In the middle of basketball court,
Cael stepped forward and picked up a microphone. “Alright students, settle down. The lecture’s going to start soon, so please put your phones on silent mode,” he announced.
After he finished, he walked in front of Henson to hand him the microphone. “You can start now, Master Henson,” he said.
Henson nodded at him in response. Cael’s heart started racing as he moved aside.
“Master Henson looked at me just now,” he said excitedly after he returned to Carmen’s side.
“How come you’re the MC?” Carmen pouted.
“Duh, it’s not like you can be the MC with your horrible stutter,” he scoffed.
“But you could’ve let Miss Evans or Linda do it,” she whined.
Cael rolled his eyes at her and huffed, “If you have anything to say, say it to my face,”
“Now, now, this is only a small matter so stop bickering already. You two better hope that Master Henson didn’t hear you all, if not he’ll fire you on the spot,” Linda hurriedly chided.
Only then did the two of them shot each other a look and moved beside the bodyguards to pay attention to the lecture.
Henson then started his lecture by saying, “Good morning, students. Today, we won’t be discussing anything in your textbooks as I’m sure your lecturers can teach that better than I do. However, I’ll be going over a few case studies from my own company and tell everyone how we dealt with them then. Five years ago, my company merged with a company that produced electronic components. At that time…”
While he was doing his lecture, Wendy was busy planning on how to scheme him.
After 10 minutes passed since the start of the lecture, she informed Carmen, who was standing beside her, that she was going to the restroom.
Carmen nodded in reply. “You’d better finish your business there quickly then. It’d be a shame to miss such an exciting lecture,” she said giddily.
“Alright,” Wendy replied and
brisk walked away.
Since they were located in the middle of the basketball court, Henson held on to a microphone in one hand and had crossed the other across his chest while pacing around the room, delivering his lecture.
Which was how he spotted her leaving the room when he spun around.
His gaze followed her for a while, but this didn’t deter his lecture.
She was back in a few minutes time.
She looked at him, who was standing not far away and snickered.
“Don’t you feel that it’s a little stuffy now, Wendy?” Carmen asked not long after.
“It does feel kind of stuffy now,” Wendy said and nodded.
Cael was puzzled by this as well. “Strange… What could’ve happened? Didn’t we turn on the air-conditioning just now? Did it malfunction or something?” he asked.
“Let me check,” Linda said.
Wendy later lifted her arm to check the time. Twenty minutes remained before his lecture ended.
She looked at him, who still looked elegant as always, then looked to the crowd on the bleachers, most of which were busy wiping sweat off their faces.
She was curious as to why he didn’t look like he was feeling the heat.
A few minutes later, Linda returned to her spot and whispered to everyone, “Everything’s under control now. When I went to the air-conditioning room just now, I saw that someone had tampered with the temperature settings and had changed the temperature from 15 to 30 degrees Celcius,”
Carmen let out a sigh. “My goodness! 30 degrees Celsius for a room packed with people? Who could be this careless?” she probed.
“I was the one who turned on the AC unit so I apologise for not noticing until now,” Wendy giggled apologetically.
Carmen couldn’t help but stifle a laugh after gazing at the haggard faces of some of the people in the crowd not far away. “Your carelessness has cost a lot of girls their chance of seducing any men from this point on unfortunately,” she snickered.
The three of them turned to look at the bleachers to see lots of girls with their makeup currently melting off of their faces. Carmen was right, they looked dreadful.
Wendy felt a twinge of guilt instead. “So sorry, children. I didn’t mean to do this to you all. I meant to do it to someone else,” she thought to herself sadly.
Henson had finished explaining all his case studies when the clock struck four.
“Alright, that’s all for today’s lecture,” he declared. He then spun around to hand one of his bodyguards the microphone,
of which they promptly handed to Cael.
Cael felt bashful to be given the honour as he took a step forward. “Alright students, please let Mr. Charles leave the court first. You all can slowly take your leave afterwards. Remember to take care and keep safe. Class is dismissed,” he announced
and put down the microphone. He then spun around to match Henson and the rest’s pace in leaving the venue.
Because the turnout was so good today, no one dared to kick up a fuss.
Wendy initially assumed that the lecture would end perfectly, but
the moment they left the court, there was already a girl standing at the entrance. She wore a turtleneck and jeans with a neat ponytail to boot.
When she noticed Henson walking towards her, she went over to meet him in a bashful manner while holding on to a book in her hands.
But before she could get near him, she was stopped by two bodyguards.
“Avril Taylor here, Master Henson. Our headmaster told me that you were the one who recommended me to take part in the campus promotional pamphlet shoot last time, so I’m here to thank you for that,” she hurriedly explained.
Campus promotional pamphlet?
So, it turned out that she was the girl he had Dayne dig out.
Such a kid like her wasn’t even worth comparing to Wendy.
No one should’ve had the right to be called the popular kid on campus after Wendy graduated.
If it weren’t for the fact that he didn’t want her to be scrutinised by the public eye, he would’ve chosen her in a heartbeat to show her face in the campus’ promotional pamphlet.
Wendy tilted her head sideways and tried to see past the bodyguards who were standing in front of her.
Carmen then started tugging on her wrist excitedly. “What’s going on? Does Master Henson know Avril Taylor?” she probed.
Cael also looked upset after seeing the scene unfold before him. “Who knew the popular kid had this trick up her sleeves? She probably knew that everyone would be dolled up, so she purposely dressed up light to produce a contrast, so that she could make herself stand out more in the crowd. What a good strategy,” he commented.
Linda turned to look at Wendy, seeing as she stayed quiet throughout.
Wendy didn’t notice the concern in her eyes as she silently focused on Henson and Avril.
Upon seeing that he remained silent, Avril lowered her eyes and asked shyly, “Can I ask you something, sir? Why… did you help me?”
“No need to thank me for that as I didn’t actually help you. I merely recommended you because you’re one of the most popular kids on campus. Also, it’s not like I’m interested in finding out who’s popular anyways,” he snapped in a cold manner.
As if she disregarded everything he said, she continued surging forward bravely. “Can I… talk to you in private, Master Henson?” she asked.
Linda, who was standing behind him, interrupted her immediately after. “Master Henson, I think you should get in your car now. I fear that the crowd of students would be chaotic and hard to control when they all come rushing out at once later,” she urged.
He proceeded to ignore Avril as he walked past her and headed towards his car.
Her face twisted into a scowl as she spun around to look at the direction he was headed.
This was her only chance. She had to scrounge up all of her courage, or else… she’d regret missing this opportunity for the rest of her life.
“I like you a lot, Master Henson! Can I be your girlfriend?” she shouted.
The moment she said that, everything went silent.
Henson, who’d already walked to the side of the car, suddenly turned his head to look at her.
She snuck a glance and lowered her head immediately in embarrassment after she thought he was looking at her.
“Would ya look at that. A bold confession like that could really make one a winner in life,” Wendy thought to herself.