Chapter 210

Alarieka shut her eyes tight, her feelings all over the place, and she just couldn’t keep calm.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw a hand holding a peeled apple in front of her, waving it gently.

Her eyes followed the arm and landed on the face.

It was the middle-aged woman, with a big, bright smile, who forced the peeled apple into her hand: “Hurry up and eat.”

Alarieka paused for a second and kept pushing the apple away.

“No, you guys just eat.”

The middle-aged woman pushed it back: “It’s fine, just eat without worrying.”

Seeing the woman insist like that, Alarieka sat up, looked down, grabbed the apple, and said quietly, “Thank you.”

The middle-aged woman smiled and patted her on the shoulder: “It’s just a small thing, keep it up, don’t get discouraged, smile more, and you’ll have better luck.”

Alarieka pulled at the corner of her mouth and tried hard to squeeze out a little smile.

“Thank you.”

The semifinals were held in the morning, so Alarieka checked out of the hospital quickly and took a taxi back to the hotel.

After getting back to the hotel, Alarieka could feel the other contestants getting more and more distant from her.

She used to exchange a word or two with them before, but now they'd take a detour when they saw her.

No surprise, everyone probably already knew about the swimming pool incident.

Kieran, Roschelle, and Patrick got back before her, so they must have known about it, but they didn’t come out to explain and just let the rumors spread.

Alarieka thought it was already enough to give her a heart attack that Roschelle got away with this, and the suspicious, contemptuous looks from others just made it worse.

Alarieka didn’t want to put up with it anymore.

Luckily, she had just added the policewoman on WhatsApp, and the policewoman sent over the surveillance videos from different angles.

She went straight back to her room and took out her tablet.

The tablet was something she bought for studying. She had used it many times; it worked really well, and the screen was big enough. People passing by probably could see it clearly.

Alarieka imported the surveillance footage into the tablet, made the video full screen, set it to loop endlessly, then left the room door open, put the hotel pillow at the doorway, and stood the tablet up against the pillow.

After she finished everything, she clicked the play button on the video, and the surveillance footage started rolling.

Everyone staying on this floor of the hotel was a contestant in the McIntosh Piano Competition.

Although Alarieka didn’t have a good reputation, she was still one of the most watched players. Because of the pool incident, Alarieka got even more attention. Several players wanted to come over and see what was going on with her, but their eyes were caught by the tablet at the door that was playing the surveillance video.

A few people squatted at the door and watched the surveillance video over and over, really carefully and seriously.

The more they watched, the weirder their expressions seemed.

They looked up carefully at Alarieka, who was sitting on the bed looking at her phone.

After looking away, they glanced at each other and saw their own thoughts in each other’s eyes.

They originally thought it was Alarieka who dragged Roschelle into it, that Alarieka started it first, but things were nothing like they imagined.

The surveillance video clearly showed that it was Roschelle who grabbed Alarieka’s hand first and wouldn’t let go. Alarieka tried to break free several times but couldn’t, showing how tightly Roschelle was holding on.

Second, it wasn’t Alarieka who dragged Roschelle into it; it was actually Roschelle who dragged Alarieka into it.

Although it looked like it was just Roschelle slipping, so she fell into the water.

But the truth was Roschelle dragged Alarieka into it, whether on purpose or by accident, Alarieka was the victim.

Not only was she a victim, but she was also misled into becoming what people called the perpetrator.

And judging by the situation, even though you couldn’t hear Roschelle’s voice in the surveillance video, everyone could guess that Roschelle probably wasn’t saying anything nice. Otherwise, why would Alarieka want so badly to pull her hand away from Roschelle?

Thinking like this, their faces looked even weirder. They glanced at each other and quickly walked away.

After Alarieka put out the surveillance video, in less than an hour, almost everyone already knew what was in it. More and more people passed by Alarieka’s room, carefully checking Alarieka’s expression inside.

Alarieka saw it worked, took back the tablet, shut the door without hesitation, and blocked out their stares.

Chapter 211