Skip to content
Novel Catalog
Chapter 28
“I was right, huh?” Bonnie said, her voice light and teasing as she watched Neville squirm.
Neville’s face turned red, embarrassed and desperate. “Are you going to refuse to mentor me because of this?”
“Why would I? I’ve never done my homework. Hell, I never even bothered answering any exam papers,” Bonnie said casually, as though it were no big deal. The questions were too easy for her. She would rather spend her time solving problems at the research institute than waste it on simple schoolwork.
“You’re so cool!” Neville said with a thumbs-up before his expression turned serious. “But I don’t have time to talk right now. This applied problem is really tough, and I need to solve it quickly. Otherwise, my teacher’s going to give me a hard time.”
Bonnie saw his anxiety and, despite herself, felt a tug of sympathy. “I can help you if you’re stuck,” she said, offering.
“Huh? You’ll help me? How could you possibly know how to do this?” Neville looked skeptical.
Bonnie rolled her eyes, a smirk curling at the corner of her mouth. “Just elementary school math. I’m not stupid, you know.”
“No, no, I’m not saying you’re stupid,” Neville corrected quickly. “But I attend the finest private school for the elite. All the teachers there have at least a doctoral degree, so the questions they give us are so hard, even college students don’t know how to answer them.”
Bonnie raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Wait.” She grabbed Neville’s workbook, flipping through it until she found the problem that seemed to be giving him trouble. A few seconds later, she pushed the book back toward him.
“Take a look. Let me know if you have any questions,” she said, her voice calm, almost detached.
Neville stared at the solutions she’d written down, eyes wide. He was impressed by how easily she made the complicated problems seem manageable. “Wow,” he muttered under his breath.
Bonnie stood up from the sofa, preparing to leave. “I won’t be having breakfast here. I need to go to school.”
Neville watched her leave, still in shock. “I thought she was doing really badly at school,” he murmured, processing the fact that she’d just solved problems that not even high school students could handle. “Not even high school students could answer these questions!”
Just as Neville was digesting this, a deep voice interrupted him from behind.
“What are you talking about?”
Neville turned to find Ivor standing there, looking at him curiously. For a moment, he hesitated. He wanted to tell Ivor how Bonnie had just breezed through those problems, but the thought of Ivor knowing he hadn’t finished his own homework yesterday made him shut up.
“I’m talking about Bonnie. She’s really amazing. She even—” Neville stopped himself, catching the words before they could get him into trouble. “Oh, what was I saying?” he muttered, scratching his head. “I can’t remember. Just forget what I said. I need to have breakfast and get to school now.”
At the mention of school, Ivor’s thoughts immediately turned to Bonnie. He couldn’t help but picture her face.
“Have you seen Bonnie?” he asked, his voice unexpectedly soft.
“She’s gone to school.” Neville answered, oblivious to Ivor’s sudden change in tone.
“Without breakfast?” Ivor frowned, concern flickering in his eyes.
“Yeah,” Neville said nonchalantly, but it didn’t go unnoticed by Ivor.
Bonnie entered the classroom, trying to shake off the feeling of unease that had settled in her stomach. Some students were already reading, others gossiping. She ignored the chatter as she found a spot by the window.
“My dad told me the hottest bachelor in Pyralis has gotten engaged!” one voice piped up.
“Are you talking about the CEO of the Knight Group?” another asked eagerly.
“Who else? I wonder who the lucky girl is.”
“I’m so jealous!” one of the girls sighed dreamily.
Bonnie rolled her eyes as she overheard their conversation. Rich men, fame, all things that didn’t interest her much. Just as she was about to tune them out, one of the voices made her pause.
“Why are you jealous? Let’s be realistic about this. There’s no way we could ever meet the richest man in the city. I’d be happy to meet a rich guy like Sacha’s boyfriend.”
Sacha, hearing her name, smiled proudly as the attention turned to her. But Bonnie wasn’t listening to her, or at least, she wasn’t looking at her—until Sacha’s voice cut through again.
“Bonnie, I’m curious about something. How on earth did you meet Ms. Kay? Not through her uncles, I hope?”
The entire classroom turned to look at Bonnie, all eyes on her as they awaited her response.