Chapter 1871

Harvey squinted a little. ‘Everett does have a plan.’

Moreover, Everett even understood how Harvey worked. ‘Interesting.’

“Go on.”

Everett curled his lips and continued. “Jared has his business overseas as well, so what he actually cares about isn’t the Johnston Group… Since we want to move against him, we naturally need to aim for his weak spot…”

Harvey immediately understood what he meant. “Nicole?”

He naturally knew that Nicole was Jared’s weakness, but she was also Harvey’s weakness at the same time…

The reason he was at such a disadvantage was because he did not want to touch Nicole. The two feints earlier were just him testing Jared’s limits.

Everett smiled. “I know what you’re thinking, Mr. Harvey. Nicole is Jared’s weakness and she is yours too. I won’t touch her, but… the Riddle family is Nicole’s weakness…”

As soon as Everett said that, Harvey immediately understood him.

Everett continued to smile sinisterly. “When we grasp his weakness’ weakness… do you think Jared would leave the Riddle Corporation to fend for itself? And I know the internal secrets of the Riddle Corporation and cracks within it. With just the right amount of prodding…”

Everett had stated his value and that exactly was what Harvey needed now.

He only cared about Nicole, and had no regard for the Riddle Corporation!

Moreover, the Riddle family was in such an astronomical rise that it was about to catch up to the Ellison family.

If he could take down the Riddle Corporation, that means the Ellison family would have one less enemy, so why not?

“Not bad, but what’s your plan?” Harvey’s words signified that he had agreed to take this cooperation further.

Everett was extremely gleeful as his lips curled slightly.

‘Harvey’s already hooked…’

“Then let’s just go into detail about the plan. As long as we work together, even behemoths like the Riddle Corporation and the Johnston Group can be brought down…”

A sinister glint appeared in Everett’s eyes as he slowly went through his plan with Harvey.

Harvey listened as his eyes turned gloomy and a sneer appeared across his face.

‘I never thought that the Riddle family would have such an evil person hiding inside it…

‘His years of dormancy has now become a tool for his counterattack…

‘Not bad…

‘Jared Johnston, just you wait. I’ll soon have you kneeling and begging as you hand Nicole over to me with your own two hands!’

Back at the Riddle’s residence, Samuel and Spencer had already sent word about Nicole’s victory back home, so everyone decided to come back earlier to celebrate the occasion.

Nicole did not expect her family to want to celebrate what she thought was just another victory in a competition.

And Jared also showed no signs of wanting to leave.

So, the family sat together and had a very happy dinner.

As Gloria watched Jared dote on Nicole, feeding her this and that, Gloria could not help but ask, “Aren’t the two of you going to Panem soon? Have you booked your flight tickets yet?”

“Mom…” Nicole totally did not want to talk about it but Gloria had brought it up. She really did not want to face this problem so soon.

Yet, Jared responded to this. “It’s done. The flight is at nine in the morning on Saturday.”

Nicole’s eyes could not help but widen.

‘Can this person not be so fast?’

Chapter 1872

When Samuel and Spencer heard that, they raised their heads, looking a little miffed.

“Can you not be so hasty?”

“So early on a Saturday morning. You’re that impatient, Mr. Jared?”

Jared did not mind that as he pretended not to see their displeasure. He then slowly lifted Nicole’s hand up. “Of course. It’s something I’ve been looking forward to, so the sooner the better.”

Nicole looked at Jared’s deep gaze and felt a little embarrassed.

‘This guy, he’s getting more and more clingy in front of others recently.’

Gloria, however, was very pleased. “Good. I’ll help Nicole pack up then. The two of you will depart on Saturday morning!”

At this point, Nicole had already mostly accepted her fate.

In any case, her parents really wanted to marry her off.

“Thanks, Aunt Gloria.” Jared let out a satisfied smile.

Nicole glared at him, and this time, he was really happy.

Gloria then continued to ask if Jared needed anything else to be settled. As the two talked, the matter of the wedding was broached and even Sean and Steve got involved…

Nicole could not help but be impressed. ‘Since when did Jared have almost everyone in my family wrapped around his finger?’

The dinner was finally done and when Nicole sent Jared away, she could not help but rib at him. “You have so many things to do at work but you still have enough time to look into marriage. It looks like you’re not busy at all.”

Jared smiled as he pulled her hand and kissed it. “I’m busy, but nothing is more important than you.”

Nicole’s fingers felt numb as she awkwardly pulled her hand back. “Stop being so cheesy.”

Jared smiled. “Is that so? You need to get used to it then.”

Nicole rolled her eyes at him. “No way in hell.”

He then teased her, “We’re about to get married, and once we’re married, we’ll be together every day like this.”

Seeing Jared’s serious look, Nicole’s cheeks felt a little flushed. “You sure have thick skin. Get going already.”

Jared smiled with satisfaction but he then said, “Alright, I’ll be leaving now. See you later tonight.”

Nicole was absolutely embarrassed. “No way!”

Ever since the last time, Jared would always sneak into her bedroom. It was getting really clear that it was not a good thing for the two of them to live so close.

‘If this goes on, my waist will definitely break.’

“Hehe, that depends on my mood.” As he said that, he left, not giving Nicole a chance to retort.

Nicole watched as he walked back to the manor next door and felt gloomy.

‘This guy… We’re already getting married soon. Can’t he just wait a little?’

She would need to put on extra locks on the window tonight.

Nicole no longer wanted to dwell on this and returned to the living room.

In the hall, her father and eldest brother seemed to be discussing something about the Colton family.

After dealing with Mr. Howde, many felt that following the Colton family was not beneficial in the long term, and some still wanted to work with the Riddle family.

Daniel was a little hesitant to accept these people.

After overhearing that, Nicole walked forward and said, “It’s fine if you just accept them. After all, anyone who isn’t an enemy on the battlefield is a friend. Accepting them is far better than them siding with the Colton family again.”

When he heard Nicole’s words, Daniel’s doubts were dispelled. “Yeah, makes sense.”

Sean smiled as he looked at Nicole. He too had such intentions but his father was a worrywart, so it was fortunate that his little sister came over to help.

Chapter 1873

“The Fisher family has recently become less and less influential, it seems that they’ll only weaken in the future,” Sean said to Nicole, in hopes that she would feel better.

“I thought so. Ever since they’ve been partnering up with those people, it would be odd if they don’t suffer any backlash. I guess now they’re just idling there.” Nicole had viewed the Fisher family as a threat to the Riddles before.

“However, I heard that Fiorella has been discharged from the hospital. Her burns are quite severe and she’s planning to go abroad to have them treated with plastic surgery.”

Nicole snorted coldly. “It’s her own fault. It has nothing to do with me.”

Sean was worried. “Fiorella is one of the most ruthless members of the Fisher family. I’m worried she might come after you again.”

With cold eyes, Nicole replied, “If she dares to even try, I’ll make her company go under with zero chances of recovering.”

‘From the looks of it, I doubt Fiorella would have any chances of succeeding,’ Nicole thought.

“I believe you can take good care of yourself.” Sean looked at Nicole in relief, knowing that Nicole was not afraid of anything.

“Right now, you can get married without any worries. You can leave the rest to us.”

Nicole nodded. ‘The problems at home are almost resolved. Now there’s only The Brave left…’

While Nicole was thinking, she suddenly heard Spencer and Samuel trotting in, bringing durians into the living room. The pungent smell made Nicole feel queasy.

Before Nicole could get the words out of her mouth, she subconsciously covered her nose and rushed into the toilet. Spencer and Samuel were stunned as they looked in the direction Nicole had dashed before awkwardly asking, “What’s wrong with her?”

Sean could not help casting a blank look at the two of them. “It must be the horrendous smell of the durian. It’s killing people.”

Samuel immediately blamed himself. “Huh? I thought she would like it…”

“Yeah, I’ve never heard of her not liking durian,” Spencer said as he had thought to share a piece with Nicole, but she had yet to come back.

Nicole found herself not having the urge to vomit anymore. The feeling was quite bizarre as she had never experienced something like it before. ‘I used to like durian but now smelling it led me to have this reaction?’

Just thinking of durian had made Nicole avoid the living room area and went straight back to her room. It was not long until this matter was completely forgotten.

The next day, the school’s festival was finally onto its final stage. The university campus had completed their set up while the high school campus was under Nicole and Harvey’s management. Due to reducing contact with Harvey, Nicole had sent out topic selections for each of the classes to have them handle it. To her surprise, she did not expect that Harvey had done nothing to contribute. Nicole would rather single-handedly manage the entire event herself than interact with Harvey.

Nicole had called on Spencer, Samuel, Lulu, and June over for instructions. The five of them started working over from the first class. Nicole went to check how things were progressing while Spencer and Samuel went over to oversee the need for further arrangement and guided the guys to work. Then June and Lulu taught the girls to customize clothes and dye fabric.

After working all morning, several people were exhausted. Nicole invited everyone over to the cafeteria to have lunch together.

Spencer and Samuel focused their attention entirely on the consuming food.

On the other hand, June could not help complaining, “Did the university campus do it on purpose? In previous years, the university campus would take on the supervision and management, but why did they change it this year?”

Nicole said coldly, “It’s because of the high school president that spoke up, so it’s normal that they aren’t in charge of anything.”

Nicole had not participated in the previous years, so she had no idea that events like this had always been under the university campus’ management. Thus, she just brushed it off.

As Nicole was immersed in her thoughts, a sarcastic voice suddenly came behind her. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the president of the student council! I heard the president went to supervise the preparations for the festival this morning. It’s hard work, isn’t it?”

Chapter 1874

The sarcastic tone instantly made Nicole’s face turn ice cold, and she did not have to turn her head to know who it was.

Harvey walked around her table and glanced at the people around her. He had not expected Nicole to avoid him to this extent. ‘It seems like she would rather suffer alone than be by my presence.’

Harvey had assumed that she would ultimately give up when she was swamped with work, not expecting that she was capable of handling so many things at once, including the festival preparation at the university campus.

Nicole saw that he was testing her patience, not wanting to leave. She replied indifferently, “Well, without the vice president’s hard work and participation, am assuming you were super busy with the university campus’ preparations? The high school campus only took one day to have everything prepared, compared to the geniuses over at the university campus. You must’ve worked so hard.” Nicole had said this with the implication to mock Harvey’s ability.

Harvey was neither annoyed or angry. Instead he responded with a smile on his lips, “Of course. For the president’s clarity, procrastinating can be a good thing as long as it doesn’t create any trouble before the big day. After all, if something goes wrong during the festival then the one losing reputation is Royal Creek.”

Nicole glared at Harvey’s pompousness. She could not help but sarcastically say, “If we go according to your perspective, the vice president cares so much about our school. Then why didn’t you help out the rest? Now that I’m mentioning it, isn’t it a bit too late?”

Nicole did not give him a chance to refute. She shook her head. “The president of the student council does have a way with words. Whatever you’ve said is right. We’re just normal student councils. Do we still need to be supervised so heavily? The school festival is in two days. Don’t mess it up.”

After hearing that, Harvey immediately turned around and walked away fuming.

“Two-faced dick.” Lulu rolled her eyes at Harvey. “He was so nice to you before. Why has he become a new person entirely?”

Nicole stayed silent for a moment. “Perhaps because I stole the president position from him.”

Spencer and Samuel overheard what Nicole said and were fuming. “Has he always been that stingy? Over a silly campaign, was it necessary?”

Samuel could not help being angry. Nicole did not say anymore. Everyone at the table knew that as of now, Harvey was not one of her friends now.

After finishing their meal, everyone continued working and improving their work throughout the afternoon. Nicole did not want Harvey to be breathing down her neck, so she did every job thoroughly.

Two days later, on a Friday, Royal Creek’s festival began. It happened yearly, where they open their gates to the public, to attract the public and let them learn more about Royal Creek. The festival was very lively. Many media outlets came to report on the day itself.

Attendees had to register themselves through a QR code given at the gate for admission before they could enter the school and enjoy various fun-filled activities.

The university students were well knowledgeable of what to do, while the high school students were able to cope with attending to the attendees. Due to Nicole’s advance preparation, they did it with ease.

Mr. Ellison was walking around the field with both Nicole and Harvey in tow, his face filled with satisfaction of the activity booths that were set up by both campuses.

“This year’s festival has really saved a lot of money on the resources, and it’s even more lively than the previous years. You two have done well. Good job!” Mr. Ellison looked at the results with pride, paying more attention to Nicole.

Before, when Stanley did not have the time to take care of the school internal affairs, he would mostly leave it to Harvey to handle the affairs. Stanley was afraid that Harvey might be busy too, so Nicole coming to help in the participation in the election had really won Mr. Ellison’s favor.

“It’s nothing,” Nicole responded nonchalantly. The ideas for the school festival were all Harvey’s ideas and by right, the credit should be given to Harvey.

Harvey smiled and looked at his grandfather. “Nicole and I have cooperated very well this time which is why we achieved such brilliant results.”

Mr. Ellison had known that Harvey and Nicole had a rough patch, but he was happy to see them cooperating well for the school festival. ‘If Nicole weren’t engaged to Jared, they would be a good match.’

Mr. Ellison faked his smile. “Yes, it seems like you both have great teamwork together. You should help each other out more in the future.”

With a calm smile, Harvey said, “Yeah, we know.”

Chapter 1875

Nicole glanced at Harvey. ‘This guy doesn’t even bat an eyelash when he lies through his teeth.’

Nicole nodded her head indifferently, and said, “Yeah.”

Mr. Elliot and the teachers went around to make sure there were no issues before heading back to their office. The school’s festival was managed by the main members of the student union which Nicole was a part of. Harvey did not leave Nicole’s side and walked side-by-side with her toward the sea of students.

Nicole did not speak up and he enjoyed the moment of being by her side. There were limited days that he would be able to enjoy being beside her. Nicole quickened her pace as she tried to expand the distance from Harvey. However, Harvey was quick to notice and kept close.

The two of them walking around had raised questions among passersby.

“Woah, the school’s ‘it’ girl and guy, walking together side by side…”

“They’re such a good match…”

“Right?! They look so good together.”

Everyone around them was discussing them. Harvey looked smug, while Nicole looked distressed.

‘These people must be blind, if they think this is right,’ Nicole thought.

“I’m going to keep an eye on the high school students. Vice President, I’m afraid I’ll have to trouble you to keep an eye on the university students.”

Harvey noticed that Nicole was finding ways to shoo him away. He did not fret. Instead he called Edwin and two other people over. “You guys go ahead. I’ll follow our president here since it’s her first year

handling this event.”

“Alright then…” Edwin felt that something was off with Harvey. He could not put his thumb on what it was, neither did he have the position to refute. Edwin could only nod and leave with the others.

Nicole, who noticed Harvey was being unreasonably shameless, sneered. “Since the Vice President gives so much care and attention to the school’s festival, you can take charge of it. I’m a little tired so I’ll be heading home to have a rest.”

Harvey felt his eye bags get darker. “Well, it’s definitely not a problem. However, if there were any problems, I won’t be able to solve them immediately…”

“You…”

‘This guy is so darn devious,’ Nicole thought. Since there was no other way around this, Nicole turned around to leave, walking around to supervise the festival. Walking behind her was Harvey who was as proud as a peacock.

Harvey did not care whether Nicole hated him or not. He just wanted the feeling of contentment around her. Just like that, Nicole was followed around by Harvey until noon.

Nicole was very tired. She wanted to have a rest and eat some Chinese food.

“President, the class representatives of the student unions are exhausted. Why don’t we stop and have lunch together?” suggested Harvey.

‘This bastard is now making lunch an excuse to stay together longer?’

“Sorry, it’s just that I feel sick to my stomach whenever I see a certain someone’s face. You can go eat with them in my stead.” After saying that, Nicole did not give Harvey a chance to refute. She turned

around and left.

Harvey followed behind Nicole closely in a calm manner. “In that case, how about you and I go get some Chinese food together?”

Nicole could not help glaring at him through the side of her eyes. ‘Is he not aware that he’s the one making me sick?’