No longer a pushover (Noelle and Cedric)

Cedric glanced at his phone and stood up. "The power line is being repaired. I'm guessing the power won't be back for a while. You should head back and rest first. I'll walk you." Noelle felt her way off the couch, but a pair of hands extended toward her. She looked at them.

Cedric's deep voice came from above her. "You'd better hold onto this walking stick."

Noelle coughed lightly. "No need." As soon as her feet touched the ground, she accidentally kicked the edge of the table, and a sharp pain made her wince.

"Sit. Let me check." Cedric crouched in front of her, sighing. Then, he directed the flashlight on his phone toward her foot.

Noelle froze as she looked at Cedric before her. In the dim glow, his side profile seemed gentle. His already striking features became even more captivating from that angle. She couldn't help but ask, "Sir, do you have a girlfriend?"

Cedric lifted his gaze, his eyes dark.

He stood up and replied, "No."

"Do you have any preferences for a girlfriend? What kind of girls do you like?"

"Why are you asking?"

"Just curious. I mean, you're so handsome. How could you not have a girlfriend? The other day, I even saw you dining at the restaurant with a beautiful woman."

Cedric's hands paused briefly before he looked at her. "You saw that?"

Noelle nodded. "Yeah. Who was she?"

"A friend."

"Just a friend?"

Cedric grabbed her wrist. "Your brain doesn't work well, but your mouth sure does."

Noelle followed behind as he pulled her. She could feel the warmth of his hand on her wrist.

Her gaze fell to their holding hands, and a small smile tugged at her lips. It turned out that he didn't have a girlfriend. She wondered if she stood a chance if she were to pursue him.

As soon as she had those thoughts, they were quickly dismissed. Cedric didn't look the type to be easily won over. She thought it was better not to try and risk ruining their friendship. Cedric walked Noelle back to her bedroom and stopped at the door without stepping inside.

He held his phone and instructed her, "Get some rest. Call me if anything happens. And don't open the door for strangers."

"I know. I'm not a kid."

Then, she turned on her phone's flashlight. "I can see just fine by myself too."

After that, Cedric left.

Noelle couldn't help but feel that something about him was off, though she couldn't pinpoint precisely what.

...

The next day, the power was back on when Noelle woke up. She recalled the previous night's events, and her heart raced slightly at the memory. Noelle didn't immediately go next door. Instead, she lingered in bed for a while. She checked the gaming forum and found a post about her. The headline read, "Who is the man supporting the streamer SweetNelly behind the scenes?"

It sparked Noelle's curiosity. She wondered who "the man" they were referring to was.

When she clicked on the post, she was greeted with a screenshot from her live stream from the night before, when she was given Carnivals.

The post wrote, "The CEO of Liddell Corporation, Frank Liddell, sent dozens of Carnivals and Luxury Cars gifts in her stream last night, spending over ten thousand dollars. Their relationship clearly isn't ordinary. But it seems that she had a fallout with her benefactor, and streamer Xenia's public accusations proved this. That explains why she started streaming on Firestorm and avoids showing her face. She's afraid of being recognized by him!"

Noelle didn't know how to feel about the post. She thought it was all nonsense. Yet many people commented and speculated that she had a wealthy "sponsor" backing her, which was why she had dared to reject Lucas' invitation.

Noelle shared the post on the forum and wrote her own comment, saying, "This is all baseless speculation."

However, no one believed her explanation. Anti-fans even started to spread the narrative further, claiming she was a woman who was "sponsored" by a sugar daddy.

Her class president, Rachel, also came across the post. Furious, she anonymously wrote, "You people have disgusting thoughts! The streamer Nelly's relationship with the Liddell family is nothing like that. I'm her classmate, and I can recognize her voice!" Someone immediately replied, "So the streamer Nelly is the Liddell family's eldest daughter?"

The post quickly exploded with speculation.