“Yes, sir.” Jaume stepped on the gas, thinking, “So she pissed him off again.”

Kieran leaned back in his seat, eyes closed. But his mind went back to what Alarieka had said earlier.

“Won’t bother me?” he thought. “That feels like a calculated retreat to gain an advantage later—not exactly a clever move.”

Back at the house, Tamika was stomping in frustration and disappointment.

“Why didn’t you go?!” she bellowed. “Don’t you know who Kieran is going to see?”

“I do,” Alarieka said calmly.

Tamika got even more upset. “Then why didn’t you insist on going with him?! You’re going to let him get back together with his ex? You’ll lose your shot with him completely.”

“Then so be it,” Alarieka said, her expression cold. “Mom, they’re in love. Why would I want to get in the middle of that?”

Tamika wasn’t hearing any of it. She grabbed Alarieka’s ear and yelled, “I’m going to beg Sir Argent to let you go with Kieran! You have to listen to me!”

Alarieka ignored her. Tamika was still clinging to the fantasy that Alarieka would marry Kieran. But reality would catch up with her eventually.

Alarieka pulled out her workbook from the cabinet. Even with the Argent family’s support, she had always worked hard just to be worthy of Kieran. As a result, her grades were solid. Sadly, right before finals, something bad happened, and she missed her exams. Then one thing led to another, and she decided not to go to college.

This time, she would make her exams count. She’d get into a university far away from the Argent family and Kieran and cut all ties for good. But she would never forget what happened. One day, everyone who had hurt Nina would pay.

Alarieka didn’t want anything to do with Kieran anymore, but Tamika wasn’t having it. She packed Alarieka’s bags and said, “Don’t tick off Kieran again.”

Alarieka shot back, “I said I’m not going.”

Tamika glared at her. “What’s with the attitude?! This is a golden chance!”

She clenched her fists and didn’t back down. “What chance?”

Tamika’s voice got louder. “The chance to get close to Kieran! Don’t you like him?”

Maybe it was because of what happened in her past life, but hearing Kieran’s name made her heart skip a beat. Her eyes almost teared up. “I don’t…”

Just then, the knock on the door came out of nowhere. Alarieka didn’t have time to hide the sadness in her eyes before she saw Kieran’s cold and distant look through the door. The second their eyes met, she was reminded of how he used to look at her, like she was nothing. Almost instinctively, she felt like she was back in that terrible past. She took a few steps back. Even after she looked away, she could still feel his intense gaze on her.

Kieran had overheard Alarieka talking with Tamika. He always hated people with sneaky plans, and Tamika’s plans were way too obvious. There was no way he could pretend he didn’t hear anything.

Tamika was stunned too, looking a bit flustered. “Mr. Argent, that’s not what I meant…”

“Enough! I don’t wanna hear any more of this gross stuff.” Kieran scowled and looked away, his face twisted with distaste. He clearly didn’t want to lay eyes on them again. He spun around and said over his shoulder, “Grandpa is calling you for dinner.”

After he left, the room fell into silence.

Alarieka took a deep breath and said quietly, “Mom, is this what you want?”

Tamika shut the door and gritted her teeth. “Now that we’re this far, we can’t give up.”

“I don’t care what you think. Don’t pack the bags.”

Alarieka couldn’t get through to the stubborn Tamika, so she turned and went downstairs. Tamika followed her down, looking pretty unhappy.

At the dinner table, Wallace and Kieran were sitting across from each other, with a few empty seats in between. Alarieka stopped behind Kieran. In her last life, she always sat right next to him, trying to get close to him and put food on his plate. But he would flick the food away. Now, she thought that was a silly thing to do.

With a calm face, she walked over, pulled out the chair next to Wallace, and sat down. Her movements were smooth and natural, yet they caught the eye of Wallace and the servants, who looked over in surprise. Even Kieran, who usually ignored her, stopped eating and cast her a cold glance. Usually, no matter who the guests were, she would sit next to him and chatter away nonstop, not even realizing when she was annoying him.

This was the first time she hadn’t done that.