Ch. 41..45: My Wife Is A Hacker Chapter 41-45
Chapter 41
“Could she be a heroine from a hidden world like in those action movies?” “Nicole is so much more skillful than those heroines.” Once the conversation was heated, their voice became louder and louder that others in the class were looking at them. Nicole frowned a little. “Fighting isn’t something to be proud of. Let’s keep it low.” Bradley and Lulu realized that they were a little too loud. Just as Nicole said, fighting was not a thing to be proud of. If a teacher overheard it, they would be in trouble. The both of them nodded and pretended to zip their mouths, signaling that they would not talk about it anymore.
When Nicole saw that the two were so sensible, her expression relaxed a little. Just as she was about to speak, a loud voice came from outside. Then, Austin suddenly stormed into the class.
The whole class was terrified of his ferocious look.
Once Austin saw Nicole, he walked over while yelling. “Boss! I heard that the hooligans from next door, Cain disturbed you yesterday after school. Why didn’t you tell us? We could’ve settled him for you!”
All the students surrounding them heard Austin wanted to beat up Cain for Nicole. Their eyes widened as they stared at both of them in disbelief.
They did not expect Austin to be serious about recognizing Nicole as his boss. Someone had disturbed Nicole, and he actually wanted to do something about it. Everyone thought Nicole would agree since no one would deny Austin’s request. Unexpectedly, Nicole replied coldly, “It’s fine. I can settle this on my own.” She rejected Austin once again! All eyes were on Austin. Nicole had rejected Austin twice. Would he walk away like last time or retaliate to maintain his reputation?
Gary was also looking at them.
In the end, Austin acted as if nothing had happened and continued pressing on, “No way, You’re my boss, yet Cain had the guts to disturb you. He has disrespected me! 1, Austin, would never let my boss
be bullied. I’ll bring my men and teach him a lesson now!”
The whole class was stunned. They established a newer idea of Nicole’s place in Austin’s mind.
Seeing how Austin was talking to himself, Nicole did not bother to pay attention to him. Austin had already turned to his boys and summoned them, “Someone bullied our boss. We should show them who’s the real boss!”
His lackeys behind him echoed him loudly, “Yeah! Show them who’s the real boss!”
Austin nodded in satisfaction and led his lackeys out of the class aggressively. The others let out a sigh of relief as soon as Austin left. However, Nicole did not bother to care about Austin. Her head was looking down while reading the book she had not finished the day before. She did not notice Gary was staring at her the whole time. The bell rang, and Ms. Emerson entered the class. She looked through the whole class to see if anyone was absent. Then, she nodded happily and started the class.Ten minutes before recess, she glanced at her watch and tapped the podium..
“There’s going to be a Maths Olympiad soon. This time around, the district highly regards this competition. The principal made it an obligation for each class to send two representatives. Gary is one of them. There’s one slot left. Any takers?” Gary leaned back on his chair lazily.
Although he hated studying, he was famous for being a maths genius. He had been winning competitions both nationally and internationally since he was young
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Therefore, no one was surprised when Ms. Emerson mentioned Gary’s name.
The monthly test was just around the corner, and suddenly there was a Maths Olympiad. The students all stared at each other, worrying that it would affect their test revisions, and they did not want to participate.
Compared to a Maths Olympiad, which they could not win, they would rather place their time and effort in their revisions.
Ms. Emerson’s face did not look good when she saw that no one had raised their hands. She had already said that the district was taking this competition seriously. She did not expect the students to be this indolent.
She scanned through the class. Everyone in the class was looking down, except for Nicole, who was still looking at her calmly.
Ms. Emerson’s eyes lit up. She recalled that in Nicole’s profile, it was written that she had participated in a Maths Olympiad before. She could not help but ask, “Nicole, you’ve participated in a Maths Olympiad in your previous school, right?” Nicole did not expect Ms. Emerson to call her name, but she nodded anyway. Ms. Emerson saw her nodding and took the liberty of putting her name in. “Then, you and Gary would represent our class this time around. Don’t forget to attend training every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoon at the lecture hall. There will be a teacher guiding both of you.”
Horina this Ninaladidacte.
D
IS, I
is, Nicole did not seem to care much as it was not much different from all these
classes.
Ms. Emerson took her silence as an agreement and let out a sigh of relief. She was very worried that Nicole would disagree. It was unexpected for the conversation to be this smooth.
Thinking about this, Ms. Emerson favored Nicole a little more.
As soon as recess commenced, Bradley, who looked worried, came running and asked, “Nicole, did you agree to join the competition? I heard that this round would be a hard one. Didn’t you see that no one wants to join?” Nicole replied calmly, “It’d be nice to kill time.” Bradley then remembered she could answer all the questions correctly last time. He slapped his lap and said, “Right, normal papers are too easy for you. It’s much more interesting and challenging to join competitions.”
Nicole did not refute him. She was too lazy to reply that even the competition questions were just the same as normal test papers to her. It was lunchtime. Nicole packed all the books on her table and was about to have lunch with Bradley and the rest. Unexpectedly, she heard someone calling out to her as soon as she stood up.
“Nicole!”
Nicole looked over and saw Snow standing at the door. When she noticed Nicole looking back at her, she smiled and waved her hand to signal her to go over.
Nicole stood still. She was not that close to Snow, so she did not know what Snow’s hidden agenda was.
As Snow realized that Nicole was ignoring her while everyone else was staring at her, she laughed and walked over to Nicole. Standing next to Nicole, Snow put on her signature gentle look and asked, “Nicole, shall we have lunch together?” Now that the famous campus queen was in their class,
everyone irresistibly stared at them. Snow was famous for her gentleness and generosity. She did not care about everyone’s gaze but continued to present her best side.
Many of the boys were discussing among themselves, “Look, that’s the campus queen in our school. She really lives up to her name, her skin as fair as snow!”
There were also many who praised her beauty. Snow was extremely happy upon hearing it.
Jack heard them and sneered, “If you have bad eyesight, it’s better to donate it to those in need. No matter from which angle, Nicole looks so much prettier than Snow. The title of campus queen will be up for another round of voting again. It’s hard to say if Snow can retain this title this year!”
When Snow heard his words, her face turned pale, and she almost lost her posture.
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Previously, it was viral on the internet that the new transfer student, Nicole, was prettier than the current campus queen, Snow, by a hundred-fold. Snow did not show it on her face, but she secretly tore apart a book in her hands. It was already a shame for her to be placed next to Raine for campus queen. Now that Nicole has stepped into the picture, her title of campus queen was in danger! Snow glanced at Jack and noticed that the boys were from Gary’s clique. She dared not to mess with the Finleys. So, she could only put up with everything in silence.
Unless… While Snow thought of something, her eyes gleamed with a satisfactory smile. If that person was present, these people’s mockery would just be a minute thing. Nicole did not bother about others’ comments. She looked at Snow and asked, “Why are you suddenly inviting me for lunch?”
She had witnessed Snow and Raine’s loudmouth. Snow did not seem like one who would simply invite others for a meal.
Snow smiled and replied, “It’s your first day, of course I had to come to see you.” Nicole frowned, “Is that all?”
“Yeah,” smiled Snow.
Nicole was a lot more curious about Snow’s hidden agenda. She simply replied, “Let’s go
then.”
She wanted to see what Snow was up to.
All the way to the canteen, Snow had been checking in on Nicole with questions. She wondered if Nicole felt uncomfortable with the place. Nicole gave her short replies. If a stranger saw them, the person might think that Snow treated Nicole really well. But Nicole was not grateful for it.
After all, gossip was Karen and Snow’s favorite thing to do,
Nicole did not want to give her any chance to badmouth her.
But the colder she treated Snow, the graver Snow’s expression became.
Other people thought Nicole was bullying the campus queen.
Many of them took a picture of it angrily and posted it to the campus blog. These pictures were skillfully framed at the best angle. It made Snow seem to be extremely wronged. “Wow! This Nicole is really shameless. Our campus queen was being kind to a country bumpkin like her. It’s fine if she did not appreciate it, but she actually bullied her and made her cry?” “That’s right. No matter how beautiful she is, it’s the personality that matters. How could she
be compared to Snow’s gentleness?” “Sorry to interrupt but it’s going to be the annual campus king and queen competition again. Who will you guys vote for?” “It’ll definitely be for Snow!”
“Same here!”
Nicole did not know that she had become a hot topic on the school’s blog in just a few days. And about eighty percent of it was bashing her.
But even if she knew about it, she could not be bothered by it. The both of them walked to the canteen and sat down. Everyone was secretly staring at them. Nicole did not like such atmospheres, but she tolerated it, took her meal, and sat down.
On the other hand, Snow was enjoying the attention. She kept that usual smile on her face, thinking that she was being elegant. She sat down in front of Nicole. Then, as she secretly glanced at her phone to realize that everyone on the internet was bashing Nicole, her smile became wider.
The person he hired for the photos definitely did a great job. Now she did not have to worry about losing her title as campus queen. Looking at Nicole, who knew nothing about what was going on, Snow
was secretly happy that Nicole was in so much trouble during her first few days in school. She felt a huge relief from the previous boys’ comments in class.
Before Nicole picked up her spoon, she heard Snow’s gentle yet annoying voice. “Nicole, did you get onto the bad side of Celia’s boyfriend? Yesterday, Celia mentioned she would ask his boyfriend to give you a good beating. You didn’t get into trouble, right?”
Nicole immediately understood her meaning. So, Cain was actually Celia’s boyfriend.
No wonder Snow looked for her. She must be here to gossip about her being bullied. Nicole smirked and glanced at Snow. She replied coldly, “You should ask Celia’s boyfriend instead. Isn’t she your best friend?” Celia was close to Snow and Raine, and she actually asked such questions. It was very pretentious of her. After all, it seemed like Cain was the one in trouble after what had happened last night. Nicole’s gaze made Snow feel a little nervous. It was as if Nicole saw through Snow’s intentions. But when she heard Nicole asking her to go back and ask Celia’s boyfriend about it, she felt mocked.
‘What could she do to Cain that she dare speak so daringly?’
But to maintain her image, Snow pressed down her judgment and pretended to advise Nicole,“ It’s best for you not to offend Celia again. The Rowe family is not that great to mess with. Moreover, his boyfriend is rumored to be ferocious in the Northon Institute. They’ve taught many people a lesson, and none of their victims could fight back…”
Before she could finish speaking, a group of people was chatting loudly behind her.
“Hey, didn’t you say Celia was absent today?” asked a girl.
The friend replied, “I heard her boyfriend was sent to the hospital after being beaten up in a fight. The results came out, and he fractured his right leg. I don’t know who did it…”
Another friend mocked, “Didn’t she act proudly in school only because of her boyfriend, who is a bully? Let’s see what else she can be proud of now.”
Hearing that conversation, Snow was stunned. Thinking of what Nicole said, she suddenly connected the dots and figured it out. ‘Could it be that Nicole was the one who had beaten Cain up?’
Chapter 44
‘Impossible! Though Snow believed that it was impossible, she still looked at Nicole with worry-filled eyes after some time. “Then, is Cain really in the hospital now?” Even though Snow did not ask Nicole aloud, “Did you beat him?” That question was already written on her face.
Nicole looked at Snow’s odd expression coldly. Nieole had already finished her food when Snow was in a daze, so she did not want to stay and continue being pretentious with Snow.” Didn’t I say you should ask him instead? I’m done eating, so I’ll be leaving now.”
Nicole then stood up and walked away as Snow watched her leave. Snow’s eyes widened all of a sudden.
‘Who on earth is Nicole? How did she defeat that evil Cain?!’ Nicole left the cafeteria and thought about what Ms. Emerson had said in the morning. She asked Nicole to attend the Maths Olympiad training classes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoon. It was Tuesday today, so Nicole turned and walked toward the lecture hall.
Gary, who had also walked out of the cafeteria after finishing his meal, looked at Nicole’s carefree figure and squinted slightly. He had already seen the whole incident where Nicole sat together with Snow. In other words, he had also seen Snow’s mouth agape after Nicole left. It made him even more curious about the conversation between the two girls.
Gary could not help but smile when he saw Nicole looking like nothing had happened. He walked slowly behind her at her pace, constantly leaving a short distance between them.
When he saw the lecture hall in front of them, he hurried his steps as he walked into the class with Nicole.
Raine was sitting in the class when she saw Gary walking in, and a surprise grew on her face. But her expression had immediately turned sour as she saw Nicole walking in with Gary not long after.
She asked Nicole while keeping her jealousy in control. “Why are you here, Nicole? This class is exclusively for students joining the Maths Olympiad competition!”
Nicole looked at her indifferently, not uttering a word.
Gary replied Raine instead, “We are joining the competition on behalf of our class, so our teacher told us to come together.”
Raine looked at them doubtfully as she sharply sensed that Gary was being protective by listening to what he had said, so her gaze toward Nicole turned more hostile.
Nicole glanced over at Gary indifferently after listening to his reply. She was already aware of Gary following her from behind, but she did not bother to do anything about it as he had kept to himself.
Now that he mentioned that Ms. Emerson asked them to attend the class together, there was no need for Nicole to expose him too.
Nicole started walking and headed toward the last row of seats. Raine saw Nicole walking further, so she started a conversation with Gary. But Raine noticed Gary’s eyes following Nicole closely. He completely ignored what she was saying. She got so angry she started to raise her voice, saying, “Gary, I’m talking to you! Why did you come together with her?”
Gary furrowed his eyebrows as he wondered why he did not notice how annoying and unreasonable Raine was before. If he had known how irritating she was, he would not allow her to follow him around so much anymore. He then walked toward the last row of seats. But when he was halfway there, Raine suddenly rushed over and dragged him to the first row.
Coincidentally, the school bell rang, so Gary did not push her away.
Subsequently, a bald man ran into the lecture hall in small steps and stood on the stage as he introduced himself.
“Hello students, I’m Mr. Louis, your teacher for this Maths Olympiad training class. To be able
ing, I believe you are all elite students from your classes. I’ll save the unnecessary talk and hand out last year’s example questions. We’ll discuss the solutions for the first half of the class. For the second half, we’ll have a test to see what level you’re at.”
Upon speaking, he took out a pile of example questions and a stack of answer sheets as he passed them down. Nicole looked at it and arched her brows, keeping the example questions in her bag.
She filled in all the sections of the answer sheets beautifully and placed them at the corner of her table. She then took out a book and started to read it.
Mr. Louis was teaching passionately on stage. He seemed like he did not mind what Nicole was doing. Nicole was so engrossed in the book that class ended before she realized it.
She was really interested in the hacking strategies in the book, so she had never raised her head throughout the whole class. Raine, who was leaving the lecture hall with Gary, mocked Nicole when she walked past her, “It’s fine if you come from the countryside, but you actually don’t want to pay attention in class. Could it be that you don’t understand a single thing being taught?”
Nicole finally started to find Raine’s loudmouth annoying, so she kept her book away and looked at Raine coldly. Nicole then submitted her answer sheet and left right after.
Raine continued behind her back, “Know your place and stop humiliating yourself here! “She even answered her answer sheets fully. How pretentious! Isn’t that right, Gary?” Gary watched Nicole leave as a sudden urge grew in his heart. He did not even bother to
respond to Raine and walked out of the lecture hall with Nicole. And Raine was left behind, angrily calling Gary from behind.
Nicole walked a distance before she sensed that she was being followed again, so she turned to look at Gary, frustrated. Gary secretly cheered when he saw her turning back, but he still acted apathetically and asked, “Mr. Louis was quite fast back there. Could you really get what he taught? We’re from the same class anyway, so feel free to ask me for help if you’re having trouble with something.”
Nicole was not touched by it as she looked at Gary and said flatly, “The only reason I didn’t listen is that it was too easy. There’s no need for me to waste my time.” Gary was stunned upon hearing Nicole’s response.
Chapter 45
Gary was unaware that, for the usual competitions, Nicole would only need to scan through the questions before she answered them at top speed. She really did not need to listen to the long and complicated solutions Mr. Louis was teaching.
Nicole did not wait for the frozen Gary. She had simply chosen a dorm room that morning, so she did not get a good look at it. Besides, she had yet to meet her roommates, so she sped up her pace. Though some people were talking about her on her way back to the dormitory, she could vaguely hear keywords like “evil” and “the campus queen.” However, Nicole did not mind that and went to her dormitory straight away.
When she got to the dormitory, the other two roommates had already returned to the room. Lulu widened her eyes as she watched Nicole walking in as if she did not expect Nicole to be her roommate.
Nicole also knew the other roommate. She was June, their English class representative. Since June was a hardworking student, she did not really mingle around with her classmates. She seemed really prideful and cold, so everyone gave her a secret nickname, “Nerd.” Both Nicole and Lulu were not close with June, so June had just glanced at Nicole when Nicole walked in. June did not even greet her as she lowered her head, busy with something.
Lulu walked toward Nicole happily. “So, you are the new girl. This is fantastic, Nicole. We’re going to stay together from today onwards!” Nicole nodded to Lulu indifferently. Her bed was already done by the servants of the Riddle family. She sat on her bed and started to open her duffel bag, which was her luggage. After taking out and putting her daily necessities in place, she stored her laptop in the cabinet above her headboard and locked it.
When Lulu saw Nicole reading a book after tidying up her place, she walked over and asked hesitantly, “Nicole, I heard the Maths Olympiad training class you attend teaches a different syllabus than ours. Could you tell me about the Olympiad math questions you learned?”
Nicole nodded and passed Lulu the pile of example questions from Mr. Louis that afternoon. Lulu’s eyes sparkled. “Are these for me?” She had wanted the Maths Olympiad questions for a long time, but she just could not participate in the competition as she was not on par. “Thank you, Nicole! I’ll do them now. Can I ask for your help if I have questions?”
After getting Nicole’s reassurance, Lulu happily ran back to her spot to answer the questions. But it only took a few minutes before she returned to Nicole gloomily. “Nicole, I don’t even understand a single question. Could you explain it to me?” Before Nicole could respond, June, who was busy memorizing individual words, said frustratedly, “Are you done, Lulu Barrera? Do you know that some of us are trying to study
r you chirping even with my headphones on!” June was already annoyed that Lulu was a committee member of the study club despite being an average grader. However, June could only be the English class representative despite sitting in the third row in class.
After being yelled at by June, Lulu felt so wronged that she did not dare to speak anymore.
Nicole looked at Lulu’s scrunched-up face and said, “I’m hungry, so I’m heading to the cafeteria. Are you coming?”
Lulu immediately nodded, and they left the dorm, one behind the other. On their way to the cafeteria, Lulu said she could not understand how her soft voice disturbed June. Nicole and Lulu got their food and started to dig in as Lulu asked Nicole for the solutions to the Maths Olympiad questions she saw just now.
Nicole chose a few simple questions that suited Lulu’s level and explained them to her. Nicole’s solution was very simple as well, so Lulu understood her immediately. Lulu then praised Nicole, “You’re so good at this, Nicole! I didn’t understand this back when Ms. Emerson taught us a similar question. I feel like I understood everything after you explained it to me!”
The both of them went back to the dorm after they were done eating. Lulu was reminded of June’s attitude and said once more, “June is way too cold. You definitely don’t know this, Nicole, but when you weren’t here last time, the both of us had never said a single word to each other in the dorm. She never goes to class with me and would never respond to me every time I greeted her…” Nicole was not really interested in the drama between little girls, so her mind started to wander off as she listened.
Suddenly, she saw Jared’s coffee shop.
Nicole thought about the time when Jared said she could drink his coffee anytime she wanted and started to miss the unique taste of Jared’s shop’s coffee beans.
She could not help but interrupt Lulu and point to the coffee shop at the school’s entrance.” Do you want to go there? I’ve been there once, and their coffee tastes nice.”
Not only was it nice, but it was Nicole’s favorite! Lulu shook her head and said, “I’ll pass. The exam is coming up, so I have to go back and do my revision. My mom will be really angry if I get bad results.” Nicole did not make her stay after listening to her response, so the both of them split up in front of the cafeteria. Nicole watched as Lulu returned to the dormitory before walking toward the school’s entrance.
Just when Nicole reached the entrance, she saw Jared talking to the manager about something, nodding from time to time.
‘Is Mr. Johnston that free? Why is he always hanging around at his shop?’ Nicole wondered.
Nicole did not know Jared well, so she did not care about them. She just walked to the coffee shop steadily and realized that the menu included many other desserts other than coffee now.
One of them had an extraordinary name too, so she ordered a few iterns, fascinated. Before walking to a corner and taking a seat, she ordered a cup of mocha. Next to her seat was a floor-to-ceiling window, so Nicole enjoyed the beautiful sunset view for a while before she pulled out the book she had read in the afternoon and continued where she left off.
Jared had already seen Nicole the minute she walked in.
Normally, any girl who saw him would walk over to him and greet him, but his fiancé paid no heed to him. From the minute she entered, she did not even spare Jared a glance before finding a place to make her order.
‘She seems like she’s really here for free coffee! ‘Am I not as attractive as the coffee?!’