Chapter 160 He was Hurt
‘He didn’t give me the opportunity to explain, and he didn’t ask about the photos. How could he convict me without a fair trial?’
In fact, Oliver had yet to decide what score to give Natalie. In his opinion, her face and figure were extremely pleasing to the eye in the photo, but he found it simply infuriating that Roger was in the same frame as her. For this reason, he wanted to give her 0 points. He did not want her to work with another man and only wanted her to leave the competition.
However, when he saw her eyes widen and glisten with tears, looking at him with resentment and disappointment, he felt a twinge of pain in his heart.
Suddenly, the phone on the table vibrated.
Oliver looked at the unknown number on his screen. Due to his eidetic memory, he could tell with a glance it was Robert’s number.
Natalie, who was standing on the stage, could clearly see Oliver’s expression darken even more. Her breath hitched as she waited for his decision. She knew she would only further anger him if she confronted him now, which would also lead to suspicion regarding his identity. For these reasons, she thought perhaps it was best to leave.
However, when she realized her own thoughts, she became frustrated with herself. Despite the circumstances, she was still concerned about him.
‘I must be crazy!’
Oliver paused for half a second, intending to ignore the message. However, after a brief hesitation, he responded to the text message.
Oliver: You better not take this opportunity away from me.
Both being intelligent individuals, they comprehended each other's intentions without the need to exchange many words.
Oliver looked at the scoring device in front of him. If he gave Natalie 0 points, she would undoubtedly be crushed. Perhaps, she might not even want to return home.
"Alright, let's calculate the scores..." the host suddenly said. However, before he could finish his words, the number on Oliver’s scoring device suddenly changed.
The number 1 appeared in front of the 0.
Oliver did not think there was anything wrong with his action and ordered casually, “Alright. Calculate the points.”
He spoke as though he was speaking to his subordinates in the company.
There were many things on everyone’s mind, but none of them dared to speak up.
Natalie looked at Oliver in shock, baffled by his sudden shift in behavior. She was certain that he had initially intended to give 0 points. However, he suddenly gave her a perfect score. Not only that, but his expression had grown worse. A dark cloud seemed to hang above his head, deterring others from approaching him. She found all of this confusing.
‘What happened?’
While Natalie pondered on this matter, she suddenly noticed that Oliver's left hand was resting on the table, a departure from his usual habits.
On the other side, the production team was getting ready to wrap up this segment.
Meanwhile, Oliver did not expect that after canceling his work and an important meeting to come here, things would end up this way. He felt extremely frustrated. Now that he had fulfilled his role as a judge, he no longer had the patience to stay and left immediately.
Natalie narrowed her eyes and, at the moment he slipped his left hand into his pocket, she caught a glimpse of the layers of gauze around it.
‘Is he injured?’
Almost instinctively, Natalie wanted to chase after him, but the nearby cameras prevented her from doing so. She could not recklessly chase after him, as it would surely arouse suspicions about his identity and trigger further inquiries.
Meanwhile, the production team asked the other contestants to step on stage one by one to reveal their scores.
In the end, Natalie obtained 9.7 points from the judges, securing a substantial lead in first place.
"How could she possibly receive such a high score?"
Hailey could not believe it. She was certain that Oliver would give Natalie a low score, after all.
“Hailey, are you implying that we’re cheating?”
The director was displeased upon hearing these words. He knew that Hailey was from a wealthy family and heard that she was kind and gentle, but after interacting with her, he felt that that was not the case at all.
"No, that’s not what I meant!" Hailey quickly composed herself and apologized, saying, "I merely thought that Mr. Windsor was more conservative with his scoring, so I didn’t expect Natalie to have such high scores.”
Upon hearing this, the other models turned to look at Natalie in unison.
Except for Natalie, Oliver had awarded four or five points to everyone else, and only one person had received six points.
The director did not comment on this. Based on what he had seen, it seemed like Natalie had some connections to RK Group. It was only natural that she had received a perfect score. In the end, he only said, “Alright, let’s continue.”
Now that he had spoken, no one dared to say anything.
…
In the end, Natalie rose to the top in this round of competition and took first place.
Thanks to her online votes, Hailey secured second place.
As for Arwynn, she barely managed to rank fourth. To her, fourth place was a humiliation. She could not deny that Natalie performed exceptionally well in the photoshoot, so she could not complain. However, how did Hailey, with her mediocre performance, surpass her?
‘Is it just because she comes from a privileged background? Is it because her fiance is the young master of the Harrington family?’
Arwyn admitted that her performance was only average this time, but no matter what, she still performed better than Hailey. The unfair treatment and embarrassment tormented her self-esteem, and an uncontrollable impulse appeared in her heart, growing like a seed in water. Eventually, it would reach a critical point, where it would uncontrollably explode.
…
Almost immediately after the results were announced, Natalie found an excuse and hastily left, heading toward the exit. She hoped Oliver had not left yet.
She rushed outside and unexpectedly found the familiar Bentley parked outside and saw Jamie standing not far from the car smoking a cigarette.
"Young Madam!" Jamie saw Natalie and extinguished his cigarette. After confirming that no one was around, he walked over.
"Jamie, where’s Oliver?" Natalie asked.
Jamie shook his head. "The young master hasn’t come out yet."
‘It has already been half an hour since he left. Where is he?’
…
Earlier when Oliver left, Roger had been waiting for him outside. His silver hair was particularly eye-catching, and his enchanting side profile looked just like what Jane had captured on camera. The only difference was there was no warmth and tenderness in his gaze which he had displayed when facing Natalie.
"Mr. Windsor, I don't quite like the gift you sent," Roger said. Despite the smirk on his face, his gaze was frosty.
In fact, within two days of Charles delivering the presents, Roger returned them to RK Group, using methods that matched DIE Organization’s mysterious style of operation.
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