Henson began his lecture once he stepped foot into the basketball court.
Carmen, who was standing beside Wendy, suddenly inched near to whisper into her ear, “Was I mistaken? Did Master Henson just smile at you?”
“You must be mistaken,” Wendy gave a nervous chuckle.
“But-”
Wendy then hushed her by bringing her hand to her lips. “Shh, let’s talk about this back at the office later,”
Carmen nodded out of nervousness.
She then shifted her gaze back on Henson’s back, her expression filled with gentleness.
At the end of his lecture, the students sitting below the stage started becoming restless.
He then turned to look at Wendy, microphone still in hand while he spoke into it nonchalantly, “Please follow me to the headmaster’s office later, Wendy,”
Wendy was stunned speechless when she heard that. She glared at him, wide-eyed.
What was up with him today?
The court instantly erupted into a flurry of discussion.
Linda stretched out her hand to poke Wendy on the arm. She called her name afterwards.
This woke Wendy from her stupor as she continued staring at Henson.
Henson then passed the microphone over to Ian, who was standing near him, and waved at her. He eventually walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder casually. “Let’s go now,” he said
then lead her outside the court. This caused the court to burst out into an frenzy of discussion.
Carmen went up to Linda and started stuttering, “W-what on earth is happening right now, Linda? Did I just hear Master Henson call Miss Evans by her first name? He even put his hand on her shoulder before ushering her out. I’m not dreaming now, am I?”
She then pinched her own arm as a test. “Ouch, It hurts. Turns out I’m not dreaming after all. I feel like I’ve missed something big though,” she muttered.
Linda didn’t say a word as she scanned her surroundings.
She was just as confused as she was. First, it was all the rumours Wendy got involved in, and now she had to figure out Master Henson’s intentions by putting on such a show… She really couldn’t make sense of what on earth was happening right now.
Won’t this just bring more attention to Miss Evans?
After they exited the court, she leaped out of his embrace in a flash to stare at him.
“Can you at least tell me what the h*ll is going on right now, Mr. Henson Charles?” she hollered.
“I’m ushering you to meet the president, no?” he replied calmly.
“What I meant to ask was why are you doing this to me right now? Didn’t we already establish a rule where we were to act like strangers on campus? I bet, in less than half an hour’s time, everyone on campus would’ve found out about our relationship as a couple already,” she fumed.
His expression stayed the same as he spoke, “I did it on purpose to let them know. Why would’ve I ushered you out myself if it weren’t the case?”
“But why?” she asked back.
“What else would I have meant by that? It’s to tell everyone that I have your back,” he answered.
This caused her to stare at him blankly. He wants them to know that he has her back?
“I want to let all those ignorant brats know that you’re under my protection, so that if anyone dares spout lies about you with other men, I won’t hesitate to take good care of them,” he declared.
“People who like to blab about other people’s businesses behind their backs are just gossip mongrels. Plus, so what if you take care of one or two of them? What if the majority of them are talking about me?” she quizzed.
“Then I’ll just pick a random person to make a good example out of them for the rest,” he said while caressing her head. “Moreover, by doing that, I don’t have to keep my distance from you on campus anymore. I think it’s a swell idea,” he explained.
She could only look at him helplessly.
Of course he’d feel that it was a great plan, but… it didn’t feel all that great to her.
She was definitely going to be a celebrity on campus at that point.
When they both entered the president’s room, President Burke’s jaw dropped to the floor when he noticed that Henson had one arm across her waist. “W-what might you be here for at this hour, Master Henson?” he asked while stumbling over his words.
“I’m here to settle a few scores with you,” Henson said.
“Uh…” president Burke hummed and hawed for a while before admitting, “I’m afraid I don’t catch your drift, sir. Please explain it to me,”
Henson smirked at this. “You still don’t get it after seeing that I’ve arrived together with Wendy? Seems like you’re not a bright as I thought, President Burke. I’ve still yet to settle scores with you over the fact that you failed to take good care of Wendy here, by the way. It appears that I might’ve had a lapse in judgement putting you in your current position in the first place,” he sneered.
President Burke shot her a look, his gaze reflecting his deep unease of the awkward scenario he was in at the time.
She gently tugged at Henson’s shirtsleeves to get his attention, but
he carried on like nothing had happened after patting her hand a few times to reassure her. “Still don’t get why I’m here?” he snorted with an eyebrow raised.
Burke then turned to look at her. Even as stupid as he was, he could still make an educated guess,
but one thing that stumped him was why she was with Master Henson instead of Master Howell.
Could it be that he was mistaken?
With his gaze still fixated on her, Burke finally spoke again after a while. “Regarding the matter at hand, I’m terribly sorry that I heaped all the blame onto you without looking into it too deeply and embarrassed you as a result,” he admitted.
With her gaze on him as well, she thought to herself, “It’s not like I’m some heartless b*tch. All I wanted was a word of apology from the man,”
Prior to Henson, he didn’t even budge an inch even after the police had released a statement clarifying the situation.
She was enraged at his actions in the beginning, seeing as he didn’t seem to want to take the fall for what he started in the first place,
but now that Henson had stepped in for her, she could feel more at ease.
“I understand the kind of pickle you’re in as well, sir. After all, I should be able to symphatise with you, knowing the kind of position you hold in the university right now. This was why when I demanded you to apologise to me, it was merely done as an act of love towards myself.
“The reason why I lashed out that day was because as your subordinate, you not only humiliated me, but also assumed I was the type of person the perpetuator described in the thread just from a first glance. This made me feel like you’re no better than the other gossip mongrels on campus. Thus, I feel that I should apologise for that as well,” she said.
“No, no, there’s no need to. I was the one who was at fault for wanting to quell the incident as quickly as I could, after all. You don’t have to apologise to me, Miss Evans,” he declined.
She later took a deep breath and recalled the other promise she made. “Are you still looking forward to my resignation as well, sir?” she asked.
“Heavens no, if you resign now, it’d just mean that you’re still unwilling to forgive me for what I’ve done. Can’t we just overlook the matter, Miss Evans?” he bargained nervously.
“Rest assured, I promise to do my best from now on, sir,” she replied through pursed lips.
“Run along back to your office now then. I’ll be waiting for you at the campus gates to pick you up so that we can go back together later,” Henson said while patting her shoulders.
Her face flushed crimson at that. “Did he just tell the president that they were living under the same roof?” she asked herself as she blushed.
Since the president was still in the room, she daren’t berate Henson in front of him at the time.
Thus, she merely gave a bow to the president before leaving the room.
The moment she left, Henson spun around to take a seat on a sofa.
Burke then started in a formal manner, “I wasn’t aware that Miss Evans was under your protection, Master Henson. I thought-”
“I know, you assumed she was one of my brother’s minions,” Henson said flatly.
“That is correct,” Burke replied cordially.
“So, let me get this straight,” Henson started as he stared at him with his chilly gaze. “Since you assumed that she was one of my brother’s minions, you used this as leverage to bully her?”
“Heavens no, I would never! I was just in a rush that day, you see, so I admit it was all my fault. Rest assured, Master Henson, I’ll take full responsibility for every incident that has ever happened to Miss Evans from this point on. I promise not to embarrass her ever again,” President Burke replied nerously.
“I’ve brought Wendy here with me today for two reasons. You’d better listen up,” Henson said, his gaze frigid.