No longer a pushover (Noelle and Cedric)

Despite how petite she was, Noelle's eyes were brimming with rebellious determination. She firmly answered, "My answer won't change even if I say it a hundred times. I refuse."

Xenia seized this opportunity to sweetly say, "Don't be angry, Donovan. I already have a tutor, and my grades will improve soon. Noelle's grades improved because of how hard she'd been revising. I'll learn from her, I promise!" Frank, trying to remediate, chimed in, "Don't worry about their grades, Donovan. I'll handle it.

However, Donovan was still furious. "Stop making excuses for her! Do you think that I don't know what she's like? She's acting out just because she isn't happy that Xenia joined our family!"

He snapped at Noelle, saying, "Let me make this clear, Noelle. No matter how much you're against it, Xenia isn't going anywhere, even if you leave the house. She's here to stay, you hear me?

Noelle's head was lowered, her expression hidden. Frank felt sorry for her. "Noelle, Donovan doesn't mean it that way."

Noelle slowly raised her head to reveal her face that was devoid of emotion. Coolly, she said,. It doesn't matter." Without saying another word, she stood up and left.

Frank paled and was about to go after her when Donovan's furious voice rang out behind him. "Stop! That kid has you in the palm of your hand because of how soft you are."

Frank sighed, exasperated. "It's not like that, Donovan."

Noelle had changed. If this had been the past, he might have also thought that she was just being stubborn.

However, her expression earlier worried him. He'd never seen her wear that look before.noveldrama

Xenia stepped in. "Guys, don't fight. I blame myself for not doing so well this time. If only I were as smart as Noelle. Unfortunately, I'm just not.

Donovan's tone softened. "It's not your fault. The gaming team wasted too much of your time. Blake already told me everything, so you should stop defending Noelle. Just because she's our biological sister doesn't mean that we'll favor her over you." Xenia wiped her tears away, her expression brightening. "Thank you, Donovan. I'll try harder from now on."

Donovan was the most challenging person in the family to suck up to. He was also rarely home, which made Xenia fear him the most. But thanks to Noelle's outburst that day, she'd gotten the perfect opportunity to try and win his favor. Charter 35

Frank, however, felt that his brother had misunderstood Noelle, "Donovan, Noelle took part in the competition too. The team wouldn't have won if it weren't for her."

"As if I don't know that she refused to join Lucas team just so that he would beg her. However, she got jealous when Xenia stepped in and secretly practiced so she could steal the spotlight again."

"It's not like that, Donovan," Frank protested weakly, feeling a wave of helplessness wash over him. For the first time, he realized that he had treated Noelle the same way Donovan was treating her. He wondered if they had hurt her so much she wanted to distance herself from them.

Guilt stole his breath away as he finally understood what a terrible brother he'd been. Perhaps he was the one at fault here, not Noelle.

He watched as Xenia and Donovan continued chatting away, not caring about Noelle's absence. The sight made him uncomfortable since that day was supposed to be a celebration of Noelle's good grades.

He quietly slipped out of the room while Donovan wasn't paying attention and tried calling Noelle, but she didn't pick up. He quickly sent her a message. "Noelle, where are you?"

In the restroom, Noelle glanced at her brother's message before getting up and leaving the stall she was in. At the sink, she caught a glimpse of her reddened eyes in the mirror. Despite how much she reminded herself not to let the Liddells' hurt her again, Donovan's words still stung.

Noelle splashed her face with cold water, telling herself to hang on for just one more month, She left the restroom and headed toward the elevator to leave the restaurant.