Walking out of the main building, Nathaniel was deep in thought.
The meeting was not the thing that was on his mind. He had anticipated something like that, especially with his relationship with the dean. After all the publishing of the LSAT had gathered a lot of attention from many people so there was bound to be people curious about him and who wanted to talk with him. The ultimatum on the other hand was surprising but not that challenging. Like he had said to Joshua, he had already determined to be in the top three grades of the school with little effort. Top five was just a joke compared to that.
No, the person on his mind was Na-Yung. Putting her amazing appearance aside as it was not the most interesting thing about her, her bearing was extraordinary. She was behaving herself with grace and elegance. That was not something you were born with but taught since young. Based on that Nathaniel could already determine that her family had a huge amount of power and money.
Her behavior was also different from most korean girls. She was bossy and demanding even if she tried to hide it towards him to make a good impression. The fact that when she laughed she did not try to hide it with her hand was very interesting. Korea was a country which has been influenced by confucianism for a long time. Confucianism was teaching that every display of emotions must be hidden. That's why in a lot of anime you could see young asian girls laughing behind their hands. That influence had been passed down in the last three or four generations in Korea. The fact that she was laughing without hiding it meant that her family must be young in their ascension to power and money as old families would have insisted for her to respect the confucianism doctrine.
Another point of interest was her hands. Although she had beautiful hands, there was something odd about them. They had calluses. Archers tended to develop calluses on their fingers' extremities when pulling on the string which was why Nathaniel was so surprised to find that she had calluses on her palms. Other than that her lithe body had muscle and power beneath the skin. Nathaniel was one hundred percent sure that she was a fighter and a very competent one at that.
Her soul color was also surprising. It was steel blue with specks of dark and green. That was his first time seeing a soul with three colors in it. The blue color meant caring while the black was ruthless, but he had no idea what the green colour meant. He had met someone with a green soul a while ago, but he did not get the chance to talk with him so that was still a mystery.
The last thing he found interesting about her was when he watched her walk away from him. She had an almost imperceptible weird way of walking. Nathaniel would have found it strange but the memories of Marc helped him once again. He had already seen that same walking posture and almost died that day. It was the sign of someone walking with a knife strapped on their inner thigh. The simple fact that she managed to pass the metal detector in the building meant that it was a ceramic knife.
There were only two reasons to come to a university campus with a knife. One, she was here to kill someone. Two, she was fearing for her life.
After talking with her for a little and seeing her soul he could determine that she was not a killer. That left only the second option. Someone was after her and considering her background and her training it was bound to be someone highly dangerous. Thinking about it Nathaniel decides to stay out of it. College did not even start and he was already swamped as it was. Moreover Karine asked him to make as few waves as possible here.
Putting the matter aside for now Nathaniel decided to pay attention to what Na-Yung had told him previously about the requisite sport. He found out it was true if that was one of a reason that you were accepted. Nathaniel was not in that category so he was not concerned, but he began looking into the proposed sports out of curiosity.
Looking through the list he was given Nathaniel was dumbfounded. Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Fencing, Football, Golf, Rowing, Soccer, Squash, Swimming, Tennis, Tracks and Wrestling, he knew next to nothing about these sports.
Taking a pen, he starts crossing off the ones that he didn't like until only three sports were still visible on the list. Basketball, Tennis and Tracks. To be honest Nathaniel never did sports when he was younger and even hated them. He was currently being influenced by the memories of Marc who loved Basketball and Tennis and was good at them in high school. Track on the other hand was easy as it looked a lot like what he was already doing. Each morning he was running ten miles around Central Park before coming back home. He had hesitated a little to pick wrestling too, but then he had seen their sportswear and immediately reconsidered it. That was some ugliness right here.
Putting away the list he made he left the building. He had this week to choose one of them and so was not in a hurry. Hearing his phone ring he got it out of his pocket and smiled reading the caller ID.
"Hi sunshine."
"Shut your mouth! Already picking up chicks in College?" Maggie asked.
"Yeah, I'm just a little sad that I will have to wait two years to see your daughter here."
"I swear to god if I see you less than ten feet away from my daughter, I will cut your d**k off!" Maggie threatened over the phone.
"Oh oh easy there. Wow you really have anger issues you should see someone about that." Nathaniel said with regret.
"I don't have anger issues!" She yelled again. "Now, shut the hell up, I receive a proposition for you."
"Ok, I'm listening."
"Good. Pitbull wants to make a song with you." Maggie announced excitedly.
"You want me to sing with a dog?" Nathaniel asked, genuinely lost.
"It's not a dog, he is a world known singer. I don't have time for your joke!"
"I'm not joking around, I have honestly never heard of the guy." Nathaniel said feeling wrong. It was not his fault if the guy had crappy taste in terms of naming.
"You must be the only one in this country who doesn't know who he is! He did hit songs with Christina Aguilera, Shakira, Chris Brown, Ne-Yo and that's only a part of it. This is the chance of a lifetime to collaborate with someone like him!"
"Yeah, my album is already completed. I'm not going to change everything at the last moment so I will pass."
"This is stupid Nathaniel, one hit with the guy could kick start your career as a singer. I urge you to reconsider." She pressed on.
"Maggie you are the one who always tells me that nothing is free in this world. In your opinion, if I accept, will I get a fair deal with the guy?"
"Probably not but in the long term it will be worth it."
"For him much more than for me and you know it."
"You can't always have a good deal especially with huge stars. They know exactly how much they are worth."
"Well, that's not for me then. Not every shortcut is worth taking Maggie, I will take my own way. Tell him it's a no." Nathaniel affirmed resolutely.
"You are making a mistake Nathaniel." She said. With that tone of voice Nathaniel could picture her shaking her head.
"If it happens to be true, you can always boast in my face with your best 'I told you so'"
"Oh, you can bet on it." She said fiercely, hanging up without even saying goodbye.
Nathaniel could only look at his phone, shaking his head.