Your First Love is Pregnant? I'm Done Being Mrs. Hawthorne!

###Chapter 113: A Forced Apology

Seeing Cecilia stand up for her so loyally, Nina Wainwright stepped forward, looked at Zachary Hawthorne, and said, "This isn’t the first time she’s humiliated me. Last time, she said I looked like a prostitute in a cheongsam."

"Wow, that bitch has a seriously nasty mouth. If I were you, I’d rip it to shreds and pull her tongue out so she could never speak again!" Cecilia Young immediately cursed.

Nina patted her shoulder soothingly. "Let’s not stoop to the level of someone with no class."

"If you don’t put her in her place, the next time she sees you, she’ll be just like today—like a rabid dog, sinking its teeth into you on sight!" Cecilia said.

"Miss, could you please be more polite? Every word out of your mouth is an insult." Seeing Cecilia defending Nina so fiercely, Luna Sterling stepped forward to stand up for Talia Talbot.

"Looks like you’re asking for a lesson, too!" Caleb Ford’s eyes darkened.

Cecilia immediately glared at them. "What, you want to fight? You think I’m easily scared? You’re Zachary Hawthorne, right? All I have to do is ask around, and I’ll find out what all your families do for a living. You called us official prostitutes? I’ll go tell my parents, and it won’t end well for any of you!"

Zachary looked at Cecilia, but his words were for Talia. "Just apologize to them. Otherwise, this won’t end peacefully today."

"Can’t you see they’re the ones deliberately bullying people?" Luna Sterling said at once.

"You might not know what Talia is like, but I do," Zachary said coolly. "Besides, commoners don’t fight with officials. Unless your families don’t want to do business anymore."

"So that’s why she’s acting so tough. Turns out she’s found herself a powerful backer," Caleb Ford sneered.

"If you’re so capable, why don’t you find one for her? Stop with the snide remarks, you coward!" Cecilia yelled, her eyes wide.

She had never been afraid of anyone her entire life.

Moreover, everyone in Zachary’s circle came from business families.

All she had to do was complain to her family, and none of their businesses would run smoothly again!

Caleb Ford’s expression turned utterly grim.

"Apologize!" Cecilia’s voice rose as she looked at Talia. "Surely someone who’s brave enough to run their mouth has the guts to apologize, right?"

"Zach, can you please say something nice to Nina?" Luna tugged on Zachary’s sleeve, pleading in a low voice.

With so many people watching, forcing Talia to apologize would be so humiliating and hard for her to bear.

"What does the trouble she caused have to do with me?" After saying his piece, Zachary turned and walked away.

Silas Sinclair glanced at Cecilia before following Zachary.

Talia Talbot’s face went pale. Faced with Cecilia’s aggressive demands and surrounded by the girls from the dance troupe, she finally bowed her head, filled with shame, and mumbled, "I’m sorry."

"Louder!" Cecilia yelled at the top of her lungs. "Who can hear you when you’re whispering like that?"

Talia glared daggers at her. After a long moment, she forced out, "I’m sorry!"

As soon as she said it, her eyes turned red.

Caleb quickly pulled her into a hug. "Ignore them. I’ll make them pay for this!"

"Ooh, I’m so scared!" Cecilia said, then tossed the broom aside and pulled Nina away.

The large group of them left in a flurry.

Back in their private room, Cecilia was still fuming. "If it weren’t for us carrying on these arts, what entertainment would they even have?! A bunch of rich kids from business families who do nothing but leech off their parents and spend their money to show off!"

"Alright, alright, calm down," Nina soothed her.

Cecilia huffed. "We’re far nobler than they are!"

"Why don’t you sit and watch us dance?" Nina took her hand and said gently.

"You’re just too nice, that’s why you get bullied. From now on, you have to hang out with us. These rich kids have a ton of ways to mess with people. Who knows when they’ll pop out of nowhere and pick on you when we’re not around?" Cecilia said as Nina gently pushed her into a chair.

"Thank you for standing up for me today," Nina said sincerely.

"Just focus on leading us to dance well. That’ll be thanks enough," Cecilia said with a pout.

A smile touched Nina’s lips.

Everyone sat and chatted for a while before they started to dance.

The meal had clearly been effective.

When they danced again, even Nina felt a difference.

Before, some of them had been expressing the wrong emotions, but she hadn’t felt comfortable saying anything. Now, she could point it out directly.

「The next morning.」

Sandra Walsh came over and was very surprised to see the change in their emotional expression while dancing. "You all seem different."

Cecilia asked with a smile, "How are we different?"

"Your bond has grown stronger. You actually look like a team now," Sandra Walsh said with a smile.

"Of course! I’m their little leader now," Cecilia said smugly. Although she couldn’t match Nina in dancing, she had a real knack for winning people over.

"Well, I really underestimated you. I didn’t realize you had this talent," Sandra said with a laugh. "In that case, I’ll be counting on you, little leader, to guide them well."

Cecilia lifted her chin like a proud little peacock.

Sandra knew inwardly that this was all thanks to Nina. The girls were young and easily persuaded. On the surface, Cecilia was the little leader, but the true core of the group was Nina.

Their morning’s dance was already much more beautiful. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Tomorrow, we’re moving to the grand auditorium to practice. There’s wire-work involved, so it looks like Nina will have to take the center position and use the harness. Does anyone have a problem with that?" Sandra sat in a chair and asked the young women.

"No problem," Cecilia was the first to respond.

After everyone agreed, Sandra said with great satisfaction, "Seeing you all so united makes me very happy. Your dancing today was indeed much better. Keep it up. I’ll stop watching you now; I need to go check on your costumes."

"Take care, Ms. Walsh," Cecilia said playfully.

They danced nonstop until the afternoon. After watching the recording, Nina couldn’t help but say excitedly, "That was excellent! From here, we just need to slowly polish the details."

Just as Cecilia was about to speak, she heard Gia Jennings say, "Cecilia, someone is exposing you on the trending topics!"

Nina immediately thought it was the work of Luna Sterling and her friends.

’Cecilia had humiliated Talia so badly. How could they possibly let her off the hook?’

Cecilia grabbed her phone, opened Weibo, and saw a video of her bullying a girl in high school.

The trending topic was about "The Marigold Dance Troupe’s core member Cecilia Young bullying a classmate," and it even delved deep into her family background.

The forces behind it had pushed the topic straight to "Explosive" status.

Nina quickly leaned over to look. After seeing the post’s content, she glanced at Cecilia.

’No matter what, bullying is wrong.’

"I didn’t bully anyone. The video they dug up twists the truth," Cecilia immediately said to Nina.

Nina nodded and said gently, "Shouldn’t you have your family look into it, then?"

’Right now, I’m more worried this will affect her ability to perform.’

"My family will definitely come out and clarify things. But since they dared to provoke me, I won’t let them get away with it," Cecilia said, her face full of rage.

Nina didn’t say anything.

’While I think we should prioritize the upcoming tour, I know Cecilia’s temper. She’ll definitely seek revenge for this.’

*****