Mr. Sinclair suddenly stopped Nina.
"Dad, what is it?"
"I'm only docking one month of your allowance this time. There won't be a next time."
Nina's face turned deathly pale, and she nodded.
She knew this was a veiled warning, but she didn't dare to argue back and could only trudge upstairs, utterly dejected.
Watching the two sisters go upstairs, Mr. Sinclair sighed, his gaze fixed on Nina's retreating back with an indescribable sense of disappointment.
He had to admit he was biased.
But he had raised Nina for so many years; it was impossible not to have feelings for her. However, today's incident forced him to put his guard up.
After entering her room, Chloe Sinclair suddenly noticed some mottled bloodstains on her school uniform pants.
It wasn't a large area; you wouldn't even notice it if you weren't looking closely.
'Jasper Shaw must have accidentally brushed it onto me in the alley.'
Thinking of Jasper Shaw, Chloe found it impossible to calm down and study.
In her memory, Jasper Shaw was gentle and composed, always polite and well-spoken. But the look in his eyes today had surprised her.
Those dark eyes were like a hawk's staring down its prey, so fierce they sent a shiver through her heart.
'Besides, that group of people today was clearly after Jasper Shaw. So why did they leave so quickly after seeing my brother's car?'
Chloe thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure it out, letting out a soft sigh.
In her past life, both the Sinclair Family and Jasper Shaw had protected her too well, so much so that she knew very little about the outside world.
Chloe shook her head, grabbed a set of pajamas from her closet, and went into the bathroom.
Chloe was up early the next morning.
As she was leaving her room, she happened to run into Ethan Sinclair from across the hall.
"Morning, Ethan."
Chloe gave a small smile, and his heart instantly melted.
Ethan noticed Chloe was wearing a tracksuit. "Going for a run?"
Chloe nodded obediently. Knowing Ethan had a habit of running in the morning, she asked, "Want to go together?"
"Sure."
The facilities in their gated community were excellent. There was a running track on the east side, and when they arrived, a number of elderly people were already practicing Tai Chi.
Chloe didn't hesitate. After doing a thorough stretch, she started jogging along the track.
Her body was too weak; she was already panting after just three laps. In contrast, Ethan, who was right beside her, wasn't even out of breath, with only a few beads of sweat on his forehead.
In the end, Chloe only managed ten laps before she sat down to rest.
"Ten laps is very impressive for your first time."
Chloe felt a little embarrassed.
After all, her brother had run a full twenty laps and still wasn't even breathing hard.
The two of them returned to the house together at seven o'clock.
Mr. Sinclair was already on the sofa, reading the morning's financial paper.
He was taken aback for a moment to see the two siblings coming in from outside.
"Good morning, Dad."
It wasn't until Chloe spoke that Mr. Sinclair snapped out of his daze.
They went upstairs, took quick showers, and then came down for breakfast.
At the breakfast table, Nina was silent.
Watching her father and brother continuously place food on Chloe's plate, her knuckles turned white as she gripped her chopsticks.
The driver today had been changed to a man in his thirties.
Chloe acted as if nothing was amiss, getting in the car and immediately trying to catch up on sleep.
Chloe made it to the classroom just in the nick of time, where she found Summer Beckett hastily munching on her breakfast.
Summer shoved the rest of the fried dough stick in her mouth in a few bites. Seeing Chloe open a workbook to do math, she mumbled, "Did you get a beating yesterday?"
Chloe looked up in confusion. Before she could speak, Summer continued, as if to herself, "The homeroom teacher called my dad yesterday. She happened to mention my English grade, and he got so mad he chased me around the house for half an hour."
Chloe froze, suddenly remembering yesterday's report card.
"I haven't shown it to my dad yet."
Before Summer had a chance to tease her, she heard Chloe add, "My dad wouldn't hit me."
Summer had no doubt about that.
The Sinclair family doted on their newly returned daughter; the idea of them hitting her over bad grades was unthinkable.
Thinking of her own miserable ordeal the day before, Summer almost cried with envy.
Chloe ignored her and pulled the unfinished math homework from yesterday out of her bag.
Summer's eyes swept over the page, and she realized she couldn't understand a single problem.
Chloe's workbook, however, was covered in dense scribbles, and in some places, there was just a final answer written down.
Then, Chloe pulled an answer key out from between the pages of her book.
Summer understood instantly.
'That explains it,' she thought. 'Chloe is dead last in our class, so how could she possibly solve such difficult math problems?'
She felt much better about her own situation.
Chloe, busy checking her answers, felt a gaze fixed on the top of her head that didn't move for a long time.
When she looked up, she saw Summer's all-knowing expression and asked, confused, "What's up with you?"
Summer snapped back to reality. "Oh, nothing. I get it."
Seeing how seriously the girl was "copying answers," Summer said comfortingly, "Don't worry. I'll make sure you don't come in dead last on the midterms."
Chloe: "..."
'Is there something wrong with this person?'
Chloe didn't say anything else, simply lowering her head to continue checking her answers.
When class started, she began studying inside the system.
However, to Nina and the teacher, it just looked like Chloe was sitting by the window, her eyes unfocused and her attention clearly elsewhere.
The teacher wasn't disappointed. After all, Chloe's performance on everything from the first monthly exam to in-class quizzes had been a complete disaster.
Nina, however, sneered inwardly.
'Chloe has been acting strange these past few days. I thought she might have figured something out, but it looks like she's still just a good-for-nothing idiot.'
The morning passed. Chloe checked the progress bar in her system and saw that it had reached 20%.
The system had privately informed her that once the progress bar hit 100%, she would have completely mastered the knowledge in that subject area.
But she had already gone through all the material for the college entrance exams and even some competition-level content, yet the progress bar was still only at 20%. It was clear she needed to spend a lot more time studying.
In the afternoon, all the papers from the first monthly exam were handed back. The homeroom teacher was remarkably efficient; the class rankings were posted on the classroom door almost immediately.
As soon as the list went up, students swarmed around it.
The classroom instantly emptied, leaving only Chloe sitting at her desk, engrossed in her practice problems.
She was working through the problems at an astonishing speed. After just one glance at a question, she could start writing the solution almost without a second thought.
Sometimes, she could even write down the answer directly.
Nina had come over intending to needle Chloe, but she was stopped in her tracks when she saw her rival writing down answers without a moment's hesitation.
Her heart lurched, but then she saw Chloe flip open an answer key for a quick look and instantly understood.
A hint of mockery flickered in her eyes, but her face remained fixed in a gentle smile. "Chloe, why don't you go check your results?"
Chloe ignored her, keeping her head down as she continued to work.
She was working so quickly now that, to save time, she would write down the answer directly and then double-check it for accuracy.
Seeing Chloe completely ignore her, Nina's smile finally faltered. "Chloe, I'm your sister. Could you at least have some basic manners?"