Chapter 428: Unless We Live Together (8)

Chapter 428: Chapter 428: Unless We Live Together (8)

"First, you should make sure you even have a hundred thousand. You don’t want to find out you can’t even afford to challenge me!" Preston Patterson was surprised she wasn’t the least bit intimidated—it was just too strange.

"Isn’t a senior picking on a junior a little unfair? A man bullying a woman... isn’t that rather ungentlemanly?" A voice came from the entrance, and everyone turned to see a stranger walking in.

"You skipped the very first day of club activities. You should worry about your own attendance. Whether or not I’m a gentleman is my business!" Preston Patterson recognized the newcomer at a glance.

"Seraphina Sterling, we must be fated to meet like this. I never thought you’d actually get into Aethelgard University! I thought you were joking back then. Skipping grades to get in... you’re probably the first in the university’s history to do it!" The newcomer was delighted by the look of astonishment on her face.

"Marshal?" The surprise in Seraphina Sterling’s eyes was fleeting, and her expression quickly returned to normal. "If you want to talk about fate, talk about Genevieve and me. We not only got into the same university, we’re even in the same dorm room!"

"The same dorm room is impossible, unless... you want to live with me!" Marshal’s smile grew even more audacious. He loved this kind of fate. Seeing Seraphina Sterling was the best thing that had happened to him since moving to Aethelgard.

Seraphina Sterling cracked her knuckles, looking like she was about to punch him. Marshal hadn’t forgotten how terrifyingly skilled she was; she had really hidden her talents at that conference. "Hey, I was just kidding! You don’t have to take it seriously!" 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

"Were you the one behind the flowers this afternoon?" Seraphina Sterling truly hadn’t expected to run into Marshal here.

"What flowers? I don’t know anything about it!" Marshal looked genuinely surprised. "If you like flowers, I’ll send you some tomorrow!"

"Thank you, but no." ’If it wasn’t Marshal, then who was it? Over six hundred and sixty roses... That’s no small sum. The average student could never afford that.’

"Hey! This is a club meeting! If you want to catch up, do it outside! Don’t waste everyone’s time in here!" Shelby Fenton, unable to watch any longer, yelled out.

"Seraphina Sterling, you should compete with him. I believe in you. You’re so smart and capable, a small thing like this is no problem for you! I’ll put up the money!" Marshal didn’t even spare Shelby Fenton a glance. ’I’ve seen plenty of people like her. The more you acknowledge them, the louder they get. The easiest and fastest way to deal with them is to just ignore them.’

"Do you have too much money and nowhere to spend it? What if I lose everything?" Seraphina Sterling raised a delicate eyebrow. ’My relationship with Marshal shouldn’t be this close, right? True, I helped the Yorke Family back in Sanford, but they already returned the favor. If they hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to take over the Galloway Family’s auction house so smoothly. By all rights, we should be even. So why is he helping me like this? Isn’t he afraid of offending Preston Patterson?’

"Anyone else might lose it all, but not you! I believe in you! Besides, so what if you do? It’s only a hundred thousand. That’s nothing to me!" Marshal walked right up to Seraphina Sterling’s side, making it clear he was taking her side.

"Since your funding is no longer an issue, our bet is on. If you lose, you leave the club immediately!" Preston Patterson’s expression was unchanged. To him, beating a first-year rookie would be effortless. There was no challenge at all.

"And what if you lose?" Seraphina Sterling’s bright eyes glinted. She was perfectly calm and brimming with confidence.

"What did you say? You think I would lose? That I’d lose to a newcomer like you? Do you really think that’s possible?" Preston Patterson shouted, his voice laced with shocked disbelief.

"Of course it’s possible. We agreed to a competition, didn’t we? And in any competition, there has to be a winner and a loser. We haven’t even started yet, so how can you be so certain that I’m the one who will lose?" Seraphina Sterling was perfectly calm. Compared to Preston Patterson’s astonishment, she seemed far more poised and composed, like a true professional.

"Fine!"

"Very fine!"

"Excellent!"

"If I lose, I’ll do the same—I’ll leave the club! How’s that? Fair enough?" Preston Patterson was seething, but he couldn’t completely lose his composure in front of the other club members. He had to bottle it up, with no outlet for his frustration.

"Fair."

"Very fair."

"Perfectly fair."

"I look forward to Director Patterson’s splendid performance," Seraphina Sterling said, her smile growing even more brilliant. She had replied to Preston Patterson with a soft voice, using the exact same cadence he had. ’He can’t even handle a little provocation like this. It seems Preston Patterson isn’t anything special after all.’

"Then just get ready to lose every penny and crawl out of the stock trading club, Seraphina Sterling! Director Patterson is incredible. A lot of the club’s successful trades are based on his market analysis. He gets credit for every profit we make! Your amateurish skills are a complete joke in front of him!" Shelby Fenton cheered for Preston Patterson from the sidelines.

"Then we’ll just have to wait and see," Seraphina Sterling said with a slight smile, then walked out of the meeting room. ’Tomorrow is going to be a big day.’