When Alaricka woke up, it was already evening. The sky outside the window was completely dark. There were no lights on in the room, and everything was pitch black. She couldn’t see anything.

She sat up rubbing her shoulder, took a while to recover, and then realized her stomach was really, really hungry.

She took out her phone and checked it.

It was eight o’clock in the evening; the restaurant should still have the players’ meals.

Alaricka stepped on her slippers and left the room.

The rooms on the three floors above and below hers were all booked by the organizers for the contestants, and there were McIntosh Piano Competition contestants scattered around the hallway.

After all the buzz online, Alaricka clearly felt that the way these contestants looked at her got worse and worse.

“Did Alaricka really pull some strings?”

“Everyone said it, no smoke without fire, so it was probably true.”

“Then why didn’t she quit the competition? With her level, even making it to the semifinals was super hard. If she stayed, there’s no way she could make it to the finals. She might as well just quit now.”

“You know, nothing could ever make us understand how shameless she is?”

“Not only did she like Kieran, but Kieran was with Roschelle now. She definitely wanted to beat Roschelle, but Roschelle was a top contender; there was no way she could beat her.”

Alaricka walked over with a cold look on her face, and when those girls who were talking saw her coming, their eyes went wide, and they backed away from Alaricka like she was the plague.

Alaricka went to the restaurant, and there were only a few people inside.

Alaricka sat by the window with her tray, eating and watching the traffic below.

A Rolls-Royce drove over and stopped at the hotel entrance.

Alaricka looked over, and for some reason, her eyes just got drawn there.

The driver’s door and the passenger door of the Rolls-Royce were pulled open by the valet at the hotel entrance, and Kieran and Roschelle got out of the car.

Roschelle walked over to Kieran’s side, lifted her hand to wrap around Kieran’s arm, and snuggled up.

The two were a perfect match, a golden boy and a jade girl, both good-looking and talented.

Alaricka didn’t look away until Kieran and Roschelle disappeared from sight.

She ate quietly.

The restaurant was so quiet that Alaricka could hear sounds from a few meters away loud and clear.

“I heard Mr. Argent and Roschelle were getting engaged soon, and Roschelle’s parents were coming to meet Mr. Argent’s parents next week; they said they wanted to pick a good date.”

“Didn’t you know? Mr. Argent and Roschelle already got engaged before, but they said Alaricka messed things up, so the engagement didn’t work out. They said they’d have to do it again.”

“Alaricka again; she was everywhere.”

“You’d think, if it weren’t for Mr. Argent and Roschelle being generous, how could Alaricka still have a chance to compete here? If it were me, I would definitely use Mr. Argent’s influence to make sure Alaricka could never compete again.”

“I also heard that Mr. Argent turned down a lot of work just to come here and be with Roschelle for the competition, and the two of them even stayed in the same room.”

“That night, did they…?”

Alaricka listened quietly, suddenly lost her appetite, and the delicious food on her plate tasted bland and like wax.

She put down the fork, closed her eyes for a moment, and got up to leave.

“Where did you go?”

Patrick seemed to be everywhere, and he always managed to find Alaricka when she was most annoyed.

The impatience between Alaricka’s brows grew stronger, and she walked faster with bigger steps.

“Hey, wait.”

Patrick’s voice was light and gentle, coming closer, like he was right behind her.

Alaricka’s heart sank.

The next second, Patrick grabbed her wrist, strode past her, and pulled her away with his hand twisted back.

Looking at Patrick’s back, Alaricka felt totally repulsed and kept hitting Patrick’s hand that was holding her wrist with one of her own hands.

“Patrick, what the hell are you doing? Let go of me right now!”

“Patrick!”

The commotion between her and Patrick quickly caught the attention of others, their eyes surprised and curious.

But Patrick was thick-skinned as a wall, acted like he didn’t see anyone else’s looks, and just grabbed her wrist, dragging her along.

Patrick walked up to a big gate and kicked it open.

The moment the door opened, the noise from inside rushed right into Alaricka’s ears.

The sound of music, cheers, clinking glasses, and lots and lots of noise.

Alaricka looked a bit stunned.