Mr. CEO, You Look Strangely Familiar

He didn’t look at the teacher’s podium at all.

”Everyone, please move your stools back to your desks now.” When the teacher gave an order, who would dare disobey?

”May Jennings, come, you can sit there.” It was the seat in front of Dorothy.

She bowed to the teacher and said sweetly, ”Thank you.”

Then she turned and walked down from the podium.

After settling into her seat, May Jennings looked back at Dorothy Ellsworth. ”Are you Dorothy?”

Dorothy Ellsworth was very surprised. ’She knows me?’

’Isn’t she a new student? How does she know me right after she arrived?’

”Have we met before?”

”Yes, we have. We met once at the plaza. You’ve probably forgotten.”

Dorothy Ellsworth was even more confused. ”The plaza? I never go to the plaza.”

May Jennings smiled. ”I probably misremembered the place. In any case, I remember you.”

Because of what happened with Claire, Dorothy Ellsworth was wary of all classmates who tried to get close to her, especially other girls.

So, her coldness was to be expected. May Jennings, on the other hand, found her rather hard to approach.

She glanced over at the Grant twins, her face instantly flushing red. She gave the two darlings a smile, then turned back around and placed her schoolbag in her desk drawer.

”Alright, today we’re going to play a really fun game. It’s a kind of word association game. But it’s a little different. I’ll say one word, and you can only answer with one word. Your word has to combine with mine to form a phrase. You’ll be in groups of three. For example, if I say the word ’The,’ student A might say ’weather.’ Now you have ’The weather.’ Student B can’t just make a phrase with ’weather,’ they have to continue the first two words. So student B might say ’is,’ and student C could say ’nice.’ All four words together become: ’The weather is nice.’ Do you all understand?”

”We understand!”

”Great. Now, everyone get into groups of three.”

The teacher had barely finished speaking when Dorothy Ellsworth moved her stool to sit to Dylan Grant’s left. It was obvious the three of them were a group.

May Jennings had wanted to ask to be in Dorothy Ellsworth’s group to get closer to her, but Dorothy was a step faster, so she had to find other classmates to team up with.

Once everyone was in their groups, the teacher began the game.

”Now, I’ll say the first word. You have to raise your hand to answer.” The teacher raised her hand, then said a word: ”Glam.”

Elmer Grant immediately shot his hand up and answered, ”Shots!”

Dylan Grant followed up, ”Leaked!”

In her hurry, Dorothy Ellsworth shouted, ”Online!”

Dylan Grant added, ”Viral.”

The teacher was speechless. ”...Alright, I suppose that counts as a sentence. Listen carefully for the next one. The word is ’Need’.”

Still, no one raised their hand. Finally, Dorothy Ellsworth did. She looked at Dylan Grant and said, ”You!”

Dylan Grant’s eyes darted for a moment, and he said, ”To.”

Elmer Grant casually added, ”Work.”

The teacher praised them. ”’Need you to work.’ These four words... while not the most eloquent phrase, it’s still quite an achievement for you all.”

As soon as she finished, Fatty shouted from his seat, ”Teacher, can you give us an easier one?”

”Alright...”

The teacher continued, and the classroom atmosphere grew lively, lasting until the bell rang.

”Dorothy, you three were a great team just now.” May Jennings turned around, leaning over Dorothy Ellsworth’s desk and looking at her with a beaming smile.

”You were good too.”

”Dorothy, I brought a jump rope. Want to go outside and play Chinese jump rope?”

Dorothy Ellsworth looked at it. ”How do you play that?”

May Jennings stood up and took her hand. ”Come with me, we can play outside. We just need two more people to hold the rope.”

Dorothy Ellsworth looked at the Grant family’s darlings. ”Dylan, Elmer, come on, let’s play together.”

Whatever Dorothy said, Dylan Grant would almost always do it.

So, the four of them played Chinese jump rope outside. It was Dorothy Ellsworth’s first time playing, and she really liked it. She and May Jennings gradually started talking more.

Children are so innocent and pure. When they’re happy, they play together. When they’re not, they might throw a tantrum and declare they’ll never play together again.

By the time school let out, May Jennings had managed to exchange a few words with Elmer Grant, but as for Dylan Grant, he didn’t give her the time of day.

The three darlings went home with Nora Ainsworth and Chloe Marshall, while May Jennings shouldered her schoolbag and went to find her maternal grandmother.

Seeing her, Mrs. Sutton hurried over and asked, ”Sweetheart, tell Grandma, did Dorothy talk to you?”

May Jennings nodded. ”She did. At first, she was really wary of me, like she doesn’t like strangers. But after we played Chinese jump rope together, she started talking to me a lot more.”

Mrs. Sutton’s eyes lit up. She nodded, then changed her clothes and led her home.

She recounted every little detail from her day at school. After hearing it all, Saphira Sutton suddenly had a bold idea.

”Mom, I have a better idea.”

”What is it?”

Saphira Sutton stood up. ”You two wait here at home. I’m going out for a bit, I’ll be back soon.”

Two hours later, Saphira Sutton finally returned, carrying a small metal box.

May Jennings and Mrs. Sutton came over to look. ”What’s this?”

A small smile played on Saphira Sutton’s lips. ”Insects.”

”What are you going to do with these?”

Saphira Sutton spoke in a hushed, careful tone, ”Mom, these aren’t ordinary insects. They were very hard to get. I spent a lot of money, and I only managed to buy them through a friend’s introduction.”

Mrs. Sutton was dismissive. ”What kind of insects are so expensive? Are they plated in gold?”

”More expensive than gold.” Saphira Sutton set the box down and opened it.

Inside were two plump, little black insects. They were tiny, wriggling in the box, and didn’t look particularly special.

”What’s the use of these?”

Saphira Sutton lowered her voice. ”Mom, do you know what this is? This is Gu. As long as we can find a way to make those two little brats ingest them, we’ll be able to get revenge for my brother without even lifting a finger.”

”Gu? No wonder it was so expensive. It’s practically priceless.”

Saphira Sutton handed the box to Mrs. Sutton. ”Mom, wait until the Gu insects enter a dormant state, then bake them into some pastries. Tomorrow morning, have May offer them to those two brats to eat. It should work out fine.”

Mrs. Sutton nodded. ”Alright.”

Nicholas Ainsworth had been keeping a low profile, but the quieter he appeared on the surface, the more restless and agitated he felt inside.

That evening, Sharon Ainsworth ate her dinner in silence, not saying a single word.

Noticing something was off with his sister, Nicholas Ainsworth knew she was very unhappy. It had been like this for several days. Moreover, some of her recent behavior was extremely strange, and he felt something was wrong.

”Sharon, how about I give you some money to travel abroad?”

She shook her head, took a few bites of food, and stood up. ”No thanks. I’m going to bed.”

”Sharon? You just got up, why are you going back to sleep?”

”I don’t know. I’m just so sleepy.” She returned to her room, closed the door, lay down on the bed, and closed her eyes to go back to sleep.

Just as she closed her eyes, her phone rang.

Her eyes snapped open. She glanced at the caller ID on the screen and instantly hung up. It was Quincy. ’He’s probably calling to settle scores,’ she thought. Of course she wasn’t going to answer his call.

Immediately, a text message came through.

She opened the message, and upon seeing its contents, she shot up into a sitting position, cursing, ”Bastard!”

She quickly got dressed, put on a wig, and went out.

When she walked into the living room, she saw Quincy sitting on the sofa, talking to her brother.

Her heart tightened, and she demanded, ”What are you doing in my house?”

Quincy smiled. ”Sharon, my dear, I came to discuss our marriage with your brother. We’ll talk it over properly when your father gets back.”

Sharon Ainsworth looked at his malicious smile and felt a wave of panic. ”Quincy, you’re already married. What are you doing proposing at my house?”

”I got divorced a few days ago. I divorced for you, Sharon. I love you so much.”

Sharon Ainsworth almost threw up. She wouldn’t believe Quincy’s words even if it killed her. On the contrary, she felt that he was proposing like this because he definitely wanted to get back at her.

”Go home! I won’t marry you! I’d rather be alone for the rest of my life than marry you!” Sharon Ainsworth was getting agitated.

”Sharon, we’ve been together so many times. If you don’t marry me, who will you marry? Besides, if the fact that you were with me for so long gets out to the media, you’ll never be able to marry anyone for the rest of your life.”

To Nicholas Ainsworth’s ears, those words sounded completely different.

They carried the distinct undertone of a threat.

The color drained from Sharon Ainsworth’s face. ”Quincy, you... I wouldn’t marry you if I were dead! Why don’t you take a good look in the mirror!”

”Sharon, how about this? I can go back to giving you two million a month, just like before. How about it? I’ll even raise it—three million?”

Nicholas Ainsworth shot to his feet. ”Someone, show him the door!”

Quincy waved a hand and said with a smug smile, ”No need. I can see myself out.”

With that, he turned and left. Having been spoken to like that by him in front of her own brother, Sharon Ainsworth’s face alternated between flushed red and deathly pale.

”Brother...”

”He *kept* you?” Nicholas Ainsworth’s expression was incredibly dark as he said this.

”That was all in the past.”

”A few days ago, Martin said you left in his car. That night, did you sleep with him?”

”I was drunk that night, I...”

Nicholas Ainsworth took a step forward and slapped her hard across the face. ”You have so little self-respect. And you still think Martin would want to be with you? The way I see it, you should just marry him.”

Sharon Ainsworth stumbled back two steps, clutching her face as she screamed at him, ”I’d rather die than marry him! I’d rather die!”

Then, she turned and ran back to her room.

Nicholas Ainsworth sat back down on the sofa, his head pounding.

A while later, Mr. Ainsworth returned, and Nicholas told him what had happened.

Mr. Ainsworth didn’t have much of a reaction, only saying, ”Sharon isn’t young anymore. It’s about time she got married.”

Nicholas Ainsworth sat for a while, then knocked on Sharon Ainsworth’s door. She opened it, then went to lie back down on her bed.

He walked in, turned on the light, and sat down on the edge of her bed.

”Sharon, since you’re not willing, I won’t force you. How about I arrange some blind dates for you? You can go meet some people, find someone you like.”

Sharon Ainsworth shook her head. ”The person I like already belongs to someone else.”

”Then find someone else you like.”

”Brother, I think I’ve become depressed lately. I feel like I’ve changed from how I used to be. My emotions are much more negative.”