Each deliberately emphasized word was like a knife stabbing into the young man''s heart. So, it wasn''t a rumor. She was really taken.


    "Still don''t get it?" Seeing the boy''s silence, his eyes red and his face a mask of devastation, Shanley''s lips curled into a smirk as he delivered another blow. "Fine, I''ll say it again—"


    "No need." The boy shook his head, dejected. He lifted his gaze, his handsome face etched with sorrow. "Juniper, I wish you happiness. I... I..."


    He couldn''t finish his sentence before turning and running away, his eyes welling with tears.


    Juniper stood there, watching his retreating, tear-streaked figure with a puzzled frown. "What''s wrong with him?"


    "He''s just hungry," Shanley said, gently stroking her hair.


    His cold gaze shifted from the boy, a satisfied arch to his brow. Juniper was a genius with the emotional intelligence of a rock. It had taken him so much effort to graduate from the titles of ''old man'' and ''brother'' to ''boyfriend.'' Did these young punks really think they could just waltz in and steal her away? How conceited!


    ...


    On Monday, after breakfast, Juniper and Shanley left the house at the same time. The car pulled over about two hundred meters from Era University.


    "See you in a bit," Shanley said, handing Juniper her backpack with a charming smile.


    "Alright." Juniper nced at him, grabbed her bag, and walked toward the campus gate.


    For the opening ceremony, which was expecting many important guests, the entire university had been scrubbed clean. The president, Lionel Landon, stood at the entrance with a retinue of university leaders, anxiously awaiting their arrival.


    Crowds of students had gathered nearby, whispering amongst themselves.


    "I heard Shanley Schwartz, the president of the Schwartz Group, is incredibly handsome."


    "Really? Aren''t there rumors that he''s a weird-tempered, balding man who''s not even thirty?"


    "I''ve seen him from behind. His shoulders, that waist, those legs... wow."


    "I heard he and Jimmie Tate have


    been friends for years..." A less harmoniousment cut through the chatter about his looks. "Jimmte has never had a girlfriend, and Shanley is rumored to prefermen. Don''t you think that''s a little strange?"


    "Oh my god, I think I just had a revtion!"


    "Are you saying the two of them..." The girls'' eyes widened as they whispered excitedly, "Aah, I ship it even more now!"


    Juniper listened quietly, an


    uncontroble twitch at the corner of her mouth. The rumors were getting more and more outrageous It seemed only one of them getting married would finally put a stop to it.


    Meanwhile, Ynda had also heard that Shanley would be attending and had rushed to the school gate with her ssmates.


    "Ynda, I heard you went to Hannah''s birthday banquet?" a ssmate asked, her voice full of envy. "The Sherwin and Schwartz families must be really close, right?"


    "We''re alright, Ynda said,


    crossing her arms. A flicker of guilt crossed her eyes, but she was quick to agree th truth, Jerrold Lonsdale had bought the invitation to


    Hannah''s party at a high priver


    hoping to forge a connection with the Schwartz family. But from beginning to end, they had only managed to see Shanley''s back.


    "So Mr. Schwartz must know you, then?" another girl chimed in, her eyes shining. "I heard he''spletely uninterested in women. Ynda, you must be special to him."


    Ynda neither confirmed nor denied it, a vague, suggestive smile on her face.