I Helped Him Get Into an Elite University—Then He Dumped Me Before Day One Chapter 04

I Helped Him Get Into an Elite University—Then He Dumped Me Before Day One Chapter 04

Chloe kept talking up the designer she had been bragging about.

“I heard she’s very young, but unbelievably talented. She’s already a major name in the French design world.”

“For a smaller brand like ours, getting someone like her on board is definitely not easy, but I’m confident.”

As she said it, she leaned affectionately against Adrian again. “Adrian, tell them. Am I right?”

Adrian gave a distracted hum in response.

His gaze stayed pinned to my face, and there seemed to be something like resentment in his eyes, though he kept his mouth shut and refused to say a word.

The others only mocked me more viciously, eager to tear me down just to prop Chloe up.

As for me, I simply lifted my glass, took a small sip of water, and stayed perfectly calm.

Just then, there was a soft knock at the private room door.

A young woman in a fitted business suit poked her head in, hugging a thick stack of documents to her chest. Her face carried that familiar mix of urgency and caution.

“Ms. Harrison, sorry to interrupt.”

“I brought the urgent files you asked for on the Lumina project, and as for the designer…”

The moment she heard that, Chloe cut in eagerly. “What about her? Did she get back to you? Did she agree to meet with us in person?”

Anticipation practically lit up her voice.

Still holding the files, the assistant nodded. “I met with her today, but she already had plans tonight, so we scheduled it for tomorrow instead.”

The moment the assistant confirmed that she had personally met the elusive designer and secured a meeting for the following day, Chloe’s face broke into a radiant, triumphant smile.

“That’s amazing.”

She turned to Adrian, her eyes glittering with satisfaction. “See? I told you I could make it happen. Tomorrow I’m definitely locking this down.”

The classmates around the table immediately burst into loud praise.

“Ms. Harrison really is something else.”

“Incredible, seriously. We’ll all have to count on Ms. Harrison to look out for us from now on.”

“Adrian’s a lucky guy. A woman like Ms. Harrison is exactly the kind of partner he needs.”

Soaked in flattery from every direction, Chloe’s vanity swelled even further. Her gaze drifted lightly toward me where I sat in the corner, quiet and detached.

“Oh, right, Jenna,” she said suddenly. “Does the company have any basic openings right now? Janitorial, maybe, or something along those lines?”

She paused, then cut a meaningful glance in my direction.

“Claire used to do so much for my boyfriend.”

“I heard she doesn’t exactly have a respectable job these days. Since we’re all old classmates, I thought I might help her out and find her something stable.”

The room fell silent for a beat, and then the laughter that followed was louder than before.

“Oh, Ms. Harrison, don’t even think about it. Being kind is one thing, but people like her, and that family of hers, are the kind you do not touch.”

“Exactly. You have no idea what a scene they made after she disappeared without a word.”

“Her parents showed up at the school screaming, throwing themselves on the floor, and blocking the principal’s office while insisting the school had trafficked their daughter. They even dragged the local press into it. The whole thing was an absolute circus. It was humiliating.”

“Seriously. That whole family is insane. Your design company is only just getting started, Ms. Harrison. This is a critical stage for you. What if her parents show up at your office making demands? Then what?”

At that, Chloe put on an expression of sudden alarm, as though she had only just realized the danger.

“Oh… is that so? Then I’m really sorry, Claire. It’s not that I don’t want to help, but my company is still in its early stages. We don’t have a strong foundation yet, and we really can’t afford any unnecessary trouble, especially not the kind that comes with you and your family.”

After saying that, she deliberately shifted closer to Adrian, as if simply being near me might stain her with bad luck.

Adrian kept looking at me. This time his lips moved slightly, as though he wanted to say something, but in the end he swallowed it back with a dark expression.

Everyone in the room was staring at me again, all of them wearing the same look, eager for drama, smug with superiority, dripping with disdain.

I had no idea why Chloe was so obsessed with finding me a job, but I stayed perfectly composed and repeated what I had already told her.

“There’s no need. I already have a job. Thank you.”

Chloe let out a sigh. “That kind of job really isn’t worth keeping. Sure, being young and pretty can get you by for a while, but if you stay in that line of work too long, it’ll wreck your health.”

A fresh round of snickering broke out around the room.

The assistant laughed too, but the instant she looked at me, the practiced professional smile on her face froze.

The thick stack of urgent Lumina documents slipped from her arms all at once and hit the floor in a loud spill, white pages scattering everywhere.

The entire room went dead silent.

Chloe frowned in irritation. “What are you doing? You can’t even hold onto a few files?”

But the assistant was too shaken to care about being scolded. She pointed at me, her voice rising with shock.

“Ms. Bennett? You… what are you doing here?”