Chapter 138 Too Sweet to Be Real
A fraction of the crowd pouring into Rachel's café had come for Yvette, but the vast majority were there for one reason—Ryan.
The Ryan. The only true A-list star in the entertainment industry.
Ordinarily, seeing him meant buying tickets that cost thousands of dollars, and even then you would be stuck in the audience, squinting at him from a distance. But today, for just three hundred, you could stand a few feet away, hear him sing the lead track from his new album live. It was the kind of opportunity fans dreamed about.
Half an hour into the school's anniversary celebration, Rachel's café was already packed wall-to-wall, the line outside stretching all the way to the far end of the sports field.
The café itself was huge, dressed to impress in a way that bordered on obscene—imported crystal chandeliers, tables adorned with Doraemon figurines encrusted in rhinestones that caught the light and stabbed at your eyes.
Many of the girls who stepped through the door didn't even order right away; they pulled out their phones, snapping photos for social media. Within minutes, feeds were flooded with glittering images.
But eventually, everyone had to order something. The earliest arrivals had been waiting for ages when the coffee finally came out. One sip and…
Disappointment.
It tasted like instant coffee, flat and lifeless, without a trace of aroma or complexity.
One girl, who actually knew her coffee, stopped Kelly as she was delivering a cup and asked outright if it was instant.
Kelly's brows knit, her chin lifted, and she said coldly, "No." Then she turned and walked away.
The problem was, this girl could tell the difference between a fresh-brewed cappuccino and one made from powder with a single sip.
Thirty dollars a cup, and it wasn't even made with an espresso machine—it was instant powder. A blatant rip-off.
Worse, the staff wouldn't admit it, and their attitude reeked of arrogance. The girl felt cheated, but she let it slide. After all, she hadn't come for the coffee. She'd come for Ryan.
The truth was, every cup in Rachel's café was instant.
Rachel hadn't planned to cut corners like that, but the kitchen had only one person actually working—Fallon. One person handling that many customers meant fresh brewing was impossible.
As for the rest? Anna had only come to spite Amelia, but after being publicly humiliated at the school gates, she was sitting in a corner scrolling her phone with a face like stone. No one dared to bother her.
Yvette was there purely for Ryan. She'd found a comfortable seat, listening to music, touching up her makeup, ignoring the fans who had come for her.
Kelly and Grace were socialites—there was no way they would bend over a counter to make coffee. On rare occasions they would carry a cup to a table, and even that felt like charity.
Rachel herself? Not a chance. She was wearing a custom designer gown and wasn't about to risk a coffee stain. She had always been served, never the one serving.
Which left Fallon chained to the kitchen like a laborer, working until her back ached.
And the kitchen didn't even have a proper espresso machine.
Rachel had blown nearly all of Anna's one-million-dollar sponsorship on décor—imported furniture, chandeliers, cabinetry—sixty or seventy grand on those alone. The rest went into expensive but useless trinkets.
The luxury was for one day only. Afterward, most of it would be sold off or tossed. On Instagram, Rachel had claimed the leftover money would be donated to children in remote mountain villages. In reality, there wasn't a dime left.
But she knew her customers weren't there for the coffee. Flavor didn't matter.
With the crowd pouring in, sales soared.
Until late morning, when things began to shift. Fans holding glow sticks and banners stood in the sun, their arms aching, faces flushed, some on the verge of heatstroke—yet Ryan still hadn't appeared.
Restlessness spread.
Hadn't he promised to come to his sister's school for the anniversary? To work as a waiter in the café? Now there wasn't even a glimpse of him. Had he forgotten? Had his agent blocked him? Was there some emergency?
People began pushing inside, asking Rachel when Ryan would arrive.
Rachel put on a look of innocence and said she didn't know. That only made the crowd more irritated—wasn't he her brother? Didn't she have his number? Couldn't she just call him?
Rachel had no intention of calling. She knew that if Ryan came at all, he would go straight to Amelia's side. And she knew something else—Ryan wasn't coming to Prestige High School today.
Last night, she'd had Orla slip the leftover red lychee pollen into his juice.
By morning, Ryan would have woken to find his face covered in angry red blotches, rushing to the hospital for tests. The doctors would call it an allergic reaction. Ryan would never suspect her.
If she kept quiet, his fans would wait until the event was over. When he posted on Instagram but failed to show, they would blame him for breaking his word. Her own popularity wouldn't suffer.
Today, she was the undisputed queen of the anniversary. Finally, she had beaten Amelia.
The thought made her smile inwardly.
But just as the crowd's impatience peaked, someone in the throng looked down at their phone and shouted:
"Oh my God! Stop waiting—Ryan's already here!"
What?!
Everyone snapped to attention, scanning the area. No sign of him.
"He didn't come here. He's at the Hello Kitty dessert house at the far end of the sports field."
"And it's not just Ryan—there are four insanely gorgeous waiters there too!"
"My God, that place is a visual overload! Is it a dessert shop or heaven?"