Chapter 2

The woman took a few steps forward as she swayed provocatively. I was stunned by her charm. She said, "You heard him. Get lost!"

I didn't move.

Hanley snapped, his voice filled with irritation, "I told you to get lost!"

The woman looked utterly stunned. I winked at her with a defiant smirk.

I knew that Hanley would change his girlfriends frequently, but he would never replace an obedient simp like me.

Seeing Hanley's dark expression, the woman gritted her teeth and bolted.

Suddenly, the place went dead silent. Only Hanley and I were left.

Hanley closed in on me, grabbed my chin, and forced my head up.

He said coldly, "Gloria, stop dreaming. There's no future for us."

"The Watts family would never let me marry someone like you..." Hanley let the words hang, his eyes sweeping over me with undisguised contempt.

The rest went without saying.

I didn't back down. I stared straight into Hanley's eyes and said, "I'm serious about you. How would we know what's possible if we didn't even try?"

Hanley pressed his lips together, his deep-set eyes clouding with unreadable emotion.

After a moment, Hanley sneered, "My birthday's on Christmas Eve.

"You should come."

He released his grip on my face, stepped back, his lips curling into a mocking smirk.

I nervously clasped my hands together and asked, "What kind of gift would you like?"

Hanley paused mid-step, glanced back at me with a sneer, and said, "What can you even afford?"

With that, he walked away without a second look.

I stood rooted to the spot with an expressionless face. Then, I pulled out a disinfecting wipe and vigorously wiped the spot where Hanley had just grabbed.

Afterward, I headed straight to my shift at the coffee shop.

While my boss was chewing me out for being late, Chloe Madron walked in.

Clad in haute couture with a designer bag, Chloe's presence starkly contrasted with the modest coffee shop the moment she walked in.

I glanced up and immediately knew she'd come specifically for me.

Chloe was the daughter of the Madron family.

She was Hanley's childhood friend, but he never showed any interest in her.

He would go through a dozen girlfriends every month, yet she was never on his list.

Chloe sauntered over, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Well, well, if it isn't Gloria Taylor from the History Department. I heard you're juggling three jobs a day and still manage to top every class?"

She smirked. "How impressive."

Chloe made a beeline for me, her intentions painfully clear.

"Welcome!" My boss smiled warmly at Chloe, then shot me a meaningful glance before moving to attend to other customers.

I said flatly, "Miss Madron, we're not strangers. Drop the act."

All this time, Chloe had been scheming against me in every possible way.

She spread malicious rumors about me online and turned others against me.

She even locked me alone in the school bathroom at midnight one time.

Chloe sneered, "I just think you're delusional. How dare you dream of marrying into the Watts family?

"You need to wake up."

I didn't want to argue with Chloe. I tried to move around her, but Chloe stubbornly blocked my path.

"Miss Madron, I have work to do. If there's nothing else, I'll get back to it," I said coldly.

Hanley had so many flings, yet Chloe always singled me out.

It was obvious that she saw me as the real threat.

Chloe said, "I'll have a cup of coffee."

We locked eyes, the air between us crackling with unspoken challenge.

I was entering Chloe's order into the system, but every time I printed out an order slip, she'd immediately claim she'd changed her mind and insist on switching to something else.

After five minutes of this frustrating process, I finally crumpled the order slip in my hand and stopped entering any more orders.

Chloe sneered, "Well, that's some stellar service, isn't it? Fine, just give me the last one I picked."

Once the coffee was ready, I handed it to Chloe, but she purposely let it slip from her grasp.

The cup slammed onto the floor and the coffee splattered everywhere.

My boss stormed over and asked with a sour expression, "What the hell is going on here?"

Chloe jabbed a finger at me and said arrogantly, "She did it on purpose. She made me drop it on the floor!"

"Gloria?" the boss roared, his face dark with fury.

"It wasn't me," I said while shaking my head.

Chloe took two steps forward, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "So now you think I'm framing you?"

She scoffed, "As if I'd waste my time framing some coffee shop employee. That's beneath me.

"I'm going to make a complaint about this business!"

My boss was unable to tolerate this. He immediately whirled around and barked at me, "Gloria, apologize!"

Chloe shot me a smug, triumphant smirk.

I lowered my gaze to hide the fury burning inside me.

I told myself that I had to hold on since there was only two days left before I could get on with what I really wanted to do.

"What's all this racket about?" Right at that moment, Hanley strode into the shop. Without hesitation, he made a beeline straight for us.

"Hanley! She splashed coffee on me on purpose!" Chloe whined while spinning around to face Hanley. This time, her accusation became even more bizarre.

Hanley shot Chloe a look, then snapped at me, "Did you do that on purpose?"

I shook my head.

Hanley's face darkened instantly.

Hanley pulled Chloe behind him and reprimanded me, "Gloria, how could you be so vicious?"

Suddenly, the entire coffee shop fell silent, with countless curious eyes fixed on us.

I could already see tomorrow's campus gossip blowing up about this.

I couldn't be bothered to respond, so I just lowered my head and fell silent again.

I felt that silence was the best way to hide all my true thoughts.

Hanley stepped uncomfortably close and looked down at me. He sneered, "Gloria, stop struggling. Even if you worked a hundred part-time jobs, you'd never be able to bridge the gap between us."

I heard Chloe let out a cold snort, and then the entire coffee shop erupted in mocking laughter.

"Why not put all that effort into your studies? Maybe you'll actually get into grad school." With that, Hanley grabbed Chloe by the arm and stormed out of the shop.

I made myself an extra-large coffee.

I had made it this far already. I told myself that I had to hold it in for the next two days no matter what.