Chapter 137: What’s Behind That Innocent Face

No Ones Pov

Like, seriously?! she fumed, her footsteps echoing angrily down the corridor as she stormed toward her classroom. First it was dinner, now it’s breakfast! Next, he’s going to demand lunch, then he’ll tell me to be his full-time personal chef, and then he’ll probably make me clean his entire mansion! What am I to him? His babysitter?! His wife? She spat a quiet curse, utterly frustrated by how much of her time this man was hoarding.

Finally reaching her classroom, she slid through the back door just as the professor started writing on the board. Vivien slumped into her usual spot- the very last row. Tuning out the lecture, she folded her arms on the desk, laid her head down, and let her eyes close. She didn’t care about the class material anyway; this was the perfect, peaceful spot to catch up on her desperately needed sleep.

After what felt like hours, the loud ringing of the campus bell echoed through the hallways.

Vivien let out a long yawn, blinking groarily as she raised her head from her arms. Rubbing her eyes behind her thick glasses, her vision slowly started to clear. But the very moment she looked straight ahead, her entire body paralyzed with shock.

Sitting just one row ahead of her, bathed in the sharp morning sunlight, was a flawless side profile. Fair skin, a sharp, elegant jawline, and perfectly styled, striking blonde hair.

Vivien violently jolted back in her seat, her chair screeching loudly against the floor a

"Elias...?!" she gasped out, her voice a frantic whisper.

Vivien’s vision cleared completely as she stared at the person in front of her, and the frantic pounding in her chest finally slowed down. She let out a long breath and relaxed her shoulders.

It wasn’t Elias. It was Enzo.

His soft blond hair fell over the frames of his glasses as he blinked at her, looking incredibly surprised by her sudden outburst. He had gentle, light-colored eyes- completely different from the piercing gaze of that arrogant author.

"Ah... I am so sorry for disturbing your sleep! Are you okay?" Enzo asked softly, his voice full of genuine worry as the tips of his ears turned a bright, shy crimson.

Cute, Vivien thought automatically, a small smile tugging at her lips before she quickly snapped herself out of it. She cleared her throat to find her voice. "Yeah, I am... I’m fine."

She quickly glanced around the room. The rows of desks were completely empty, and the professor was nowhere to be seen. She had absolutely no idea how long she had been out cold. Oh, shoot! Panic flaring up again, she sat up straight and looked at Enzo with wide eyes. "Wait, when did the class finish?!"

Seeing her sudden panic, Enzo quickly waved his hands, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Don’t worry! It’s only been about ten minutes since everyone left. You looked so exhausted... I didn’t want to disturb your sleep, so I just stayed behind to make sure no one woke you up."

Seeing how surprised she looked by his explanation, he hurriedly added with a shy smile, "And don’t worry about being late for anything next. The professor actually finished the lecture way before the period officially ended, so technically... we still have ten minutes left of the original class time."

Vivien let out a massive sigh of relief, sinking back down into her chair. Thank goodness. Her ten-minute buffer meant she wasn’t late for her dreaded meeting with Dominic yet.

"You’re a lifesaver, Enzo," she said, giving him a genuine, tired smile. "If I had overslept today, my boss would have literally skinned me alive."

"Your boss? Are you working somewhere?" Enzo asked, tilting his head with curious, wide eyes.

"Yeah, that grump- " Vivien cut herself off so hard she nearly bit her tongue. Her eyes widened behind her glasses as she mentally slapped herself. Shoot! She vividly remembered complaining to Enzo before about how she would never work for that arrogant, grumpy suit- yet here she was, fully enslaved to his breakfast and dinner whims.

Clearing her throat forcefully, she tried to cover it up. "Ahem, yeah... just a part-time gig. You know, to pay the bills."

"Oh, which company?" Enzo asked with genuine interest. But noticing her slight hesitation, he quickly waved his hands nervously, his cheeks flushing pink. "Ah! But it’s totally fine if you don’t want to say! I really don’t want to pry or make you feel uncomfortable."

Vivien offered him a grateful nod, glad he had given her an easy way out. "It’s fine... it’s just a small, local company anyway," she lied smoothly, looking away for a split second before deciding to completely derail the topic.

She leaned forward slightly, her eyes narrowing as she studied him. "Though... Enzo, do you remember anyone else from our class who had blonde hair? Aside from you, I mean."

The moment the question left her lips, Enzo’s eyes shook for a fraction of a second.

"Hmm... I don’t really remember," Enzo said, tapping his chin thoughtfully as he forced a calm smile. "Why do you ask? Are you looking for someone specific?"

"Ah, not really," Vivien replied, keeping her voice casual while her brain began to work "It’s just... you look kinda familiar to someone I saw recently. I thought maybe there was someone else in our high school with the same hair color whom I might have forgotten about."

Enzo stayed completely silent for a moment, the quiet stretching out between them until he finally gave a soft nod. "I apologize... I really don’t remember. My memory isn’t that good anyway," he chuckled softly, rubbing the back of his neck again.

"Oh, no, it’s totally fine!" Vivien said quickly, offering a reassuring smile.

But as she looked at him, her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. She stared at his slightly tense shoulders with a growing sense of suspicion. That expression of panic hadn’t escaped her.

His memory isn’t that good? In a class of dark-haired students, a natural blonde sticks out like a sore thumb. He’s definitely hiding something, she thought, her internal alarm bells ringing. Was Enzo somehow connected to the mysterious author, or was he just a really bad liar?

"By the way, do you remember Amelia?" Vivien asked, pulling up a picture of the girl on her phone and showing it to him.

Enzo stared at the screen for a moment, his expression neutral before he nodded. "Yeah, I do. She was quite famous back then, that’s all I really knew about her." He paused, tapping his chin as if a sudden thought had just struck him. "Oh, wait! I just remembered... wasn’t our principal- I mean, Mr. Valente- also enrolled in the same high school as us?"

Vivien’s jaw practically dropped. "Wait, he did?!" she asked, completely surprised.

Enzo nodded softly, his gentle eyes fixed on her bewildered expression. "Yeah, he did. He was quite famous back then, too. Pretty sure he still is."

Vivien sank back into her chair, her mind instantly exploding with connections. Now it all makes perfect sense! If Dominic, Amelia, and I all went to the exact same high school, it meant that mysterious author- Elias-must have gone there too! The pieces of the puzzle were finally clicking together, but it only brought a massive, question to the surface: Why on earth was a broke, ordinary student like her suddenly entangled between all these elite, high-profile people?

As she fell into a deep trance of intense calculations, Enzo watched her shifting expressions with deeply interested eyes. The shy, clumsy demeanor he usually showed seemed to fade for a fraction of a second. He had intentionally dropped that piece of information, giving it away on purpose just to see what his intriguing classmate would do next. A small curl tugged on the corner of his lips.

Before Vivien could snap out of her thoughts and ask him anything further, the loud campus bell suddenly rang out once again.

The sound instantly broke the spell. Enzo’s warm, shy expression returned as he stood up, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "Ah, well, I have to leave for my next class now," he said, offering a sweet smile. "See you tomorrow?"

Vivien blinked, forcing a nod. "Yeah, sure. See you tomorrow, Enzo."

She sat frozen in her seat, her eyes locking onto his retreating figure as he walked out the classroom door. She narrowly studied his slender, graceful frame, a deep hum escaping her throat. Something is definitely off here, She thought.

Once she reached the principal’s office, Vivien held her breath and peeked inside. To her immense relief, Dominic wasn’t there. Taking full advantage of the empty room, her eyes immediately locked onto the filing cabinets behind the grand desk. If Dominic was the overseer here, this room held the keys to everything.

Her fingers rapidly flipping through the student archives. Enzo, Enzo... where is it? she muttered, her heart pounding. Finally, her fingers snagged a folder.

"Enzo Valerious..." she murmured, pulling the file open.

She stared down at the student ID photo. It was the exact same nerdy, sweet style- the glasses, the slightly messy blond hair, the shy expression. She scanned his grades, his enrollment history, and his family background. It all looked completely standard. nothing out of the ordinary at all. His profile had absolutely nothing special about it.

Was I just overthinking it? Vivien thought, biting her lip. Maybe he really is just a nice, unobservant classmate who happened to go to the same high school

She was about to close the folder when a strange feeling twisted in her chest. Something felt off. Enzo Valerious... Valerious... She muttered his name over and over...

The sudden sound of the doorknob twisting broke her trance.

"Shit!" she gasped under her breath.

With a fast reflexes, she shoved the file back into its exact slot, slammed the cabinet shut, and spun around just as the wooden door swung open.

Dominic walked into the office. The ambient temperature of the room seemed to drop instantly as his cold, piercing siren eyes locked onto her. He didn’t say a word at first. His gaze slowly traveled from her flushed face, down to her slightly trembling hands, and then over to the filing cabinet behind her.

He knew she had been up to something, but his expression remained calm.

Instead of questioning her, he simply turned. "Follow me," he commanded, his deep voice leaving no room for argument.

"Yes, boss," Vivien muttered, quickly grabbing her bag and following closely behind him, keeping her eyes glued to his back to avoid his suffocating gaze.

As they walked down the quiet campus corridor toward his waiting car, Vivien’s mind completely shifted.

Once I get back to home, I have to check that book once again, she thought determinedly.

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TO BE CONTINUED