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Novel Catalog
Chapter 48
Lulu knew Nicole didn’t visit the school forum often, so it was no surprise that she hadn’t seen the recent buzz.
When Lulu mentioned it, Nicole quickly pulled out her phone to check.
She immediately saw a post with a picture of herself looking cold, standing next to Snow, who appeared to be wiping tears away.
The image was taken at the perfect angle, capturing Snow biting her lip and her eyes reddened.
The comments were mostly insults, accusing Nicole of getting arrogant after becoming the beauty queen and bullying Snow.
Some even went so far as to send death threats, promising to avenge Snow—clear signs that Snow’s fans were behind the uproar.
Nicole remembered when the photo was taken—it was during the moment Snow had told her she wouldn’t cause any more trouble.
At the time, Nicole thought Snow was pushing her limits, but she never expected someone to snap a photo of it.
The coincidence felt too staged.
Nicole scrolled down and found Snow’s response to the situation: “Don’t talk badly about Nicole, guys.
She’s pretty, so it’s natural for her to act a bit arrogant.
But I’m okay, really.
Thanks for caring.” Nicole raised an eyebrow.
Snow really knows how to play the victim, she thought.
Snow’s message made it seem like Nicole was the one bullying her, which got Snow’s fans worked up, calling for Nicole to pay.
Even people who didn’t know the full story were chiming in, criticizing Nicole.
Nicole couldn’t help but smirk.
Typical Snow.
She kept scrolling and noticed some users trying to dig into her personal life, but their attempts were futile.
Nicole had set up enough security to keep them from finding anything.
Since they couldn’t uncover her background, they resorted to saying that Nicole didn’t have any history and wasn’t worthy of the beauty queen title.
Nicole read the posts with little concern, her focus more on drying her hair with a towel.
The contrast of her pale arm against her dark hair made her look even more ethereal.
She glanced at the posts with indifference, as if the discussion wasn’t about her.
From the upper bunk, Lulu asked, “Nicole, everyone’s losing it on the forum.
They’re saying you don’t deserve to be the beauty queen and that you’re not on Snow’s level.
What are you going to do?” Nicole responded lazily, “Nothing much,” before tossing her phone aside and continuing to make her bed, completely unaffected.
June, who had been focused on studying, glanced up, surprised by Nicole’s calmness.
She thought Nicole would be upset like most girls would be.
Checking the time, June saw it was already 10:30 p.m.
and flicked the light off without thinking.
Nicole paused for a moment but continued cleaning her bed, not bothered by the dimmer room.
Lulu, who had already prepared for bed, leaned over the top bunk and explained, “Don’t mind June, Nicole.
She always switches off the lights at 10:30, even though we’re supposed to leave them on until 11.” Nicole muttered an “Mmm” in acknowledgment but didn’t seem affected.
Lulu returned to her bed, already used to June’s routine.
As Nicole finished tidying up and prepared to sleep, her phone suddenly rang.
She saw an encrypted number flash on the screen.
Her indifferent expression shifted when she recognized it.
She glanced at her sleeping roommates, then quietly slipped out of bed to leave the room without making a sound.
Once in the hallway, she answered the call.
The line was filled with wind and silence, but she could hear someone breathing on the other end.
“Carl?” she asked.
Carl and Nicole had a rule—if they ever called each other, they’d pause for ten seconds to confirm their identity.
A soft laugh came from the other side.
“I knew you’d recognize me.” Nicole smiled in relief upon hearing his voice.
“You’re still alive, Carl? That’s such a relief.”
Carl didn’t respond immediately, and she only heard his steady breathing.
“Nicole…
when I was close to dying, all I wanted was to see you one last time.”
His words struck a deep chord with Nicole.
Before she had a family, Carl was the closest person to her—like a brother.
She understood exactly how he felt.
“I’ve always wanted to see you too…” Her voice trembled for the first time, betraying the deep emotion she rarely showed.
