Chapter 9

Alison instinctively wanted to hide her hands behind her back, but she realized it would look suspicious and refrained from doing so. In the game, she killed Ares and was shot by someone else.
Ares resisted the urge to kick Alison and instead spoke up for her. "Alexander, I finished my homework!"
Alexander was surprised and glanced at Alison before walking over to his desk. "Let me see."
Ares took out all of his homework assignments for Alexander to review. They were all completed and corrected with mistakes already fixed. Some even had summaries included. Alexander became increasingly amazed as he turned towards Alison.
Alison met his gaze with her clear black-and-white eyes without any hesitation. "I promised Ares I would finish my homework before playing games with him."
Alexander's lips curved into a half-smile as he put down the assignments and said to Ares, "Well done! Keep playing!"
He then left the room.
Alison breathed a sigh of relief without showing any emotion on her face. She exchanged glances with Ares; they both felt they had narrowly escaped danger.
Ares sneered, "Are you terrified of Alexander?"
Alison blurted out in response, "Are you not afraid?"
Ares raised an eyebrow. "If Alexander gets angry enough, he might hit me, but not you. So why are you scared?"
"I..." Alison stuttered awkwardly before saying defensively, "...who says I'm scared of him?"
Ares teased while looking at her mockingly.
Annoyed by this conversation, Alison picked up her phone and said impatiently," Let's start another round without mentioning your precious Alexander again."
As Ares opened his tablet device, menacingly threatening," If you dare bomb me again, I'll shoot you first!"
Feeling guilty yet nervous about what happened earlier, Alison smiled and said," I won't do it again, I promise."
...
When Alison left the villa, she didn't see Alexander. The driver still drove her back. However, her mood brightened up considerably after leaving. Some people can pressure others even if they are in the same room. Alexander had not gone out all morning. During lunchtime, there were ten dishes and one soup on the large table, with only Alexander and Ares eating.
After a few sips of soup, Alexander put down his spoon and asked," How do you feel about your new tutor?"
"Not bad!" Ares nodded.
Alexander teased lightly," Because she plays games with you?"
Ares disagreed," Many people would play games with me willingly. So it's not like I'm saying everyone else is terrible!"
He acted haughty while saying," Actually, I pity her!"
"Why is she pitiful?" Alexander asked nonchalantly.
Ares furrowed his brows slightly."She has had no parents since childhood, only a sick grandfather."
"Did she tell you this?"
"Yeah."
"You can't keep her around just because of that. I hired her as a tutor, not to help those in need." The man spoke indifferently.
Ares thought momentarily before replying, "It's not entirely because of that reason, but anyway, she explains problems well enough for me to understand them."
"Mm-hmm." Alexander didn't say anything else."Since you're okay with it, let's stick with her."
Ares nodded in agreement which meant he accepted it without any objections from now on.
...
Suddenly, Alexander felt like Alison was somewhat capable, whether or not she was genuinely sad or pretending to be so. Alison took the Rosier family's car and got off at the entrance of Columbia University, then took a bus back to her villa on the hill. As the bus passed through the eastern suburbs, the road gradually widened with green trees shading both sides. Large forest parks, along with New York's famous West Lake and the rolling mountains, could be seen in sight.
High-end villas were hidden among the trees, offering beautiful scenery and fresh air. Compared to the crowded and noisy city center, this place was like heaven on earth.
When Alison went to pick up her car later, Coco from a nearby tea shop called out to her: "Alison, come sit for a while!"
"Sure!" Alison replied.
Entering the shop, where there weren't many customers around sitting in groups of two or three in corners, Coco pulled Alison over to sit on wooden chairs by floor-to-ceiling windows, saying, "Wait here!"
On top of raw wood tables sat glass vases filled with blooming yellow daisies that ideally suited today's refreshing weather. Coco came over carrying a natural wood tray placing desserts one by one onto a table - peach pudding, chocolate mousse cake, and a large cup of passion fruit iced milk tea - all things that Alison loved.
"Eat up! They're all yours!" said Coco, who had a round face and big eyes, wearing black-framed glasses, smiling, revealing two dimples making her look very cute.
Alison brought pudding closer, picked up the spoon, and started eating as Coco held hands under her chin, watching her smiley-eyed.
Whenever she went out, Alison would park her electric bike outside this tea shop, which led them to become friends after seeing each other frequently enough times.
"Alison," asked Coco suddenly, "You can start interning this summer, right? Have you thought about what you want to do?"
Holding onto the spoon tightly, thinking for a while before shaking my head and replying, "Not yet."
"Then do you have any dreams or things you want to do?" Coco asked again.
Alison thought momentarily before answering thoughtfully, "I want to buy Sag Harbor."
She loved Sag Harbor, but it wasn't hers. If she divorced Alexander, she would have to move out.
Coco knocked on the table and said: "Can't you think of something more practical?"
Alison stopped talking and finished her pudding before starting on the cake.
"Oh yeah, Alison," Coco suddenly gossiped, "Have you ever met Alexander while working in Sag Harbor?"
Coco had always thought that Alison worked as a maid in Sag Harbor to earn tuition fees through work-study programs.
Answering truthfully, Alison replied: "No."
"Oh!" Coco propped up her chin, saying, "That's too bad!"
Coco studied architectural design and heard Alexander personally build the villa on the hill in Sag Harbor. She had always admired him greatly. After chatting longer, Alison left with another piece of cake from Coco. Carrying it with her while riding an electric bike, turning onto Cloud Avenue, then entering Sag Harbor.
The villa is located halfway up the mountain. As the small tram approaches, the carved iron gate automatically opens to both sides. The mansion has large, neatly built lawns, a glass flower house, and century-old flowering trees... On the right side of the stone path is the main house area with a slightly American style. You can see Cooper lying on the pure white carpet through the large floor-to-ceiling windows.
When Alison entered, Cooper quickly ran out. Alison squatted down and hugged Cooper. She thought of Alexander's dog he was raising now and felt a little sorry for it. She patted her cake box and said, "I'll give you half later!"
Cooper became even more excited and kept circling Alison. Finally, when they entered the house before Maria came out of the kitchen, Cooper had already brought over a soft mop and waited for Alison to change shoes.
"Why are you so well-behaved today?" Alison smiled brightly.
Maria came out and took over Alison's cake with a light smile: "If madam wants to eat cake, she could just tell me; I don't like her eating outside food."
"It's from Coco!" explained Alison. Maria liked making all kinds of snacks for her but didn't want her to eat outside food.
Maria knew Coco too; she smiled and nodded: "Then tomorrow when Jack goes out, I'll have him bring some fresh fruit for Coco."
"You handle it," laughed Alison as she went upstairs with Cooper.
After taking a shower with Cooper while eating cake together, an incoming call on her phone caught Allison's attention - "senior."
"What are you doing?" The man's voice was low-pitched magnetic tone containing an imperceptible smile.
"Eating," replied Allison after licking off some cream from her finger.
"Mrs. Fang called today specifically requesting that King himself design a jade necklace for her, offering ten million yuan just for the design fee."
"Mrs Fang? She's quite generous this time." Mrs. Fang was a high-level VIP at GK Jewelry Store and used to be a model. Although she married into a wealthy family, she had some petty behavior in her actions, buying jewelry worth tens of thousands but haggling over packaging boxes and servers costing only one thousand yuan. So why did she change her attitude this time?
"Next month is Mrs. Fang's eightieth birthday celebration, and it will soon be time to divide the family property. Mrs. Fang wants more benefits, so she has to find ways to please the old lady. Do you have time? Do you want to take on this project?"
Alison chuckled: "Of course, I'll take it! Why not earn money when there's an opportunity? One month is enough time."
"Well then, I'll call her back tomorrow." Qin Jun paused before asking: "When are you coming to the design studio?"
While looking around, Alison sipped yogurt through a straw: "How about this weekend? Let me check my schedule first."
"Okay, waiting for you!"