Erin didn't dare meet Darius' eyes. From where he sat, Darius could clearly see how red Erin's face was, and he knew he'd guessed correctly. "Well, since you guys have already done everything that you can, are you here to ask me to question Zack personally?" he asked calmly.Erin said hesitantly, "I know you haven't fully recovered and that you're busy, but I still wanted to ask you—""There are too many questions in this world that have no answers," Darius interjected. He smiled and continued, "Alright, that's the end of this matter. If Zack wants to see me, you can bring him here. Otherwise, inform him that he can head to the HR department to get his resignation settled. Remember—this has to be voluntary on his part. If he doesn't say anything, act as if you know nothing." With that, he stopped knocking on the table. "I assume he still doesn't know we're already aware of him contacting Dream Investment Group."Erin's grimace faded as she shook her head. "I'm not sure whether he know
After a long silence, Erin said in a small voice, "There's something wrong with your admission status again." Darius silently raised an eyebrow, making Erin's hair stand on end. She gulped, then hurriedly said, "Because you've continued to be absent from class, the university has decided to temporarily suspend your admission again. If not for Professor Owen Kurt lending you a hand, things would probably be worse."Darius sighed and turned to look out the window in an attempt to calm down. A few seconds later, he said, "Got it. Tomorrow morning, when we're done dealing with this mess, I'll arrive at the university at eight on the dot to talk to the dean—" He abruptly fell silent.Erin looked at him curiously. "Sir, is there something that you haven't told us?"Darius gave her a complicated look and nodded. "This is rude of me, but I've forgotten the dean's name because I've never actually thought of him as my dean."Erin's lips twitched at his words. Still, as a professional secretary
"That way, I'll be able to help him avenge his son," said Darius.Erin stiffened and stared at him with wide eyes. Suddenly, she didn't know what to think of him. She gulped and said, "Sir, is that the right thing to do?"Darius shrugged. "It doesn't matter because I know there must be something wrong with this son of his." Erin gaped at him. He shook his head and smiled. "You'll need to learn to accept these things. The mysterious person behind Dream Investment Group will soon find it hard to enjoy his position of power and will come after us again. If we don't strike preemptively, we're the ones who'll have to bear the consequences, good or bad. I'd like to avoid that—my objective is to provide the best that I can for my employees so they can live better lives."Erin nodded. Then, she turned to leave. She was still taken aback by Darius' plan when she returned to her office and took her seat. She'd seen a different side of him today, a side that he'd never shown others before. Befor
"They'll only go in one ear and out the other! I won't believe a word you say; they won't have the chance to enter my mind, let alone be processed." Zack forced the words out through gritted teeth, his fury evident. Darius could almost feel it through the speakers. Zack exhaled heavily and said, "If Darius were the one who'd caused my injuries, I wouldn't be so resentful. Yet the reality is the exact opposite!" He slammed a hand on the table. "Darius isn't the one who injured me. On the contrary, he saved my life! The person I've been plotting against all this while saved my life, which was in danger because of my so-called comrades. Do you know how guilty I feel toward Darius because of this? There's no way I can continue working against him in secret. Since I'm destined to die in the same person's hands, there's no way I'll continue doing anything for that person. As for you, you're also nothing more than a pawn to him. It's your choice if you continue working for him, but I hop
Pearl took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Her heart wasn't pounding as quickly anymore, but her eyes were still red. She parted her lips to say something when she saw a broken banister behind Darius. She subconsciously pointed at it before looking at Darius in confusion. Darius sighed and frowned. "It looks like the quality of the furnishings in this place isn't that great." As he spoke, he looked down at the part of the banister he held. Pearl's gaze followed his, and her jaw dropped when she saw what he held. Only then did she realize how quickly Darius had moved earlier. She said in disbelief, "I can barely believe this, but you honestly did move that quickly when you appeared before me earlier. My eyes weren't playing tricks on me because I was sad—you didn't take the stairs at all! You jumped over the banister, taking it down with you!" Her voice grew increasingly high-pitched as she spoke.Darius shrugged. "I heard you crying, and my first thought was that you were
"I'm really sorry for causing so much trouble for you tonight, especially stopping you from getting rest. I saw that you'd already turned the lights off earlier." Pearl pointed in the direction of his room.Darius smiled and shook his head. "You don't need to worry about these things. In any case, I wasn't asleep yet. If I were, I wouldn't have come downstairs because I heard you crying."Pearl looked surprised, unsure how to respond to this. She knew Darius was trying to alleviate her guilt over disrupting his rest, but she didn't necessarily want to hear him say these things. She fidgeted, wondering how to react.Darius sighed and patted her on the shoulder. "Come on, let's go upstairs. Honestly, you don't need to overthink these things. We're friends, so I'll always be around to help you when you're sad or upset, as long as you need it." He looked at her seriously.Pearl met his gaze. In the past, she'd never been able to understand what people meant when they said someone had brig
"He's an excellent professor, and he and Professor Plinsky go back a long way. In fact, if not for that, Professor Kurt wouldn't have agreed to take me in. Because of this, there's nothing to worry about. Professor Kurt won't abandon me, if only because of his friendship with Professor Plinsky. In any case, I called him as soon as I was discharged from the hospital to update him on my recent whereabouts," said Darius.Pearl didn't take her eyes off him. Her gaze was still filled with concern as she asked, "Are you sure he'll help you out with this? I heard your last conversation with him; he didn't seem to like you all that much."Darius felt helpless. "Yes, he will. Have some faith in Professor Plinsky's friend." He glanced at the clock on the wall. "Alright, it's really time for you to go to bed. I have plenty to do tomorrow."Pearl looked guilty again, but she didn't give Darius the time to console her this time. Instead, she turned to head into her room. However, with every step s
Darius rested his elbows on the desk and buried his head in his hands, sighing again. He knew he'd upset Erin by telling her about Pearl, but from an emotional viewpoint, he wanted to stop her from harboring any fantasies about him. Though he couldn't deny he'd occasionally felt the urge to form a relationship with her outside of their professional one, he knew it was more important to keep things between them professional. That was why he'd told her about Pearl moving in with him. Darius knew Erin would overthink this matter and that it wasn't exactly fair to either her or Pearl for him to do this, but he'd still done it.Another reason for his decision was that Darius didn't think Erin had any right to get angry over the fact that he was sharing his abode with another woman, especially because he and Pearl were literally only staying in the same house. Nothing would happen between them, whether physical or emotional. His final reason for doing this—it was almost negligible—was tha