Chapter 158
In Matty’s waiting room, Xavier and Matty had already gotten the news. Along with Wendy, they were now huddled around
Sharon.
Wendy scowled at the coffee stain on Sharon’s dress, her voice rising with anger.
“Kelly is seriously disgusting. She’s jealous of Sharon’s looks, so she dumped coffee all over her. When you’ve got no talent, I guess cheap tricks are your only move. She’s that scared Sharon’s going to steal the spotlight…”
Before she could finish, a voice cut in from behind, thick with sarcasm. It was Nate.
“Oh please, overshadowed by a housewife? That’s rich. Kelly graduated from Bell University Conservatory of Music, and you’re seriously saying she’s not talented?”
Wendy rolled her eyes-she’d heard that same line from Nate too many times to count. “So what if she graduated from Bell? So did I.”
Bell University-one of the top five arts schools in the world. A prestigious conservatory in Marcentine, known for producing true musicians and artists-not performers.
They didn’t even offer performance-based majors, because their goal wasn’t to churn out pop stars. They trained serious artists.
Wendy had loved music since she was little, and she had decent pitch too. But next to prodigies like Sharon or John, she may as well have been invisible.
Still, she was a strong student. It had taken everything she had to get into Bell. But her major wasn’t in performance or composition-it was arts management, a far less glamorous track. With her grades, she never would’ve gotten into the performance program.
For musicians around the world, Bell was the ultimate dream. And for many, that dream shattered fast. Once inside, you realized your “talent” didn’t mean much surrounded by global prodigies.
Wendy had lived that reality. Her first semester, she was overwhelmed by the sheer level of talent around her-there was always someone better, someone more brilliant.
If just getting into Bell made you a genius, then Sharon was the kind of genius who made the rest look average.
Not many people knew Sharon’s background, but Wendy had been her classmate-she knew exactly how gifted she was. If Sharon had stayed in Marcentine to build her career, she would’ve matched her mother’s legacy by now.
Even John, a renowned name in the music world, couldn’t quite catch up to her.
They say success is 99% hard work and 1% talent. With Sharon, it was almost flipped. Her talent was maxed out. Even the smallest bit of effort took her farther than most people could ever hope to go.
Life wasn’t fair. Talent and effort were never on equal footing.
But the scariest kind of person wasn’t just talented-
It was someone who had both talent and drive.
And Sharon was exactly that.
By the end of her first semester, she’d already been inducted into Bell’s Hall of Fame.
Nate’s snide laugh snapped Wendy out of her thoughts. “You? A Bell alum? Then I must be a Hall of Famer too, huh? Who isn’t bragging these days?”
Wendy’s face turned icy. “Are you delusional or just naturally stupid? Who’s bragging?”
1/2
Nate turned to Kelly. “Kelly, have you ever seen her at Bell?”
Kelly shook her head. “No.”
Nate’s face lit up, smug like he’d just exposed a liar. “See, Miss Clueless? Stop faking it. Kelly’s never even seen you at Bell.”
Wendy rolled her eyes so hard it practically echoed.
“And you, Mr. Bootlicker, might just be the dumbest man I’ve ever met. Just because Kelly didn’t see me doesn’t mean I wasn’t there. Who the hell does she think she is? Also, how do you even know if we were in the same class? You’re out here talking nonsense with zero facts. Enough already-take your circus act somewhere else.” (1
Kelly hesitated before speaking. “Wendy, I’m only a year younger than Sharon… but I never heard of either of you when I was there.”
The implication was clear: even if they weren’t in the same year, they were still close enough in age-and all from the same country-so crossing paths should’ve been likely.
2/2
