Billionaire's Hidden Princess by Alegna Ciee (most popular novels txt) 📖

Chapter Twenty-Six: Ascertained Feelings

The monthly fashion competition will be taking place on the day after tomorrow.

That's why Leticia is on the go right now, hoping to try submitting another work. She joined this contest a number of times before and won first place in almost every attempt she made. This is one of the reasons why she rose on the top of her class.

It's not that she's being competitive even though that's how most people see it. She was just simply inspired by the themes and felt motivated to put her skills to test.

This time, though, it's not only the theme that encouraged Leticia to join, but her plan to give the final product to a certain someone as well.

She wants Livius to wear the necktie once it's done. It'll be the first handmade gift that she’ll be giving him, and she wants it to be a special occasion by winning in the competition.

Leticia doesn't really have to emerge victorious, though. Whether she ends up winning or not, she'll still give it to him.

"Oh, how sweet of you, Eya~" beamed her friend after she finished her story.

Vanessa is keeping her company inside the university's home economic lab right now - in the sewing room, more particularly. Her classes for today just finished. Now, she’s hanging out with the brunette after quite a while of not being able to spend time together.

Leticia is making the necktie at the moment, carefully stitching the parts and trying to be as impeccable as possible in following the pattern she thought of.

“You’re really lucky, you know. Who would’ve thought that my shy friend would get herself this big shot of a boyfriend?” Vanessa mused out loud, making her blush in embarrassment.

“N-Nessy… D-Don’t say it that way…” Leticia blurted out bashfully.

“But it’s true…! Heck, girl, you’re dating the CEO of Apollon Group Holdings. Who wouldn’t be stunned by that?”

Even up until this day, she’s still stunned by that fact as well. All she did was fall in love, after all, and she didn’t even make an effort to get Livius look her way back then.

But then again, her boyfriend himself is such a mystery. He still hasn’t told her the reason why he’s wearing a disguise that time. Though she knows for herself that she doesn’t mind, she also knows that the reason still matters and is worth learning about.

“But if Livi didn’t look like that back then, would I still fall for him…?” she wondered silently.

“If I happened to meet him as the President, would things be the same as they were?”

While pondering this chain of thoughts, her friend just keeps gushing about how fortunate she is to meet someone like Livius. She then finds herself agreeing that she owes everything to the work of fate – to her fortune, destiny or any inexplicable entity that can make the impossible happen.

With that in mind, Leticia doesn’t realize that she’s been grinning giddily while working on the necktie this whole time.

Unbeknownst to the two, though, someone’s been eavesdropping on them for some time now – hiding beside the door outside of the room.

“So, she joined the competition for him, huh? And it’s okay if she doesn’t win…” Gabriel thought to himself, a frown marring his frame.

He has heard their entire conversation from start to finish. All it did was torment him, though. He never heard Leticia speak of someone with so much regards and affection.

She used to be the lone girl in the classroom, that shy college student who didn’t like blending in, and a girl who loved solitude more than anything. Not once did he hear her speak properly or burst into laughter back when the school term was still starting.

Gabriel also never saw Leticia wear that kind of smile before.

Now that he had seen all of these, he couldn’t help but be drawn for some reason. Everything just took him aback, and before he knew it, he found himself completely interested in her.

The only problem is that he managed to see this side of her when she’s already in love with someone.

“Or maybe it’s more appropriate to say that I got to see this only because she has fallen in love?”

He can’t hold onto any certainty at this point. He can’t even understand his own feelings anymore.

With those impressions in mind, Gabriel then suddenly recalls what Livius told him during the last time they met – his claim that he really didn’t appreciate Leticia as a whole, that is.

“That jerk… What does he know, anyway?” he hissed in vex.

“Huh? Gabriel?”

Then, he jolted.

All of the sudden, Leticia appears beside him with a nonplussed expression, her head popping out of the door. Thrown off guard, Gabriel frantically takes a step back and turns to look at her, his eyes as wide as saucers.

“M-Ms. Selene… You surprised me,” he blurted out while blinking rapidly.

“Oh, actually… You kinda surprised me too. How long have you been here?” she asked before stepping out of the room and closing the door. 

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