Chapter 215
Chapter 215:
With that, everything was settled. The air in the room seemed lighter, as if the hope and determination in their exchange had pushed away all lingering doubts.
For a moment, Austin couldn’t help but marvel at her. Yelena wasn’t just extraordinary—she was a force to be reckoned with.
After finishing their meal and wrapping up the conversation, Austin, John, and Yelena exited the private room together.
Austin and Yelena strolled ahead, with John lagging behind like a shadow.
Not that John minded. Plenty of people would kill to be in his shoes, though few ever got the chance.
As they neared the restaurant’s entrance, John decided to bow out gracefully.
He’d played the third wheel long enough for one day and figured it was time to give Yelena and Austin some breathing room. He quickly cooked up an excuse and slipped away, leaving the couple to their own devices.
With John gone, Austin and Yelena were left to their own company.
Yelena felt the awkward silence creep in. Conversation wasn’t exactly flowing, and just as she was about to suggest calling it a night, a sharp, sarcastic voice cut through the air like a blade.
“Yelena, what are you doing here?” Sonya’s tone was brimming with disdain.
The music score debacle had made Sonya the town’s favorite punchline, leaving her too mortified to show her face.
Every outing felt like a parade of judgmental glances. Today, however, Tatiana had dragged her out, insisting that staying holed up would only fuel her misery. But as luck—or misfortune—would have it, the first person they bumped into was none other than Yelena.
For a moment, Yelena was too stunned to respond. Eighfast might as well have been a dollhouse, given how often she kept running into Sonya. These encounters were starting to feel more like fate’s little pranks than coincidence.
𝑻𝑹𝑼𝑬 𝑭𝑰𝑳𝑬: 𝒈⋅𝒂𝒍⋅𝒏⋅𝒐𝒗⋅𝒆𝒍⋅𝒔⋅𝒄𝒐⋅𝒎
Still, Yelena was more irritated than surprised. Every meeting with Sonya and her mother seemed to spiral into some melodrama, and Yelena had grown thoroughly weary of it.
But if Sonya thought she could push Yelena around, she had another thing coming. Yelena wasn’t one to back down from a fight.
“Why shouldn’t I be here? I’m more curious about how you’ve got the nerve to show your face. Remember the plagiarism fiasco, my dear sister? I heard you got p>
“Disqualified from the competition. Such a shame, really. Here’s a tip: honesty goes a long way. Maybe try relying on your own talents next time. Cutting corners only sets you up for a crash,” Yelena replied, her voice cool and steady.
Sonya’s fury was barely contained, her jaw tightening as her anger simmered beneath the surface.
How infuriating! Yelena always knew exactly where to press for maximum pain.
Just as the whispers of the plagiarism scandal had begun to fade into obscurity, Yelena had ripped the wound open again, cutting straight to the quick.
It was a humiliation Sonya had fought tooth and nail to bury, but Yelena’s barbed words dragged it back to the forefront with deliberate cruelty.
Nearby, passersby caught fragments of their exchange, their curious glances turning into sharp-edged daggers of mortification for Sonya. She wished the earth would swallow her whole.