They Hated Me in My First Life, But Now I Have the Love System-Chapter 475: The Line Between Closeness And Something More

Stephanie couldn’t help but throw her brother a cold look as he passed. All that smugness just to end up with nothing, it almost made her feel better. Almost.

And so, with both siblings finally gone, the office grew quiet again.

One of the middle aged men shifted uncertainly, glancing at Elder Knox as if asking for permission to continue.

Receiving a small nod, he took a breath, ready to speak again

But Carl suddenly stood up, confusing all three men at once.

"Give me a minute," he said calmly, setting aside the papers before walking straight toward Nnenna.

"Sorry about those two," Carl said softly, his voice a soothing contrast to all the tension that had just left the room.

He offered her a reassuring smile, then handed her the leather bound book he had been writing in the whole time. novelbuddy-cσ๓

"Here," he continued, "solve these questions. It’ll help me see how much you already know and where I should start teaching you. Don’t worry if you don’t get everything right."

Nnenna nodded, feeling her heart settle a little. She took the book and flipped it open.

Sure enough, as she skimmed the questions, her shoulders slumped.

They were as tough as she had feared.

Inside the book, lines of neat handwriting filled the pages. Some questions were simple; others looked like the sort that could make even an older student sweat.

Parasitology

1. Explain the difference between endoparasites and ectoparasites.

2. Describe the life cycle of the Plasmodium parasite.

Genetics

1. What is the basic unit of heredity?

A) Chromosome

B) Gene

C) Nucleotide

D) Ribosome

2. Mendel’s law of segregation states that:

A) Alleles pair randomly during gamete formation.

B) Two alleles for a trait separate during meiosis.

C) Genes are linked together forever.

D) Traits blend equally in offspring.

Biology

1. Which organelle is known as the powerhouse of the cell?

A) Nucleus

B) Mitochondria

C) Golgi apparatus

D) Ribosome

2. What is the function of chlorophyll?

Chemistry

1. Define an acid and a base with examples.

2. Explain the difference between covalent and ionic bonds.

And those were just a few. The rest of the book was filled with even more questions, covering almost every area she could imagine. It was obvious Carl hadn’t planned to go easy on her.

Nnenna wasn’t completely clueless about the questions, so she started solving them one by one, her brows slightly furrowed in focus. Seeing this, Carl returned to his seat and turned to face the three men.

"Gentlemen, where were we?" he asked calmly, as if nothing had happened.

Once he spoke, the meeting continued without any further delays.

Thirty minutes later, they were finally done. The two middle aged men stood up, thanked Carl, and took their leave. Elder Knox, however, stayed behind for a moment longer.

He couldn’t help glancing over at Nnenna, who was still bent over the book, scribbling down answers with complete seriousness.

Then he looked back at Carl. "Carl..." he began, his voice low with hesitation, "Stephanie and Nicholas... they—"

"It’s alright, Elder Knox," Carl interrupted with a warm smile that somehow still carried an unmistakable firmness. "I’m sure you already know what to do now."

Elder Knox let out a weary sigh. He nodded slowly. "Yes, I do."

He planned to call his son and daughter in law the moment he stepped out of Carl’s office. There was no time to waste.

Meanwhile, Nnenna was so absorbed in solving the questions that she didn’t even notice the meeting had ended. Her brows were knitted in deep concentration, the tip of her tongue pressing against the corner of her lip whenever she got stuck on a problem.

Carl didn’t interrupt her. Instead, he leaned back in his chair, quietly studying her in the warm afternoon light filtering through the tall windows.

He noticed how her hair kept slipping over her face and how she would tuck it back behind her ear with an absent minded determination.

The way she held her pen, tight enough to show she was serious, but never tense enough to betray anxiety, made him feel an old, quiet ache he was practiced at ignoring.

It was moments like this, simple and unguarded, that reminded him why he had chosen to stand by her side as her family rather than anything else. Even if she never realized it, he had already made his peace with that choice long ago.

So he simply watched, a faint smile curving his lips as she bent over the next question, unaware of how carefully he held the line between closeness and something more.

Time passed slowly, each of them lost in their own world. Nnenna was deep in her calculations while Carl drifted in thought, so neither noticed how an hour slipped quietly by.

"Done! Finally!" Nnenna blurted out with bright excitement as she scribbled the last answer she knew.

Her voice snapped Carl out of his daze. He looked up, meeting her sparkling eyes, and couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at his lips. He lifted his hand and motioned her over to the seat across from him.

Nnenna quickly stuffed her things back into her school bag and came forward, setting the book down in front of him with a little huff of relief.

Carl accepted it but didn’t open it right away. Instead, he reached into his desk drawer and took out a red pen. Only then did he flip the book open, the pen poised between his fingers as he began to read through her answers carefully.

Nnenna tried not to fidget. She told herself she wasn’t nervous, but her heart was definitely faster than it should be.

Arthur’s stern face flashed in her mind, how he had made her run past her usual limit in the training ground that morning, not sparing a word of praise. She wondered if Carl would be just as strict.

It wasn’t his personality.

He wasn’t like Arthur, but who knew if teaching her would make him be that way too.

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