Chapter 172
Word just got out that she’d been mixed in with the freshmen. If she started asking about Niko, wasn’t she basically tipping Nicholas off about her identity?
Riley: [But Shari, you could play the charm card. Maybe he won’t get suspicious.)
Cameron: [We’ve got your back, Shari. You’ve got this!]
Jannie: [Shari, watch your step! Don’t get pregnant, and if you hook up with him and dip, I can’t even picture what Nicholas will do. He might go full–on villain mode.]
Sharon: [Who said anything about hooking up with him?]
Cameron: [So you’re just gonna string him along?]
Sharon fired back a punch emoji. She and Nicholas hadn’t even crossed that bridge yet.
Plus, their families knew each other. If she messed around and bailed, what would happen to her brothers? And Wendy had been good to her. She wasn’t that type of person.
Sure, she’d been a wild child before, but now that she had a family, she wasn’t about that old chaos. She was turning over a new leaf.
“What’s so funny?” A deep voice cut in, making her jump. Sharon’s hand jerked, and her phone clattered to the floor.
Her face burned as she stammered, “N–Nothing.” She glanced at the phone, relieved to see it had landed screen–down. That could’ve been a disaster.
She bent to retrieve it, but someone else beat her to it and snatched up the phone. Her breath hitched in her throat. ‘Crap,‘ she thought.
Nicholas scooped up the phone, didn’t even look at it, and casually tucked it into his pocket. “Let’s go eat.”
“O–Okay.” Sharon stood slowly, grateful he hadn’t peeked.
Even if he had seen the chat, maybe he wouldn’t piece it together. Still, the conversation had been a bit risqué.
She was trying to maintain an innocent image. The image was everything. She would do anything to make sure her persona stayed intact.
Sharon trailed behind him toward the cafeteria, and many of the freshmen nearby instinctively kept their distance.
By now, almost everyone knew Sharon and Nicholas were an item–not just engaged on paper, but actually close in private. No one felt like disturbing
them.
Even Lydia had stomped off to get food in a huff, too drained from training to plot anything.
Sharon followed him straight up to the second floor. Several insulated boxes were already set out on the table, clearly packed with food from outside the
cafeteria.
“Did my brothers send these?” Sharon recalled her brothers mentioning they’d have a nutritionist send her meals.
“Yep.” Nicholas deliberately pulled out one box. “This one’s not.”
“Is it from Wendy?” Sharon asked cheerfully, settling onto a stool and opening the box to find pottage that looked different from yesterday’s.
“I prepped this for you.”
What? She was taken aback, wondering, ‘Since when has he gotten so considerate? Isn’t he a total clueless guy before? Has he really morphed into a sweet, attentive partner?‘
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17:15 Thu, 12 Jun J
Chapter 172
Sharon took a sip of the pottage. It was tasty.
Nicholas watched her out of the corner of his eye, studying her expression. She seemed pleased. He’d spent all yesterday binge–reading cooking guides, powering through them so fast he was practically a semi–expert now.
Nicholas quickly opened the insulated boxes and lined them up in front of her–exactly eight, no more, no less.
Sharon wasn’t surprised. Each of her eight brothers must have prepared something unique.
Nicholas slyly placed his own box closest to her, right where she could reach it easily.
She tried a bit of each dish to be nice, but no matter how she paced herself, she couldn’t finish all the food.
“I can’t finish all this,” she said, turning her head.
“Got it.” Once Sharon seemed full, he pulled her leftover boxes toward himself and grabbed a fork to start eating.
Nicholas wolfed down his food, and Sharon stared, wide–eyed.
But soon, a knowing look flashed in her eyes. For a long time, when she’d taken solo missions on the Hunter Forum, she’d also scarfed down meals. After all, during missions, time was everything. She couldn’t afford to waste it.
Before they’d finished eating, Nicholas‘ phone rang. Rufus was calling.
“Got it,” he said, hanging up. “I have a meeting to attend soon,” he said to her.
“Okay,” Sharon murmured between sips of pottage. “You still have my phone, though.”
Nicholas abruptly remembered he’d shoved her phone into his pocket earlier. He leaned over and placed it beside her. “Let me walk you back.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’re probably swamped.” Sharon noticed Margaret waiting by the door, her eyes fixed on them.
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