Silence hung heavily in the lab, with the three of them exchanging slightly awkward glances.
"Why?" Mr. Brown asked, his tone laced with apparent despair.
"We don't fit, Uncle Shane," Sienna spoke first.
"No way. He's the top in his department, and you're in yours. Both of you aiming for the same place. What is the problem?"
Sienna's mind instantly recalled the recent kiss incident, causing her to blush. She was about to speak when Brandon abruptly interjected, "I've already designed most of the robot, and she won't be of any extra help."
"You what?" Both Sienna and Mr. Brown were both taken aback.
Sienna quickly glanced around and spotted a model of a tiny robot outlined on the edge of the working desk. Admittedly, Sienna was amazed that Brandon had made such significant progress in such a short period since being informed about the contest.
Except that...
"Your robot won't work this way," Sienna spoke, pointing at the half-made model. "The cables are wrongly connected, and once the robot makes a huge move, the junction will break." With that, Sienna stepped forward, extracted some small working tools from the case, and skillfully addressed the issue she had mentioned.
The room fell into a hush as Sienna worked diligently. From where Brandon stood, he couldn't help but notice the long, beautiful eyelashes framing her focused gaze and the cascade of curly, smooth hair covering half of her side profile. For a moment, Brandon found himself captivated, unsure if the fascination was for the girl or for the way she expertly fixed his model's problem.
But an alarm rang inside him—since when did he start feeling such emotions? Could it have been the kiss...
"Done," Sienna declared as she stood up. Brandon observed the completed work for a while and found himself speechless.
Their eyes met briefly, a touch of rivalry giving way to an awkwardness. By this point, both of them understood that they couldn't endure accepting their collaboration for the contest, simply because they couldn't bear being constantly reminded of that kiss.
"Brilliant, it's simply brilliant!" Mr. Brown couldn't conceal his excitement as he observed the excellent collaborative performance and the academic sparks between these two outstanding candidates. "That's it. I will submit both of your intentions to the Principal for final approval! Work hard, my sweeties!"
For some reason, neither of them felt inclined to stop him at that moment.
As Mr. Brown quickly disappeared out of the lab, Sienna turned to Brandon, still holding an "unforgiving" kind of expression, and said, "You know, I only agreed because I believe you have what I need."
So what? He would never...
"Likewise," unexpectedly, he blurted out the sentence without even realizing that he had thought so.
-
Though she agreed, Sienna still felt that it wasn't as good as she had been told by her Uncle Shane. Every good thing had a price, didn't it? And this was what she had to pay to get what she needed, wasn't it?
Absent-minded, she somehow found herself at the campus tennis pitch, where cheering noise emanated from a cluster of excited students watching someone play the game.
"Joe Sullivan is the ONLY embodiment of male charm!" one girl screamed, her eyes sparkling with heart-shaped stars.
"He is the ONE for the rest of my life!"
"He is the SEXIEST man alive, always at the top of everything!"
"Wish he were at the top of meeeeee!"
"Boo!"
By this time, Joe had finished one round of training and approached the edge of the pitch to grab a bottle of water. Sweating hard, he lifted his T-shirt to wipe away the sweatdrops, revealing his perfect eight-pack stomach and prompting another eruption of screams.
Sensing the opportunity, Joe decided to tease his fans a little. He stripped off his top entirely, pretending as if he were just casually wiping off the results of his exercise training.
"Enough data space for another video?" Joe smirked as he approached one of the girls busily filming the entire process. "If not, you can add me to your contact list, and I can send you..."
Instantly, a hand came and blocked the camera, and then Sienna's voice arose, addressing the girl, "Don't get tricked. He is just trying to hoax you into voting for him in the upcoming Campus Heartthrob session."
"How dare you call Joe a con-artist!" one girl burst out at Sienna.
"Who are you to him anyway?" another echoed.
"I know her! Sienna Quinn, from the physics department!" someone interjected.
As they said so, they gradually approached and surrounded Sienna, who turned helplessly to Joe. He screamed, "Run, now!"
But the crowd had already taken the advantageous position.
"I have Joe's number, who wants it?" Not far away, Allan Batman's voice arose, instantly dispersing the crowd, who came rushing toward him.
Seizing the opportunity, Joe grabbed Sienna's hand, and they both sprinted to the corner pavilion outside the pitch, concealing themselves from public view. Joe then called Allan over phone, saying, "We are at the pavilion. You can be off now. Thanks!"
Observing Sienna wiping and tapping something on her phone screen, Joe asked curiously, "What are you doing?"
"Exposing your true face to the public."
"What true face?"
"You're hustling girls and boys to vote for you. And it has caused a lot of public disorder, even hurting innocent people."
"Allan? He volunteers..."
"Me, and him!"
"Nooo... Please, Sienna, it's crucial. Did you hear what they said? They think I'm at the top of everything!"
"Why are you so afraid of being second to Brandon Myles? You aren't even in the same competition!"
"Because... because... I do want to be at the top of everything!" Joe said in a pleading tone.
Sienna paused her movement, casting a curious look at her childhood friend. Despite being towering and dominantly confident among those crazy fans a moment ago, he seemed to have a touch of distress crossing his eyes.
Understanding, she softened her tone and said, "You're afraid of being bullied by those bastards again, like in childhood, right?"
Joe nodded in admission but soon lifted his head, saying, "Please, don't expose this to my fans. That will ruin my reputation."
Sienna smirked and tapped the screen with a cheerful dance, saying, "Done!"
"WHAT?!"
Sienna flipped the screen, saying happily, "Just made a reservation at our favorite restaurant for tonight. How about treating me to dinner to keep this information under wraps?"
-
Bustling and filled with guests, the Seaweed Restaurant had always been Joe and Sienna's go-to spot to catch up.
"Cheers!" They raised their glasses in a toast. Joe seemed unusually elated.
"Why are you so gleeful?" Sienna asked.
"Well, I am just imagining Myles getting tossed around by you over the collaboration. It refreshes me completely! Haha!"
But Sienna sighed, "Well, honestly, you should pray for me not being tossed by him!"
Joe's smile froze, "What's the problem? Tell me, I can help you!"
"You seem quite motivated."
"Of course, with a live-show spy..."
Sienna rolled her eyes at Joe's confession.
"So, what's the issue?"
Somehow, Sienna forgot what the real issue was. The only thing that kept coming to her mind was the momentary closeness between her and Brandon back at the Lab.
Joe set down the glass, leaned forward, and said in a serious tone, "Whatever the issue is, you should only watch out for one thing - never fall in love with him."
Sienna shot him a surprised look as she heard Joe adding in a whisper, "I find him hard to deal with, and I don't want you to suffer."