Phoenix Rising: From Heartache to Heroism novel Chapter 9

The four men turned to look at Violeta. At that moment, Violeta also remembered who they were.

In her previous life, Mr. and Mrs. Blake stopped paying for her tuition fees after Zelena persuaded them. As a result, Violeta had to work part-time to save money, and she wasn't interested in what happened on the school forum.

However, she had heard about the four most popular male students discussed on Toland University's forum. They were Hayden, Zoren, Jasper, and Liam.

When Violeta first arrived at the school gate, she had overheard someone mentioning Hayden's name. It had sounded somewhat familiar to her, but she couldn't recall it. Everything came back to her now as she saw the four of them standing side by side.

They were the four influential figures of Toland University's computer science department!

No wonder Violeta couldn't remember who Hayden was. In her previous life, they were beyond her reach. She never expected that Zoren, one of the four influential figures in the computer science department, would turn out to be her cousin! Violeta utterly flabbergasted!

As the four men approached her, Hayden stared at her and said to Zoren, "Your cousin seems dumbstruck."

Zoren was also astonished. He had always heard rumors about Violeta being ugly, unattractive, and unpresentable, and he believed it! He never expected the ethereal-looking girl standing before him to be his cousin!

Who spread the rumor saying Violeta is ugly? Are they insane?! If ever I find out who spread those rumors, I won't let them off easily! They're lucky if they can get away unscathed!

"Vio!"

Violeta smiled at Zoren. "Hello, Zoren."

Zoren immediately explained, "Violeta, it's not that I didn't want to pick you up. I had something urgent to do in the morning and was held up. I was worried you would be late for enrollment, so I asked Hade to pick you up. Did anything happen? Hade is actually a nice guy, just a little cold."

Violeta glanced at Hayden and said reluctantly, "He was alright."

At this moment, Jasper and Liam approached Violeta to greet her. "Hello, Vio."

"Hello."

Zoren introduced Jasper and Liam to Violeta. He spoke to them disdainfully, "She's my cousin. Why are you calling her 'Vio'? Don't even think about it. Vio, they're not very nice. Don't be fooled by their good looks. They're all jerks!"

Jasper exclaimed, "Who the heck are you calling a jerk?"

Liam added, "Zero, come here so I can say something to your face. I don't want to scare Vio."

Zoren was dumbstruck as he was pulled aside by his friends. Violeta couldn't help but laugh as she watched them fool around.

The corners of Hayden's lips curved when he saw Violeta smile. "Let's go."

"Where to?"

"To eat. You said you would buy me a meal, remember?"

Eat? Violeta looked at the time. It was only half past ten in the morning. Who eats lunch this early?

"Do you eat lunch this early?"

"I usually have lunch from half past ten in the morning to half past two in the afternoon."

Violeta was dumbfounded. This guy is ridiculous. Who the heck eats lunch for four hours?

Hayden asked, "So, are we going to eat now?"