Sophia flipped open the magazine and found the article that discredited her.
All of the pictures published in the article were ugly photos of Stanley eating. They described him as a local boy who was from a village in the city and an idiot who knew nothing but playing games. The magazine even compared him to Richard’s picture.
Richard’s clear picture was perfectly edited and whereas Stanley’s picture was taken from the side. The magazine never even edited his photo, so his pimples were very obvious. When both pictures were being compared with each other, the difference was abundantly clear.
As she read through the article, she suddenly felt a little sorry for herself. ‘Girl from a village in the city dreams of being a rich person, but she failed to hook up with the Young Master of the Harper Group, shattering her dreams. Therefore, she could only settle for a poor and yokel gamer who only knows how to play games. Even the car and outfit she wore to a banquet were all rented.’
When Sophia had finished reading the article, she was in a bad mood as she couldn’t help but feel sorry for her ‘devastating loss’.
Sarah comforted her, “This magazine is intentionally discrediting you after being bribed by the Harpers. It has gone off the shelves of every newsstand on campus. Don’t be sad since it’s all nonsense. At least your Stan is still a handsome man!”
As they walked forward, they saw a boy walking toward them in a coquettish manner while swaying his waist—it was obviously Sean.
He wore a red winter suit with a white hat that only revealed his tiny face, making him look like a pretty girl.
The three of them walked together while discussing the earlier article in the magazine. When Sean saw Stanley’s ‘beautiful photos’ in the magazine, the corners of his lips seemed to twitch, but he said nothing in the end.
On the other hand, Sarah couldn’t stop complaining about the magazine. “Bah! What kind of a sh*tty magazine is this? What nonsense are they writing about? Look at how they describe you in this article! The girls in our class are now saying things behind your back, such as how you have failed to hook up with a rich family or how a peasant like you is trying to work up the social ladder. They are just jealous! Let me tell you a secret—lots of boys in our class know that I have a good relationship with you, so they have secretly asked me for your contact number!”
The three of them chatted their way to class.
Once class was finished, Sophia snuck to the library to read some books. However, on the way there, she ran into people who seemed to point their finger at her while some of them even spoke loudly, as if they wanted her to hear what they said.
“That is Sophia. Oh dear, she failed to marry into a rich family. That’s such a pity for her!”
“If I am her, I won’t even dare to show my face in Bayside University. It’s too embarrassing!”
“You are right and she even found herself such a sh*tty boyfriend. She must have felt jealous in her heart, seeing how glamorous her ex-boyfriend is now.”
However, she walked past them as though she couldn’t hear what they said.
She could not be bothered on what others thought of her because she was focused on her exam preparations. She heard that after Michael left the army to pursue his studies in Bayside University at that time, he received yearly scholarships. I need to emulate my idol!
A few days after she returned to school, it was time for exams. Bayside University was rather efficient in marking their papers as the turnover rate was fast—on the evening of the exam itself, students would be able to check their results for a specific course through the school’s website.
All the students sat for two exams for professional courses on the first day. On that night itself, the class monitor announced the results for the two exams via their Messenger group.
The moment the results were released, the Messenger group became lively. ‘Sophia is so brilliant. She has missed a month of class yet she still managed to obtain good results. For both courses, she received 98 out of 100 each!’
‘She is so brilliant! It looks like we have no chance for the scholarship!’
When Juliette saw the messages in the group, she hesitated for a while before sending Sophia’s results to Kayla in the end.
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