Chapter 728
“Go, Letty!”
“Letty, you’re Eldoria’s hope!”
The crowd was loud with cheers, everyone shouting and clapping from their seats. Letty heard her name and held her breath, her fingers curling tight. She wasn’t just here for herself. She carried the expectations of The Cabinda University and everyone back in Eldoria.
The news back home was already hyping her up as the winner. There was no room for mistakes.
Letty glanced at the other contestants, her eyes pausing on Charlotte a little longer. Charlotte looked totally relaxed, like none of this mattered. Letty couldn’t help but smirk. No way she’d let anyone mess up her shot at the gold. The International Medical Competition’s top prize was hers for the taking.
The exam started. Proctors handed out the test papers. They had thirty minutes.
The questions were tough-unusual, complicated, and now everyone could see them on the big screens up front. The first question alone stumped a good chunk of the students who thought they were the best. Groans and sighs echoed around the hall.
Anthony snapped a few photos, saved them, then focused his gentle gaze on Charlotte. She was sitting quietly, her left hand pale as she propped her chin, her right hand gripping a pen, eyes locked on the exam. Every little movement looked effortless, almost like art.
He couldn’t stop a smile from pulling at his lips. There was warmth in his eyes. He knew it wasn’t easy for her, sitting for a test with a bunch of students.
Others had started noticing her too. She wasn’t waiting until the last minute this time, but she didn’t look especially serious either. The questions were hard, but she didn’t even bother with scratch paper-she just filled answers straight onto the test.
People whispered that she’d only gotten through the first round on luck. Surely that luck would run out now. The way she was writing, she had to be guessing.
It looked like she’d already given up. Some wondered if she’d end up with the lowest score in the competition’s history.
While the room buzzed with gossip and snide comments, Charlotte suddenly put down her pen. From start to finish, she was done in less than ten minutes.
Everyone stared. The big screen zoomed in on her test-every single blank was filled in.
A full thirty-minute test, finished in just a few minutes? Maybe she answered everything, but no one expected the results to be good.
Letty had only finished five questions, when she caught
Charlotte standing up and packing her things. Her heart skipped a beat. Was Charlotte really turning in her paper early?
The questions were brutal. Letty was a grad student and even she was struggling. How could Charlotte done already Unless she just guessed everything… Letty tried to shake off the uneasy feeling forcing herself to focus and keep working.
l.ne
Charlotte handed in her test without any fuss and walked out to the lounge next door. She dropped onto a sofa, pulled out fier phone, and opened Anthony’s social media.
She took a quick selfie and sent it to him.
Anthony’s reply came almost instantly. [Very pretty.]
Charlotte drummed her fingers on the arm of the sofa, frowning at his message. She tapped back, [Oh.]
He’d gotten more and more distant since she’d left. His messages felt empty now, just something he did out of habit.
A queasy feeling twisted in her stomach. Her mind flashed back to that guy she’d seen outside the hotel. Doubt crept in.
If Anthony had really come all the way to Solenia, he would have shown up to see her right away. That was just how he was.
Half an hour later, the second round was over. All the contestants went back on stage. In ten minutes, the results would be announced live.