'You chose this path. Deal with it.'

The truth was that Ci-ci had turned the world against him for a very specific purpose. Although he didn't know how long it would take for it to payoff, he was more than willing to wait. If that meant he had to deal with a bit of jealousy, it was more than worth it.

This was much bigger than his own feelings. This was quite literally about the legacy of his family. He was unwilling to see something his parents had worked their whole lives for crumble, just for it to be built up and into a fake façade.

"John." Ci-ci called out to the prompter.

"Yes?"

"Tell me. What's happened to my cla.s.ses and my students?"

"This…"

"Just say it."

"I'm just a glorified doorman professo – um, Sir Bell. I've only heard rumors. I don't know the truth from fiction."

"Tell me what you've heard, then."

"This…" John cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable even while not facing Ci-ci.

Suddenly, a shadow pa.s.sed over Ci-ci before a knocking shook his hood. "Ci-ci?" The voice sounded shocked before the faint inflection of a sneer ended it. "You're not welcomed here."

Ci-ci waved his hand toward the shadow, keeping his attention focused on John's mic. "Go ahead, John. I don't mind."

The shadow wasn't pleased with Ci-ci's ignoring him. Before the events of yesterday, Ci-ci had been someone he'd reluctantly lower his head to. After all, Ci-ci was like the golden child of Grandbell University. Although Gael's family was powerful, they were still nothing when compared to the prestige of such a place.

But, everything was different now. The highly lauded genius had finally made an irredeemable mistake. He had no right to continue to act arrogantly. Not only had he lost the favor of much of the world, his reputation had tanked, his funding had been erased, and his inventions were sanctioned to the university. For all intents and purposes, Ci-ci was no longer a man with any real backing.

'How dare you ignore me?' Gael's lip twitched as he watched Ci-ci's side profile.

Over the intercom, John took a deep breath, still struggling with himself. "From what I understand, Sir Bell, your cla.s.ses have been s.h.i.+fted over to your replacement. Also, your specialty cla.s.ses were simply canceled."

Ci-ci's brows furrowed. He had expected this, but he still didn't like hearing it. His specialty cla.s.ses were upper year and usually post-graduate. He spent a lot of time nurturing those students, often one on one. So, he didn't like the idea of them being hung out to dry. But, it couldn't be helped now.

"Alright. Thank you, John. Say h.e.l.lo to the fam for me." Ci-ci pulled back, before he attempted to roll up his window and peel off. But, a hand firmly grasped the window, causing Ci-ci to pause.

"It seems you haven't understood something clearly." Gael's hazel eyes darkened, his sandy blond hair sweeping across his forehead.

Ci-ci raised an eyebrow. 'Who the h.e.l.l is this guy? I just want to leave.'

The truth was that Ci-ci had only come here to say good-bye to his students. He didn't need anything else in the university. What use did he have to see what he a.s.sumed was his cleaned-out office and the sneers of people who had been gunning for his position in the first place?

"Your name is Gael Alleman, correct?"

A smile curled at the edge of Gael's lips, "If you wanted to ask for a job, my family doesn't accept ungrateful and overly arrogant n.o.bodies. Because, make no mistake. You are a n.o.body now."

Ci-ci chuckled, "No, no. Nothing like that. I just want you to remove your hand so I can leave. So, if you don't mind?"

A character like Gael simply wasn't worth Ci-ci's time. He had wasted enough of it already, he didn't want to waste anymore – he had things to do.

Gael's smile froze at Ci-ci's words. But, he suddenly thought of something that made him look back to his car. "I hear you and my Frae used to be close?"

"Your Frae? Interesting. Last I checked the ice beauty isn't anyone's to claim. And, definitely not a small character like you." Ci-ci's lips twitched at Gael's provocation. If this Gael character had stuck to making fun of him, it would have been easy to ignore. But, to claim one of his women in front of him? Did he have a death wish?

But, it was more than that as well. Even if Frae had decided to no longer be with Ci-ci, something he would understand, the Alleman family wasn't strong enough to be worthy of having a Mortlock marry into their lineage. Something wasn't adding up.

'Unless?...' Ci-ci suddenly thought of something that caused his heart to hurt with a pang of guilt. When he had started his plan, he had given this about a 20% chance of happening… But, it seemed it had…

Gael laughed at Ci-ci's word, "Ice beauty, hm? My Frae is quite cold. But, I'll slowly melt her down. And, once our careers are established, we'll marry and start a new legacy."

If Ci-ci was a lesser man, he would have told Gael how much Frae really did belong to him. How much time they had spent together, how many of her firsts he had… How completely unlike an ice beauty she was around him… But, he had no intention of destroying Frae's reputation. So, he said nothing as Gael removed his hand from the window.

Gael chuckled to himself, 'I'm a small character, huh? It seems you haven't realized you're even less than that now. And Frae? Once the Alleman family is established in a few years, her everything will be mine.'

Completely ignoring the childish and disgusting sneer written on Gael's face, Ci-ci pulled back from the gates, wrapping around to slowly pa.s.s by Frae's pa.s.senger side window.

This wasn't ancient times. If Ci-ci wanted to speak with Frae, all he had to do was pick up a phone. If he wanted to see Frae all he had to do was go to her apartment. If he wanted to spend even an entire day with Frae, he could.

But, was that fair? Ci-ci had no idea how long his plan would take to come into full fruition and he had no idea whether he would even succeed. But, what he did know was that Frae was safer accepting this punishment…

Headmaster Mortlock had been the lead voice in giving the Grandbell award to Ci-ci. Many others thought he was too young… Giving such prestige to such a young man only gave him that much more time to replace them in the future. But, Frae's father had held true to his belief in Ci-ci.

'To think I almost got mad at you for revoking my tenure so quickly. It seems I owe you a lot more than I'd like to admit, old man.'

To make things worse, Ci-ci was practically born and raised at Grandbell University. On top of that, Headmaster Mortlock had been the face the public recognized as the man who handed Ci-ci the award.

When all of this was taken into account, the moguls had decided on the Mortlock family as the scapegoat for this scandal. As much as Ci-ci had hoped that all of their ire to be aimed at him, he had always known this was a distinct possibility. Yet, he did it anyway.

Now, Frae's future was being tied to the Alleman family. What could be worse for a top family of the West Continent than for their eldest and only child to be married into an inferior family? They wanted to slowly edge the Mortlocks out of higher society…

But, despite figuring all of this out, there was one thing that still grated on Ci-ci. Why the Alleman family? Maybe he was thinking about this all wrong… What if the goal wasn't to lower the Mortlock family, but to instead raise up the Allemans? And if that was the case… Why?

Ci-ci struggled with himself as his car pa.s.sed Frae. But, in the end, he didn't look.

'If you want to come on this dangerous ride with me, then come. But, I won't force you. If this is as close as we'll ever be again… I – '

Ci-ci bit his lip, cutting off his thoughts as he pressed down on the pedal… Completely oblivious to Frae's cold gaze.