When Janice went back to the conference room, no one noticed anything unusual. After a while, someone suddenly said, “Since we’re almost familiar with the script, we should try rehearsing it.” “I think so too.” “By the way, where’s the female lead? Where did she go?” Everyone began to look for Elise in the conference room, but they didn’t manage to find her. At this moment, someone said, “Elise went to the restroom. She’ll be back in a moment.” Then, Janice immediately spoke up. “Elise said that she’s not feeling well. She has already asked me for the day off and will not be joining rehearsal today.
Let’s not worry about her first. We can go back and rest after we’ve roughly rehearsed.” Upon hearing this, everyone began to rehearse without any objections. Meanwhile, in the restroom, Elise had buried herself in the question and was completely immersed in it. Minutes passed and night came, but Elise wasn’t aware of it. She found that although she was trapped in the restroom, her inspiration was flowing like a water fountain. She couldn’t stop, and when she finished writing the steps to solve the problem on several pages, she finally got the answer.
Elise stopped and looked at the time, only to find that it was already 11:00PM. Her stomach was growling from hunger. She also found it strange that hours had passed, yet not a single student had come to the restroom. Elise tried her phone again, and this time, her call finally got through. She heard Alexander’s voice coming from the other end of the phone. “Hello, Elise?” Half an hour later, Alexander hurried over and rescued Elise. At this moment, he didn’t look to be in a good mood, but he patiently asked, “What happened?” Elise pursed her lips and answered, “I don’t know who did it, but someone locked me in.”
Before she finished her story, Alexander interrupted her, “Then, why didn’t you call me earlier?” Elise immediately replied, “At that time, I was just thinking of completing this question, so I delayed a little.” It was only then that Alexander noticed the book in her hand, which was densely filled with handwritten mathematical symbols, then he sighed helplessly. “You were in such a situation, yet you were still in the mood to solve a math question.
Just how strong willed are you?” Not wanting to talk about this anymore, Elise looked pitifully at him. “I’m so hungry. Shall we go have dinner?” Alexander helplessly reached out and rubbed her head. “Let’s go! I’ll bring you somewhere for a good meal.” It was nearing 12:00AM, so the school’s cafeteria was closed. In the end, Alexander called a restaurant to have their meals prepared and delivered to the school. Holding her meal box, Elise sat on the long porch of the school pavilion and ate huge spoonfuls of her food, looking completely unladylike. “Eat slowly.
No one’s going to steal your food.” Elise chuckled sheepishly. “I’m hungry…” Having said that, she still slowed down the pace. Seeing that she was almost done with her food, Alexander continued, “Now, can you tell me what’s going on?” Elise already had her suspicions, but she wasn’t sure of her own guess, so she said, “I’ll handle this matter. I think one of my classmates accidentally locked me from the outside.” However, Alexander’s brows furrowed tightly. “Are you sure it was an accident?” Elise murmured assent and explained, “Without conclusive evidence, I can only assume that she did it ‘on accident’.
But, I’ll get to the bottom of this. Whoever it is, I’ll give them a taste of their own medicine.” Seeing as she had said this, Alexander let out a helpless sigh. “As your fiancé and your future husband, it’s quite troubling to not be needed by you sometimes.” Elise stopped what she was doing and immediately said, “I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just a small matter, so I can handle it. Besides, who said I don’t need you! I need you more than anyone else.”
When Alexander saw how panicked she was, he quickly hugged her. “Okay, okay. I was just kidding. You can take care of this matter first. If you can’t handle it, then tell me.” Elise nodded. “Okay.” By the time Elise finished eating, it was almost 1:00AM. Fortunately, there was no curfew at Tissote University, so Elise returned to the dormitory. The next morning, when Addison saw Elise, who had appeared out of nowhere, she was surprised. “Elise… when did you come back?”
Elise explained, “I came back a little late, so I didn’t wake you up.” Addison replied, “Wow, you have so much motivation to stay in the library every day. When can I have your motivation?” Having packed up her books, Elise got up. “Let’s go to class. The first lesson is Professor Merlin’s lesson.” Elise and Addison went to the classroom, where Janice was chatting with her classmates. When she saw that Elise had arrived, the smile on her face instantly stiffened. The student she was talking to greeted Elise, “Good morning, Elise!” Elise replied with a smile, “Good morning.”
The student continued, “I heard that you were unwell yesterday. Are you feeling better today?” Without the slightest change in her expression, Elise said, “I’m fine! Who told you I wasn’t feeling well?” “Didn’t Janice say that you weren’t feeling well, so you left the rehearsal earlier?” Upon hearing her name, Elise looked up at Janice. The meaning behind her gaze was evident. Janice felt a little guilty being stared at like that, so she mustered her courage and said, “I saw that you never came back to rehearse, so I thought that you were unwell and went back to rest…” Elise murmured an ‘oh’, but deliberately dragged the sound.
Then, she moved forward and spoke in a voice that only the two of them could hear. “Are you sure there’s nothing else? Or that you didn’t do anything else?” At the mention of this, Janice’s heart skipped a beat, but she said, “I don’t understand what you’re talking about. It’s almost time for class…” With that, she returned to her seat. Elise didn’t expose her, but already had a gist of the situation. Professor Merlin walked into the classroom with a smile and saw Elise at once. Taking advantage of the few minutes before class started, he walked toward Elise. “How did it go?
Any success on the question I gave you last time?” Elise replied, “I’ve solved the question, but I have not double-checked the calculations yet. I’ll run through it again and show it to you.” To her surprise, Professor Merlin’s expression changed immediately. “What did you say? You’ve solved it?” His pitch was a little high, attracting the gaze of many of the students around him. Professor Merlin realized that he was too excited and hurriedly calmed himself down. “Show me what you calculated. What’s the answer?” Surprised by Professor Merlin’s reaction, Elise said truthfully, “I managed to get two answers.
One over two times the square root of three, and one.” When Professor Merlin heard this, he didn’t care about anything else anymore, and he found that his hands were trembling. “Hurry! Hurry! Show me!” Elise handed over the several pages of calculations. Professor Merlin carefully studied it, showing no interest in teaching whatsoever. “Everyone, use this lesson to study on your own! I have some matters to attend to…” After that, Professor Merlin took the few pieces of paper and went straight to his office, leaving the group of students looking at each other.
No one knew what was going on. Addison stepped forward and asked, “Elise, what’s going on with Professor Merlin? Why isn’t he carrying on with the lesson?” Elise splayed out her hands. “I don’t know!” “Okay, it’s good that Professor Merlin isn’t teaching too. I can go back to the dormitory and get some sleep. Are you going to the library again?” Elise replied, “No. There’s something I need to deal with.” With that, Elise got up and walked toward Janice.
“Janice, can I speak with you? Let’s head out for a while.” Janice’s heart was thumping. It was her first time performing such an act, so she obviously had no experience and feared that Elise would settle the score with her. “If you need to speak with me, you can just do it here.” Elise stared into her eyes and asked, “Are you sure you want me to say it here?”
