Chapter 40

Shermaine’s heart started to race uncontrollably. She blinked a few times but stayed silent.

Joshua’s fingertip lightly brushed against her chin. “Where does it hurt?”

Shermaine replied, “Right where you’re holding.”

Joshua froze for a moment, pulling his finger away. Under the light, he noticed a small red mark where he had just touched. “Be careful next time,” he said.

“Okay,” Shermaine murmured, lowering her head.

In the front seat, Bradley, curious, glanced back. The two in the backseat were pressed closely together.

The stark contrast between Shermaine’s school uniform and Joshua’s tailored suit, and between her innocent yet alluring aura and his elegant yet commanding presence, only made the chemistry between them even more undeniable. Bradley automatically shipped the two of them.

Joshua helped Shermaine settle back into the seat. Shermaine felt a bit hot and rolled down the window. The lingering warmth of his touch felt like it was burning into her skin.

Luckily, Ross’s call came through, and Shermaine’s attention shifted. She happily started a video call with her brother.

Shermaine was stunningly beautiful, so it was no surprise that her biological brother, Ross, was striking.

Unlike Joshua, who was reserved and commanding, Ross was refined and gentle. When he saw Shermaine on the video call, he smiled warmly and said,

“Sheary.”

“Hey, Ross,” Shermaine replied.

“How did the family dinner go?” Ross asked.

Shermaine smiled. “It was wonderful. Grandma, Uncle Bradon, and his family are great.” After a brief pause, she added, “Mr. York came too. It was such an honor.”

Bradley, overhearing this, couldn’t help but think, "That’s not the only benefit. Mr. York has the looks, the body, and the strength. Ms. Jean, please, just stop playing games and go for this pure-hearted, hard to get man already!"

Ross thought, Joshua’s just another pretty face. Then he asked, “Did they give you a hard time tonight?”

Shermaine chuckled softly. “Ross, when have you ever seen them get the upper hand over me?”

Ross knew his sister was smart and confident. His eyes were filled with affection as he continued, “Is that so? Even though I’m abroad, I’ve been keeping up with everything about you. You should see what they’ve been saying about you lately.”

He couldn’t stand how some people blindly followed the crowd and trashed his sister. He’d seen the hateful post about her on Basterel University’s forum, and it had kept him up all night, seething with anger.

Shermaine comforted him, "The situation will change soon. Besides, Grandma was amazing tonight."

“So they did try to give you trouble tonight,” Ross said. He wasn’t surprised. Ruth was obsessed with Wendelyn and completely ignored her biological children. And Wendelyn was eager to marry Joshua, so naturally, she’d make Shermaine’s life difficult.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Shermaine wasn’t bothered.

Then Ross said, “Put it on speaker. I need to talk to Joshua about something.”

Shermaine pressed the speaker button, “Go ahead.”

“I restored the post—” the moment, it clicked. Of course, Shermaine could handle it. Should I upgrade an AI robot, restoring a deleted post alone? “No wonder the post suddenly disappeared while I was browsing the forum that day. Turns out, you—"

Joshua thought the post would be a more effective slap to those people once they found out the truth. “Don’t bother with anyone to delete the post; it’ll be useful later on.”

As an older brother, he felt it was his job to support Shermaine, no matter what she decided. He had full confidence that she had already organized and summarized Levens's individual outlines for each person.

It was exhausting enough, let alone for a whole group. But Shermaine had plenty of time during classes—she didn’t even need to study it anymore. Over thirty students had joined.

While Shermaine was teaching, materials spread across the desk, holding a piece of scratch paper, Sharmaine replied, “Math.”

It might look intimidating, but the actual concepts involved were relatively easy if they wanted! Their performance was the...

Chapter 40

While Shermaine was teaching, she typed with one hand on the keyboard. She was testing the compatibility of nuclear energy systems with miniaturized sensors.

The data was massive, so she had been running adjustments. However, doing it manually was a hassle, so she was working on a small program to run the tests automatically in the background. Time was running out–the ten-day deadline was almost here.

The keyboard wasn’t the loud, clunky kind; it had a soft click. The students facing the screen were probably so focused on the lesson that they didn’t hear anything else. Even if they noticed the odd sound, they probably didn’t care; it wasn’t as important as paying attention to the lesson.

So, they could never have imagined that the top student who was helping them with their problems was actually multitasking–teaching and developing software at the same time.

And before they knew it, more and more people had joined the livestream. The whole session lasted about an hour, and by the end, the viewership had quietly climbed to several hundred people.

[What school is the streamer from?]

[When’s the next class? I find it so much easier to understand the problems when you explain them.]

[High school senior here, please stream more lessons!]

However, since they weren’t in her class, Shermaine didn’t respond and ended the livestream. She was tired. Grabbing a fresh set of clothes, she took a shower, climbed into bed with her hair still damp, and fell asleep the moment she closed her eyes.

One of her classmates, feeling a little sorry for those viewers, kindly replied: [Sheary will stream lessons whenever she’s free at night. If you want to join, just follow her and come by next time.]

The next day, Shermaine went out for her morning workout, and just as she stepped out the door, she nearly ran straight into Joshua. She yawned lazily. “How come you’re not swimming today?”

Joshua, dressed in a black tracksuit, looked more relaxed than when he wore formal clothes. “I only swim on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The rest of the time, I climb, box, or jog in the mornings.”

“No wonder he’s got such a killer body," Shermaine thought. “Well, I’ll get going then.”

“Let’s go together,” said Joshua.

After her morning workout, Shermaine finally shook off her grogginess. She had breakfast, and since it was the weekend, she got back to work.

Seniors usually had two days off on weekends. This week, probably because of International Students‘ Day, the school gave them an extra day off. On Monday morning, Shermaine went back to school bright and early.

But today, someone unexpected showed up in their class.

One of Shermaine’s classmates, looking completely confused, asked, “Leslie, what are you doing here? You’re not even in this class.” Meanwhile, he thought, “What could he possibly want so early in the morning?”

Leslie was something of a legend at their school. He was a straight-A student and had won first place in the physics competition during his sophomore year.

He was handsome, athletic, and a top student–basically the dream guy for the girls at their school. Every Valentine’s Day, his desk would be buried under a mountain of chocolates and love letters.

At that moment, a few early-arriving girls, clutching their books and clearly fascinated by him, asked with bright smiles, “Leslie, can we WhatsApp you?”

Leslie politely refused. “Sorry, I don’t use WhatsApp much.”

The girls had expected that, knowing Leslie wouldn’t just add anyone on WhatsApp. They sat back down, disappointed.

Chapter 40

Even though not many students had arrived at school yet, news of Leslie’s visit spread like wildfire.

That morning, Sommer brought Shermaine a homemade breakfast from her family’s café; a sandwich, juice, and oatmeal.

Having received the message earlier, Shermaine didn’t eat with Joshua. Once she entered the classroom, she was about to greet Summer when Leslie walked over and said. “Shermaine, you’re here.”

Shermaine looked up, surprised to see Leslie. She nodded slightly. “Is there something you need?”

Leslie was upset due to her indifference. He couldn’t help but think, ‘Shermaine isn’t all that great–aside from being pretty, she isn’t as impressive as Wendelyn in every other way. It’s pure luck that she has become Joshua’s fiancée. It’s an arranged marriage, so there must be no real chemistry between them. I’m actually quite fond of her, and we go to the same school. Though my family isn’t as prestigious as the Jean or York families, with generations of scholars, it’s no less impressive than the Jean family. Shermaine has a lot of areas to improve, but I can help her grow and get better alongside me.”

Thinking about it, Leslie became more patient. He said, “Mrs. Jean asked me to help you, and I’ve kept that in mind. These are the notes compiled for you, covering everything from freshman to senior year. Here you are. And here’s a practice test. Work through it, and I’ll come to pick it up this afternoon. Once I see where you’re at, I’ll know how to help you better. Also, from now on, let’s meet after school every day for tutoring.”

Shermaine was stunned. Summer and the others were equally shocked and thought, “Honestly, we are the ones who need tutoring!”

They hadn’t expected Leslie to actually follow through on what Ruth had said about organizing notes and offering to tutor her. Out of politeness, she smiled and said, “Thank you for your kindness, but I don’t need them. You can keep them.”

Leslie frowned, clearly not expecting her rejection. “Don’t you want to improve your grades so your mother will see you in a better light?”

Shermaine wanted to tell him that she did well in school and didn’t need his notes or tutoring, but she figured Leslie, with his preconceived notions, wouldn’t believe her.

So she said, “I’ll make sure she sees me differently, but I really don’t need your help. My grades aren’t as bad as people make them out to be online—they’re actually quite good.”

Shermaine’s classmates couldn’t believe their ears and thought, ‘Seriously? Bad grades? She’s a total genius!”

Leslie’s expression darkened. He assumed that Shermaine was avoiding him because of her engagement.

So he continued, “Talk is cheap. Without action, you won’t make any progress. Trust me, with my help, getting into a top-tier university will be a breeze. Besides, I’m only doing this because your mother asked me to. Don’t feel any pressure. I’m not interested in you.”

Shermaine’s lips twitched as she thought, What a speech. I’ll forgive him this time since he doesn’t know the full story, but why would I feel pressured? I’m not interested in him either. Then she replied, “Leslie, if I ever need help, I can hire a tutor. Or Joshua can teach me.”

Joshua teaching her? What a joke. He’s so busy, how could he possibly take the time to help her? Leslie thought, his face turning sour.

It was the first time he’d offered to tutor someone, and most people would jump at the chance. Yet, Shermaine rejected him again and again, “Fine. I’m leaving the notes here. Take them or leave them–it’s your choice.”

Shermaine thought, “Thanks, but I really don’t need them. Can you just take them back, please?”

Soon, the news spread that Leslie, the school’s heartthrob, knew Shermaine and offered to tutor her, and Shermaine felt like she’d become the target of jealousy among many girls at the school.

But Shermaine’s classmates just found Leslie’s behavior baffling. Shermaine had already said her grades were good, but Leslie just refused to believe her and ended up embarrassing himself.