A Replacement Bride

Chapter 39

After a short moment of awkward silence, Katherine regained her composure. "Yes, I'm almost done looking," she replied casually.

Hearing her words, Joaquin chuckled. Just as he was about to speak, the elevator door opened and Katherine walked past him. Though before she could leave, he grabbed her and pulled her back, causing her to stagger. Frowning at him, she saw that his jaw was clenched and she couldn’t see his expression clearly as he was wearing a mask.

"What's wrong? Are you dissatisfied that I was only staring at you? Do you want me to do something to you in the elevator?" she asked while raising an eyebrow as she leaned closer to him.

At that moment, Joaquin felt as if his hand that was grabbing her arm was being burned. He quickly released her and took two steps back simultaneously. © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Seeing that she had gotten the reaction she wanted, she beamed at him. "Looks like you are quite the innocent one. Well, I’ll be going then. See you next time."

As Joaquin released his grasp on her, she walked out of the elevator and waved at him while grinning. When Joaquin saw her expression, his eyes darkened while looking at her coldly.

Other than Beatrice, she is another person who can come close to me and not make me disgusted, he thought.

Zoning out while staring at Katherine's figure, Joaquin walked out of the elevator after some time. At that moment, Ben's call came. When Joaquin answered the call, he could hear him crying before he could speak. "My order has been canceled! You heard me, canceled! I might be the first person ever on the Red Web to get my order canceled!" he cried.

"Canceled?" Joaquin couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

"Yes! Yesterday, G asked me for the address number and I sent your Soulin Apartment address. Who knew that G would cancel my order and return my money?" Ben was completely in despair.

Not knowing what to say, Joaquin was silent. He felt that this matter was unusual because the Red Web had a rule where the task could not be canceled unless it couldn't be completed or it was more challenging than expected. It was hard for Joaquin not to think about it when Ben told him that he would be able to get the medicine in three days, but his order was canceled earlier in the morning today.

It was even more suspicious as the order was canceled after Ben gave the person his address.

Just as Joaquin was still in thought, Katherine had arrived by the front door and went toward Northtride University by taking a cab.

After talking to Ben for a while, Joaquin hung up the phone and looked at the road in front of him thoughtfully.

…

Northtride University was one of the top ten universities in Cechirus and almost in the top fifties in the worldwide rank. So, it was counted as one of the top universities in this country.

As the car stopped in front of the university, Katherine walked out of the car and looked at the entrance of the enormous school. Only did she step inside the school after being silent for a moment.

Naturally, she would catch the attention of others as she was low-profile and didn't look like a student.

"Beatrice, what's the matter with you? You looked terrible today. Did you sleep well last night?"

By the pathway with trees beside it, a few girls were walking together. One of the girls wearing a white dress looked dejected; it was visible that she was low-spirited. Listening to her friend's question, Beatrice managed to raise her head and look at her friend. As she looked at her friend, she saw a figure out of the corner of her eye. With just one glance, she couldn't help but shiver.

How can it be? Is that her? she thought.

With that thought, Beatrice pushed away the girl blocking her view to get a closer look. When she saw the figure clearly, her eyes widened.

No way, it is her! Why is she here at Northtride University? Did she actually come back and is in Hovington now? she thought in disbelief.

Beatrice suddenly panicked. Trying hard to suppress the emotions in her, she quickly walked toward the figure and faked an incident by bumping into the other person's shoulder.

"Ah!"

Katherine was walking by the road and feeling the school's atmosphere when someone bumped into her. Looking at the girl who fell to the ground and scratched her own arm, she couldn't help but frown. After hesitating for a moment, she still decided to reach out and pulled the girl to her feet.

"Are you all right?" Looking at the girl's beautiful face, Katherine felt a strange sense of familiarity.

Little did she know that when she was confused by how familiar Beatrice was, Beatrice was eyeing her while clutching her dress tightly.

At this moment, Beatrice was sure that Katherine was the woman from last night as her face was distinguishable; after all, she looked enchanting. So, she wouldn't have mistaken her for another person!

Knowing that it was her, Beatrice felt slightly nervous. She swallowed hard and said, "I-I'm fine. I'm sorry that I bumped you. Are you all right?"

Katherine breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed that Beatrice did not intend to scam her. "I’m fine," she replied.

"Erm… Is there a reason why you are here? Do you need me to lead the way?" Beatrice lowered her head as if she was shy. "I’m a postgraduate student of Northtride University and my name is Beatrice Muller." Her tone was sincere.

Hearing her words, Katherine thought it might be a good idea to have someone lead the way for her as she had never been here before. So, she didn't refuse Beatrice's help. "Then, I'll be needing your help around here."

Seeing that Katherine had accepted her help and seemed not to have recognized her, Beatrice was relieved. Good, looks like she indeed didn’t know what happened that night. It must be a coincidence for her to be here, she thought.

"Are you here to study?" It wasn't the season of college admission nor was the day when commencing students flocked the campus. Plus, Katherine didn’t look like a college-going person, but Beatrice still asked as she was trying to find a way to get Katherine to say why she was here.

"No. I'm here to find someone," Katherine said as she shook her head.

Seeing that Katherine wasn't shunning her, Beatrice asked a few more questions and she answered them one by one. Then, she was at ease after confirming that Katherine was clueless and didn’t know who she was.

The place where Katherine wanted to head to was the Office of Academic Affairs. After Beatrice had taken her there, she bid Katherine goodbye. Looking in the direction where Beatrice left, Katherine felt a strange sense of familiarity.

Still unsure where the sense of familiarity was from, she retrieved her gaze and was going to go up the stairs and find the person to take her stuff when she heard a familiar voice filled with shock. "Katherine? What are you doing here?" the spokesperson said. She looked where the voice came from and saw a few dolled-up girls standing not far away from her. The person at the front of the group was her sister, Rosemary.

"Why do you care? This school ain't yours," Katherine replied coldly and ignored her as she walked up the stairs.

Hearing her words, Rosemary was fuming.

"Who is she, Rosemary?" One of Rosemary’s friends couldn't help but ask her in a low voice when she saw Katherine.

"She is my sister," Rosemary replied impatiently.

"Oh? I never knew that you have a sister." Her friend was surprised.

"That’s because my father kicked her out as she used to sleep around with men. After that, she lived in Fontan for five years and didn't even graduate from junior high school. I wonder why she is here in our school." Rosemary sighed, appearing to be devastated.

As her words fell, everyone's expression was weird.