Chapter 5

The student who had gotten into trouble was from a needy family. He was academically outstanding and was usually very well-behaved. To help lighten the financial burden of his parents, he was working several different odd jobs to earn some income at the side. However, he was somehow accused of being a thief and was detained as a result.

Emilie could hardly believe her ears when she received the call. She hurriedly rushed to the security office of the company that had called up the school. The boy was seated in a corner with his head hung low. When Emilie came into the room, his eyes turned red. "Ms. Audron, I didn't steal her phone. I don't know how the phone got into my bag."

She nodded and tried to calm him down. "Don't worry, I'll talk to them and try to understand what happened."

The incident sounded rather straightforward. The student had taken up a part-time job doing food delivery for a restaurant. While out on a delivery earlier that day, he had stolen a customer's phone and placed it in his bag. He had then been caught red-handed with the stolen phone. Emilie instantly realized something strange about the description of the 'crime'. She asked, "So the customer lost her phone just moments ago, and you found out about it immediately and detained him here? That sounds like quite the coincidence, doesn't it?"

The security guard explained, "The person who lost the phone immediately called her own number after realizing that it was missing. This guy hadn't even walked out of the building when that happened. He was frantically rummaging through his bag, looking for the phone, when it rang. We thought he looked rather suspicious, that's why we stopped him."

Emilie smiled and responded, "Perhaps someone has a grudge against the kid? Or maybe it was a prank among your employees that somehow got him involved? You don't know him, but this boy is very well-behaved and is a bright student."

"Ms. Audron, look, we have footage from the cameras to prove it. We do not intend to wrongly accuse anyone of the crime. We were going to call the police and ask them to investigate this."

He showed Emilie the footage from the security cameras. The boy was obviously nervous when he walked out of the office. It looked like he was rushing out. The camera in the lobby also captured him frantically trying to get the phone out of his bag. Regardless of whether he was actually innocent, the evidence presented wasn't doing him any favors.

Emilie softened her attitude toward the security guards. She showed her most amiable smile and said to the person in charge, "We shouldn't escalate the matter so quickly. Let's just talk it through, alright? He's still just a student, even if he did make a rash decision and did something wrong, couldn't you give him a second chance? We can resolve this whole issue right here, there's no need to bring it up to the police to create more trouble for them. How about it?"

"One of the employees was a victim of theft. As security, we are responsible for it," the man responded.

Emilie kept her smile on as she tried again, "Well I mean you guys found the phone! You're already very, very responsible. It's true! I've never seen security staff more responsible than you guys! You haven't seen those at our school. They wouldn't know to stop someone even if they carried the principal's desk out the gates right under their noses, let alone a phone!"

The security in-charge was amused by her comparison and laughed. Emilie saw that there might still be a chance to diffuse the situation, so she hurriedly suggested, "How about this? I'll bring the student to apologize to the person who lost her phone and ask for her forgiveness. After that, I'll give him a good scolding back at school so he'll never do something like this again."

The security staff wasn't keen on escalating the situation either and didn't want to make a big fuss out of it. He hesitated for a moment, then agreed to let her bring the student to meet the owner of the phone.

The elevator went all the way up to the top floor. She asked the security in charge, "Excuse me, does the phone belong to your CEO?"

"No, it belongs to the CEO's secretary."

Emilie felt a little disappointed. To be honest, she actually hoped that the phone belonged to the CEO. People who could get to that position are usually more forgiving toward petty acts. If she flattered and sucked up to them, this whole issue could probably be peacefully resolved. However, things would be a lot more difficult if it were someone like the secretary.

Unfortunately, she was completely right about her assumptions. The secretary was young and attractive, and extremely unfriendly. She walked out of the CEO's office with a dark, irritable expression on her face. She glanced at Emilie coldly and asked, "What's there to discuss?"

Emilie tried to ease the tension. "He's still so young. He did something wrong on a whim and made a mistake, I think we should give him a chance, don't you think? Here, I brought him here so that he can formally apologize to you."

The secretary sneered. "Sure I'll give him a chance... He'll get the chance to reflect on himself at the police station. It doesn't matter if he's poor, but he's poor and up to no good. I think he needs to be taught a lesson on how to behave."

That was an unnecessarily unpleasant way to put things. The student who was standing behind Emilie couldn't remain silent any longer. He snapped at the secretary, "I didn't steal your phone! You tried to seduce me, I wasn't willing to succumb to you, so you decided to frame me!"

Crap. Emily thought to herself the moment he spoke. Regardless of whether that was true or not, he should not have said something like this out loud in such a situation. The secretary's expression twisted. She sneered coldly and said, "It's not up to me to make that judgment, and it's not up to you either. Let's get the police here to investigate."

Emilie tried to say something nice to change her mind. The conversation wasn't going well when the doors of the elevator opened. A voice came from that direction, "What going on?"

It wasn't a loud voice, yet it could be heard above the clamoring. Emilie felt like someone just pricked her with a needle when she heard the voice. She turned and looked toward the elevator; it was Ian Tournox standing right there looking back at them.

The secretary immediately hid away all of her arrogance and haughtiness. She called out to Ian pitifully, "Mr. Tournox."

Ian Tournox glanced at her, then looked at Emilie, then finally looked at the security staff. The man quickly described the whole incident to him. After hearing what happened, Ian looked to Emilie again and asked her, "Ms. Audron, is this your student?"

Emilie gripped the boy's arm as tightly as she could to prevent him from doing anything rash. She answered Ian, "Yes, he's my student and Audrey's classmate. Audrey should know about his character as well, he's definitely not a thief."

The secretary was about to speak, but Ian stopped her with a glance.

He looked back to Emilie and said impassively, "Since he's Ms. Audron's student, then we shall let Ms. Audron take him back."

Emilie didn't expect him to be this easy-going and was startled for a moment. She got back to her senses when she saw him raise his eyebrows slightly. She hurriedly grabbed the student and thanked him, "Thank you, thank you so much, we're really grateful for this!"

She was afraid that something else could go wrong if they stayed any longer, so she hurriedly bid them farewell and left the place with her student. Just as they were about to enter the elevator, Ian stopped her.

"Ms. Audron," the corners of Ian's lips lifted as he spoke. "Are you free tonight? How about we have dinner together?"

Emilie paused for a moment, then responded vaguely, "Sure thing, please allow us to treat you to a meal."

But he didn't fall for it. He asked again with a faint smile, "Ms. Audron, am I that untrustworthy of a person in your eyes? It's just dinner, do I look like I'm planning to eat you alive?"

He said it in such a straightforward and frank manner that Emilie couldn't continue to pretend to misunderstand. She smiled and said candidly, "Mr. Tournox, you've misunderstood. My husband is a very overbearing person. He doesn't like it when I interact with other men. He'll get jealous even if it's just a meal with a friend, I'm so sorry about this."

There was a tinge of sarcasm as he said, "Ms. Audron, I think you've misunderstood too. I have no intention of chasing you. I just wanted to talk about Audrey, and it's not very convenient in the presence of others."

At this point, Emilie had no choice but to agree to the invitation. "But please allow me to pay for the meal, just to show my gratitude for today," she insisted.

He smiled faintly and agreed. "Sure," he said.

"I will call you later," Emilie said right before they left.

After exiting the office building, Emilie drove the student back to school. The boy was silent the entire way. When the car entered the school gates, he finally spoke up. "Ms. Audron, I really didn't steal the phone. She was the one who framed me, she, she..." He found it difficult to continue describing what had happened as his face turned red.

Emilie glanced at him and said calmly, "That doesn't matter. She managed to frame you, that means that you could've done something to prevent that."

The boy didn't refute that. He hung his head low and went silent for a good while. Then he asked, "Where are you going for dinner tonight?"

Emilie raised her eyebrows. "What?"

"I'll go with you!" Although the boy was rather naive, he wasn't stupid. He could tell quite easily that Emilie had no choice but to agree to that man's request because of him. "Tell me the time and place and I'll wait for you outside the restaurant," he said. "You can call me if anything goes wrong."

Emilie laughed when she heard that, but she felt something warm trickle through her heart. "Kid, thanks for the offer, but what can you do? Get back early and revise for your exams! Also, you should reduce the number of jobs you're taking up. I'll try to fight for your scholarship this school term. If you really need money, I can lend you some, just return it to me when you start work after graduation. The bank doesn't give me much interest for my savings anyways. But you gotta write me an IOU, understand?"

"Ms. Audron..." The boy's eyes started turning red again.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Emilie pulled over at the side of the road. She pointed at him and said jokingly, "You are a man! Don't get all emotional with me! Everyone knows that I'm a good person and an even better teacher, I don't need you to tell me that. Also, I have a husband, please don't develop a crush on me!"

Emilie's words made the boy laugh instead of cry. "Ms. Audron, you... you're so narcissistic, I won't fall in love with someone older than me."

"Oh begone with you!" She pretended to be angry as she chased the boy down from the car. "Go on back to class now! Where are your manners!"

The student got down the car, but he held onto the car door and wasn't willing to let go. He bent down a little and asked, "Ms. Audron, where will your dinner with that guy be?"

Emilie knew that he was asking out of good intentions. She smiled as she saw the genuine concern in his eyes. She replied, "Well, I'm not a very rich person, and I can't afford anything too fancy. Hmm, I'll probably find somewhere close to school. Hmm... How about FreeSky near the west gate?"

FreeSky was a restaurant located right outside the school. It was not very large, and most would consider it a mid-class restaurant. It wasn't the cheapest place, but it was definitely not luxurious either. Emilie was already traumatized by Ian because of how he looked, and she disliked how he took advantage of the situation to coerce her to have dinner. Naturally, she wasn't willing to sit in a room alone with him, so she reserved a table in the common dining area.

She had always been a very punctual person, but Ian Tournox arrived even earlier than her. "I'm in room 502. Ms. Audron, have you arrived?"

Ian had made the first move. Emilie couldn't tell him to come out to the common dining area at this point. She had no choice but to head upstairs.

When she pushed open the door and entered the room, Ian was standing in front of the window. He turned and glanced at her impassively before turning back to look out the window again. "I keep feeling like this city is a monster," he said slowly. "During the day, it would lay low and stay still. But at night, it wakes up and lures you in with all its colorful lights. Then, it'll swallow you whole and trap you in the darkness forever."

Emilie didn't understand this strange monologue that came out of nowhere. She raised her eyebrow and replied perfunctorily, "Perhaps it's because people have a natural fear of the dark. Humans are not nocturnal after all."

Ian watched as she sat down at the side of the table. "I've already ordered the food, is that alright?"

Emilie couldn't help but get nervous as she looked at his face. She subconsciously tried to diffuse this nervousness using humor. "That's alright, as long as it's not too expensive."

He smiled. "I think it'll be fine," he said

The two of them didn't have anything to talk about. Ian didn't speak, so Emilie just lowered her head and focused on the food. She didn't start a conversation. It was halfway through their meal when Ian suddenly asked her, "Ms. Audron, would you mind telling me why you're so afraid of me?"

She was startled for a moment, then she raised her head to look at him.

"Please don't tell me that it's just a misunderstanding, you weren't playing hard to get with me, you were genuinely afraid of me. This made me very curious," he prompted.

She looked at him silently for a few moments, then put down her cutlery and told him the truth "Several years ago, I had an encounter with a group of criminals. You resemble one of them a little, so..." She smiled apologetically and concluded, "That's why I said that it's a misunderstanding, I really wasn't lying."

The corners of his lips lifted slightly as he asked, "Just a little?"

She shrugged and gave in. "Fine, it's not just a little, you look a lot like him. That encounter caused me a lot of distress and trauma, that's why I lost control of my emotions when I first saw you. I hope you understand."

Ian smiled. "I should be the one apologizing. After all, it was me who scared you."

Now that Emilie told him the real reason for her behavior, she felt much more at ease. She smiled back. "That's why I hoped that you wouldn't misunderstand me. I wasn't playing hard to get. I'm already married, and my husband and I love each other very much."

Ian nodded slowly and gestured toward her glass for her to drink. He then changed the topic. "Oh by the way, sorry for not telling you about why I invited you today. I just wanted to express my gratitude toward you for what you have done, so I got you a gift." As he spoke, he reached below the table and took out a gift box. He passed the box to Emilie over the table.

She was a little surprised as she assumed that he was talking about helping Audrey with the request for her suspension of studies. She hurriedly said, "That's part of my duty as her teacher, I can't accept this gift."

Ian refused to take back the gift and kept his arm extended. He explained, "Please, it's not anything expensive. Perhaps you might like to open it first to see if it suits your tastes."

Out of courtesy, Emilie received the gift box that was about as big as a book. She opened it right in front of him. The instant that the box was opened, her face contorted. She flung the box away as though it had just burned her hand. The photos in the box dropped out and were scattered all over the table. One of them landed right on the plate in front of her. The hollow eyes of the man in the photo stared blankly at her. His face and body were covered in blood, while pale white bones at his neck were exposed.

It was "Monkey". Emilie remembered. She could never forget.

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