did.”
Liam replied, “Not bad, so that head of yours isn’t just for decoration
Caprice was struck speechless. She brushed it aside, then she grinned from ear to ear and sent another text “Liam, thank you for the gift!”
Liam asked, “Do you like it?”
Caprice was ecstatic “Of course, | do, | love it!”
Liam sent replied cooly as usual, “Good”
It was immediately followed by another message. “From now on, you are forbidden from going to nightclubs for birthday celebrations”
Caprice suddenly sat up as something just dawned upon her. He knew that today was her birthday all along. That was why he had prepared a birthday present for her!
She thought about all the tales she tried to spin up tonight to explain to Heather why she was at the nightclub. To make it seem like she was a model student, she told her that she was only at the nightclub to celebrate Piper’s birthday Could this mean that Liam knew she was lying the entire time?
She thought about the stunt she pulled and how she had subtly steered her friends against Heather. What would Liam think of her now?
She covered her face in horror and accidentally yelped out loud, “Ahh!”
“Caprice, what's wrong with you?”
“What are you doing? Is everything okay?”
“Did something happen?”
Piper, Freya, and Lana all turned to her, completely perplexed by her strange behavior.
“No. Im fine.” With that. Caprice pulled the blanket over her head and hid from the world, leaving only the top of her head bulging out from the blanket.
After a while, when she managed to calm down, she sent a text to Liam. “I understand. You’re going on a business trip, aren’t you? Please be careful”
There was no reply from Liam He must be busy-with Heather.
There was also a chance that he no longer wanted to talk to her, seeing as she and her friends had ganged up against Heather, the girl he fancied.
Caprice rolled around in bed, feeling overwhelmed. She was in no mood for a shower and was barely in the mood to change her clothes,
She lay on the bed like a corpse and eventually dozed off into a dizzy slumber
The next morning, she was woken up by the alarm clock. When she took a look at her phone, she noticed that a reply came from Liam at four o’clock in the morning that read “Alright!
Although it was only a short, stoic reply, she was relieved nonetheless. He had replied! This must mean that he was not upset at her about what happened with her friends and Heather last night. She smiled softly.
She could deal with Liam not having feelings for her, but she would fall apart if she knew he felt even the slightest tinge of hatred against her.
Caprice was a sophomore at Sparkrow University which was ranked among the top three universities in Westchester. Despite that, it was an entire tier below Aleph University.
Caprice barely managed to make the cut for Sparkrow University during her entrance examination. This meant that the course she was assigned to at the university was one of the easiest and least prestigious
ones
In other words, her coursework and curriculum were quite easy and manageable.
With the summer approaching, she was about to graduate soon,
There was going to be a job fair going on today Recruiters from all sorts of companies were going to show up to screen the students to look for suitable candidates. They wanted to look for potential hires to induct into their companies to help them kickstart their professional careers.
Since Caprice had no classes scheduled today, her friends made her go with them. Frankly, they were not interested in this job fair. They were only here to gawk at the handsome seniors if there were any
However, they were no good targets to speak of at the job fair. They did chance on Heather who was immediately surrounded on all sides. She wore a high ponytail and was dressed in a business suit, exuding a mix of professionalism and good taste.
She had always been beautiful, and the fact that she was a top student at Aleph University further boosted her reputation Now that she was one of the leading figures in the infamous Carter Tech City, her reputation continued to skyrocket to unprecedented levels
Nearly all of the attendees of the job fair went up to her to greet her.
Even though she was surrounded by a sea of people, she somehow managed to spot Caprice the moment she showed up with Lana and her friends. She cried out immediately. “Caprice!”
Caprice felt a shiver run across her body Lana, Freya, and Piper were also taken aback by her greeting.
As soon as Heather’s voice dropped, everyone surrounding her turned to look at Caprice.
Chapter 1824
Heather stepped through the crowd and began to approach Caprice. She asked while wearing a bright smile on her face, “Caprice, why are you here? Are you graduating this year?”
Before Caprice could form a reply, people began to whisper among themselves, “Caprice? Isn’t she the girl from the 21st intake in the faculty of business?”
“It is her. She’s only a sophomore this year. What is she doing here anyway?”
“| don’t think this job fair is open to students from her faculty”
“Definitely not, nor will it ever be. Everyone knows that her faculty is the worst in our university.” “She’s not here to job hunt, | can tell you that much.”
“But it looks like she knows Miss Manson. That’s pretty impressive.”
Based on her looks alone, Caprice attracted a lot of albeit unwanted attention from her peers from the very first day she entered Sparkrow University as a freshman. Being the quiet and reserved person she had always been, she preferred keeping her social circle restricted to her roommates only and barely acknowledged the boys who tried to flirt with her
As time went on, many of them began to get bitter about their rejection and started to defame her. They said that Caprice was very arrogant and pretentious. Some even claimed that she was very dull and had no personality to speak of
All this was to say that although people largely left her alone, she was quite popular
The people who began to murmur amongst the crowd were the same ones who badmouthed her and mocked her for having a dull personality.
Caprice ignored them and turned her attention to Heather As Heather heard the chatter, the smile on her face seemed to grow ever wider.
Caprice was feeling rather upset but did not let it show. I’m not here to job hunt. | just noticed a lot of people gathered here, so | wondered if there was anything interesting going on.”
Heather found an opening. She pointed out bluntly. “There’s a huge sign outside that says that it's a job fair. Did you happen to not notice it by any chance?”
Someone in the crowd cried out sharply, “Yeah, the signboard is right there. Anyone who can read can tell that this is a job fair, Seriously, how can anyone be dense enough to not realize that?”
Ashrill laughter emerged from the crowd.
If | had to guess, she’s here to look for attention from the boys. What an attention-seeker.”
“She’s always acting so arrogant and acts as if everyone around her is invisible, so it was an act all along” “Haha... she sure likes the attention, doesn’t she?”
Caprice was struck speechless. Normally, she would not bother entertaining such trivial conversations However, it was hard to maintain her usual aloofness when all of them were insulting her right in her face!
What got on her nerves most was seeing Heather’s unruly smile.
She was seething with rage at this point.
Although it was only a short, stoic reply, she was relieved nonetheless.
He had replied This must mean that he was not upset at her about what happened with her friends and Heather last night.
She smiled softly.
She could deal with Liam not having feelings for her, but she would fall apart if she knew he felt even the slightest tinge of hatred against her.
Caprice was a sophomore at Sparkrow University which was ranked among the top three universities in Westchester Despite that, it was an entire tier below Aleph University
Caprice barely managed to make the cut for Sparkrow University during her entrance examination. This meant that the course she was assigned to at the university was one of the easiest and least prestigious
ones In other words, her coursework and curriculum were quite easy and manageable. With the summer approaching, she was about to graduate soon.
There was going to be a job fair going on today. Recruiters from all sorts of companies were going to show up to screen the students to look for suitable candidates. They wanted to look for potential hires to induct into their companies to help them kickstart their professional careers.
Since Caprice had no classes scheduled today, her friends made her go with them. Frankly, they were not interested in this job fair. They were only here to gawk at the handsome seniors if there were any
However, they were no good targets to speak of at the job fair. They did chance on Heather who was immediately surrounded on all sides. She wore a high ponytail and was dressed in a business suit, exuding a mix of professionalism and good taste.
She had always been beautiful, and the fact that she was a top student at Aleph University further boosted her reputation. Now that she was one of the leading figures in the infamous Carter Tech City, her reputation continued to skyrocket to unprecedented levels.
Nearly all of the attendees of the job fair went up to her to greet her..
Even though she was surrounded by a sea of people, she somehow managed to spot Caprice the moment she showed up with Lana and her friends. She cried out immediately, “Caprice!”
Caprice felt a shiver run across her body, Lana, Freya, and Piper were also taken aback by her greeting. As soon as Heather’s voice dropped, everyone surrounding her turned to look at Caprice.
Heather stepped through the crowd and began to approach Caprice. She asked while wearing a bright. smile on her face, “Caprice, why are you here? Are you graduating this year?”
Before Caprice could form a reply, people began to whisper among themselves, “Caprice? Isn’t she the girl from the 21st intake in the faculty of business?”
“It is her. She’s only a sophomore this year. What is she doing here anyway?”
“| don’t think this job fair is open to students from her faculty.”
“Definitely not, nor will it ever be. Everyone knows that her faculty is the worst in our university.” “She’s not here to job hunt, | can tell you that much.”
“But it looks like she knows Miss Manson. That’s pretty impressive.”
Based on her looks alone, Caprice attracted a lot of albeit unwanted attention from her peers from the very first day she entered Sparkrow University as a freshman. Being the quiet and reserved person she had always been, she preferred keeping her social circle restricted to her roommates only and barely acknowledged the boys who tried to flirt with her.
As time went on, many of them began to get bitter about their rejection and started to defame her. They said that Caprice was very arrogant and pretentious. Some even claimed that she was very dull and had no personality to speak of
All this was to say that although people largely left her alone, she was quite popular.
The people who began to murmur amongst the crowd were the same ones who badmouthed her and mocked her for having a dull personality.
Caprice ignored them and turned her attention to Heather.
As Heather heard the chatter, the smile on her face seemed to grow ever wider.
Caprice was feeling rather upset but did not let it show. “I’m not here to job hunt. | just noticed a lot of people gathered here, so | wondered if there was anything interesting going on.”
Heather found an opening. She pointed out bluntly. “There’s a huge sign outside that says that it's a job fair. Did you happen to not notice it by any chance?”
Someone in the crowd cried out sharply, “Yeah, the signboard is right there. Anyone who can read can tell that this is a job fair. Seriously, how can anyone be dense enough to not realize that?”
Ashrill laughter emerged from the crowd.
“If | had to guess, she’s here to look for attention from the boys. What an attention-seeker.”
“She’s always acting so arrogant and acts as if everyone around her is invisible, so it was an act all along.” “Haha she sure likes the attention, doesn’t she?”
Caprice was struck speechless. Normally, she would not bother entertaining such trivial conversations However, it was hard to maintain her usual aloofness when all of them were insulting her right in her face!
What got on her nerves most was seeing Heather’s unruly smile.
She was seething with rage at this point.
“We brought Caprice here. Stop spouting all that crap!” Piper was furious. She turned to the bickering crowd and snapped. Lana and Freya were just as vexed.
“Heh... as if we would believe that.”
“There’s a whole flock of them now! All of them are here looking for attention.”
“Look at that one, the one next to Caprice with the good figure. | think her name is Freya. She was talking to one of my roommates some time ago and ended up swindling him. She made sure to take all of his money before dumping him.”
“Tsk, tsk... They’re not trying to look for their next target here because they ran out of spending money, are they?” The things they said got increasingly rude.
Freya was fuming. She jabbed a finger at the man who accused her of such scandalous acts and roared,” | did not spend a single cent of his! | used my own money the entire time!”
The man sneered and said condescendingly, “Look at what you’re wearing. They’re all designer goods! If you didn’t spend other people’s money to buy them, how could you possibly afford all that? Do you expect us to believe you?”
Freya stood her ground. “I bought them with the money | made from my part-time job!”
The same man scoffed and asked, “What kind of part-time job pays that much?”
Chapter 1825
Somebody in the crowd cried out, “She must have found herself some gross old man to leech off!” Freya quaked with anger. “I did not!”
“Haha...”
“As if we'd believe that...”
Freya grew red with rage and was on the verge of crying as she was practically dry-heaving.
Suddenly, someone gestured at Caprice and turned the spotlight back to her. “Look, Caprice wears a lot of designer brands all the time too, doesn’t she?”
“| noticed that some time ago. Also, | saw her being dropped off at the school gate in a Mercedes S-class at the beginning of this semester, and she tried to be sneaky about it.”
“No wonder she’s not interested in the boys in our university. She’s had a sugar daddy out there all this time!” Caprice stayed silent.
Concerned about drawing unwanted attention, she always refused to have her parents pick her up from university during the semester breaks, However, her parents were worried about her and would assign their drivers and bodyguards to pick her up regardless. The S-class was the cheapest car they had in the garage.
She was so baffled to the point where her astonishment completely masked her rage.
“Enough with your stupid rumors! Freya never tried to swingle any man, and Caprice doesn’t have a sugar daddy!” Piper’s patience had long run out by this point.
Lana backed her up. “You people are just jealous because they live better lives than you!”
None of them seem convinced. The girls’ words had lost all credibility.
Someone retorted, “What is there to be jealous about? Neither would | be able to afford girls like you, nor do | want to.” “That’s right. | have better things to do with my money.”
Piper and Lana had lost the capacity to argue with these people by this point.
Freya was crying.
Once again, Caprice noticed the condescending wipe of a smile on Heather’s lips.
She knew that this was exactly what Heather had in mind when she drew the crowd’s attention to her. Heather intentionally poked fun at her and insulted her intelligence. This was all a calculated move to rally the crowd against her and her friends.
She wagered that Heather must have looked up her information and found out that she was studying at Sparkrow University. The reason the vile woman had come to the job fair today at all must be to humiliate her.
The students gathered around were still murmuring amongst themselves. When they noticed how the girls had lost the will to defend themselves at all, they grew bolder, and the things they said grew increasingly vicious They began to ask scandalous questions such as how much money their sugar daddies gave them each month:
Heather seemed like she was relishing in how well her plan worked out.
Caprice gnashed her teeth.
It was at this moment that a brilliant idea came to her.
She turned to Heather with an exaggerated expression of sorrow in her eyes. “Heather, you know I’m nothing like what they're making me out to be, you're the only one who can clear my name.”
Everyone turned their collective attention to Heather
As far as they were concerned, Heather was a goddess who had come down to earth. She was beautiful and respectable in her field of work, and every word that came out of her lips was considered the gospel.
Heather was taken by surprise Since the very beginning, she knew about Caprice’s relationship with Liam, and that their families were very close
Liam's father was the president of Carter Corporation and his mother was a world-renowned painter. Anyone who could be close friends with individuals of such caliber must be considerably wealthy and powerful as well.
Since Caprice was so infatuated with Liam, the chances that she would have a sugar daddy somewhere out there were next to nil.
Despite that, she wanted to see Caprice humiliated in public.
Never in her wildest dreams did she expect Caprice to throw the ball back to her side of the court.