Vernon stepped out of the building, followed by Felix, who clearly was having trouble holding back his overflowing excitement.
"We did it, Lin! All odds were against it but we did it!"
He turned around to see why his enthusiasm was not reciprocated and noticed a dark, serious shadow covering his friend's face like it happens in cartoons.
"Hey, are you okay? You don't look like a person whose start-up idea was just chosen for an investment contract."
"Yeah... It's fantastic."
Vernon found it strange too - his efforts were paying off and his lifelong dream was finally coming true, so why was he not satisfied? Was it really because... of Jane Devold?
'All this time... All I wanted was everything that belonged to her, but now... I guess it would be fun to see her all lost and confused.'
He let out a soft, almost unnoticeable scoff, and brushed his hair back, exposing his furrowed eyebrows.
'I thought I was the one approaching you, but it looks like poor Princess Jane is just a stupid moth to my fading flame.'
***
"I still can't believe that guy managed to screw up his own department like that. I heard that Professor Taylor had to assemble the presentation himself, collecting bits and pieces from the other members of the presentation team."
Charles sipped on his cider and wrapped his arm around Jane's shoulder.
The girl could not understand what was so tragic about that incident. Just like her boyfriend said, given that the Department of Computer Science was presenting second to last, the team had more than enough time to even make the presentation from scratch, and if all the members were indeed involved in its creation, Jane did not see the problem of redoing it one more time.
And although she did not really have a reason to care, she still could not help but feel upset by everyone's distress toward Vernon, especially since as a senior, he did not really have to participate in that charade altogether.
"D-do you think he will punish him?"
"Punish whom? Vernon Lin?"
Jane nodded and Charles narrowed his eyes, feeling rather suspicious about his girl's genuine concern. He then forced a smile and playfully nudged Jane on the forehead with his index finger, trying his best to conceal his unreasonable irritation.
"You don't need to care about that. Moreover, everything turned out just fine, so Professor Taylor's evaluation is safe. And that means that his star student Vernon Lin won't suffer much slander either."
Jane offered Charles a satisfied smile and nodded her head.
The bustling atmosphere of the Spring Expo Party resonated with the mixture of music, loud chatter, and cheerful laughter. It seemed like people did not really mind the chill of an April evening, as the crowd showed no signs of thinning out anytime soon.
Jane, surrounded by the clamor of Charle's friends, was gripping her own bottle of cider while watching Felicity flirt with the captain of the University Basketball team.
"By the way, what were you talking about with Vernon Lin back then?"
Jane froze upon hearing that question. Although there was no reason to feel anxious, she couldn't help but hesitate with her response. Perhaps she simply didn't want her boyfriend to worry. Yes, that sounded like reason enough.
"I... Went to the b-bathroom and saw him there. I j-just asked him about his p-presentation."
In the end, why did she lie? Charles, either having bought into that lie or simply deciding to let it go, pecked Jane on the forehead and offered her an affectionate smile.
"You are too kind, Princess. Just... Stay away from him. Whenever I look at him, all I see is trouble. Regardless of his abilities, even smart people can be bad."
"Y-yeah..."
The girl smiled back at Charles and rested her head on his sturdy shoulder, but their lovely idyll was interrupted by one of Charle's classmates, Eugene, who needed his opinion on something business-related.
The conversation he was having with other guys was about to heat up, and Eugene believed that Charle's input would help settle the argument.
"I'll be back in a moment, Princess!"
Charles planted another light kiss on Jane's soft lips, then rose from his foldable chair and followed his friend, leaving Jane to hold onto both of their drinks during his absence.
Seeing how Fel was still preoccupied with the blushing basketball player and not willing to listen to the meaningless chatter of the already-tipsy girls from her own department, Miss Devold decided that it was a good time for a change of scenery.
Thus, she placed both drinks on the wooden table, waved at Felicity, whose attention was firmly glued to the blushing guy, and made her way toward the stage, where the University band was busy entertaining the crowd with live covers of well-known songs.
Jane was not a fan of such music. Due to her unpredictable headaches, she was only allowed to listen to classical music, mostly soft piano or violin solos. Therefore, the rough mixture of sound and vocals was rendered by her delicate brain as nothing more than mere cacophony, and after giving it another minute, the girl let out a somewhat disappointed sigh and turned around to leave.
"Hey, Your Highness!"
Caught off guard by that familiar, yet still offensive tone and remark, Jane looked to her right and saw Vernon Lin approaching her with a weirdly pleased smile on his face.
"Vernon?"
"Why so surprised? Is it because I'm not wearing glasses?"
Now that he mentioned it, he indeed was not wearing his usual golden-framed round glasses. But that was not the only thing that was different about him––he changed his entire outfit and even styled his thick black hair, revealing his flawless forehead and shapely dark eyebrows.
"Well, don't look so surprised, I can wear nice clothes too. And... I guess I'm in a rather celebratory mood right now."
Jane widened her eyes and raised her thin eyebrows in unfamiliar excitement.
"Oh, d-did your thing g-go well?"
Vernon smirked, then walked closer to the girl, and stood right in front of her, their bodies almost touching.
"It did. Thanks to you. So I suppose..."
All of a sudden, Jane felt his somewhat cold touch on her skin––the guy leaned forward, took her hand in his, pulled it closer to his face, and, fixing his sly narrow eyes on the girl's flabbergasted face, planted a damp kiss on the back of her hand.
"... Thank you for your help, Your Highness."
Vernon let go of Jane's hand and grinned again, clearly satisfied by her flustered reaction. He then offered her a friendly wave goodbye and left just as suddenly as he appeared, leaving her listening to the cacophony of her heartbeat drum.