The Coma Prince’s Fiancée novel Chapter 73

After paying, Rebecca asked one of the store clerks where the restroom was. She let Madonna know she’d be right back, then walked inside.

“Mom, I need to use the bathroom too. You can go ahead to the car,” Irvin said, acting like it was just a coincidence. Truth was, he’d been watching Rebecca the whole time, and as soon as she headed off, he jumped on the same excuse.

Madonna looked after them, barely holding back a laugh. “Seriously? The bathroom is such a family affair with these two?”

Paulina, who had been deep in conversation with Sophia about jewelry, caught sight of Irvin trailing after Rebecca into Lady.M. She found it a little odd but didn’t get the chance to think much about it, because her phone started buzzing nonstop.

When she unlocked her screen, she saw the group chat had blown up. A bunch of notifications waited for her.

[Paulina, congrats! Your 'Mist' performance has been nominated for the Golden Music Awards! I heard you’re the only student to make the cut. Vantage Point University is about to get famous thanks to you!]

[Paulina, you really are VPU’s pride. Gorgeous, rich, and super talented—sometimes I feel like the universe just handed everything to you. I’m so jealous I could cry right now.]

There were more messages like that. Paulina’s mood instantly lifted, all her earlier gloom melting away.

She glanced over at Madonna, who was telling the driver to load the jewelry, then started typing a reply.

[Thanks for the kind words, guys. I just got lucky, honestly.]

[Come on, Paulina. Everyone knows how good you are. Luck has nothing to do with it.]

[Exactly. No one but you from our school got a Golden Music Awards nomination.]

Their praise put a big smile on Paulina’s face. After thinking for a second, she added,

[By the way, I helped a relative get into Vantage Point University this year. She’ll be in the foundation program. She’s transferring in with a nontraditional background, so please don’t make her first week harder than it has to be.]

That set off a burst of laughter in the group.

[Whoa, Paulina, your relative sounds... interesting. She couldn’t even graduate from a no-name college? Did she mess up or something?]

[Right? Has she even been to school in the last few years? Good luck to her in the prep program, she’ll need it.]

More and more messages piled on, but Paulina didn’t pay much attention. Compared to all that, what really mattered was figuring out how she’d show Rebecca who’s boss when she got to her own turf.

Instead of heading straight back, Rebecca took the elevator up to Lady M’s second-floor office, where Laura was waiting. She’d already guessed Rebecca would drop by, so she had a cup of Rebecca’s favorite fruit tea ready, ice cold and just sweet enough.

“My God, do you even know how rough things have been for me lately? Lady.M is a mess, not that I even want to talk about that. The big problem is, you promised Elaine ages ago you’d do this year’s design contest, but it’s been half a year and I haven’t seen a single sketch. She’s too scared to bug you, so instead, she jumps me every chance she gets. I’ve practically been hiding out from her at this point.”

Rebecca could feel Laura’s frustration coming off in waves, but she just shrugged it off. Sipping her tea, she said, “Laura, I’m seriously swamped right now.”

Laura stared at the dark circles under Rebecca’s eyes and immediately groaned. “Don’t tell me you’re still staying up all night gaming. Is that what’s going on?”

The first time Laura had met Rebecca was in an internet café. Laura had gone in to drag her useless nephew home, but then she saw Rebecca in the corner, gaming with one hand, biting a pen, and occasionally sketching ideas on scrap paper.

That half-finished drawing was enough for Laura to know: this girl was going to win awards someday.

She didn’t let the opportunity slip, either. Laura was ready to pull out all the stops to convince Rebecca to work with her—I mean, she’d already mentally prepared for multiple trips, expecting Rebecca to play hard to get. But all Rebecca did was ask, “How much do I get?” and she agreed, just like that.