Chapter 116 Cut Off
She was selfish and two–faced, always chasing the thrill of taking from others.
All these years, she’d done nothing but exploit Eliza.
+8 Pearls
Now, Naomi only wanted to cling to the Holt family because she’d lost her chance to study abroad.
“Fine. I’ll marry you.”
Zayden’s words made Naomi freeze.
“Zayden… are you serious?”
“Yeah. I’m serious.”
Hearing his confirmation, Naomi lit up with joy. She immediately threw her arms around him, eyes bright with excitement. “Zayden, I knew you liked me too!”
Naomi was too wrapped up in her own happiness to notice the cold look in Zayden’s eyes.
Marry him?
Naomi had no idea what kind of life that would actually mean.
Soon, the new semester began.
But because of the flu outbreak, all schools had switched to remote learning.
During the day, Eliza had to juggle managing the factory and her online store–but she still had to attend online classes. After all, this was their final year.
Senior year came with a crushing workload, and many parents were unhappy about remote learning, afraid it would hurt students‘ SAT scores.
But truthfully, there weren’t many new concepts left. Most of the year was spent reviewing and doing endless practice papers.
It was less like attending class and more like sitting through a virtual test marathon.
To avoid interfering with her studies, Eliza moved all factory–related matters to the evenings.
During the day, she and Nolan attended online classes from separate rooms.
Class 6 had been merged with Class 1 due to low performance, and it didn’t take long for students to notice the backgrounds in Eliza and Nolan’s video feeds.
“They’re living together, aren’t they?”
“Obviously. I noticed that days ago. They must be!”
“No way. They’re so young. Already living together? That’s wild!”
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3:31 pm DOM
Chapter 116 Cut Off
The class group chat exploded with gossip about Eliza and Nolan.
Eliza wasn’t in the group chat–but Zayden was.
+8 Pearls
He hadn’t noticed the matching room backgrounds earlier, but now, staring at the screenshots, he realized the layouts were identical. Even the wall paint was the same.
They were living together?
No. That couldn’t be true.
Zayden quickly grabbed his phone to send Eliza a message–only to be hit with a red exclamation mark.
She had blocked him.
He hadn’t realized until now that Eliza had deleted and blocked him days ago.
Seeing that red mark made Zayden’s face instantly darken.
With a loud crash, the cup on his desk shattered on the floor.
Downstairs, Grace heard the noise and rushed up. “What happened? I told you to study! What are you doing?”
She frowned, already frustrated that he couldn’t attend in–person classes. The Holt family’s future was riding on him. Without a stellar academic record and a top–tier university, he wouldn’t be able to build a network–and without that, their family had no way up.
“Mom, can I borrow your phone?”
“For what?”
“I’m not playing games. I just need to look something up.”
し
Still suspicious, Grace handed over her phone. “Just don’t take too long. I’m going to slice some fruit for you.”
Zayden didn’t say anything. He typed Eliza’s number into Grace’s phone and called.
The phone only rang once before she picked up.
“Hello?”
Eliza’s voice was clear and pleasant.
Zayden hesitated. He couldn’t say a word.
“Hello? Who is this?”
Eliza asked again, confused.
Just as Zayden was about to answer, a low male voice came through the phone. “Who’s calling?”
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Zayden froze.
He recognized that voice immediately–it was Nolan.
“No idea. Probably the wrong number,” Eliza said casually, then hung up without another word.
Zayden stared at the screen as the call ended.
The hollow tone echoed in his ears, and a sharp pain hit his chest.
Eliza… really was living with Nolan.
Some time passed before Grace came back upstairs with a tray of fruit.
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