Elena felt as if her face was on fire when they left the stadium. Lois had so many questions that it was ridiculous.
“What did Eldest Young Master Williams mean? Why did he say that he would talk to you at home later in the evening?
“What is the relationship between the two of you? What was that about work matters and private matters? Are you two related?
“Elena, are you Third Young Miss Garcia, from that ‘Garcia’ family?
“Oh, my God, Elena, you really are Eldest Young Master Williams’s fiancée? How could that be?
“Elena, tell me that you are wearing a human skin mask. Tell me that your face is not real. Tell me that Eldest Young Master Williams’s taste is not that bad!
“Is it an arranged marriage for the sake of business? But, what does the Garcia family have to offer in return?
“Elena, say something, please? What did you mean?”
Elena stopped and turned around to look at her. “What did Eldest Young Master Williams say? How can I be related to him?”
“He said that he would go home and talk to you behind closed doors!”
Lois stood behind Elena on the podium, so she had heard it clearly! Layla bit her lips and lowered her head; she dared not say anything.
Elena smiled. “Do you have hearing problems? Eldest Young Master Williams said that he wanted to speak to me again, in private.”
“How is that possible?” Lois frowned and glared at her. “Elena, stop hiding things from me. I know that you are Third Young Miss Garcia.”
“Well, since you know about it, then why are you bombarding me with all these questions?”
Elena wanted to roll her eyes. She was annoyed, extremely annoyed!
“But, Elena…”
“Okay, you’re about to drive her crazy!” Layla pulled Lois. “Go, let’s talk in the office.”
“Alright.” Even though Lois still had countless questions, it was inconvenient to talk there. There was also Aryan. They had a lot of things to straighten out.
“Yes, let’s go back to the office first.”
The team left Jiang University happily and made their way toward the building where their office was located. Everyone was hyped, even though there were still many problems! After all, it was a victorious day for all of them!
“I want to eat hotpot!” They had to go for the spicy mala hotpot to celebrate their victory!
“Okay, let’s order a dozen beers and get drunk!”
Hotpot and beer—that was simply heaven! It was an impromptu plan. They went back to the office to put their things. After they had rested for a while, Luacs was back in the office, and all of them set off to find the hottest Sichuan restaurant outside the campus! Elena was so generous that night that she got them a private VIP room. There was a minimum spending amount for a private VIP room.
“Aryan, what the hell was going on? It felt so surreal, and I can’t believe that you are back.”
After Lois served everyone a round of beer, she finally went straight into the topic.
“Flora said… that you had dinner with Nina that night and also… went to the hotel…”
The last question was a bit embarrassing to ask, but she was curious. Nina and Aryan; were they really… If it was true, it did not make sense for him to return to their team.
“She did invite me to dinner and took me to a hotel.”
Aryan was usually very quiet, but perhaps the beer had made him talkative that night. He was willing to tell them the story.
“I used to be… part of her studio. My pseudonym was Raphael.”
“Oh, my God!” Caleb’s hands quivered, and he almost dropped his beer bottle.
“You are Raphael?!” Caleb could not believe it, but he thought that made perfect sense!
Raphael was legendary. Nina’s studio rose to fame because of one comic that he illustrated. However, he seemed to have disappeared after that one publication, and he never painted again. All the comic lovers never heard of him again.
‘The Years Gone Wild’ was a big hit, even though the title of the comic was kind of rubbish. That happened around a year and a half ago. It was a downturn for locally produced comics, and ‘The Years Gone Wild’ generated a couple of millions of readership. That number was insanely high in the comic industry. The title had such popularity, it was unprecedented, and no other production could beat its record.
It was also the very first comic that was put on sale on the mobile application for comics. Comics used to be available for free. It was the first comic to come with a subscription fee, but it did not fail to attract millions of readers, which was an amazing feat. One could even say that it was the work of God. No human could possibly do that.
“Why did you stop painting after that?” Layla was curious.
Caleb and her were huge fans of Raphael. They had admired Raphael for a long time.
“I was still drawing for half a year after ‘The Years Gone Wild’. I didn’t stop.”
Aryan looked at the pot in front of him as a spasm of bleakness filled his eyes. Elena seemed to understand him.
“After ‘The Years Gone Wild’, Raphael stopped producing new comics, but Nina’s unsung studio suddenly rose to fame after only two months.”
“If I remember correctly, they also published another blockbuster title. I forgot the name, but it was very popular.”
She looked at Aryan. She wanted to give him a warm hug to comfort him.
“That comic was not Nina’s work. The artist was you, the boyfriend, am I right?”
Aryan did not answer her. He gave his silent acquiescence.
“So, you stayed at Nina’s Shuxin Pavilion, and became the man who supported her from behind the scene?”
Suddenly, Layla felt sad for her friend. What a fool? One should be passionate and vigorous when they were 17 or 18 years old. Yet, he did that for a girl. He gave his all for nothing in return. He must have loved Nina very much. Otherwise, who could have possibly made that sacrifice?
Aryan remained silent, as he picked up his beer bottle and took a few gulps. No one interrupted him. They allowed him time to adjust his emotion and waited until he was willing to continue the conversation.
Finally, Aryan put down the bottle and looked at his friends at the table. “That day, I caught her in bed with the boss of an animation company.”
Layla and Lois gasped. Elena, on the other hand, seemed to have thought of that, and she was expressionless.
“After that, I left Shuxin Pavilion and stopped drawing for almost a year.”
He held the bottle and tightened his fingers around it. He seemed calm when he talked about his past, but everyone could see his whitened knuckles and knew that he was still upset about it.
“The night before yesterday, Nina invited me to dinner and got a hotel room for us. She took off her clothes to seduce me.”
Everyone was silent. The busybody girls leaned in subconsciously to hear what happened after that. Aryan took two more sips of beer before he said, “I pushed her away.”
He could hear the sigh of relief from all of the three girls. Aryan smiled. “Why? I got nothing to lose even if I accepted her, right?”