Rebirth Of The Forgotten Heiress - Chapter 67: Chapter 67

Seated in the back, Yasin watched Quinlyn's rapidly shifting expressions, unable to suppress a smirk tugging at his lips. But the movement tugged at the stitches inside his mouth.
Quinlyn almost sprang out of her seat and snapped, "Be quiet."
Yasin nodded.
Quinlyn gave him a once-over, relieved to see no other injuries and that he was still in the same clothes. As she let herself relax a little, her gaze finally rested on his face.
Yasin's strong, chiseled jaw was inexplicably swollen on one side, with a faint trace of blood at the corner of his mouth. Quinlyn frowned. "Open your mouth."
Yasin said, "Got stitches. Can't open wide."
Quinlyn snapped, "I'm not asking you to go down on me." Realizing how that sounded, she cleared her throat awkwardly. "Just open your mouth a little. Let me check your stitches."
The new driver up front didn't say a word. He just quietly lowered the privacy partition. It was his first day on the job, and he was still getting familiar with the ropes.
Hearing this, Yasin just shot her a sidelong glance. It was loaded with unspoken messages. It was up to Quinlyn to decide what she wanted to take from it.
She didn't want to read into it at all. Quinlyn leaned in closer for a better look.
Yasin obediently tilted his head down slightly and parted his lips, letting her examine him.
Quinlyn narrowed her eyes at the black sutures in his mouth but kept silent. Quinlyn settled back into her seat and stated matter-of-factly, "It was Chaney, right?"
Yasin raised a brow, neither confirming nor denying. He was surprised she'd guessed it was Chancey.
"I'm not stupid. Two hours ago, you went to meet him, and now you're already stitched up. Unless you stopped to flirt with someone else's wife and got beaten up by her husband on the way back."
Quinlyn quickly reined in her emotions, leaving no trace of her earlier agitation.
Yasin didn't press further. He knew what Quinlyn was holding back at that moment. But he was perfectly happy with how things were, so he didn't press the matter. As the car started moving, he asked, "How was your first day?"
Although he'd seen her report card, that was quite a while ago.
And this was a customized one-on-one intensive tutoring program. The teacher began the first session by giving her a comprehensive test paper covering all subjects to assess her overall abilities and identify her strengths and weaknesses.
The silence was deafening. He gave Quinlyn a sideways glance. He watched as Quinlyn's expression shifted from animated back to a completely spaced-out, zombie-like state. He didn't understand what she meant by that.
This time, Quinlyn caught the meaning in his gaze. Looking back on those two hours, she felt utterly drained. "Well, you got one thing right," Quinlyn admitted with a self-deprecating smile. "I really am hopeless at studying."
Quinlyn used to have good grades before she went astray. After that detour in life, her academics hit rock bottom. When the Guzman family brought her back, they enrolled her in school at her proper age. She studied her heart out.
Even though Quinlyn had tried her best to keep up, she was still completely overshadowed by Yalena's brilliance. The contrast was painful. She was nothing but dull, gray dust, while Yalena shone like a dazzling star.
After all this rambling, she still couldn't deny that she was stubbornly obsessed with things that were completely beyond her reach.
For example, when Yalena was so good at dancing and everyone liked her, she wanted to learn dancing, just hoping people would notice her.
She ended up putting the cart before the horse. Her grades always stayed mediocre, and just when her dancing was finally starting to show promise, she slipped during practice and could never set foot on stage again.
Now, after all these years, facing high school material again, she couldn't help but feel like a complete failure. She had to admit that she was a loser.
For a long moment, there was no response. Quinlyn looked up in confusion. Then she saw Yasin pointing dramatically at the corner of his mouth. "I just finished bragging about you, and now you're already backing down?"
Quinlyn blinked in confusion. "Huh?"
"I was bragging like crazy in front of Chancey, saying you're way better than Yalena in every possible way. I even told him they should all get their heads checked. And now you're telling me you're just a hopeless loser?"
Quinlyn was stunned for a moment, then blurted out, "With you hyping me up like that, I'm seriously freaked out."
Yasin said, "Do you have any idea how much this tutor charges per hour?"
Quinlyn had a vague idea about that. That tutor spent a good ten minutes just introducing himself, rattling off one prestigious award after another until her head spun.
"Do you even know how much an hour of my time is worth?"
Quinlyn thought to herself, 'How would I know? You always look like you've got nothing better to do.'
"Do you know how much this ruined face of mine is gonna cost me?" Yasin glanced at the dumbfounded Quinlyn and grinned. "Need me to spell out exactly how much you owe me, kiddo?"
Quinlyn gulped involuntarily.
"Do you remember what you promised me on the island?" Yasin sighed dramatically, looking every bit the jilted lover.
"Wasn't it just yesterday you made those grand promises? And now you've already tossed them to the wind." He sighed dramatically, then added, "Well, if that's how it is, I can't waste my prime years on you. Pay up," he declared with finality.
Quinlyn felt like she was watching Yasin perform an entire one-man comedy routine. She had no idea how to even respond.
Yasin chuckled softly, wincing as he licked the corner of his mouth. "Thought you wanted to turn things around? Can't do it?"
All his previous grandiose speeches paled in comparison to those final words. It was uttered with a wince of pain, brows slightly furrowed, yet still accompanied by that faint, stubborn smile.
She heard herself say, "I can." Quinlyn felt she was under some kind of spell.
Yarden nodded. "Alright, I'll have Timothy draw up a contract for you based on your scores. If you meet my expectations, we're good. If not, well, I'll have to think about how you'll make it up to me."
Just like that, Quinlyn snapped out of his spell. She shot him a sidelong glance. "You're pulling the pity card now?"
Yasin tsked dramatically. "No choice. When your child needs to study hard, a parent has to use every trick in the book."
Yasin expected Quinlyn to keep talking back to him, so he'd already prepared his comebacks.
To his surprise, Quinlyn glanced at the corner of his mouth. His long comedy routine had caused a faint trickle of blood to seep out again. Lowering her lashes, she silently took out a wet wipe and gently dabbed away the blood for him.
Quinlyn said, "Okay, got it." She knew Yasin was serious about his role. She had no problem with that. After parting with Yasin, Quinlyn—though now convinced, if a bit grudgingly—immediately tracked down Chancey at work.
Chancey was a bit surprised when Quinlyn showed up, but seeing her storm in with such fiery determination, he realized it actually made perfect sense. He had seen it coming when Quinlyn swung a fist at him without warning.
For the next several minutes, Quinlyn unleashed a storm of fury that would put any drama performance to shame. She was done expecting anything from Chancey. She was determined to wipe him out.
When Quinlyn stormed out, the secretary stared at the still-trembling office door, too intimidated to step inside.