Elise heard Danny‘s voice the second she woke up the next morning. “The Snyders all disappeared out of the blue last night, Alexander. They were even on the news today.”
Elise chimed in, “They probably ran away out of guilt.”
Danny was quite a dense fellow, so he didn‘t give it much further thought. “That sounds about right. There‘s nothing my brother can‘t do when he puts his heart to it, after all.”
Alexander didn‘t reply to Danny. He had tasked his assistant to look into Elise‘s background yesterday, but to no avail. Recalling that unsatisfying result, he decided to test the waters. “Looks like you already knew about this beforehand, Elise.”
Elise simply replied lightheartedly, “I just found out about it too. I wouldn‘t have spent all night tossing and turning if I had known that from the start.” Then, she rubbed her head to keep up the act.
Alexander glanced at her furtive expression; she seemed like she was hiding something. He became all the more suspicious, but he could only let it slide since he didn‘t have any evidence.
At school, everyone was astonished by the news of Nicole being expelled. As a result, no one dared to pick a bone with Elise anymore after the incident. Elise felt like she went back to the old days of being a boss–life was such a bliss when she could get everything she wanted.
Days passed and she eventually had the thought of moving to the school dormitory altogether; nothing much would happen as long as she made the least amount of contact with the Griffiths. Unfortunately, her suggestion was ruthlessly rejected by Jonah. “Jack and Brendan are coming back soon. You should make a trip back home; I‘ll arrange for you all to meet.”
Elise wasn‘t at all interested in this arranged marriage of hers, so she was about to leave without dressing up. However, she was stopped by Jonah. “I‘ve bought you many new clothes, Elise. Go ahead and dress up before you head over. I even hired a makeup artist for you.”
Elise immediately turned down his offer. “I’ll handle it myself, Grandpa Griffith. There‘s no need to trouble others.”
She‘d blow her cover as soon as someone touched her face. And so, she took off her disguise and put on a foundation that had a lighter shade to brighten up her complexion just a little.
Her skin condition was quite perfect by itself, but it wasn‘t noticeable since she‘d intentionally made her skin appear darker. Now that she had brightened it up a bit, a fraction or two of her beauty was able to shine through the makeup.
She looked slightly more pleasing to the eye than before. This should do it.
The driver brought Elise to Griffith Residence after she was done preparing herself.
Both Alexander and Danny felt strange to see Elise all dressed up. Even though her complexion was still dark and patchy, her facial features appeared a lot more exquisite after her skin became a few shades lighter
Jonah was very pleased to see Elise dolled up beautifully.
On the other hand, Elise didn‘t like the feeling of attending a forced date, so she picked a corner seat and planned to stay quiet throughout the entire gathering. To her surprise, she was arranged by Jonah to sit next to Jack. “You two haven‘t met, right? Come and sit closer together so you can get to know
each other better.”
Jack took a glance at Elise. What a strange complexion–how ugly. She looked nothing like the female celebrities that he was used to filming movies with. A bitter smile appeared on his face, but he still greeted her politely out of courtesy, “Hello there.”
Elise said without even looking at him, “Hello.”
Jack was extremely unhappy with that. He was none other than a famous celebrity; his fans wouldn‘t be able to calm down for an entire day after exchanging a word with him, but this country bumpkin wouldn‘t even look him in the eye.
Jack tried to bring up a topic that would pique her interest. “Have you seen any of the dramas that I star in, Miss Sinclair?“.
Elise stared at the smug smile on his face and rolled her eyes. “No, I haven‘t.”
Jack wasn‘t about to relent. “Do you have a favorite actor then, Miss Sinclair? Perhaps I can introduce the two of you.”
Amidst the ear–splitting screams and cheers of fans, a figure slowly entered their view.
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