Mr. Riddle Sr., who was sitting in the head seat, frowned when he saw Karen’s behavior. He said coldly,
“Karen, sit down.” Dillion knew Mr. Riddle Sr. hated people arguing during mealtime the most, so he
quickly pulled the unwilling Karen to sit down. Nicole sat down next to Norah, and both Samuel and
Spencer looked past Norah to greet Nicole.
When Norah saw her brothers being so affectionate to Nicole, she intentionally said in a low voice to
Nicole, “Honestly, you are a little late. Didn’t we finish class hours ago?”
Though her voice was not loud, it was not soft either. So everyone at the table could hear her
condemning Nicole. Nicole arched her eyebrows as she was already used to Norah setting her up.
She then smiled menacingly, “I bumped into Jared after school, and he treated me to a meal.”
Though she had paid for her food, Jared did not accept a cent from her as if he was waiting for her to
show a guilty depression. But she did not see anything wrong with how she had rejected eating with him,
so she just accepted his treat and left. She thought back about Jared’s expression and found him rather
interesting. Nicole smiled playfully, unaware that everyone was already stunned after listening to what
she had said.
“What? Jared…treated you to a meal?” Karen was extremely surprised.
Though they were all aware that Mr. Riddle Sr. told Nicole about the engagement with Jared, they did not
expect Jared to be interested in a country bumpkin like her! Snow, who was sitting across from her, said
bitterly, “Nicole, no one is blaming you for being late. You don’t have to say such a far-fetched excuse.”
Snow seemed soft and gentle, but she was actually insulting Nicole, saying that she was lying. Nicole
smiled and took a sip of her juice. “You can ask Jared if you don’t believe me.” At that moment,
everyone’s face went pale. Where could they get the courage to ask Jared? It was said that Mr. Johnston
Sr.’s dear grandson was making high demands as soon as he returned from overseas. Everyone in the
Johnston Group followed his orders, and his position in San Joto was untouchable. Although Mr.
Johnston Sr. and Mr. Riddle Sr. were friends, the Riddle family was not close to Jared. How could they
have the right to ask him about his personal matters? Mr. Riddle Sr. was ecstatic at that moment. He
already knew that Nicole was a truthful person, so he smiled warmly at her. “It seems like Jared is really
into you. You’ve got to get along well with him, okay?”
Mr. Riddle Sr. still had no idea about Nicole wanting to break off the engagement, but Nicole did not want
to mention it either.
When Nicole saw the complicated expressions on their faces, as well as the proud expression on her
parents’ and her brothers’ faces, she smiled playfully and kept quiet. “Alright, let’s start eating. Though
you’ve already eaten, Nicole, please stay back and eat some food with us,” Mr. Riddle Sr. welcomed
Nicole happily.
“Sure.” Nicole nodded.
Norah’s eyes were filled with loath when she saw that Nicole was getting the spotlight once again.
She had gotten even more jealous when she thought of Jared treating Nicole to a meal… Ever since the
day she knew that the café belonged to Jared, she had been an avid customer in hopes of bumping into
Jared. However, she had not even seen him once! Today was the day Norah did not visit the shop, and
Jared treated Nicole to a meal on this same day! Nicole was heartbroken whenever she thought of the
possible changes to the cancellation of their engagement.
The engagement with Jared should have belonged to her! She would not let Nicole take it away from her!
Everyone started to eat happily, and her third uncle and his wife were sitting across from Nicole. They
would have small talk with Nicole from time to time, so Nicole had quite a good impression of them.
When Karen saw them and Nicole’s parents treating Nicole so well, she was filled with resentment.
Back then, everyone would praise her son and daughters whenever the whole family gathered together.
Now, everyone’s attention was on Nicole.
When they were almost done with their meal, Karen purposely turned to ask, “I heard Nicole went to stay
on campus to pay attention to her studies. How is she performing in school?”
When Nicole’s academic performance was brought up, Mr. Riddle Sr. was slightly curious as well, so he
did not interrupt her.
Snow saw the chance and grabbed it as she smiled and glanced at Nicole. “Norah is in Class B, junior
year. She should know Nicole’s performance better than anyone else.” Norah was taken aback as she
did not expect Snow to throw the question back to her.
She could feel her parents and her brothers were all looking at her. Norah bit her lips as she knew she
could not talk ill about Nicole in front of them, so she could only sneak a few glances at Raine. Then, she
put up a wronged expression and said, “Nicole… I don’t know what to say.” Raine sneered when she
looked at Norah, who did not dare to speak. “If you’re afraid to say it, I’ll say it. Nicole got famous as
soon as she got into school and was always a hot topic on the school forum. They were saying that she
was in a relationship with multiple guys and had even
beaten a boy to the point where he got admitted into the hospital!” Her voice was sonorous, as if she was
desperate to expose Nicole in front of everybody! When Mr. Riddle Sr. heard her, his eyes immediately
turned cold as he looked at Nicole.” Nicole, is Raine telling the truth?”
But Nicole’s face remained still as she fearlessly stared right back at him. “Grandpa, all of these came
from nowhere. The people in school have nothing to do, so they’ll just fabricate stories to spread
rumors.”
Raine saw Nicole looking at herself, and Nicole’s eyes showed that she had already seen through Raine.
But how could Raine admit that Nicole had startled her with her eyes? She then yelled, “Are you still
defending yourself? Everyone in the school forum is saying that you’re bullying my sister after you’re
crowned the beauty queen. Not only this, you’re even bullying people because you have Austin’s help.
Celia’s boyfriend is in the hospital because he was beaten up by you! You even hit the seniors who were
inspecting your dorm! Grandpa, Nicole’s name is tarnished in school. She has completely humiliated the
Riddle family!” Raine was getting excited as she spoke, desperate to list out every bad thing that Nicole
did!
Norah was elated when she heard Raine shouting! Who asked Nicole to be so cocky? Great, now every
single thing she did was exposed! Let’s see how Nicole could still stand in the Riddle family!
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