Love or Die: CEO’ s Daily Dose of Swoon (Cordelia)

Chapter 8

Latham strode into the classroom, his arrival predating the bell's chime by mere seconds.

He dropped a stack of thick papers onto the desk at the front, "Daniel, would you mind handing these out?"

A hush fell over the room as Cordelia, seated at the back, watched necks crane and bodies lean forward in anticipation. As the papers made their rounds, a cacophony of sighs and gasps peppered the air from every corner.

Daniel, a slim figure with glasses that seemed too heavy for his face, approached Juliana and handed her the paper.

Curiosity bubbled up from the desks, "What do you get?"

Juliana glanced at her score with a mix of ease and pride in her voice, "A-."

"And you nailed that with these brain-busters? Impressive!"

Juliana feigned modesty, "Oh, it's nothing. I'm still trailing behind Hanley."

"No need to compare with that guy who is been raking in math awards since he was in diapers. But you know, you’re two peas in a pod, academically speaking..."

Amidst the surrounding exclamations of admiration, Juliana inevitably drifted her gaze to the back row.

With a hint of teasing, she said, "Daniel, would you be a dear and check my cousin's grade?"

Fumbling through the papers, Daniel didn't find Cordelia's but instead pulled out Hanley's and promptly handed it over...

Before the commotion could settle, Latham announced from the front, "This math test, there's only one perfect score in the entire grade, and it's from our class!"

"Wow!"

"Hanley's got to be the man, right?"

As the class buzzed with astonishment, Hanley quietly exhaled in relief.

Last night had been a toss-up on a few questions, but it seemed they were all hits...

"Hanley, kudos! You're a genius," came Juliana's congratulations.

Hanley curled his lips into a smile at her words.

He had just learned that his family had arranged for him to marry Juliana, a relief in itself. A guy like him deserved nothing but the best, after all!

A-... Not too shabby.

Then, a blur before his eyes as Daniel placed a paper on his desk.

Hanley subconsciously glanced at the result. His smile froze, ‘A? Was there some mistake?’

While they pondered, a breathless Latham added, "Let's extend our warmest congratulations to Cordelia! Her grasp of mathematics is remarkable. Despite the difficulty of this exam, her result was unexpected, better than Hanley!"

The classroom, briefly as still as a tableau, erupted into whispers and turned heads, all eyes on the girl in the back row.

Hanley widened his eyes in disbelief, turning to see Cordelia slowly lift her head, her gaze sharpening on him. Then, with a slow and knowing smile, Cordelia whispered just loud enough for him to hear, "Not bad."

Heat rushed to Hanley's cheeks as if slapped by an invisible hand.

Beside him, Juliana was equally frozen, her mind a loop of denial, ‘Impossible! How?’

"Class dismissed!"

Latham wrapped up the review just in time for the bell and left the classroom.

No sooner had he gone than the room erupted into noise.

"Screech!"

A chair scraped across the floor as Merry, Cordelia's front-row neighbor, swung around in her seat. With the laxity of a ragdoll, she leaned on Cordelia's desk. "Hey, you're Cordelia, right? I'm Merry," she announced, her vibrant pink hair and dramatic makeup reminiscent of a cartoon character. She popped her bubblegum and continued without waiting for a reply.

Cordelia eyeballed her for a moment, replying simply, "Nice to meet you."

Undeterred by Cordelia's cool demeanor, Merry brandished her phone and chirped, "The whole school is buzzing on the forum about whether Hanley can cling to his top spot. I gotta say I've had it up to here with Hanley and Juliana, prancing around like they own the place just because of some high scores."

Cordelia responded with a noncommittal, "Oh."

Merry didn't falter her chatter, "I heard the Foster family thought your grades were embarrassing, so they called off the engagement? Are you gonna try and top the class to show them up?"

Cordelia stayed silent, her first impression of Merry being that of an overfriendly blabbermouth.

As the next class began, Juliana, playing her role as a volunteer, collected the papers. The first thing she did was check Cordelia's result. Upon seeing the grade, Juliana exhaled in relief.

She approached Cordelia, paper in hand, just in time to catch Merry's comment.

"Hanley is no one-trick pony," Juliana interjected. "He excels in every subject."

She handed Cordelia her Literature paper, "B+. Cordelia, with this result, do you think you can take the top spot? Dream on."

Merry blew another bubble and tilted her head at Juliana, " I'm not sure whether Cordelia beats Hanley or not, but she'll definitely better than you. What's there for you to be so smug about?"

Stumped for a retort, Juliana sneered, "Considering you're at the bottom, I suppose you have no room for pride."

Merry chuckled, "Oh, I couldn't be prouder to rank the last in the class."

Juliana stormed off, fuming.

The final rankings weren't out until the end of the school day, posted on the wall for all to see.

Cordelia didn't bother to look. Grades were just a number to her. She grabbed her bag and was the first to head out the door.

In the classroom, Hanley and Juliana lingered, both too proud to jostle with the crowd yet dying to know the standings.

By the time most of the crowd had dissipated, Hanley finally started walking over. His gaze immediately fell upon the first row, far left. It was a spot usually reserved for him. But today, someone had taken his usual seat.

Hanley was stunned.

Meanwhile, Juliana was on the verge of losing her mind...

At 6:30 PM, the car rolled through the gates of the Delaney family.

The moment the vehicle came to a halt, Cordelia was about to push the door open when a sharp voice cut through the air, "Are you pleased with yourself?" Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Cordelia paused, only to see Juliana with reddened eyes, brimming with tears. She yelled, "Pretending to be a fool to mock me and Hanley, are you happy now?"

Cordelia was flabbergasted.

Is Juliana out of her mind?

Before Cordelia could voice her thoughts, Juliana flung the car door open and dashed into the mansion, crying.

As Cordelia got out of the car and followed into the living room, she heard Laurinda's anxious voice, "Juliana, what's wrong with you?"

Juliana didn't answer and just ran upstairs, locking her room behind her.

Outside, Laurinda was pacing frantically, "What's gotten into you? Why the tears all of a sudden... Oh, the grades came out today, didn't they? Did Cordelia see how well you did and got jealous, bullying you over it?"

Cordelia who had just stepped inside was speechless.