Chapter 560

Hayley scoffed to herself with an evil and determined look on her face. After all, she was someone who had been pampered as a child—if she ever wanted anything, someone would make sure that she got what she wanted. Unfortunately, as she grew up in an environment that encouraged her twisted behavior, it shaped her into someone rash and extreme—she would choose to destroy the things that came in the way of what she wanted.

She hated Tessa the most as Tessa was the reason she had been shamed so severely. Tessa was the reason Nicholas hated her so much! How could she not despise Tessa?!

Tessa didn’t know about any of this as she was loo focused on her training, especially after Miss Hathaway announced the competition date. She lost even more weight during this period, and Mona was worried about seeing her friend like that. But no matter how much Mona tried to convince her, she would only nod along to whatever Mona said before returning to her own training methods. It drove Mona absolutely nuts as she didn’t know what to do with her.

One day, even Hathaway decided that she had had enough of this. She ordered Tessa to pay a visit to her office. “Is anything the matter, Miss Hathaway?” Tessa sat on the couch while eyeing Hathaway puzzledly. “It’s the weekend tomorrow. I want to give you a day off,” Hathaway offered.

But Tessa only shook her head. “Thank you for your offer, but I don’t feel like resting now.” In fact, she couldn’t bring herself to rest when the competition was around the corner. To Tessa’s surprise, Hathaway responded in an unyielding tone. “No. You need to rest. I’m not having a discussion with you —I’m giving you orders. You need to rest tomorrow.”Tessa froze. “Why?” she asked instinctively.“Did you ask me why? Look at how you’ve neglected your well-being in the past few days! If this continues, you’re going to collapse before the competition,” Hathaway said in exasperation. “I know you want to obtain good results during the competition, but you need to have good health and a good mindset to be in your best condition, right? Do you think you’re in good condition now?”Tessa was speechless in the face of Hathaway’s questions, and a bashful look spread across her face. Tessa was aware that she had been pushing herself a little too hard, so she finally decided to take Hathaway’s advice to get some rest and recalibrate her mindset.

Tessa didn’t go to practice the next day as it was her day off. Instead, after she had her breakfast, she gave Gregory a call. The young boy was extremely excited when he received a call from her. “You finally called me, Miss Tessa! I missed you so, so much!” the boy cried in joy.“I missed you too, Gregory,” she replied while gazing at him with a smile that reached all the way to her eyes. They chatted for a while more before he had to go to bed. After the call was over, she held onto her phone and proceeded to call Nicholas instead. When Nicholas heard that Hathaway had forced her to take a day off, he thought that Hathaway was a pretty reliable teacher.Both of them exchanged sweet nothings for a while more before Tessa urged Nicholas to get some rest. During the afternoon, Tessa headed directly to the restaurant where she performed.

Wilbur felt the urge to speak up when he saw how skinny the girl had become. “It’s good to work hard, but you shouldn’t overdo it. It’s not worth it.” Tessa knew that Wilbur cared for her, so she nodded with a smile. “You’re right. That’s why I got a day off today.” They chatted for a while more before she started her performance.She played a light-hearted melody that received a huge round of applause.

“Thank you!” She bowed and brought her violin back to the dressing room after that. She was on the way back to the dressing room when she heard someone calling for her. “Miss Reinhart.”Tessa turned around to find Angus walking over. “Mr. Angus,” she greeted with a slight smile. Angus nodded before making an unexpected comment. “Did you have something on your mind while you were playing just now? The way you played the violin today sounded forced.”“Forced?” Tessa frowned in confusion.

“Why would you say that, Mr. Angus?”“You used to play more naturally and emotionally that sounded mesmerizing to the ears. But this time, it seems like your violin-playing sounds rather stiff’and mechanical,” he said.