“Think about it. Who do you think I was doing all of this for?” Henson probed.
He then lifted a finger to poke Wendy in the forehead. “If I’d taken her to a quiet place to talk things out with her in private, then people would immediately lose their heads from sheer jealousy. Also, I’m a straightforward man, so if I were to reject someone’s advances towards me, I’d want to do it out in the open, where everyone could see. By rejecting her in front of my woman, I was just trying to be loyal to you. So, I’d argue that YOU should take responsibility for the matter, not me,” he ranted.
His rant only left her flabbergasted and speechless.
He was a man who’d go so far as to manipulate reality with his words
and twist the truth so blatantly.
She’d truly seen it all today.
“If every capitalist in this world were like you, the world would be f*cked by now,” she declared and shook her head. “Also, stop making me sound like I’m some kind of jealous wench. I’m not as bad as you make me out to be,”
“Right, sure you aren’t,” he smirked.
“Ugh, that tone of yours. I’m not one to get jealous so easily over such a little thing. If you were actually a man who’s easily wooed after being confessed to a few times, you’d definitely be married by now. After all, there are a ton of girls out there who are pining after you,” she scoffed.
He stared at her and said, “Of all the women out there who love me, why can’t you be one of them? You’re not wrong in saying that their confessions won’t get to me, but I’m sure yours can, so why don’t you give it a try? I’ll have you know I’m as fragile as a leaf in the wind whenever I’m in front of you,” he teased.
She flushed crimson at that. “Of all topics to talk about, you’re back at this again,” she huffed.
“That’s because I can’t figure out for the life of me why I can’t make you mine,” he complained.
She merely pursed her lips and stared at him in response.
While he kept wondering why he couldn’t make her his,
she, on the other hand, started to wonder if her heart was gradually spinning out of control.
“Well, that concludes our talk for the day,” she announced and tried to hop out of bed when
he pulled her back and refused to let her get away from him. “Stay with me while I get my IV drip?” he begged.
“Fine, but let me fetch a book to read first. You can’t possibly suggest that we stare at one another the whole time,” she said.
“That’s actually a pretty good idea! I read a research article somewhere that said that when two people stare at one another for a full minute, they’ll cause the other party’s heart to skip a beat. I don’t ever recall you looking at me squarely in the eyes too, so maybe that’s why you haven’t fallen for me yet? Come on, let’s put it to the test,” he suggested giddily.
“I refuse,” she giggled and continued, “Why would a greedy capitalist like you read such nonsense in the first place?”
“How can you say it’s nonsense if you don’t give it a try first? Who knows, it might turn out to be true,” he chirped in a singsong manner.
“Never,” she insisted.
“Heh, are you scared that you’ll fall in love with me after staring into my eyes?” he teased.
She turned to face him at that. “You’re not wrong. Who wouldn’t fall for such an accomplished man even without looking squarely into his eyes?” she asked.
“I never had the thought that I couldn’t fall in love with you. I’m just saying that I can be insecure sometimes because of how accomplished you are. There are so many women out there who are pining for you, so naturally I’d feel insecure about myself when I’m by your side. It’s not a ‘you’ thing, it’s just a ‘me’ thing, so please refrain from using such tactics to test me in the future, alright?” she continued with a straight face.
With that, she got up and went to get a book.
He smirked as he gazed at her from the back. “You’ve fallen in love with me, haven’t you, Wendy?” he asked.
“I will not answer this question,” she said as her hand stopped in mid-air after retrieving her book.
She didn’t even know the answer to the question herself.
He picked up her small gesture immediately and
smirked. Some things were better left unsaid and he was sure that she already knew the answer in her heart.
It was only a matter of time before he could make her his.
Henson had always been a productive person, so this was how he managed to grant her wish last night immediately in the morning after.
Cael started packing up his things silently after he’d returned to their office after being summoned into the president’s office.
The other three in the office merely looked at him, none of them daring to speak up.
After he finished, he carried a box with his things and left without another word.
The minute he left, Carmen piped up. “What’s going on here? Is Cael resigning?” she asked, confused.
Linda shook her head in reply. “Who knows? Best if we don’t pry into his business anymore,” she chided.
Carmen looked in the direction of the door, pouted and said nothing after.
As she was about to leave ten minutes later, she heard a knock on the door.
Upon opening the door, she saw a male professor’s assistant from another faculty standing outside, holding a cardboard box in his hands.
He smiled after his gaze landed on her. “Long time no see, Carmen,” he greeted.
“What brings you here, Ian?” she replied in surprise.
“I’ve been transferred here,” he said and stepped into their office to greet the others. “Nice to meet you all, the name’s Ian. I’ve been told I’m here to replace Cael. I transferred here from the Civil Engineering Department. I’ll be in charge of the second years in the Business faculty from now on,” he announced.
She then walked in front of him and probed, “Are you telling me that Cael didn’t resign, but was transferred to a different faculty instead?”
“Yes,” he answered.
She then turned around to look at Wendy and Linda. “Surprised?” she asked them.
Linda merely shrugged and chuckled. “Nope. To be honest, I think this is a good move on the university’s part. It’d be pretty hellish for the three of us to continue working with him if he remained here anyways,” she said.
Carmen nodded her head in agreement. “I suppose that makes sense. Cael’s desk is over there, Ian,” she said and pointed in one direction.
“Thank you,” he said and walked over to put his belongings down.
“That’s odd,” Linda suddenly announced with her arms hugging her chest.
The other three immediately shifted their gazes onto her. “Before this, it was almost all in the office, so it should be pretty interesting now that we have a young male colleague here,” she commented.
He nodded. “This’ll just add to my stress though, since I used to work in an office where the number of women and men is pretty balanced. As a rare species here, please don’t tell me I’m going to be the office pet from now on?” he joked nervously.
Carmen and Wendy nodded in unison. “You definitely will be,” they both said.
“Wendy here, ‘Rare Species Ian’. Pleased to be working with you,” Wendy greeted with a light giggle.
“It’s an absolute honour for me to be working in the same office as the most beautiful woman on campus. I doubt if there’s anyone on campus who doesn’t know who you are,” he praised.
Linda, on the other hand, pursed her lips to greet him, “I’m Linda,”
“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Linda,” he replied jovially.
Their office, which was originally full of women, suddenly became very harmonious with the addition of a male colleague.
When evening came, Henson got the news that President Burke had assigned a male professor’s assistant to work in the same office as Wendy.
He subconsciously turned stone-faced after that.
“How can Borke be this stupid,” he cursed under his breath.
“Hmm?” Wendy hummed in confusion.
“Do you think it’s appropriate for men and women to be in the same space together?” he snapped.
“It’s just a job, so aren’t you overreacting a bit?” she asked back.
He crossed his arms at that. “Of course not. Such a pretty woman like you attracts all kinds of pests into your yard, so naturally I’d be worried. This won’t do, I need to talk to Burke,” he huffed
and reached for his phone afterwards.
She glared at him, speechless for a few moments. “I can’t tell if you’re praising or insulting me right now,” she replied.
“How is it an insult to call you pretty? It’s not your fault that you’re so charismatic up to the point where you can attract pests to yourself, but Burke’s. I need to talk to this man,” he said, obviously
enraged. He didn’t get Burke to where he was now for him to heap trouble on him.