Nicole shook her head gently and said, “Take everything out and let me check your
homework.”
They looked at her and breathed a sigh of relief as she seemed to have returned to normal. Taking out
their homework and textbooks, they waited for
Nicole to start the lesson.
Honestly, what they were most looking forward to every day was this period of learning time with their
boss, as they could learn a lot of new things every day. Now that they had done a revision on the
textbook, Nicole started to prepare them for
comprehensive exercises.
They stared expectantly at Nicole as they began class, but Nicole was looking at their homework and
seemed to have spaced out again. Austin and others exchanged glances. They were all sure that
their boss was not quite right today.
Nicole had been very focused on normal days, but
today she was strange. What Jared said to her in the car that day and the scene of him seeing the
woman with wavy hair kept appearing in her mind. She felt chest pain, especially recalling the scene of
him leaving just now as if something was pressing against her.
Claus knocked on the door. He was puzzled because something was amiss today, there was no sound of
their discussion coming from the box; it was
strangely quiet.
“Come in.” Nicole’s calm voice sounded from the
inside.
Claus pushed the door in and found that everyone was sitting in their seats, while Nicole also sat in hers,
not going to the front.
He raised an eyebrow with interest. “Your iced Americano.”
Nicole nodded to him. “Thank you.”
After Claus left, Nicole stood up. It took her twice as long to check their homework today. Before starting
the lesson, she gently picked up the cup of coffee and took a sip. She found the coffee tasted a bit odd,
but it did not show on her face. Nicole almost forgot that it had always been Jared who made her coffee.
Thanks to this sip of coffee, Nicole had come out of her daze completely. She cleared her throat and
started to give Austin their lessons.
It was dinner time by the time they finished.
Nicole was slowly packing up her things, as there was nothing important to do now. She could empty
her thoughts and not think too much.
Austin and others looked at Nicole, all with a worried look. “Boss, are you really alright?”
Nicole glanced at them, and just as she was about to say something, the phone in her pocket rang. She
gave Austin an I-will-go-first gesture and then walked out of the café to the open space outside
before answering the phone.
A very kind voice sounded at the other end of the
phone. “Nicole? Do you have time to pay a visit to
the principal’s office?”
Mr. Ellison had called instead of messaging her this time. Nicole heard his gentle voice and found it hard
to say no. Since she had nothing to do now,
she agreed.
Mr. Ellison said with delight, “Okay, I will wait for you. Haven’t you had dinner yet, have you? I will ask
someone to prepare, and we will have dinner together.” He then hung up at once as if afraid that Nicole
would say no.
Nicole looked at the phone helplessly. Since she had agreed, she was not going to walk back on her
words.
She quickened her pace and soon came in front of the principal’s office. As she knocked on the door, a
gentle voice invited her to enter. Nicole stepped inside and saw that three sets of tableware had been
laid out on the table, and Mr. Ellison was sitting there, beckoning her to come over with a
smile.
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