Janet frowned at Lee's suggestion and insisted, "I think we should just spend the money to make sure it's done properly." She thought it best to adopt a more cautious approach because if she closed down her Twitter account, she might even risk attracting some unwanted attention to her.
"Fine, I know you like to keep it low. In that case, I'll get straight down to business!"
After ending the call with Lee, she opened Reddit and searched for the topics related to her. Within a matter of seconds, over one hundred comments about her were deleted.
The boy who initiated the discussion on her was still posting more comments when he noticed the sudden disappearance of the entire discussion. Thinking that he must have accidentally deleted them, he tried to start another one.
But to his dismay, he found that he was prohibited from forming any new discussion related to Janet. Not only that, any account would be blocked and banned permanently after more than three searches on Janet's name.
On the other hand, Emily was just about to use her fake account to start throwing mud at Janet but her search came back with zero results. After trying to search for Janet's name three times, her fake account was immediately blocked.
Nevertheless, she was overjoyed to see that all Janet's performance videos and photos had all vanished from the forum and wondered on who Janet could have offended to end up this way. She was elated because that was exactly what she wanted to happen.
The following day, Class A's atmosphere was exceptionally lively.
"Janet, I'm really surprised that you can play the lute and dance so well too!"
"Janet, where have you been taking dance lessons? Would you mind telling me who your dance teacher is?"
"Janet, not only are you beautiful, you can also play the lute and dance well. From today onward, you are my idol!"
"Oh, please. Janet is everyone's idol and now that Jennifer Lewis is not around, Janet will be the campus belle of our school!"
"Janet, may I have your number please?"
Janet was surrounded by a bunch of her classmates as they vied for her attention.
Sitting behind her, Gordon looked resigned because he realized he could no longer have Janet all to himself now. What a bummer!
Meanwhile, Janet answered her classmates, "I've never taken any proper dancing lessons and I only learn by copying the moves from dancing videos posted online."
"Oh, what a shame! In that case, can you be my teacher then?"
Abby tugged at the sleeves of Janet's shirt and croaked, "Janet, will you still sit next to me now that you've become so popular in class?"
Janet couldn't help but chuckle as she caressed Abby's head. "Silly, why won't I sit next to you?"
Abby wrapped her arms around Janet's waist and said, "Thank you, Janet."
Abby was the only one in the class who had never looked down on Janet or tried to shun her. Thus, there was simply no reason for her to despise Abby. On the contrary, those people who were swarming around her were just a bunch of fence-sitters who would start gossiping about her behind her back again as soon as Jennifer returned to school.
Sometimes, having sharp hearing ability was not too much of a blessing. At that moment, some boys started shouting outside their classroom, "Gosh! My crush is back!"
"Who's back?" Some of the boys inside started asking those standing outside.
"It's Jennifer Lewis!"
"Why is she back so soon? Isn't she suspended from school for ten days?"
"I think her rich dad must have bribed the principal to let her back."
"Seriously? Quick! Let's go and take a look."
In the blink of an eye, those people who surrounded Janet left her for Jennifer. Everyone seemed to have forgotten how Jennifer had bullied her before.
Inside the teachers' office, Class B's class teacher advised, "Jennifer, please make sure you catch up with your lessons as soon as possible."
With her swollen and red eyes, Jennifer looked up at the teacher with a distressed expression and sniffled, "I've realized my mistake. I promise I will study and catch up with the lessons diligently."
Breaking into a beaming smile, the class teacher patted her shoulder and said, "In fact, I don't think you're solely to be blamed for what happened. As the saying goes, there's no smoke without fire. There must be something wrong with that Janet Jackson to begin with!"
Jennifer pursed her lips and nodded in agreement.
"Alright, you're dismissed," said the class teacher while staring at her.
A bunch of boys who were hovering outside the office were psyched to see Jennifer back. They even started chanting a slogan, "Jen, you'll always have our support!"
"I'm so glad to see Jennifer back. Otherwise, that bumpkin from Class A would've become the campus belle of our school!"
"Who cares? For me, Jennifer will always be the one and only campus belle of our school."
"Oh, just keep your mouth shut. Janet Jackson is nothing compared to Jennifer."
Listening to them talking about Janet, Jennifer couldn't help losing herself in her thoughts. She had spent one whole year's worth of her allowance to hire a bunch of guys to finish Janet off but what happened in the end?
Those useless guys came back with injuries instead without managing to hurt Janet in the slightest bit. She was really curious as to what was so great and special about this Janet Jackson.
*
Unbeknownst to Jennifer, Janet had already instructed some of her subordinates to start investigating the bullet casing with an inscription of a letter 'M'. Later that night when Janet was having a discussion with the organization on the bullet casing, her phone on the desk started ringing urgently. She glanced at the screen and found that it was from an unknown caller.
"Who is this?"
"It's me." A familiar man's voice came to her from the other end.
Assuming that he had called to update her on the condition of the elderly lady, she queried, "Has Old Madam Lowry woken up?"
Mason answered, "Yes."
"I'll go and take a look at her now." As a doctor, Janet felt obligated to make a trip to the hospital again.
At the largest private hospital in Sandfort City, it was morning when Old Madam Lowry regained consciousness. She seemed to be in better spirits after having an acupuncture treatment by Janet.
After removing all the silver needles from the elderly lady's body, Janet looked up and found the elderly lady staring at her in a warm and amiable way. Judging from her eyes which were brimming with admiration, it was obvious that the elderly lady had taken a liking to Janet.
"Her condition has improved a lot," Janet told Mason.
"All thanks to you." Mason's eyes were glued to Janet right from the very beginning.
Old Madam Lowry had noticed the way Mason looked at Janet long before this. As someone who had immense experience in love and relationships, she knew what it meant. Old Madam Lowry then stared at Janet. "Oh right—Miss Sandra?"
"You may call me Janet."
"Janet… What a beautiful name. In that case, I'll call you Miss Janet from now on."
"You may call me anything you like." Janet wasn't too bothered by how the elderly lady addressed her because it was just a trivial matter.
Staring at Janet warmly, Old Madam Lowry made a move to hold her hand but Janet frowned and dodged her.
As someone who was wise, Old Madam Lowry appeared unruffled and pretended as if nothing had happened. Looking at Janet's fair complexion, she asked, "Miss Janet, do you have a boyfriend?"
"Nope."
"In that case, is there anyone in your heart?" Old Madam Lowry pressed on.
The muscles in Mason's face tensed up when he heard the question. Being such an attractive girl, he was sure she must have plenty of suitors.
"Nope," Janet answered truthfully.
The muscles in Mason's face relaxed slightly when he heard her answer. Meanwhile, Old Madam Lowry had been keeping an eye on her grandson's reaction. To her, Mason always looked unapproachable and aloof like a block of ice, mostly of his poker-faced expression. She then thought about how she was just a peasant girl who lived in a village decades ago and never in her wildest dreams did she think she would marry Mason's grandfather and become the matriarch of the Lowry Family. She was filled with nostalgia for a short while before she turned and said to Janet and Mason, "Do stand closer to each other."
Janet wondered what the elderly woman was trying to achieve by asking her to stand closer to Mason. However, before she could protest, Mason had already edged closer to her as per Old Madam Lowry's instruction.
Admiring at the sight in front of her, the elderly lady nodded her head in approval and beamed. "The two of you look great as a couple!"
In response, Mason lazily raised his eyebrows and broke into a charming lopsided smile. Janet, on the other hand, looked indifferent.
"Miss Janet, I was so lucky to bump into you or I would've…" Old Madam Lowry sighed heavily. She then held onto Janet's hand and this time, Janet didn't try to move away. "I'd like to thank you but… I can't think of anything to offer you. What about this, would my grandson as your husband do?"
Sean, who was standing in the corner of the room, was confused by the elderly lady's humble tone. What did the name Mason Lowry actually represent? It represented immense power in Sandfort City and there were many wealthy young ladies who were very keen to marry into the Lowry Family and become Mason's wife. Why was Mason made to sound like an unattractive man when it came to Janet?
"You don't have to offer me anything in return because I merely did what I was paid for."
Old Madam Lowry didn't push it seeing how disinterested she looked. She understood that she had to let nature take its course when it came to relationships because it might make matters worse if she tried too hard to bring them together.
"I shall get going if you're feeling fine now."
Janet and Mason walked out of the ward after that.
"My grandmother said we looked great together."
Janet glanced at him sideways and snapped, "Nothing will ever happen between us."
"Now, now. How can you be so sure without giving it a try?"