Riches in Disguise

"Come on. Let's head back to the dorm," I suggested.

Matthew replied, "Yeah. You guys should go back and get changed. We'll have lunch together later before catching my cousin's performance."

I quickly asked, "Is Isabelle coming?"

"Of course not! She'd shred me to pieces!" Matthew stuck out his tongue playfully and dashed out of the classroom, eager to see his cousin.

I shook my head, exasperated. One look at him, and no one would believe he had a platonic relationship with his cousin.

Benjamin, Liam, and I reluctantly returned to our dorm. While we were going down the stairs, I spotted Charlotte.

Worried about Gabrielle, I stopped her and started walking alongside her. "How's Gabrielle? Did her family give her a hard time after I left?"

Charlotte sighed. "Of course they did. They scolded her so much that she ended up bawling her eyes out."

"What happened in the end? Did she give in?"

"No," Charlotte replied, shaking her head. "She's as stubborn as a mule and wouldn't budge. She's even refused to eat for the past two days since her family wouldn't stop forcing her."

Refused to eat?

Although I did encourage her to stand up to her family, I never expected her to resort to methods that would harm her own well-being. What a silly child.

If her family truly cared about her, they wouldn't be forcing her to marry such a horrible man. On the contrary, since her family saw her as nothing but a tool, starving herself would change nothing.

"Can she still use her phone? I'd like to give her a call."

Charlotte shook her head. "As if her parents would allow that. They confiscated her phone long ago."

I was dumbfounded. I couldn't understand how such families and parents still existed in this day and age.

I suddenly understood why she had run away from home. I'm sure trying to reason with a family like hers felt like talking to a brick wall. She probably went mad from sheer

frustration, just trying to starta conversation.

"By the way, I heard you got into a fight with Remy yesterday," Charlotte suddenly said.

Not bothering to hide anything, I nodded truthfully.

She was surprised. "How could you dare fight him? Don't you know that he has someone to back him up?"

"Yeah. I know he's the grandson of the Chancellor's uncle."

I was hoping this piece of information would spread far and wide. That way, if Remy started causing trouble again, the university would think twice before trying to cover for him.

Charlotte's jaw dropped. "No wonder! But how did you know that?"

"Our counselor mentioned it." I was more than happy to throw our counselor under the bus after he falsely accused me of murder earlier.

Charlotte nodded. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about this."

I was expecting her to start spreading the news. How else would others know if she didn't?

Still, knowing her personality, she

didn't

that mean that. I was certain

Over

tomorrow, the entire

university would knownoveldrama

I would know about this.

At noon, Matthew called us and told us the location of his cousin's performance.

So, Benjamin, Liam, and I hailed a cab to get there.

The performance was being held at the Welsington Grand Theater, which was quite impressive.

Thanks to Matthew, we were taken straight backstage.

On the way there, we passed by several makeup and dressing rooms. Eventually, Matthew led us into a private room.