The True Heiress's Return

0

Shakira was the first to see the words, her lips twitching slightly. Soon after, she heard the emcee's voice echoing through the hall. "The result of Shakira's draw is... Lopez Group! Congratulations to Shakira."

Yvette's eyes widened, her face looking extremely unpleasant! Walter heard the result and unconsciously tightened his large hand on the wheelchair handle before silently relaxing.

At that moment, he surprisingly felt nervous too.

If it was the White family, the Jennings family, or the Clifton family, that would be fine. But if it's the Ortiz Group or Yonder Digital... Just thinking about that possibility made Walter's eyes dark and ominous.

The auditorium erupted in thunderous applause, and it took a while for Calton to snap out of his daze. "No way! None of us got picked?" He looked around suspiciously, stnirking. "Could it be that Mr. Lopez secretly cheated?" Sean quickly turned his head. A smirk with a touch of sarcasm appeared on Walter's stern face. "Can't handle a loss?"

With a chuckle, Calton gave a small bow and remained silent. Sean shot a glare at Walter and was upset.

Amid the thunderous applause and everyone's gaze, Shakira calmly returned to her seat. The surrounding murmurs were full of envy, admiration, and jealousy, but to her, it was nothing to care about.

Xanthe grabbed Shakira's arm, shaking it eagerly. "Shakira, you're incredible!! You have no idea, when Mr. Lopez and the others were competing for you, I swear, every student wished they could be you!" Shakira chuckled, "Is it really that over the top?"

Xanthe wagged her finger and said, "Oh, come on, being picked by Mr. Lopez to intern at the Lopez Group alone is enough to make everyone envious, let alone the fact that the heads of other big families are specifically asking for you too!"

As Xanthe spoke, she couldn't help but giggle and pointed to the back seat. "I bet Yvette is going to be insanely jealous." Shakira raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

However, she could easily imagine the scenario Xanthe described. It did feel pretty satisfying.

With the top student deciding their internship destination first, the remaining spots were evenly distributed by the system

among

the other students.

Xanthe ended up getting an internship at the Lopez Group, and she was so thrilled that she almost wanted to pick Shakira up and spin her around a few times.

After the draw was over, Walter and the others were the first to leave. The host briefly mentioned some reminders for the winter break.

Half an hour later, Patrick gave everyone an early New Year's blessing, officially ending the first semester of junior year and marking the start of the winter break.

Xanthe was chatting away, clearly delighted, holding onto Shakira the whole way. Enrique was also in a great mood, thinking of taking this chance to invite Shakira for a meal.

Shakira couldn't refuse their warm invitation. However, she received a call from Walter just before reaching the parking lot. Walter's voice was calm and composed. "30 degrees from the school entrance."

Shakira was surprised and said, "You haven't left yet?" "I'm waiting for you," said Walter. Those words came unexpectedly, making Shakira's heart skip a beat.

After hanging up the phone, Shakira gave Xanthe an apologetic smile and said, "Sorry, I have to head back now." Xanthe

looked like she understood, smiling playfully, and said, "Go on."

3

Shakira waved goodbye to Xanthe and Enrique, and Xanthe was just considering gathering her family for dinner when her phone rang. Seeing the caller ID, Xanthe quickly answered it, turning away from Enrique's direction. "What?!" Sean said straight away, "I saw it!" Xanthe jumped in surprise and asked, "Wh-what did you see?"

"Wasn't Shakira with you guys? Why didn't she leave with you? Where did she go? No way, you must be clueless as usual. I need to follow her and check it out!" said Sean.

Xanthe almost cursed out loud, but hearing Sean's words, she let out a sigh of relief. It seemed like Sean hadn't noticed anything after sitting with Walter before. Xanthe quickly came up with an excuse. "No way, if you just tag along like that, you'll get caught like last time. If Shakira gets angry, it will be a big problem!" Sean felt a lump in his throat, unable to swallow it down. He thought, 'What exactly is Shakira hiding from me?!"

Thinking about the frustration he faced from Walter earlier, Sean decided to go with the flow and directly told Xanthe. "Come with me."

"What?" said Xanthe. Sean thought his plan was foolproof and said, "If we get caught, I'll just say we're on a date."

Xanthe inhaled sharply. She was concerned. If she refused Sean and he went on his own to mess up Walter and Shakira's date, what would happen?

"Wait for me. I'm coming over now." Xanthe said to Enrique. "I'm heading out for a meal. You go celebrate with Mom. Bye!" After saying that, she quickly dashed off. Watching his daughter run away without a glance back, Enrique was perplexed. "Could this girl be dating someone?" But when he thought of Xanthe's fiery personality, Enrique shook his head. "No way. Who would be interested in my daughter?"

Shakira walked over to where Walter pointed and realized he had switched to a Cullinan, and his usual bodyguards were nowhere in sight. She quickly ducked her head and got into the car.

"Why did you change a car?" From the moment Shakira appeared at the school gate, Walter's eyes had been glued to her. As she jumped into the car, Walter's gaze only grew more intense, never leaving her slightly flushed face.

"Would you have gotten in so quickly if I didn't change my car?" Walter replied casually, but Shakira could faintly hear a hint of complaint in his words as if he had a slight grudge.

She couldn't help but smile, pretending to think for a moment before she said. "Probably not!" Walter huffed, looking a bit upset, and raised his hand as if he were going to tap her on the head.

Shakira squinted her eyes, instinctively pulling her neck back. But instead of feeling a tap on her head, she felt a warm sensation on her earlobe.

She opened her eyes again to see Walter playing with her earlobe, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. "Why aren't you wearing a scarf in such cold weather?" he asked.

Even her ears were chilled by the wind. Shakira pouted. "It's just for a bit. I won't get too cold."

Walter found the sensation unpleasant and said, "It's too cold for me to touch." Shakira was rendered speechless.

Walter had warmed up Shakira's one ear and now lifted his hand, signaling to Shakira. "Move a little closer."Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.