Nora was a little taken aback.
Ever since she came to New York, she hadn’t paid any attention to the ongoings in California anymore.
Although Angela was her half-sister, there was tension between them, so she didn’t want to bother with her at all.
Lisa did mention that they were coming to New York for their postgraduate studies’ entrance exams, though.
She didn’t expect to bump into them here.
She ignored Angela. Instead, she looked at Lisa and asked, “Which professor are you intending to apply for?”
Lisa glanced at Angela timidly and replied, “I’m still thinking about it. I’m planning to apply for someone who’s easier…”
“Heh.” Angela scoffed and said, “How ambitious of you. Well, I’m a completely different story. I came here with a clear goal, and that is Director Shaw!”
She looked at Nora and said, “Do you know who Director Shaw is? He only accepts four to five students every year. A tiny little unorthodox doctor like you probably won’t be able to pass the exams at all though.”
To Angela, Nora had never attended college before. The reason why she had some medical skills was that she had picked up some unorthodox skills abroad.
How would a woman who had never properly attended university before possibly be qualified to apply for postgraduate studies?
Nora, however, ignored her completely. In fact, she didn’t even exist in her eyes. She looked at Lisa instead and asked, “Where are you currently staying?”
“At the hotel next to the school. The lodging there is very cheap… You don’t have to worry about me, Nora.”
Lisa glanced at Angela after she answered. She quickly said, “You can just go, Nora. We have to go in and ask around to find out what the professors’ preferences are like anyway…”
“Go? What nonsense. Tell me what exactly you’re here for, Nora.” Angela demanded persistently, her voice as noisy as a frog’s croaking.
Nora, however, continued to ignore her. She said, “Okay. Give me a call if anything comes up, or if you run out of money.”
She got in the car.
Angela went in front of the car and blocked her path. She said, “Get out here, Nora. Didn’t you hear me? You—”
Nora stepped on the gas pedal and raced toward her!
The car suddenly sped up, causing Angela to shudder all over in fright, and she screamed.
Screeeeech!
The car stopped barely one centimeter away from her. Angela could even feel the car’s momentum!
She turned pale with fright. The woman rested an arm on the car window, poked her head out, and said coolly, “Get out of my way.”
A badly frightened Angela stepped aside in a daze.
She had only just taken a couple of steps when the car started again and sped past her with a whoosh.
Its speed was as if Nora was driving a sports car!
Angela swallowed hard. It was only when the car disappeared into the distance that she finally regained her senses. She cursed angrily, “She wanted to run me over! That little bitch! Fatty! Ugly woman! How dare she think of running me over! She must be jealous that I got engaged to Anthony!”
After Nora left California, the Grays and the Smiths were embroiled with each other for some time. In the end, Anthony had still become engaged with Angela.
Lisa couldn’t bring herself to listen anymore. She said, “Nora doesn’t even know that you’re engaged, Angela. None of us even told her about it…”
“Shut up!”
Angela glared at her viciously. “From what I see, all you care about is Nora, right? Why don’t you stay with her instead of sticking to me, then?”
Lisa bit her lip. “In that case, give me back the money that Uncle Henry lent me.”
Their family had used up all of their savings on her mother’s illness.
Her mother had borrowed money from Angela’s father, Henry Smith, for all her travel and accommodation expenses during her trip to New York for her postgraduate studies application. However, Henry had transferred all the money to Angela, causing Lisa to be bullied by her the whole way here.
Angela pursed her lips and said, “You’re borrowing money from Dad, which makes you borrowing money from me, Lisa. Considering that you’re indebted to me, I hope you know what you should be saying!”
She frowned again after saying that. “Nora was driving a jeep just now, right? I didn’t expect the Andersons to treat her so well… Do you think that she was here because the Andersons are intending to let her pursue postgraduate studies?”
Angela’s eyes lit up at the thought, and she picked up her cell phone and called Henry, who was in California. She said, “Dad, I think Nora definitely has a way to get Director Shaw to do what she wants! Can you ask her to help me?”
Henry replied, “Okay!”
—
When Nora was about to reach home, her cell phone suddenly rang.
It was an unregistered number.
She wasn’t planning to answer, but because she was driving, she pressed the wrong button and accidentally picked up the call. Henry’s voice immediately reached her from the other end of the call.
“Nora, I’m your father. I was the one who raised you, so you’re obligated to support me during old age! We’ll put aside the issue about your mother’s company’s profits for now, so get the Andersons to use their connections to get your younger sister acquainted with Director Shaw at once!”
Nora, “?”
How had she set that mad dog free?
She was about to hang up when her stepmother Wendy’s voice also reached her. She said, “Nora, I know you don’t want to come back anymore because you’re now living in the lap of luxury after you went to the Andersons. You’ve also taken away your mother’s company and are not intending to give it to us, but we’re still family, at any rate. Blood is thicker than water; Angela is your sister after all. Help her out; if she becomes a famous surgeon and makes money in the future, we won’t have to pester you when we’re old, either, right? Don’t you agree?”
Nora suddenly smiled. “Blood is thicker than water?”
Wendy replied, “Yes, that’s right. You and your younger sister share the same father, so the same blood flows through your veins. You mustn’t forget your roots after you’ve climbed up the social ladder!”
The same father…
If they hadn’t reminded her, she would have almost slept herself into a daze and forgotten that she had a father.
That father of hers was a really weird one though. One couldn’t say that he didn’t treat his daughter well, because he took care of all of Angela’s needs properly. Yet at the same time, he was cold and frosty toward Nora.
It was as if it would do as long as she didn’t starve to death.
Nora cast her eyes down and suddenly raised her eyebrows. “I see.”
“Huh? What do you mean by ‘I see’? Nora, you—”
Before Wendy could finish, Nora had already hung up.
She called Lisa. “Where are you?”
A surprised Lisa replied, “I’m still at the school.”
“Okay. I’m coming to you now.”
Lisa was dumbfounded. “Why are you looking for me, Nora?”
Nora’s eyes narrowed and the corners of her lips curled upward a little. She replied, “Oh. I want to see if blood is indeed thicker than water between Angela and me.”
Lisa, “?”
She hung up on an utterly confused Lisa.
The car turned around at the intersection and went straight to the New York University School of Medicine.
Ten minutes later, the jeep stopped in front of the office building.
Nora hopped off the car slickly and walked straight over to Angela and Lisa.
Angela smiled triumphantly and said, “Hah, did Dad call you? Nora, I’ll tell you this…”
Before she could finish, however, Nora suddenly grabbed her hair. She felt a jolt of pain at once. The next moment, she saw that Nora had plucked out a few strands of her hair. Her voice was lazy as she said:
“Let me borrow this for a sec.”
