Chapter 557

Til work hard and won’t need you to go easy on me.” Tessa was confident in herself. Nevertheless, she had to rely on her own efforts to obtain the role of the concertmaster. When Scott saw the assured look on the girl’s face, his gaze darkened as a hint of bitterness surfaced in it. However, he quickly looked away before responding to her words. “I’m not going to make it easy for you, but as a friend, I can do you a favor,” he offered.

“Forget it. I’m not facing any issues recently, anyway.” Tessa rejected him once more. Since she had decided to rely on her own abilities, she decided that she wouldn’t accept anyone’s help. Moreover, she didn’t want others to spread nasty rumors about her when she actually won the competition fair and square. Perhaps Scott could tell what was going on in Tessa’s mind as he no longer insisted on doing her a favor after that. Instead, he changed the topic to talk about the fun stuff he had encountered in other countries recently.

Both Tessa and Scott chatted happily in the studio. The atmosphere inside was harmonious, but a dark aura came from outside the room as Kathleen glared at them resentfully. She had received the news the moment Scott arrived at the orchestra’s practice location. However, after her previous experience at the detention center, she felt too embarrassed to meet him, so she hid away from him. Yet, she felt extremely jealous when he saw her chatting with Tessa.

Perhaps Kathleen’s glare had given off a rather noticeable aura for Tessa and Scott both turned around to look in her direction simultaneously. “Kathleen?” they both said synchronously; there was even the same note of confusion in their voices. A flustered look surfaced on Kathleen’s face as she instinctively thought of hiding away. But before she could do anything, Scott’s pleasant voice traveled into her ear.

“It’s been a while, Kathleen.” He pressed his lips into a smile as he walked toward her. Kathleen’s feet wouldn’t seem to budge when she saw the handsome man strolling in her direction. In the end, she had no choice but to put on a smile. “It has been a while.”Scott didn’t seem to realize anything odd about Kathleen. “How have you been?”“I’ve been well,” she replied with a smile.Scott nodded. Right then, he recalled the things that Kathleen had done in the past. “I heard about what happened previously. You didn’t have to go against Miss Reinhart. She’s a nice person—you’ll recognize her good trails after getting to know her a little better,” he suggested. Kathleen couldn’t help but clench her fists in response to his words. She lowered her gaze in order for her eyelashes to conceal the vicious look in her eyes.Scott didn’t realize anything at all as he continued talking about Tessa. “You shouldn’t make things hard for Miss Hathaway either. Right now, she’s caught between her daughter and her protege.”

When she heard his words, Kathleen felt like she was about to erupt with jealousy and rage as she thought Scott was just trying to protect Tessa.Kathleen balled her fists and dug her fingernails into her palms, but she couldn’t feel the pain. Even though she desperately wanted to kill Tessa at that moment, she still forced a smile onto her face. “Don’t worry. I’ve already learned from my mistakes, and I’ve already apologized to her. She has forgiven me as well.”Scott wasn’t suspicious of her words at all.

Instead, he let out a smile of relief. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

Kathleen’s heart ached when she saw how he responded to her lie. “I bet you didn’t know this, but Tessa and I are good friends now,” she continued. Scott was somewhat surprised al this point. But before he could say anything else, Kathleen’s soft voice sounded in his ears.“I was a little too stubborn in the past, Scott. You’re not going to hate me for that, are you?”He curled his lips into a smile when he saw the concern on Kathleen’s face. “Since you’ve learned from your mistakes, why should I hate you?” he asked.Kathleen could tell that the man wasn’t just trying to brush her off, so she spread her lips into a bright smile. “I’m glad that you don’t hate me,” she said merrily. Then, they chatted for a while more before she left for practice.That evening, after Tessa was done practicing, Scott walked over to her. “Would you allow me the honor of buying you dinner tonight, Miss Reinhart?”