Claire smiled at the person who had just spoken. "That's different. Zara is gorgeous. Zoe is just average."
The guy choked on his words.
He had wanted to say that Zoe was actually pretty decent-looking and knew how to dress. While she didn't have Zara's radiant beauty...
She had her own unique charm.
But when he took a good look at Claire's stunning features... fine, she definitely had the right to call Zoe 'average.'
To exceptionally beautiful girls like them, everyone else probably just looked average.
This guy was a relative of the Zeller family, and he didn't care about the rivalry between the Zeller sisters.
He was a guy, and Zoe was always friendly to him.
So naturally, he wasn't about to go around badmouthing her.
It was clear that Zoe put genuine effort into maintaining these superficial connections.
Hearing Claire call Zoe average made the corners of everyone else's mouths twitch. In their eyes, while Zoe couldn't hold a candle to Zara, she still had her own appeal.
She was delicate and sweet, and paired with her gentle temperament, she actually got along quite well with most people.
Take this younger Zeller cousin, for instance.
He used to fight with Zara all the time, but he was always perfectly well-behaved around Zoe.
When they were younger, he would constantly follow Zoe around, sweetly calling her by her name.
He and Zara were actually born in the same year, just months apart.
He rarely ever gave Zara the respect of a polite title.
Provoked by Claire's bluntness, he instinctively defended Zoe. "Actually, Zoe isn't that bad, she's..."
Before he could finish, Claire cut him off. "Whose relative are you exactly?"
"Are you from Zoe's grandmother's side of the family?"
The interrupted teenager was instantly struck speechless.
It hit him that he wasn't technically related to Zoe at all; he was Zara's biological cousin.
But because he was always closer to Zoe, his first instinct had been to defend her. Being called out so bluntly by Claire was incredibly humiliating.
The boy's neck flushed with embarrassed anger. "I stand up for what's right, not just for family."
"Sorry, what was that? Speak up," Claire said, taking a sip of her water and arching an eyebrow at him.
"I said, I stand up for what's right, not
just for family!" The boy was the grandson of Zane Zeller's sister, and he came front a very affluent background.
No one had ever confronted him to his face like this.
But because Claire was so pretty, he managed to scrounge up a bit more patience
for her.
"Oh, could
still speak a little louder?
still couldn't quite catch that," Claire said, remaining completely
unbothered
Everyone at the table turned to look at the teenager.
They all understood exactly what Claire was doing.
This kid wasn't standing up for 'what was right'; he just personally favored Zoe over Zara.
Silas gave Claire an amused look before turning his attention to his younger cousin. The teenager finally snapped out of his daze and realized what Claire was implying.
He didn't dare raise his voice again. In fact, he wished the floor would swallow him whole.
"Why are you suddenly so quiet? Did you lose your voice?"
Claire was relentless.
The boy's lips parted, but he couldn't form a single word.
Silas stepped in to smooth things over. "Don't mind him, Claire. This kid is just missing a few brain cells."
"Defending her won't do him any good anyway."
Claire simply said, "Oh," and cast a deeply meaningful look at the boy.
The teenager instantly felt like his seat was on fire.
He couldn't sit there for another second.
Did he absolutely have to stay at this table?
"I... I won't defend Zoe anymore, okay?" the boy finally surrendered.
Silas was thrilled.
This kid used to be Zoe's personal echo chamber.
The fact that he finally realized the error of his ways was entirely thanks to Claire.
It seemed his cousin's new college roommates were far superior to the old ones.
No wonder Zara couldn't stop
talking about Claire every time she
came home, even Silas's ears
were
ringing from hearing her name so much.