I Helped Him Get Into an Elite University—Then He Dumped Me Before Day One Chapter 05

I Helped Him Get Into an Elite University—Then He Dumped Me Before Day One Chapter 05

It was as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. 

Every trace of noise, mockery, and gloating froze on people’s faces. 

The triumphant smile on Chloe’s face locked in place. 

“What… what did you just say?” 

She whipped around toward the assistant, her voice shooting so high it nearly cracked. 

“Who are you calling a designer?” 

The young assistant flinched so hard she nearly dropped to her knees. Her face had gone white. 

As she bent down in a panic to gather the papers scattered all over the floor, she kept apologizing to me, her voice trembling with obvious fear. 

“I’m so sorry, Ms. Bennett. I had no idea you were dining here.” 

“I’m really sorry for disturbing you. I’ll clean this up right away.” 

“Ms. Bennett?” 

The classmate who had just been mocking me for supposedly marrying an old man now looked like her eyes were about to pop out of her head. 

She repeated the title instinctively, her face full of 

confusion and disbelief. 

“Which designer?” 

The assistant paused in the middle of picking up the documents, looked at Chloe in confusion, then glanced back at me carefully. 

“The one Ms. Harrison has been trying so hard to partner with. Lumina’s chief designer and head of North American operations, Claire Bennett.” 

The words landed like a thunderclap in the dead–silent 

room. 

Every face changed at once. 

Vanessa, who had been sizing me up and talking down to me just moments ago, now stood there with her mouth hanging open. 

The rest of the classmates changed even faster. The disdain and contempt from earlier vanished in an 

instant, replaced by sudden enthusiasm as they rushed 

to greet me. 

“Oh my God, Claire… no, Ms. Bennett. You’re Lumina’s 

chief designer?” 

“I knew it. I just knew it. Claire was always first in the 

grade, and she always had that kind of presence. You could tell she was meant for something bigger.” 

“That’s incredible. Chief designer at a top 

international brand. That’s the real deal.” 

“Ms. Bennett, your outfit is so understated and elegant. You can tell at a glance that you’re on a completely 

different level. That’s what a real international designer looks like.” 

“Ms. Bennett, do you remember me? I sat behind you in 

high school, Sophie Turner. You’ve really done your old classmates proud.” 

The flattery came one after another, even more exaggerated and nauseating than the way they had been praising Chloe just minutes earlier. 

They all rushed to get close to me, as if they had completely forgotten the cruel things they had said about me and my family not even ten minutes before. 

Chloe’s expression had gone from bad to worse. 

A moment ago, she had been talking about finding me a 

janitor’s job. Now the whole thing had turned into a 

joke at her own expense. 

As for Adrian, he finally seemed to come out of his 

initial shock. His face was still tight, but at last he 

spoke to me for the first time that night. 

“Claire, I didn’t realize you’d done this well for 

yourself.” 

At that moment, Chloe, the girlfriend at his side, might 

as well have been invisible. 

I looked at the absurd little scene unfolding in front of 

1. me. 

Listening to all that fake praise, I felt nothing but deeper and deeper irony, and an overwhelming sense 

of boredom. 

Then, right on cue, a sour voice cut through the room. It was Vanessa again, her tone sharp with jealousy and 

malice. 

“So what if she’s some big–shot designer now?” 

“Claire, everyone knows your parents are 

bloodsuckers. Back then they made such a huge 

spectacle that they humiliated the entire school. Now 

that you’ve made something of yourself, do you really think they’re going to let you go?” 

“They’ve probably already picked up the trail and are 

on their way.” 

“And when they do, it won’t matter how much money you make. You’ll never fill those two bottomless pits. Honestly, whether you can even keep that designer position is anybody’s guess.”