Chapter 29

“Where did you even get something like that?” Elena asked. “Do you secretly have a little princess living inside you too?”

A horrifying image immediately flashed through her mind.

It was the kind of humiliating scene that could make her famous at Westbridge University all the way until graduation.

Honestly, that car would probably make her go viral overnight even faster than her dance video had.

Not that she wanted to become famous that way.

And besides—

She had a feeling Richard Sterling was absolutely capable of doing something like that.

“A member of a royal family had it custom-made for me,” Richard said casually. “He told me it was one of a kind and thought it would make an interesting addition to my collection.”

Richard already had plenty of unusual cars in his collection. Refusing the gift would have seemed unnecessarily pretentious, so he'd simply accepted it and left it there.

Elena silently backed down.

“All right. I’ll choose.”

She picked up the catalog and began flipping through it with a serious expression.

Among all the ridiculously designed, aggressively flashy supercars—the kind that practically screamed I HAVE MONEY from every inch of the hood—

she finally settled on the one that looked the most normal to her.

“This one. I think white looks nice.”

Richard followed the direction of her slender finger and glanced at the page.

“A plug-in hybrid supercar?”

There was still a hint of disapproval in his voice.

“Fine. Whatever you like.”

Richard picked up his phone and sent a message directly to his assistant.

Then he looked up, his deep gaze settling back on Elena.

“The Audi will be delivered this afternoon. The Ferrari will take a little longer. We still need to finalize the options and complete the paperwork.”

Elena was still holding her fork.

She stared at him for a moment before giving a slightly dazed nod.

None of this felt real.

He had just given her two cars, yet he acted as though he'd merely bought her a cup of bubble tea.

After breakfast, Richard left for Sterling Consortium's headquarters, while Elena was driven back to campus by the same driver as before.

She returned to the dorm to grab her textbooks and happened to run into Sophia Bennett, who had just finished her first class of the morning.

The other two roommates had only just gotten out of bed and were eating takeout. The moment they heard the door open, they all turned to look at her.

“Wow, Ellie, you look really good in that too!”

Emma complimented her.

“But didn't you used to say Adrian didn't like you wearing things that showed too much of your shoulders?”

Elena resisted the urge to sigh.

“That’s true. But we’re broken up now. So whether he likes it or not, what does that have to do with me?”

The roommates exchanged glances.

None of them dared say anything bad about Adrian.

What if Elena and Adrian got back together again? They'd be the ones caught in the middle.

Still—

Something felt different this time.

But none of them dared jump to conclusions. After all, Elena and Adrian had broken up several times before.

“Ellie…” Sophia hesitated. “Did you block me? I really wasn't trying to cause trouble yesterday…”

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“Huh?” Lily looked surprised. “Ellie, you blocked Sophia?”

“I blocked her because Adrian was using her phone to keep calling me,” Elena explained. “I didn't want to answer.”

Sophia looked at her for a moment.

“What were you doing yesterday, anyway? You were breathing so hard.”

The other two roommates immediately looked at Elena.

Elena glanced at Sophia.

“I hope you still remember what my major is.”

Sophia pouted.

“You've skipped dance class before just to go see Adrian…”

“Ellie, I was worried about you!” Sophia quickly said. “I ran into Adrian yesterday, and he told me someone had seen you leaving campus. He asked if I'd seen you come back to the dorm. There are so many scams and dangerous situations these days, so I just wanted to call and make sure you were okay. Then he grabbed my phone!”

Elena picked up her textbook and grabbed an unopened bottle of water.

“I know.”

Seeing how coldly she responded, Sophia added, “And I just thought… maybe you two had some kind of misunderstanding. I figured you should talk things out—”

Elena shook her head.

“There was no misunderstanding. Thanks for worrying about me. And I was just exercising. You didn't have to make such a huge fuss over me breathing hard, like you wanted everyone within ten miles to hear.”

Sophia's expression stiffened.

“I was just— I was worried something had happened to you.”

“I already said you can worry about me without shouting that loudly. Even if something really had happened to me, would yelling actually help?”

Sophia was already feeling guilty, and Elena's words only made her more irritated.

“…Elena, you don't have to talk to me like that. If we weren't roommates, why would I even bother getting involved in your business?”

She paused, then added with a sneer,

“No wonder Adrian always says you're such a headache. Oh, and yesterday I saw that little princess from the Sterling family going to see him.”

Sophia had expected that to do the trick.

She thought Elena would panic and immediately start asking questions.

Because Sophia had always believed Elena was only pretending not to care.

Deep down, she must still care about Adrian.

There were certainly plenty of rich second-generation students at Westbridge, but who was as tall and handsome as Adrian?

And a lot of them were notorious players, constantly fooling around with different women.

Adrian wasn't like that.

In three years of college, he'd only dated Elena.

Wouldn't Elena cling to someone like that for dear life?

“That girl from the Sterling family really is something,” Sophia continued deliberately. “She’s a real heiress. The way she carries herself, the way she dresses… She’s just on a completely different level from ordinary people like us.”

She lifted her chin slightly, watching Elena's face for a reaction.

“Oh.”

Elena gave a completely indifferent nod.

“Definitely.”

Sophia felt like she'd just punched a pillow.

She was about to say something else, but Elena had already picked up her bag and textbooks and walked out.

Sophia stared after her slender figure and gritted her teeth.

“…Just wait and see.”

She turned to the other two roommates.

“Once Adrian really dumps her, she'll probably cry her eyes out.”

Her expression was full of disdain.

Elena's family wasn't wealthy.

Yet she spent money like water, buying piles of designer makeup, skincare products, clothes, and shoes.

Once, the four of them had gone out to watch a movie together. When it was time to eat afterward, Elena hadn't even been able to cover her own meal.

She'd had to call Adrian and ask him to transfer the money.

Without Adrian paying for her, could Elena even afford to support herself?

Emma and Lily exchanged glances.

“But… I don't know. I kind of feel like Elena is serious this time.”

“Yeah,” Lily agreed. “I saw that dance video yesterday. She went viral again!”

“There were comments from people at our school too,” Emma added. “Someone said her ex-boyfriend went looking for her, and a professor actually yelled at him.”

“What?”

Sophia froze.

“I saw the video too. But what comments are you talking about?”

Lily pulled out her phone and tapped the screen a few times.

Sophia immediately leaned over.

She found the original dance video that had gone viral.

Its views had already more than doubled since yesterday, and new comments were still pouring in.

A flicker of jealousy crossed Sophia's eyes.

Still, they all had to admit one thing.

Elena really was extraordinarily beautiful.

Her figure was almost impossible to fault, and she clearly had a solid foundation in dance.

She might not have been among the absolute best dancers at Westbridge—there were simply too many talented students here for that—but she certainly wasn't bad.

After all, she'd earned her place here on her own ability.

And that was exactly what bothered Sophia.

There were plenty of students at the university who were technically better dancers.

But because they weren't as beautiful as Elena, they didn't attract nearly as much attention.

Even during the university anniversary performance, dozens of students had danced on the same stage.

Yet somehow, Elena was the one who had gone viral.

“…This one!”

Lily suddenly pointed at the screen.

She'd found one of the highest-liked comments.

Is this girl single? 👀

Hundreds of replies had already piled underneath it, and the comments had taken on a life of their own.

I'm single too. 6'2", college guy, born and raised here, only child, family owns five houses.

Forget it, she's taken. Her boyfriend is basically campus-heartthrob level, and he's a total academic genius too.

I'm crying. Why do all the beautiful girls go for the nerdy geniuses? 😭

Is there a possibility she's actually a Westbridge student too? She might be a genius herself…

For everyone saying she has a boyfriend—she doesn't! They already broke up. The guy went looking for her right after this video was posted, and she said it herself.

Yeah, and he was grabbing at her! Our professor completely lost it and kicked him out. That professor is awesome!

Sophia sucked in a breath and kept scrolling.

Then she spotted another comment.

She's just a gold digger. I don't know why everyone's acting like she's some goddess. Her ex was rich, so she probably dumped him after finding someone even richer.

Another person replied:

I heard her ex got noticed by another actual heiress…

Among all the wild speculation, Sophia suddenly spotted another comment that made her eyes widen.

I'm dead. 😂 Someone at the dining hall yesterday said this girl had spent tens of thousands of dollars of her boyfriend's money. Then someone else recognized her earrings and said they were worth several million dollars…

“Several million?!”

All three roommates cried out at once.