Chapter 109: Chapter 109: The Laughable 500,000

Hearing the sum—five hundred thousand—Chloe laughed, her tone mocking. "What a fortune, that five hundred thousand of yours!"

How could Alice Cole not detect the mockery in Chloe’s tone? She sneered, "Chloe York, drop the act. I haven’t given you a single cent since you left home. With your extravagant spending habits, you must be completely broke by now!"

"Just take this five hundred thousand. Do what you’re told, and maybe if I’m in a good mood, I’ll toss you another hundred or two hundred thousand. It’s not out of the question."

"Sorry, but I *am* going to college. I *am* going to get the best scores. And I *am* going to piss off your daughter, Brooke. What are you going to do about it?"

Alice Cole stared blankly at Chloe, unable to process what she’d just heard.

With that, Chloe stood up. Just as she was about to leave, she seemed to remember something and paused. "Oh, right." She pinched the card on the table between her index and middle fingers, picking it up with a look of disdain. "Keep the five hundred thousand for your daughter’s repeat year!" With a flick of her fingers, the card flew onto Alice Cole. Then, she turned and walked away with flair.

"Chloe York!" Furious, Alice Cole slammed her hands on the table and shot to her feet. The commotion was so loud that everyone else in the coffee shop turned to look, their expressions disapproving. She was being far too loud!

But Alice Cole was completely oblivious to their strange looks. Chloe’s actions had just been far too insulting.

"Chloe York, you just wait!"

After leaving the coffee shop, she contacted Stella Winters and told her what Alice Cole had said.

Stella Winters was furious. "I’ve never met anyone like that! Did she leave her brain behind in her mother’s womb when she was born?"

"Probably!" Chloe couldn’t deny it; she had no idea what Alice Cole was thinking either.

’If I really had no money, how would I have survived for the past two months? She herself said I’m a spendthrift. You’d think she could use her brain and figure that out!’

"She really must have!"

The two of them locked eyes and burst into laughter. After shopping with Stella Winters for a little while longer, Chloe bought a jump rope and headed back. Once home, Chloe began her tasks. She completed the first day of her jump-rope routine, and as soon as she was done, she started studying.

The next day was a normal school day. Alice Cole didn’t look for her, and in the classroom, Brooke York was acting relatively normal as well.

Soon, it was time for school to end. These days, she was eager to head home right after class. This was because some parents had complained that the senior year students had too little rest time due to the upcoming college entrance exams and that their bodies couldn’t take the strain.

As a result, all evening self-study sessions were canceled. Attending them was now voluntary, based on the students’ own discipline.

"Chloe!"

"Auntie, Grandma, what are you two doing here?" Reaching the school gate, Chloe was shocked to see Miss Prescott and Sophia Quinn.

"Chloe, we haven’t seen each other in half a month. Grandma missed you." Miss Prescott took Chloe’s hand. She truly did miss her.

After all, her own maiden family was full of boys. Her brothers had only sons, and their sons had only sons. And here, with her husband’s family, she had only one son, who also had only one son.

With so many boys around, she had always longed to have a girl by her side. And so, when Sophia Quinn first married into the family, she had doted on her as if she were her own daughter.

Now, with Chloe in the picture, she had someone to cherish as a granddaughter, which she loved even more.

"Grandma, I’m so sorry. I promised I would visit you, but I haven’t been able to."

"You’re a good child. Grandma isn’t blaming you. I know you’re busy with your exams—the college entrance exams are right around the corner, so of course you can’t spare the time to visit. I just wanted to say that it’s been half a month, and I missed you. By coming to find you, do you think I’m being annoying? That I’m always bothering you?"

"Of course not, Grandma. I’m very happy that you came to see me."

"Oh, dear. So you’re happy when Grandma comes to see you. Does that mean someone isn’t happy that Auntie came to visit?" Sophia Quinn said, feigning hurt.

"Not at all! I’m happy whether it’s Auntie or Grandma who comes to visit."

"Alright, alright, Auntie was just teasing you. You must be hungry after all those classes. Come on, let’s go get something to eat."

"Okay!"

Given the status of Miss Prescott and Sophia Quinn, they naturally wouldn’t eat at just any random place. They went directly to a high-end restaurant with a private dining room.

"Chloe, the food here is excellent, so I went ahead and had them prepare all their signature dishes for us. That way, we don’t have to waste time waiting."

"Thank you, Auntie."

"Oh, you. There’s no need for thank-yous between you and your Auntie."

Miss Prescott sat in the middle, with Chloe and Sophia Quinn on either side of her.

Originally, Chloe had thought Miss Prescott and Mrs. Prescott had suddenly come to have dinner with her because they had something to discuss. But by the time dinner ended and they were dropping her off, they hadn’t said anything of the sort.

Since they didn’t bring anything up, she wasn’t going to ask. "Grandma, Auntie, I’ll head back now. After my college entrance exams are over, I’ll come visit you both."

Chloe made this promise to them mainly because she had said it two or three times before but hadn’t once gone to see them on her own. Instead, they were always the ones coming to find her.

So, the underlying meaning of her words was that they didn’t need to come looking for her for the next month; she would go find them herself once her exams were over.

"Alright then, Chloe. We’ll be waiting for you to come see us after your exams are done."

"Mhm!" Chloe nodded. "You should get going."

Miss Prescott and Sophia Quinn got into the car and waved at Chloe, who was still standing at the school gate. Chloe raised her hand and waved back.

"Sigh. That child... there’s still a sense of distance with us. She’s not like she used to be; she’s changed so much." Sophia Quinn sighed. She could feel that Chloe was still keeping her distance from them. The old Chloe wouldn’t have been like this. The old Chloe treated her as if she were her own biological mother.

"You have to understand her, though. After all, right now she’s thinking that she’s not the young lady of the York Family. If the engagement is called off, then she’ll have even less of a connection to us. I can feel that this child is a bit sensitive, and she’s probably even more so now. She’s also afraid that we’ll look down on her."

Miss Prescott was voicing her own understanding of why Chloe had been acting differently lately.

She had never interacted with Chloe before all this, so from the moment they’d met, this was the personality Chloe had always shown her.

Therefore, she felt that compared to Sophia Quinn, she probably had a better understanding of what was going on in Chloe’s heart.

"That’s true. But the child is really overthinking things. In our hearts, she’s already like one of our own. How could we possibly grow distant from her just because she isn’t a child of the York Family!"

She was fonder of Chloe than anyone. That child’s personality, character, and looks—she liked everything about her.

"It just needs time. Let’s take it slow."

Chloe returned to her apartment, took out her jump rope, and completed her task.

Today was already the second day. Tomorrow, she would complete her task once more.

She liked these kinds of well-scheduled, busy days. And what satisfied her most was that she could feel herself changing. All this hard work and busyness had not been in vain.

After finishing her jump rope, Chloe took a quick shower and then immediately started grinding through practice problems.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!

Report chapter

Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter