?Chapter 1181:


    Loraine kept lecturing until her throat felt rough. She reached for her ss, blew lightly across the rim, and drank a mouthful.


    “Well?” she demanded. “Have you made up your minds? Who’s going to speak first?”


    Mnie had wanted to cut in long before, but as a Cooper, manners still tied her tongue. Even with her bold, headstrong nature, she chose to hold back until the right moment.


    Yet the instant she tried to speak, Loraine lifted a hand to silence her. “Mnie, hold your words. Let Ethan answer.”


    Her gaze hardened on him as she pressed, “Tell me straight—do you fancy Mnie? Are you two together?”


    The air grew heavy enough to cut with a knife.


    Marisa felt her pulse pounding so loudly it seemed to echo in her ears.


    Deep down, Loraine weighed everything on her own invisible scale. She didn’t dare cross Hurst’s daughter, yet she also wanted to avoid shing with Maia. When she set the two side by side, pressing Maia’s brother felt like the safer bet. The Cooper family had an entire empire behind them, while Maia was only one woman—known, but hardly untouchable. That was the difference.


    But Loraine failed to notice how her tactics only tightened the tension for both Mnie and Marisa.


    Mnie’s hands curled into fists as her mind raced. She had never truly examined it before, yet the bond between her and Ethan—once marked by sharp conflict—had quietly shifted into something closer, something entirely new.


    Back in that underground boxing ring, Ethan had stepped up to shield her, and that moment had flipped her view of him upside down. What once seemed like a in, forgettable boy suddenly looked—through her eyes—like someone cut from a hero’s cloth.


    And when Maia tied the knot with her father, Hurst, Mnie realized the ties between her and Ethan would shift again. Hold on—that would mean Ethan became her stepmother’s younger brother. Complicated.


    Yet somewhere in her heart, a spark of expectation stirred. After all, no girl truly minded if a nearby boy showed signs of affection—unless he was unpleasant to look at or impossible to stomach. But Ethan was nothing of the sort. He had striking features, just as Maia had her own beauty. Clearly, the Watson family had been blessed in looks.


    At that moment, Ethan’s head buzzed with countless thoughts. At first nce, the teacher’s question seemed harmless. Since he and Mnie weren’t truly a couple, it should have been easy to dismiss.


    But the more he considered it, the more he saw it as a trap with real weight.


    Their homeroom teacher had set it up on purpose. She expected him to deny it, splitting the issue of liking Mnie from actually dating her.


    If he tly said no, Mnie might feel slighted. But if he replied with something like, “We’re not together, but I don’t mind her,” or “I do like her,” it would sound too much like an admission.


    Truth be told, Ethan did feel something for Mnie. It wasn’t only because they stood on the same side now, but also because, down the road, they might share family ties.


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