Noelle avoided Cedric's gaze, terrified of betraying herself.

"Nelly, just say it!" Alfred urged. "Whatever you want, I'll make it happen!"

"I want to go to a bar," Noelle blurted.

"No problem!" Alfred agreed.

"No way," Cedric countered sharply.

Noelle's eyes, bright with anticipation, met Cedric's. He hesitated, then relented. "Why a bar?"

"I've never been," Noelle said, a wistful note in her voice. The truth was, she’d had a traumatic experience in a bar in her past life, and this was her chance to confront it.

Alfred playfully smacked Cedric. "Why not? Boohoo, you villain!"

Cedric's lips twitched. "Shut up, drama queen!"

Noelle laughed, a genuine, joyous sound. Then, Frank's message arrived: "Noelle, the results are out. How did you do? Language affected?"

A cold laugh escaped her. They all knew about the faulty stationery. She replied, tersely, "What do you think?"

"I'm sorry," Frank texted back. "Any compensation, I'll agree. Even repeating a year, I'll be there." But Noelle didn't reply.

Frank stared at his phone, frustration simmering. He knew how hard she'd worked. Returning to the living room, he overheard Xenia crying. Gordon and Lucas were comforting her.

"Ms. Quigley, you were sick," Gordon explained. "Your abilities far exceed these scores."

"Exactly," Lucas added. "Test scores aren't everything, especially for us."

Xenia wiped her tears. "But Noelle must have done well, right? I wanted to go to the same school."

Lucas blurted, "She probably didn't. I heard a top student's language score was only a hundred points above yours."

A smug look crossed Xenia's face. The stationery incident.

Frank approached, his expression stern. "Lucas, are you gloating? Noelle's our sister!"

"I was just comforting Xenia," Lucas protested.

"Not by putting Noelle down," Frank snapped.

Lucas mumbled an apology. "But what did Noelle say?"

Frank's face remained grim. "What do you think? This is all my fault!"

Xenia, with feigned concern, offered, "If Noelle wants to repeat, I'll accompany her. We're family."

"She might not want to stay with us," she added.

Frank frowned. "That's not her decision. I'll ensure she repeats, and I'll take care of everything." He needed to repair his relationship with Noelle.