Chapter 110
“Huh?” Shirley blinked, caught off guard.
Charlotte didn’t say anything else. She walked straight over to a cafe nearby, nudged a chair out with her foot, and dropped into it. “Hand me the worksheets.”
“It’s way too noisy here… I, um, I don’t think I can focus. Let’s go outside to work on them.” Shirley hurried over, crouched down next to Charlotte, and rested her chin on the table, her cheeks scrunching up.
“It’s all the same to me.”
Charlotte lounged back in her chair, eyes lowered as she spun a pencil between her fingers. “I’ll do them for now. You can check my answers later.”
“Okay.” Shirley’s face lit up as she pulled out the worksheets, smoothing them carefully onto the table. She lowered her voice, almost whispering. “I’ll wait by the entrance, just in case. If you need anything, call me and I’ll come right back.”
Charlotte waved her away. When Shirley bounced off, Charlotte tossed the pencil aside and let her head fall back, bored.
Half an hour later, the host’s voice came over the speakers, announcing the event was about to wrap up.
Shirley came running back, arms full of gifts. That finally made Charlotte look up. She glanced over the worksheet, skimming through the answers, then grabbed a pencil and marked them without much thought.
“Charlotte, you’re killing it!” Shirley leaned in, eyes shining as she peered at the multiple-choice section. “You only did ten questions… but you got all ten right.”
Charlotte just pressed her lips together, a bit of tiredness in her eyes.
Honestly, she’d been so bored she nearly dozed off. If she’d had a little more time, she could have finished even more.
“See? My tutoring money isn’t going to waste.”
Was that really her doing?
Shirley’s cheeks flushed. She unzipped her backpack and pulled out a thick stack of handwritten notes. “Guess I need to step up my game. Charlotte, you… you should probably memorize all of these.”
Charlotte quickly pulled her hand back, chin tilting toward the stage. “Isn’t your idol about to leave? Aren’t you going to say goodbye?”
“Oh!” Shirley hugged her notes to her chest and dashed off. “Charlotte, wait for me. I’ll be right back!”
At the mall entrance, a black van waited with its doors open. Security guards kept the crowd of fans on either side.
Looked like Kenneth was heading out the main entrance, giving his fans a little treat.
“There’s Kenneth!”
Charlotte hung back in a corner, one foot propped on the edge of a planter, scrolling through messages on her phone while screams from the crowd echoed around her.
Blair: It’s getting dark. Remember to come home.
Charlotte read the message twice before replying. Lottie: Okay.
“Bye, Kenneth!” Shirley’s voice was soft but hopeful as she called out from the crowd.
Kenneth, sunglasses on, slipped into the van in a flash. The window went up, blocking everything inside from view.
Charlotte rolled her eyes at the van. “Come on. Let’s go.”
“Okay, coming!” Shirley hurried to catch up, hugging her backpack tight as she trailed after Charlotte.
Inside the van, Kenneth took off his sunglasses, revealing a face almost too handsome to be real. He leaned back in his seat, looking completely wiped out.
His manager grinned. “Kenneth, your popularity is wild. Even with all those security guards, they could barely hold the fans back.”
Then the manager froze, craning his neck to peer out the window. “Whoa, check her out!”
Kenneth just crossed his legs and smirked, not bothering to look. Pretty girl? How pretty could she actually be?
“Kenneth, seriously, look! I’ve been in
the business for years and I almost never see a girl with that kind of
natural beauty and vibe.”
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Kenneth rolled his eyes. His manager was always getting worked up over nothing.
But then he glanced out the window, just to humor him.
And suddenly, his whole expression changed.
It was her.