Chapter 482 - 478: I Will Definitely Help You

"Hey, Cecilia." Cindy Underwood walked up to her, greeting her with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. "Welcome."

Cecilia Sterling looked at Cindy Underwood and scoffed, not even bothering to greet her.

Wyatt Sherman, observing from the side, was now even more certain that there was bad blood between Reggie Hale’s girlfriend and Cecilia. The tension between them was palpable.

"Weren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?" Cecilia asked, looking at Wyatt Sherman.

Wyatt Sherman snapped out of it and nodded. After giving Reggie Hale a long look, he led Cecilia and Jane toward the tents.

Seeing that Cecilia wouldn’t even spare her a glance, Cindy Underwood seethed with anger. ’Back when we were roommates, Cecilia would always go out of her way to avoid me. How dare she give me this kind of attitude now?’

’I don’t know what happened, but everything changed after that day. It’s like Cecilia became a completely different person. Other than her looks, there’s not a single trace of her old self left.’

But Cindy’s anger quickly subsided. She stared at Cecilia’s back with a venomous look in her eyes, a barely perceptible smirk playing on her lips.

’Feeling smug?’

’Let’s see how long you can keep that up!’

Seeing Wyatt Sherman arrive with two beautiful women, a few of his closer friends eagerly came over to greet them.

"Wyatt, didn’t you say you were coming alone today?"

"Yeah, you totally lied to us!"

"Come on, introduce us already..."

All the teasing made Wyatt Sherman a little embarrassed, but Cecilia, never one to be shy, took the initiative. "Hi, everyone. I’m Cecilia Sterling, a junior in the astronomy department at Lorcain Tech."

"Hello, I’m Jane Sterling. I’ve already graduated from a university abroad, so I’m probably a few years older than all of you."

"Are you two related?" someone asked instinctively upon hearing they both had the surname Sterling.

Cecilia and Jane exchanged a look, then both smiled and shook their heads. "No, we’re best friends. It’s just a coincidence we both have the last name Sterling."

"Huh? Reggie’s girlfriend is from Lorcain Tech too, right? Do you two know each other?" someone who was out of the loop asked casually.

Cindy Underwood and Reggie Hale happened to walk over just then. Hearing the question, Cindy shot a glance at Cecilia before putting on a perfectly innocent smile. "We don’t just know each other. We used to be roommates."

Wyatt Sherman didn’t know this, so he was a little shocked to learn they were former roommates.

’If that’s the case,’ he thought, ’it makes sense that there’s friction between them.’

"Used to be? You’re not anymore?" the person pressed, asking the obvious follow-up.

Cindy Underwood pursed her lips, just as Cecilia replied in a casual tone, "Not since last year. I moved out."

Everyone nodded in understanding and didn’t think much more of it.

"The tents are set up. Let’s get the food ready, and then we can go for a hike this afternoon?" a striking young woman with sharp, pretty features suggested as she walked over.

Everyone subconsciously took a couple of steps back, but they all verbally agreed, "Sounds good!"

"Then don’t just stand around! Let’s get all the stuff we brought and lay it out!"

Everyone started pulling out picnic blankets and spreading them on the ground. Cecilia offered to help, but when she turned her head, she saw that Jane Sterling had already found a cute younger guy to target and had gone off with him to grill skewers.

"Hey, you don’t need to help. Let the guys handle it."

Just then, the striking young woman from before suddenly walked over to Cecilia, pulled her aside, and gestured across the way. "All the girls are taking a break."

Cecilia looked over and saw it was true. Most of the women here today were the girlfriends of the guys from the Lorcain U sports team. Some of them already knew each other well and were gathered together chatting while all the men did the work.

And Jane Sterling, who was "voluntarily" helping out for the sake of a cute guy.

"You’re a friend of Wyatt’s?"

Cecilia smiled and nodded. She liked this woman’s refreshingly direct personality; her tone and attitude put people at ease. Cecilia was vaguely reminded of Blair.

"That’s rare. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him with a girl," the other woman laughed, then introduced herself. "I’m Thalassa Bowman. Everyone calls me Thalassa."

"I’m Cecilia Sterling."

Thalassa Bowman looked at Cecilia, sizing her up. ’She’s really beautiful,’ she thought. ’No wonder Wyatt likes her.’

Elsewhere, Cindy Underwood quietly pulled the girl she’d brought with her to a more secluded spot.

"Ingrid, we’ve got a bit of unexpected competition. You’re going to have to step up your game!" Cindy said.

Ingrid Hayes frowned. "What’s going on? Does the handsome guy you wanted to introduce me to have a girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend? Pfft," Cindy spat. "She’s just a shameless little bitch who throws herself at any guy with decent prospects. She’s my ex-roommate. I’ve told you about her, remember?"

Ingrid Hayes shook her head. "You’ve bad-mouthed so many people to me, I can’t keep them straight."

"That’s not important. What do you think of my boyfriend’s upperclassman?" Cindy asked.

"He’s nice. And very handsome," Ingrid said, unable to stop herself from glancing over at Wyatt. He was focused on organizing the food, and his look of concentration was even more charming, bringing an unconscious smile to her face.

"I knew you’d like him. That’s why I brought you."

"But what’s his relationship with that other girl?" Ingrid asked, still worried. She had no interest in being the other woman.

"They’re definitely not a couple. Don’t worry about their relationship. I’ll help you, I promise," Cindy said, full of confidence.

"Cecilia, try this."

Wyatt opened a container of braised meats, slipped on a disposable glove, and picked out a piece of beef. "This is from the stew shop behind the Lorcain U campus. There’s a line every day. It’s amazing."

As he spoke, he held the piece of meat to Cecilia’s lips. Without any coyness, she simply opened her mouth and let Wyatt feed it to her.

"Whoa there, upperclassman!"

"We’re still here, you know! And you’re already feeding each other?"

Some of the other girls laughed along, turning to tease their own boyfriends. "I want to be fed, too!"

Wyatt shot them a glare, but inwardly, he was bubbling with happiness.

Cecilia just smiled graciously and savored the piece of beef. Just as Wyatt had said, it was delicious.

Once everything was more or less ready, Thalassa called for everyone to gather around the picnic blankets. By the grill not far away, Jane and two of the younger guys were in charge of the barbecue, while everyone else started unpacking the food onto the blankets.

"Will there be enough food? After all, Cecilia and her friend didn’t tell us they were coming," Cindy said suddenly, a look of pure innocence on her face.

They went to the same university, and on top of that, were former roommates.

The pointed nature of Cindy’s comment was obvious. Despite her innocent act, everyone there was sharp; no one was an idiot.

The other women were especially sensitive to this kind of thing and couldn’t help but glance between the two of them.

Thalassa Bowman glanced at Cindy Underwood and said, "How much can two girls possibly eat? There’s definitely enough."