The Rise of Dragon Temple

Chapter 40

At about six o’clock in the evening, Joseph cooked a meal for Chloe. After having dinner, he took her

downstairs to play. Then, at seven o’clock in the evening, Serena came back. She was in a denim

outfit, and her hair was tied up in a ponytail. Coincidently, she spotted Joseph taking something from

his new car. At that sight, her eyes glimmered, and she walked to the Mercedes-Benz. “Joseph, did you

buy this car? Wow! It’s Mercedes-Benz S-class! How beautiful…” To that, Joseph nodded and beamed,

“Well, I bought it for Paige. What do you think? Does this suit her temperament?” With her eyes glued

to the car, Serena went forward to feel it. Then, she turned her head and uttered bitterly, “I also want

one. I think S-class suits me too…” Hearing her words, Joseph chuckled, “Sure, I will give you one after

my wedding with Paige next month. Initially, I thought of buying you something better, like Porsche or

Ferrari, but since you like Mercedes S, okay then…” When Serena listened to Joseph’s banter, her face

instantly went bitter, and she laughed bitterly, “No, please don’t do this to me. I won’t mind having a

Porsche…” Once again, Joseph chuckled, “Alright, I’ll buy whatever you want in the future. Paige has

gone to the gathering, right? Please take care of Chloe. Also, Alpha l is nearby. So, you don’t have to

worry about safety, and have fun with Chloe…” Right away, Serena nodded. “Sure, you should get

going and make her proud!” At the same time, Chloe also waved her little hands at Joseph and

cheered, “Go for it, Daddy! Go for it!” Looking chic, Joseph opened the car door, got into the car, and

replied, “Haha, that’s a must for my wife! Whoever dares to look down on her, they’ll know!” After

saying that, he stepped on the gas and drove toward the hotel Serena mentioned.

At 8 p.m., in a private room of Mirage Hotel, Paige was with a group of neatly dressed men and

women. Every year, her college classmates in Oplen would have a gathering. However, for the past few

years, Paige never participated in it. This time, when her classmates knew that she had returned, they

insisted that she come over. Although her classmates’ motives were apparent, Paige naively thought

that tonight’s gathering was merely a get-together with classmates. After all, she hadn’t attended one.

Moreover, shortly after her graduation, she got pregnant and gave birth to Chloe. Therefore, she had

lost contact with her classmates. After she and the others were seated, a woman in a long white dress

walked to her with a glass of red wine. Smilingly, that woman said, “Hey, Paige. Do you still remember

me? I am Lei, Leila White…” Leila was decent-looking. Judging from her sharp nose, she seemed to

have undergone plastic surgery. Besides, she had long hair and was wearing a shoulder-less dress. As

she looked charming and sexy, plenty of men in the room couldn’t help ogling at her. Being

approached, Paige looked up and stared at Leila for a while. Once she remembered Leila, she smiled,

“Oh, Lei. It’s been a long time. How are you doing? I remember you’ve always wanted to be a hotel

manager during our college days. By now, I believe you must’ve achieved it…” Hearing that, Leila

deliberately sighed and whined, “Yep, I’ve achieved it, but I’m just the manager of a small hotel, and my

salary is only a little more than 10,000 dollars. Actually, I’ve always wanted to work in Mirage Hotel

since college, but I couldn’t get in. So, I can only work in a small hotel. How unfortunate…” At this

moment, another female classmate responded enviously, “Come on, Lei. If you think this is unfortunate,

what does that make us? Don’t you know that Oplen is incomparable to the top-tier big cities like

Usmait and Vowhye? A monthly salary of 10,000 dollars is considered the highest here. So, you should

be thankful. If you think yours isn’t enough, we should kill ourselves then.” “She’s right. Quit showing

off. You know we are not as good as you are…” Another female classmate responded sourly.

Spreading out her hands, Leila replied, “Seriously? Have all of you forgotten about Brooks Nichols? He

is now a senior executive of Gempoint Group, and his basic salary is around 30,000 dollars. Excluding

commission. Now, this is what you call a winner of life. But I don’t know why isn’t he here today. Alas, I

guess we’re no longer worthy of his time…” When Paige heard Brooks’ name, her heart skipped a

beat. Right away, she lowered her head and drank some water because she had just met him this

afternoon. But since he had the time to meet her, why didn’t he come tonight? Sure enough, if Serena

were here, she would’ve snorted, “If Brooks dared to come, that would be weird.” Due to Estella’s

suspicion, Joseph let Brooks off the hook. Otherwise, Joseph could’ve either killed him or banished him

from Oplen forever. And most probably, Brooks had fled by now… “Alright, my dear Lei. Brooks is doing

well, but you’re not bad either. Don’t you know that both of you are the best among our classmates in

Oplen? By the way, how are things between you and him? Rumors have been circulating all these

years…” another female classmate spoke. Now that Brooks was absent, Leila became the center of the

gathering. Needless to say, she deserved it. Not only was she beautiful, but she also had great

socializing skills.

After hearing what that classmate said, Leila glanced at Paige and sighed, “So what? I like him, but he Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

doesn’t like me at all. Paige, I heard he was fond of you since back then. Didn’t he look for you? He

hardly comes back this time.” Paige’s body stiffened. For a moment, she was at a loss for words. In

fact, she didn’t have to reply because immediately, another female student spoke in an insulting tone,

“Oh my god, Paige? As if she won’t feel embarrassed. Do you really not know or are you pretending

to?” “Huh? What do you mean, Polly?” Leila turned her eyes, pretending not to know. Then, Polly

Marshall—a woman with blonde hair-ridiculed, “What did I mean? Pfft! Do you seriously think she’s all

that great?” After a pause, she continued mocking, “Some woman got pregnant right after graduating,

and once her child was born, she left. Now, I heard that she is back with a four-year-old child. So, do

you think Brooks will still like her? Hehe…” “Wait! Really? Oh, as expected from one of the two campus

beauties. Where did she even get the guts to do such shameless stuff…” another girl gibed. Twitching

her lips, Polly uttered, “Duh! Stop pretending to be confused! You guys knew it! And why didn’t she

have the guts to do so? Don’t you see she’s here? Haha! She’s bold as brass…” Instantaneously, all

the women in the room gave Paige a peculiar look. With her head lowered, Paige could feel a burning

pain on her face, losing the confidence to look up. Although she wanted to leave, Lei was behind her,

blocking her intentionally. For a split second, she felt miserable… Just then, a man couldn’t stand it

anymore. So, he reprimanded Polly, “Can’t you shut it? We are classmates, and we’re here for a class

reunion.” As soon as he finished, Polly gave him a contemptuous look and retorted, “Shut up, Bronson!

Are you pretending to be a hero? Oh, I remember. You wrote her a love letter back then. But too bad,

she threw it without bothering to read it. Well, she was a campus beauty, after all. And even if she

wasn’t right now, she is still out of your league, you loser. Look at you. After all these years, you have

only become a property agent. I doubt you can even afford to feed your family!” Upon hearing that,

Bronson Burnett stood up and yelled, “How dare you! Don’t go too far! No matter how little I earn, I earn

it with my hard work. Unlike you, prostituting in the nightclub for money!” “Bam!” Polly slammed the

table and stood up. Pointing to Bronson, she shrieked, “What did you say?!” “Pooh! Who are you to

judge people with money and act all mighty? You’re nothing but a wh*re…” Bronson sneered. Hearing

that, Polly quivered with anger and was about to shoot her lips. However,

Leila shouted, “Enough! What are you two doing in our class gathering? Also, I heard Paige had a

boyfriend, and she is now married.” After she finished, she shot Paige a strange look and asked,

“You’re married, am I right? Where is your husband? Is he back here with you?” Not only was her tone

filled with sarcasm, but there was also a hint of disdain in her eyes. “Yes, where is your husband,

Paige? Since you were one of the two campus beauties, you must’ve picked a powerful man. Besides,

you don’t even spare a

glance at Brooks, so I assume your husband must be at least an executive or a boss,” Judging from

how the fancily dressed Polly added insult to the injury, she was obviously in cahoots with Leila. When

Leila looked at Paige—who lowered her head quietly in embarrassment

she was extremely pleased. Due to having feelings toward Brooks, she had always hated Paige, and

now, she finally found an opportunity to humiliate Paige… “No, my husband…” Under the gaze of her

classmates at the dinner table, Paige wanted to explain something. However, before she could finish,

Leila interrupted, “It’s okay. Actually, I’ve heard something about you. Your husband is jobless, isn’t he?

Well, I can introduce him to a job. Our hotel is recruiting waiters anyway. Why don’t you ask him to

have a try? I will offer him 3,000 dollars a month. What do you think?” “Pfft! Waiter? Okay, that’s better

than nothing, but 3,000 dollars for that wastrel? You gotta be kidding me! Paige, shouldn’t you thank

Lei?” Polly scorned. Paige trembled. Now, she finally saw their true colors. From the beginning, they

were only here to make fun of her. While biting her lip, she gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. At

that moment, she no longer had the desire to stay here. Therefore, she stood up, preparing to leave.

However, as soon as she turned around, she saw Joseph walking in with several men and women with

extraordinary momentum. Seeing that, she was puzzled. On the other hand, Polly–who sat opposite

Paige—exclaimed, “Oh my god! That’s Lara Bennett, the chairman of Mirage Hotel and the most

capable woman entrepreneur in Oplen! Wait, Lei’s hotel chairman-Brian Mccarty—is here too! But who

is the bigshot standing between them?” Once Polly finished her words, everyone’s eyes fell on Lara

and the other bosses, as well as the handsome man in the middle, who was escorted politely by them.

Suddenly, the man in the middle looked in Polly’s direction with surprise. Then, his eyes fell on Paige,

and he gasped, “Honey, why are you here?” Following Joseph’s words, a hush descended over the

crowd. As for those women who had just ridiculed Paige, their mouths were wide opened, and they

looked at Paige in disbelief…