Chapter 2
After hanging up the phone, Weston said to me, “Ariana, whatever decision you make, I’ll support you. When I get back, I’ll personally take you to college.”
After Weston left, those seven men became even more brazen, constantly hovering around Sarah.
I watched as all seven of them took Sarah to get her hair done and accompanied her to museums.
Sarah posted on Instagram with photos showing off a luxury laptop, the latest top-of-the-line phone, and even a set of car keys.
The caption read: [My seven knights, how could I possibly deserve such expensive gifts?]
Anthony immediately commented below: [You deserve the best of everything in the world.]
The other six men also left comments, and amazingly, all seven of their comments were identical.
My family raised them from age seven to eighteen, transforming them from starving orphans into people living luxurious lives
now.
But even on mine and Weston’s birthdays, they’d only offer a simple blessing.
1/5
12:35
They’d say: “Heartfelt wishes are the most precious and
Bullshit! Money goes where love is-that’s the truth.
On the day college applications opened, they rarely came home.
Anthony said, “Ariana, we’re planning to accompany Sarah to apply to National Career College together. You should come with us. We promised we’d go to college together and never be separated.”
During that Christmas break when we first brought them home, Weston took all of us to visit Harvard Business School.
Back then, they looked at the impressive Harvard Business School with such envy and vowed to get accepted there, planning to give back to the Hall family after graduation.
We took a group photo at the Harvard Business School entrance and all signed our names on the back, making a solemn pledge.
I said, “My father already told you-make your own decisions.”
Samuel Campbell, one of the seven men, looked at me suspiciously.
He said, “Ariana, you agreed so easily? Are you secretly plotting something?”
Another man said, “Exactly! Just like that Christmas when we deliberately scored low on purpose to stay in regular classes with Sarah, but you went behind our backs and used our competition scores to get us transferred to honors classes.”
Back then, I thought they had made mistakes on their exam32:35
never realized they had failed on purpose.
Sarah stepped forward fearfully, reaching out toward me.
She said, “Ariana, it’s wonderful that you can join us. Could you give me your username and password? I’ll help everyone apply to schools together.”
The seven men immediately and eagerly shared their usernames and passwords in the group chat.
could
I clutched my laptop bag tightly and said, “I only said you make your own decisions. I never said I’d go to some career college with you. Why would I pass up all the good schools in the country to choose a career college? Do I look like someone with brain damage?”
Sarah’s eyes immediately welled up with tears, looking like she was about to cry.
She said, “Ariana, why do you have to put it so harshly? If I had your family background, wealth, and resources, I might have scored even better than you. But being born poor isn’t something I could control. Anthony, maybe you should listen to Ms. Hall. I’ll just go to National Career College by myself.”
The seven men immediately surrounded Sarah protectively, patiently comforting her.
One man accused me: “Ariana, can’t you stop targeting Sarah? She’s had a hard life and is pitiful enough already.”
3amuel said, “We all came from poverty. Are you looking dowi35
Another man said, “Don’t think that just because your family raised us for a few years, you can interfere with our lives! We’re living, breathing people, not accessories of the Hall family!”
It was always like this. Whenever someone mentioned her poor background, Sarah could instantly turn them against me.
In my past life, I heard these words so often that I thought it really was my fault. I’d humbly apologize and desperately try to please them, wanting to fit in.
But now, I said calmly, “You’re right. This is your life. Similarly, my life doesn’t need your interference either.”
I turned to leave, but Anthony beside me snatched my backpack.
I shouted, “Anthony, give me back my laptop!”
The laptop had my auto-saved usernames and passwords for college applications. I desperately lunged forward trying to grab it back, but he threw the backpack to Samuel.
They tossed the backpack back and forth like they were teasing a dog. I was exhausted and gasping for breath when I fell to the ground. “You bastards!”
Anthony sighed and looked at me with a seemingly sincere attitude.
He said, “Ariana, you need to be good. We promised we’d go to college with you. We’ve always been grateful, and we always keep our word. But we can’t abandon Sarah. Only if we all apply to the same school can we achieve both goals.”
12:35
I stumbled to my feet, wanting to escape this suffocating place.
But Sarah blocked my path: “Ariana, are you planning to go somewhere else to change your password?”
