Liar and Liar - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 13

“No. Don’t force me. If you’re my boyfriend, you should respect me instead of forcing me. Or why don’t you try drinking some americano? Who knows? Maybe it’ll broaden your narrow perspective.”

Getting annoyed? Dying of annoyance?

Danielle struggled so hard to hold back the laughter that was about to burst out. She managed to refrain from openly mocking him, but she couldn’t help the smile that appeared on her face.

“Right, I am your boyfriend.”

‘…Huh?’

At his unexpected response, Danielle looked at Frederick with a dazed expression, her face softening.

He lowered his chin while holding his cup at face level. It strangely reminded her of a commercial photoshoot.

“Your boyfriend is asking like this, pleading… are you going to ignore me?”

‘Look at him completely changing his attitude.’

Danielle let out a hollow laugh.

Even while looking down at her, Frederick gazed at Danielle as if he were looking up at her.

Danielle almost looked down to check if Frederick was wearing platform boots or had a crimson tail attached.

‘That won’t work on me, you bastard.’

“You drink lots of that delicious coffee, Frederick. I’m not interested.”

“That’s too much… It’s my favorite coffee.”

Eventually, Frederick was the first to lower his hand holding the coffee.

‘Who’s really being too much here, blaming others.’

“So, when should we have our date?”

“…”

Frederick naturally followed alongside Danielle as she headed toward the Main Building.

“I’m busy. Busy today, busy tomorrow, and I’ll probably be busy on the weekend too.”

Next week too, next month too!

For! Life!

“Because of AP Classes?”

No, the problem is obviously you.

‘He really finds diverse ways to make people speechless…’

He’s a walking bomb himself, yet he mentions AP Classes as if it’s obvious. The only reason Danielle held back from saying more was because she was thinking of her younger sibling.

“What AP Classes is our honey taking this time? American History and also-“

Danielle deliberately ignored the stares directed at her. The closer they got to the Main Building, the more the stares multiplied.

‘Isn’t there a way to stop him from using pet names?’

It felt like other students were listening. All that nonsense about “our honey, our honey.”

Even though it was set as a condition of their deal, the students’ shocked stares were more uncomfortable than she had imagined.

“I have all the AP materials in my locker. Use them however you want, honey.”

Whether he knew what Danielle was thinking or not, Frederick handed her the key to his locker combination lock.

“…”

So this is what he meant when he said he’d do various things for her?

‘Accept this in exchange for going on a date?’

Danielle had no desire whatsoever to spend time alone with Frederick. And a date, no less. How could she do something so disgusting with him?

‘How else is he planning to make me angry in diverse ways…’

Then, Frederick tilted his head and made eye contact with Danielle as he asked.

“We’re having a movie day at our family’s vacation home this Saturday. How about our honey comes too?”

…Movie day?

‘Sitting around the living room watching OTT streaming services together?’

Even rich people don’t do things that differently when they hang out.

Even so, Danielle had no intention of giving an immediate answer.

“I’ll try to make time.”

“Yeah, check your schedule and let me know. I’d prefer a date with just the two of us, but I have golf plans with family on Sunday.”

While golf was a kind of common sport in America, Danielle had a feeling that the golf appointment he was talking about wasn’t at an ordinary level. Frederick alone had a record of winning youth golf tournaments.

Thanks to that, his parents invested especially more, and there were rumors around school that all the clubs Frederick carried were custom-made by Italian craftsmen, each one ridiculously expensive.

“You don’t want to meet our parents, do you?”

“What? Of course not.”

Why would I.

Seeing Danielle’s firm response, Frederick smiled faintly and pressed his locker key into Danielle’s hand.

“There were often cases where people were more interested in my parents than in me. If you want, I can naturally introduce you, but if not, it’s probably better not to meet them.”

‘Because I’m a fake girlfriend?’

As if a person’s heart were nothing more than thin paper, the gratitude disappeared like snow blown by the wind, and what remained in Danielle’s chest was something crooked like a screw nail.

“Anyway honey, don’t study harder just because you got materials, and spend time alone with me when you’re free.”

Maybe go to a really nice cafe?

Danielle looked at Frederick and reached for the tumbler he was holding in the air. It was a gesture of gratitude. Yeah, I’ll drink that damn coffee once.

But before Danielle could grab the tumbler, Frederick moved his hand holding the tumbler away.

Danielle, left with her hand hanging in the air, looked at him.

“Why? Give it to me. You were going to give it to me.”

“Since it’s your first time drinking it anyway, let’s drink freshly brewed coffee together next time. I have a place in mind, but it’s unfortunately under renovation.”

Up to this point, Danielle didn’t think anything of it. But his next words stuck in Danielle like a thorn.

“They said the reopening will take quite a while. Around next summer? Let’s go somewhere else first, and visit the place I mentioned when summer comes.”

‘…Next summer?’

It’s fall now, and next summer?

Was he thinking of the bet as a long-term battle, or was he over-immersed in his role?

Or was it the kind of terrible deception that only a devil could pull off?

It was definitely one of the three.

Danielle silently faced Frederick, who wore an affectionate expression.

‘…Don’t make me laugh.’

I won’t fall for such words, Frederick Bastia.

Danielle once again recalled the starting point of this relationship. Where Danielle stood was on their cutting board, and everyone surrounding the cutting board held knives, ready to slice her up at any moment.

Just thinking about the ‘bet’ made her feel disgusted, but she couldn’t deny that it had created some advantages.

Frederick Bastia, whose specialty was getting bored, had moved this much. If he was enthusiastic about the bet, it was fortunate for Danielle, who had her sibling’s problem at stake.

Though Frederick was someone who got tired of things quickly, he was also someone who never made promises lightly.

Danielle recalled the words she had spoken while looking in the mirror before leaving the dormitory.

‘Get it together. Don’t act like an idiot.’

Danielle’s resolve was firm. She would absolutely not let this opportunity for revenge slip away.

‘You’ll never win this bet.’

Because I’ll absolutely never let that happen.

Repeating her determination, a loose smile finally appeared on Danielle’s lips.

‘Go ahead and try your best.’

It’ll all be pointless effort anyway.

Danielle decided to become the worst girlfriend who wouldn’t go along with Frederick’s wishes, whom he could never have. Suppressing her cynical inner thoughts, Danielle answered indifferently.

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

* * *

She had expected that the others would start lurking around just like Frederick had taken action.

Danielle stared blankly at a text from a number she had never saved.

Library 3rd Floor Room 7 by 10:10.

Who do you think you are.

Danielle irritably ran her fingers through her hair.

Why should I follow your orders?

Danielle snorted and turned off her phone screen. She had completely pushed it out of her mind, so even when 11 o’clock came, she didn’t think much of it.

Arriving at the Library Lounge with the intention of spending time before her next class, Danielle pulled out a stack of printouts from her bag. They were essay assignments from American Football Team students.

The students themselves might not know that Danielle was editing them, but it had been almost a year since Danielle took on editing essays for American Football Team members at the coach’s suggestion.

Including the advantage of not having to do tutoring work, this editing job was a very precious source of income for Danielle.

Of course, it hadn’t always been smooth sailing.

“It’s going to be hard to assign you more editing work. Everyone’s complaining that your feedback is too damn harsh…”

“What? No, please give me just one more chance…! Just one more time…!”

At first, she had written blunt comments like ‘trash’ and ‘waste of trees’ without beating around the bush, and almost got fired.

If she had known, editing work was a sweet part-time job that was hard to get twice. So Danielle frantically used her wits to employ ‘tactics’ to win over the American Football Team members’ hearts, barely avoiding getting fired.

Danielle propped her chin on one hand and lazily skimmed through Jeremy Marquez’s work.

‘This guy really hasn’t improved at all.’

After finishing editing all the pages, Danielle uncapped her red ink pen and scrawled on the last page.

[ FULL OF SHIT ]

(Pile of crap)

As before, when essays were garbage, she wrote that they were garbage. What changed was that she decided to praise generously when they were well-written. Generously enough that even Danielle herself found it somewhat unbearable.

Danielle sighed through her nose after checking the owner of the next essay. Mateo Valdez. Just the name alone showed neat, upright handwriting that stood out differently from the previous one.

‘The captain isn’t captain for nothing.’

She wanted to find fault if there was anything to criticize, but there wasn’t. Danielle clicked her tongue briefly and wrote the highest grade of praise on the last page with a displeased expression.

[ High-key Sexy ]

This praise system was surprisingly well-received, and Danielle was able to keep her precious editing job. Everyone said they started writing essays more diligently, which made the coach happy, though it felt subtle…

‘I don’t really want to call it sexy.’

It was fortunate that the team members didn’t know who was writing these comments.

Danielle checked the time, packed her things, and got up from her seat.

She had only gone to the bathroom for a brief moment, but when her belongings were nowhere to be seen, Danielle was shocked.

‘What the hell, where’s my bag?!’

It was common sense in America not to leave your belongings unattended, but this was clearly a prestigious private school.

There was no way someone would steal her belongings just because she left for about 3 minutes to go to the bathroom. Especially not a worn backpack she’d been using for 5 years.

“Hey, Triel.”

Two male students approached Danielle as she frantically searched behind her chair. Both were wearing Lacrosse Team athletic pants.

Obviously Cove Blanton’s lackeys. Danielle frowned.

“Your stuff, go check Pool 2.”

“What?! You guys took it?”

“Stop talking and just go quickly.”

Though angry, Danielle first memorized the male students’ faces in her mind and headed toward the entrance leading to Pool 2.

Just walk straight out through the entrance, and it would be Pool 2, the outdoor swimming pool exclusively for Upper School students.

‘When one problem gets solved, another one starts. I’m so damn tired.’

Danielle bit her lower lip and strode down the white stone steps almost at a run. Naturally, there was no one around Pool 2.

‘They didn’t throw it in the water, did they?’

If they did, I really won’t let this slide. Danielle’s pace quickened even more.

However, there was no bag floating around anywhere in the 10-lane Olympic-size swimming pool. As Danielle stretched her neck out to look as far as possible, someone shouted loudly at her.

“Looking for this?”

Danielle’s head whipped around.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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