The Contracted Ever After (Cordelia and Ronan) novel Chapter 189

After organizing the materials, Cordelia went to Ronan's office to hand in her diary, and incidentally told him that all the materials had been organized.

"Grant told me already, get back to work," he said.

Cordelia looked at the diary with a hint of worry. It was something she had written after her return from Proxima Ventures. At the end of the diary, she drew a big pentagram and wrote, "Ronan, you annoying jerk!" She wrote it three times, hoping that Ronan, as usual, wouldn't read this part.

In the afternoon, Cordelia went to Ronan's office for tutoring. The diary was still in its original place.

Halfway through the class, someone knocked on the door. Emerson went to open it, and a disheveled kid walked in, his nose running and his eyes fixed on Cordelia.

"Who are you looking for?" Cordelia asked the boy.

The boy grabbed Cordelia's hand. "My mom's really sick. She's not going to make it, and she wants to see you."

"Mom?" Cordelia was confused at first, but then she remembered something her mom had once said.

Sure enough, Samantha and Deanna were waiting for her. She wasn't going to fall for their tricks!

Ronan was watching the whole situation. Cordelia had told him about this before, so he wasn't surprised.

Emerson was confused. Cordelia took two hundred bucks from her bag. "Tell me, who told you to say these things to me? I'll give you this money, okay?" She squatted down and smiled at the boy.

The boy was only seven or eight years old, but he knew that money was important. His eyes were glued to the money in Cordelia's hand, a sparkle in his eyes. Cordelia knew it wasn't right to tempt kids with money, but she had nothing else on her.

"A lady told me to say it! She told me to say that your mom was a dancer and that I'm your younger brother," the boy said quickly, snatching the money from Cordelia's hand.

"Where's your mom?" Cordelia asked him.

"She's already passed away," the boy said before turning around and running off.

In theory, Cordelia saw through the boy's tricks, which meant she also saw through Samantha and Deanna's plots. But Cordelia couldn't feel happy about it because she, like the boy, was also alone in the world. If her mom hadn't prepared her in advance, Cordelia might have dismissed the boy's words or been doubtful, but she definitely wouldn't have stayed so calm.

After class, Cordelia couldn't continue. She said her head hurt and wanted to end class early.

"Should we...?" Emerson asked Ronan.

"You can go home," Ronan signaled to Emerson.

Emerson left the office.

Cordelia sat on the sofa alone, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks. Ronan handed her some tissues.

"Do you think I'm useless?" Cordelia asked, wiping her tears, and mocking her own overreaction.

"Um, I've always thought so," he said.

"You love mocking me!" Cordelia complained.

"Did you meet anyone at Proxima Ventures this morning?" he asked, lighting a cigarette. The smoke rings he blew out fascinated Cordelia.

Cordelia was still wondering who her biological parents were and didn't catch on right away.

Ronan ordered everything on the menu, leaving Cordelia to just eat. The place was high up, the view great.

"Do you come here often?" Cordelia asked. The waiters all called him "Mr. Evans," so it seemed like they knew him.

"I used to come here often," Ronan said while looking at the menu.

"What do you mean 'used to'?"

"Do you really need to know? It's best not to be too concerned about a man's past. It can't stand scrutiny," Ronan said.

Cordelia thought to herself, “Who cares about you?”

"How come your mom suddenly decided to spill the beans about your past?" Ronan asked curiously. After Cordelia had shared this piece of news with him, the little boy, or rather Samantha, came charging in.

"My mom was on a call with my aunt and accidentally overheard my uncle mentioning Samantha working as Deanna's assistant now. She figured Samantha might try to mess with me using that information, so she gave me a heads up to avoid being caught off guard," Cordelia explained while munching on her food.

"Your mom's a real piece of work," Ronan commented.

From the incident where she demanded Cordelia to pay back the loan, Ronan realized that maybe she hadn't intentionally employed the carrot-and-stick approach, but it indeed had the same effect. At least it melted Ronan's heart, and he started reevaluating Cordelia.

"How is my mom a piece of work? Her achievements are not even one-tenth of yours," Cordelia retorted, somewhat displeased.

Ronan gave a slight smile, his expression unreadable. "You're still too naive to understand all this."

"Who says I'm naive?" Cordelia shot back.