Chapter 1723

[ 648 words ]

“That girl has been a ghost lately.”

And the one time they finally bumped into each other, Claire vanished in the blink of

an eye.

“Yolande, that cousin of yours is really something. Gorgeous and brilliant. I heard the medical and math departments were literally fighting over her.”

“Not like us. If it weren’t for our dance skills, we never would have made it into The Cabinda University.”

Even though the performing arts admissions were fiercely competitive, the arts students often felt a quiet stigma compared to the academic scholars.

It was an unspoken hierarchy.

The guy speaking was Yorick Thorne.

He was a fellow dance major, tall and undeniably attractive, though his features possessed a delicate, almost pretty quality.

He and Yolande were classmates and recent dance partners, and they generally got along well enough.

But his comment instantly rubbed Yolande the wrong way.

It sounded like a weird mix of self-pity and a backhanded compliment, using Claire’s brilliance to subtly put her down.

Her own mother constantly compared her to Claire, and she had never really minded.

She knew she wasn’t as academically gifted as her cousin.

But coming from Yorick, it just felt… off.

Catching the shift in her expression, Yorick quickly backpedaled. “Yolande, don’t get me wrong. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Your cousin is obviously exceptional, but you’re amazing too.”

“We just won that international competition, and didn’t you just get a fast-track offer

to the national dance company?”

As he brought it up, Yorick’s fingers curled into tight fists, a bitter wave of resentment crashing over him.

They had competed together as partners. Why was she the only one who got the prestigious offer?

Was it just because he didn’t have her wealthy family backing him?

Was all his blood, sweat, and tears going to be ignored just because of his background?

Jealousy was eating him alive, though he hid it well enough that Yolande didn’t notice.

Hearing about her fast-track offer only made Yolande’s expression darken.

She remembered coming home

from that competition, riding high on her victory, only to have Tiffany immediately pressure her into bund date with some wealthy older businessman.

Her parents marriage was collapsing into a messy divorce, they were already separated, and her younger brother was stressed out of his mind prepping for his college entrance exams

On top of everything, her maternal grandparents were constantly trying to

manipulate her with guilt trips.

It was a miracle she was holding it together at all.

Seeing her remain completely silent, Yorick ground his teeth.

“It’s just a shame I couldn’t get into the company with you. I guess this means our time as partners is over,” he said softly.

Pulling herself out of her thoughts, Yolande offered a reassuring smile. “Don’t say that. You work incredibly hard You’ll definitely get an offer eventually”

“I just got lucky this time because they had a spot open up.”

Yorick nearly choked on his anger.

*Works incredibly hard?* Was that just a polite way of saying he had zero natural talent?

When he first heard about her offer, he had discreetly asked around the department.

One of their instructors had basically given him a heavily sugar-coated speech about how he lacked her effortless grace.

Hard work was common, but without raw talent, it meant nothing in this industry.

Those words still stung, and hearing Yolande echo that same sentiment pushed him past his breaking point.

“Open spot or not, you would have gotten in. I mean, with your family’s influence…” Yorick let the sentence trail off, seeing her eyes narrow. He quickly raised his hands. “Yolande, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Then how did you mean it?” The sharp voice didn’t belong to Yolande.

It came from Claire, who was standing right behind them.

Claire’s morning lecture had just been abruptly rescheduled, so she had turned around, planning to head back to her dorm to change before hitting the hospital.

She hadn’t expected to step outside and catch this guy spouting passive-aggressive nonsense at Yolande.

Because he was angled away from Yolande, she hadn’t seen the ugly sneer on his face.

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