Tedmond was shocked to hear her ask that. After a few seconds of silence, he leaned back against the seat and sighed.“What the hell are you talking about, Persis?” he questioned. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you just said.”Persis frowned at him. “I’m serious. I’ll only help you if you agree to get engaged to me.”Their eyes met as soon as the words left her lips, and he slowly rose to his feet. “I guess I don’t need your help anymore,” he said.Persis’s eyes widened in surprise. “What do you mean?”“I said I don’t need your help anymore. Engagement is a huge deal, and I’m not interested in putting myself into an engagement of convenience.”Her brows rose. “Are you saying that you can’t get engaged to me?”He nodded. “That’s right. I can’t get engaged to you.”A frown crossed her face, and she ran a hand through her hair, frustration building. Had she been too direct, asking for an engagement out of the blue like that?At this rate, he would figure out her feelings, and she might
Tedmond raised his brows, freezing in shock. “What?!” he bellowed.He had just turned down her offer of engagement, and now she was bringing up marriage?Didn’t she realize he wasn’t interested? He looked her up and down, taking her in.Persis wasn’t unattractive; she had long, wavy black hair, light brown eyes, and pouty lips that matched her pointed nose and face. He’d be lying if he said she wasn’t appealing, but he had no interest.“I asked you to marry me,” she replied. “Get married to me, and I’ll pretend to be the baby mama of your cousin. If an engagement is too much for you, marriage wouldn’t be so bad, right?”Tedmond peered at her, confusion clouding his features. What was going on with her? He wondered if she’d even heard what he’d said earlier.“What are you talking about?” Tedmond asked. “I turned down your offer for engagement, and now you’re asking for marriage? How am I supposed to explain this to you when you don’t seem to understand anything I’m saying?”Persis shoo
"Please, give us a punishment!" one of the guards yelled. "If you don’t punish us now, we’ll be severely punished by the young miss."Tedmond, not understanding what they were talking about, looked away and walked off without a word. But the guards hurried after him, abandoning their posts.“We apologize for insulting you the other day, sir. We had no idea you were the son of the Washington family.”“At first, I thought you were a thief, but I realize now I was wrong. I swear this won’t happen again. Can you forgive me for speaking to you like that?”“As long as you punish us, we’ll do anything you ask. Just don’t let the young miss handle it herself.”“If she fires us, we won’t be able to find jobs with any other family. No one would want the ‘human trash’ of the Damon family.”“Please help us!”Tedmond increased his pace, their voices buzzing around him like bees. No matter how fast he walked, they stayed close, their faces full of fear as they tried to catch his eye.“I promise you
Tedmond nodded. “I’ll be there in seconds.”“Alright,” Neil replied, leaving as casually as he’d entered.Turning his attention back to Thomas, Tedmond gave him a look that suggested he wanted to hear more.“Since Neil asked to meet you first, we’ll continue discussing later. You go on ahead,” Thomas said.“Okay,” Tedmond replied.As Tedmond headed to meet Neil, Thomas noticed a band-aid on his head. His brows furrowed in concern, and he hurried after Tedmond.“Did you get into a fight?” Thomas asked.Turning, Tedmond ran a hand through his hair, finding the band-aid. A frown crossed his face—he must have gotten it when Persis smacked him in the head.“I fell. It’s nothing,” Tedmond answered, hurrying away before Thomas could ask more questions.Thomas watched him go and, as soon as Tedmond was out of sight, pulled out his phone. Once the call connected, he spoke. “Investigate what happened to the young master today and report to me.”“Yes, sir.”***“What did you want to talk about?”
Neil hesitated, but he changed his mind when Tedmond glared at him. “I told him that I don’t mess with someone ugly.”Tedmond’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Ugly? Am I ugly?”Neil shook his head rapidly and wanted to make sure Tedmond didn’t misunderstand. “I didn’t mean what I said. I was just making an excuse not to bully you and flatter him simultaneously. I then told him he was the most handsome person I had met and that he shouldn’t ruin his handsome face dealing with a loser like you.”Neil peered at Tedmond, expecting a reaction and a sneering smile of satisfaction crossed Tedmond’s face. The smile was so wide it almost looked evil.“That’s nice!” Tedmond announced. “I think Max has already let his guard down. All you have to do is keep talking to him and show that you’re wealthier than the Griffin family.”Neil nodded in agreement. “Alright. To be honest, Max didn’t stop there. He said he knew I was lying because he thought you were more handsome than he was since you took a
The Next MorningTedmond leaned back against the kitchen counter, gulping water from a bottle, sweat dripping from his head to the floor. He wore a white shirt, drenched in sweat to the point of transparency, revealing his rock-hard abs. He had just finished his morning exercise, and it was almost time for school.Bianca peeked at him from behind the counter, tilting her head to the side. “You still haven’t told me what you and the guards were grinning at yesterday.”Tedmond glanced her way, his brows furrowing. He had stayed in the gym in the mansion for a long time to avoid Bianca, and now here she was, asking the question he had managed to avoid answering the previous night.“It isn’t something that you should concern yourself with,” he replied, filling the bottle with more water and walking away.She followed him to the stairs. “Tell me.”Thomas grabbed her just as she was about to take the first step and lifted her in his arms. “It’s time to head to Kindergarten,” he informed her
The punch hit Lisa hard, snapping her face to the side and breaking her nose. Although the blow only impacted her face, not her whole body, Lisa decided to seize the moment since Tedmond was watching.She threw herself backward across the floor as if the punch had sent her flying. Lifting her head to look at Tedmond, she wore an innocent expression.“Tedmond, help me. She broke my nose,” Lisa complained, placing her hand on her nose and wiping off the blood.Taken aback, Tedmond glanced at her. All he could see was her shamelessness. Earlier, he had walked into the classroom, checking his phone for a message from Persis. He thought she was busy, but it turned out she was too busy fighting Lisa to call him.He sighed, trying to appear unfazed, but a sly smile crossed his face. For some reason, he felt satisfied seeing Lisa on the floor after taking a punch from Persis.He turned his gaze to Persis, and the smile faded. On closer inspection, he noticed how red her right cheek was—indica
Class was dismissed, and Tedmond rose from his seat, stretching his joints. The almost cracking sound of his stretching filled the air. The rest of the students began to leave the classroom, and Tedmond did the same.It had been a week since the incident between Persis and Lisa. So far, he hadn't heard from Lisa or seen her. She must have backed away a bit because he had ignored her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t scheming something.He walked out of the class as his phone buzzed. Digging his hand into his pocket, he pulled it out and glanced at it. The message was from both Kyle and Persis.He hadn’t seen Kyle in a week, so he opened Kyle’s message first.“We’re all waiting for you,” it read. “We need to head to basketball training. Kanis is waiting. It’s been a week without practice, dude.”He sighed. It had indeed been a week without practice, though the week had passed so smoothly it felt unnatural.Texting Kyle back, he wrote, “Yeah, sure. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”As he