Alarieka promised she definitely didn’t have the bad habit of eavesdropping, but these three just happened to block the hallway, and none of them even noticed her standing to the side. Hearing Roschelle say Kieran was jealous, Alarieka raised her eyebrows and looked at Kieran. Even under the restaurant’s pale lights, Kieran still looked a bit gloomy. Honestly, he really did look jealous. Kieran didn’t object either. Roschelle was obviously happy, stood in front of him with her back to Alarieka, and said to Kieran in a soft voice, “Don’t be jealous, you know I only like you. Patrick and I really are just friends.” Kieran probably looked up to start a conversation, but in that moment, he met Alarieka, who was holding a tray and about to walk by. Roschelle looked at Kieran, then turned her head as if she noticed something. Seeing it was Alarieka, a quick look of meaning flashed in her eyes, and she pretended to be shy.

“Alarieka, you didn’t hear anything, right?”

Alarieka shrugged, “Didn’t hear you. Could you guys move? I’ve been standing here for a long time.”

Roschelle seemed to have a sudden realization, pulled Kieran’s hand and walked to the side, “Sorry, Kier and I didn’t notice you.”

Alarieka understood what this really meant. She really didn’t want to fuss with Roschelle over these little things. If she argued with Roschelle about everything, it would have been a waste of time and just not worth it. After all, Roschelle and Kieran were both not worth it to her. Alarieka walked over with her tray, looking as usual, and finally found an empty seat in another corner. The seat here was really hidden, and within two meters, she was the only one around. It was a spot Alarieka was very happy with. No one was talking, it was kind of boring, so she took out her phone and first opened WhatsApp. She didn’t check her phone all morning, and a few people had already messaged her, all asking how her competition went. That included Tamika and Jaylene. She replied to each message: “I passed the preliminary round.”

Jaylène replied really fast: “That’s great.”

Jaylene: “So are you still at the competition now? Are you coming back tonight?”

Alarieka answered patiently, “Not coming back, I took a week off, just enough to finish the competition.”

Jaylene: “Alright, then I’ll wait for you to win the championship.”

Alarieka chuckled, “Okay.”

She only talked to Jaylene for a bit. Alarieka looked at her phone for a while, got bored, and was about to open a social app to take a look. She just hadn’t clicked in yet, and her phone kept buzzing with a few messages. Somehow, when Alarieka heard the notification sound, she just had a vague bad feeling in her heart, and her heart skipped a beat. She picked up her phone. It was Jaylene who had sent her several messages in a row.

Jaylene: “Someone was freaking out online again.”

Jaylene: “Don’t check those social apps for now, just focus on getting ready for the competition.”

Jaylene: “Listen to me, don’t look at those random posts.”

Jaylene: “Watch it after the game, don’t let it mess up your mood.”

Jaylene: “Really, really, don’t look, I’m begging you.”

Seeing these messages, Alarieka knew something had happened again. She thought for a bit and easily guessed who was out to get her. It was either Roschelle and the others, or those guys who just wouldn’t admit defeat and had already been eliminated. Either way, it was just two groups together. Alarieka also thought that the opinions online would affect her, but she had been through a lot, so these opinions didn’t really affect her mood much. Although the Mcintosh Piano Competition was pretty popular, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Plus, the competition had just started and hadn’t reached the finals yet, so not many people were paying attention.

So Alarieka looked for related posts for about two minutes before finding one. When Alarieka clicked in, the first thing she saw was the most popular post with the most likes. She clicked right into the post and skimmed through it, ten lines at a glance. Yeah, it really was that guy who just posted. He complained on social media that the organizers, judges, and contestants of the Mcintosh Piano Competition colluded and deliberately raised a contestant’s ranking to just high enough to get into the semifinals. Actually, that contestant wasn’t very good. She even played a wrong note in the preliminaries. There was no way she could have made it to the semifinals. It was because she bribed the judges that she got in and took a spot that should have gone to someone else. The comment section blew up right away, and everyone was guessing who this contestant was.