It had to be a pen name.
Given Mrs. Ingram's spectacular technique, she was undoubtedly a master artist.
The name felt faintly familiar to Claire, but she couldn't quite place it.
Before the dinner had wrapped up, Mrs. Ingram had added Claire on her messaging app.
Claire sent a quick text to thank her for the portrait.
"Mrs. Ingram, your painting is absolutely beautiful."
The older woman, whose profile picture was a cute anime character, replied almost instantly. "I'm so glad you like it."
"I actually painted another one that I wanted to hang in my gallery, but I was worried about invading your privacy, so I kept it for my own personal collection."
Claire stared at her screen. Hanging it in a gallery would be a bit much.
Knowing Mrs. Ingram's overwhelming enthusiasm, Claire was terrified the woman would tell every gallery visitor the story of how she had been saved with a piece of silverware.
That would be beyond mortifying.
"Since you prefer I don't, I'll keep it at home. It's nice to just appreciate it privately." Mrs. Ingram showed a deep respect for Claire's boundaries.
Claire assumed that was the end of the rescue saga.
But to her surprise, she ran into a familiar face at the cafeteria the very next day.
"Claire!" Julia had somehow appeared at Cabinda University.
She was accompanied by Whitney, the junior Sloane, and a few others.
Then there was a group of guys trailing behind them, looking entirely out of place.
Claire's first instinct was to pretend she didn't know her.
But Julia was already marching straight toward her.
Claire silently prayed for a brief, aloof interaction, but Julia seemed completely oblivious to her vibe.
She was practically vibrating with excitement.
"Julia," Claire greeted her, bracing herself.
Julia leaned in. "I've been at Cabinda University for a while now, but I hadn't seen
you around. I was starting to think you didn't go to school here."
In truth, Julia's feelings toward Claire were complicated.
On one hand, she was deeply grateful that Claire had saved her life. On the other,
she was terrified Claire was going to steal Elvis from her.
Even though Claire had explicitly stated Elvis wasn't her type.
But Elvis was completely infatuated with Claire.
More precisely, he respected her.
In the realm of mathematics, he considered Claire to be his only true rival.
"Did it ever occur to you that I might not be a math major?"
Since Claire wasn't in the math
department it made perfect sense
that Julia had
been able to find
her:
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Julia's eyes widened in shock. "You really aren't studying math?"
"No," Claire admitted freely. "I'm pre-med. Didn't I mention that before?" Julia was genuinely stunned.
But considering how incredible Claire's medical skills were, it actually made sense.
"It's good that you're studying medicine." Maybe she could cure her heart condition? Julia thought hopefully.
Because she had come to Solenia to seek out a renowned physician and had hit a wall several times.
She was starting to lose hope.
This time, her older brother had instructed her to track down an older physician named Sterling.
Rumor had it he was a legendary medical expert with immense prestige in Solenia.
However, getting an appointment with him was nearly impossible.
Her brother had advised her to start by befriending the doctor's granddaughter.
That granddaughter was Sloane.
Which explained exactly why Julia and Whitney were currently parading around with her.
"The food in our cafeteria is actually quite good. Whitney, I highly recommend..."
Sloane chatted amicably with Whitney as they strolled over.
"Claire, do you know Julia?" Sloane knew exactly why Julia was trying to get close to her.
Not that she minded; she loved being the center of attention.
Plenty of people tried to curry favor with her just to get to her grandfather.
Unfortunately for them, even if
Sloane personally referred at
her grandfather rarely made content belongs
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He worked closely with high-profile government officials and was incredibly busy. He simply didn't have the time to take on private consultations content belongs t FindNovel.net
And even if he did, the waitlist was endless.
A foreigner like Julia had practically zero chance of cutting the line.