Chapter 57: Has Claire not taken care of this yet?

"You sent one message saying you had to go somewhere, you would not be using your phone, and I should not worry, then you never texted me, or picked up my calls."

Lucian frowned at those words, he never sent any message to anyone but...

"I did."

He wasn’t foolish enough to admit that out loud.

’Must be Claire.’

He shrugged inwardly.

Outside, however, he had a bigger issue to deal with.

"I did? That’s it...?"

Naomi didn’t like his response, not one bit.

"I did not have time to send more."

He lied through his teeth without batting an eyelid.

Naomi was angry, Lucian could see it but he then pointed at the seat beside him and—

"Sit."

"No. I am not talking to you."

She was indeed angry.

"Naomi."

"I said no."

"Please?"

"As if that would work."

Naomi snorted.

"Come on, you are the only one I can actually talk to."

Lucian used his trump card, Naomi looked at him, then she clicked her tongue and sat down beside him.

"You are unbelievable."

"Right? Even I didn’t think I was this awesome."

Naomi just glared at him and Lucian blinked—

"Bad timing huh..."

For a moment, Naomi did not say anything, she just... stared at him.

At his face, at his unusually calm eyes, those odd, overly confident eyes...

Something didn’t feel right.

Something about Lucian felt...

"You look different."

She muttered, less in anger, more in worry.

"I had a difficult month."

"Doing what?"

Naomi questioned in a low voice.

"Legal trouble."

And the instant he said those words, Naomi’s expression changed. When Lucian realised the lie was working, he built on it further.

"My lawyer said it was better if I left for a while. No direct contact with anyone, no phone, no random statements, no more... incidents."

Naomi would have understood what he was trying to say, her focus however, was somewhere else.

"That female lawyer?"

"That is the part you focused on?"

Lucian stared at her with a deadpan look on his face.

"I am focusing on all parts."

"Women can be lawyers, Naomi. Look at yourself, with how hard you work, one day, you will be successful as well. How would you feel if someone looked down upon you then just because you are a woman? Hmm?"

Lucian smiled as he leaned on the table and looked at her with playful eyes.

"Don’t be smart with me."

Naomi spoke with a solemn look on her face.

"You vanished for a month because a woman told you to."

"She was very convincing."

Lucian answered playfully but Naomi’s face darkened, that made him tremble.

"That was a joke."

He raised his hands.

"Lucian."

She called out with a solemn look on her face and Lucian—

"She handled the legal side."

He decided to give a more serious story.

"She handled it?

Does that mean... you are okay?"

She asked with a worried look on her face. Lucian looked at her, he looked at her tired face and... he couldn’t help but smile, though this time, his smile was much softer.

This girl...

She must have been worried sick.

"It is."

He nodded.

"So no legal troubles at all?"

"None."

And finally—

Naomi smiled.

"That’s good."

Before Naomi could ask what happened or how everything went away, Lucian turned towards the door and the next second, Professor Hart walked in and stopped the moment her eyes fell on him.

"Mr. Cross."

"Professor."

Lucian stood politely.

"You have returned."

"Yes."

"I was informed you were on medical leave."

"I took your advice and got professional help. I am much better now."

"That is surprising, I didn’t think you would listen."

"How could I not? My favourite professor in the entire University said it, I had to listen."

Lucian smiled. Those words made Elena raise her eyebrow in surprise, then, even she couldn’t help but smile a little.

"Favorite professor huh...

Well, even if you are saying that just for the sake of it, I’ll take that."

"I am only being honest. If it were anyone else other than you, I wouldn’t even have given it a second thought."

Lucian answered and the rest of the boys in the class... they looked at him with their mouths twitching.

Was he... flirting with the professor?

How fucking bold...

And...

And why does it seem like the professor was flirting back!? She is completely following his rhythm!

"Is that so...?"

Elena muttered.

"Mhm."

Lucian nodded.

Elena held his gaze for another second, then she turned back to the class.

"Very well. Since Mr. Cross has decided to rejoin civilisation, we will continue from where we left off."

Lucian sat with the same smile, Naomi narrowed her eyes as she watched him and the class began.

For a while, everything almost felt normal.

Professor Hart spoke about business law, corporate responsibility, and conflict management. Then, halfway through the lecture, the classroom door opened.

Three men entered and the instant students saw them, they froze.

The same lawyers.

"Again?"

Someone whispered.

Some straightened, some, including Naomi, looked at Lucian.

"You said it was over..."

She whispered softly, Lucian could hear her heart beating quickly.

He narrowed his eyes as well.

Has Claire not taken care of this yet?

He questioned inwardly.

The calm on his face never faded, his reaction was much more controlled than before. After all, no human jail had what it took to contain him, if he wanted to be free, there wasn’t much that could be done to stop him.

Of course, that didn’t mean Lucian was planning to take those extreme steps, he would rather this be cleared more... cleanly.

"Mr. Cross."

The Lawyer named Adrian Vale stepped forward.

"Mr. Vale."

Lucian smiled.

He remembered his name.

"Mr. Vale, unless this is urgent, I will ask you not to interrupt my class."

Professor Hart spoke sharply, Adrian turned toward her and answered politely.

"Professor Hart, I apologize for the interruption. This will be brief."

Elena had no choice but to back down.

Then, Adrian turned back to Lucian who kept the same, calm smile. His mind, however, was already thinking of ways of solving this problem on his own if Claire could not do it.

But just as Lucian was thinking all of that—

Adrian lowered his head, the other two lawyers did the same.

That made Lucian raise his eyebrow but before he could make sense of it—

"Mr. Cross, on behalf of our clients and our firm, we offer a formal apology for the manner in which we approached you previously."

Adrian spoke up.