Lark old man *

"Honey, are you ok?"

Maya and Vin were in the office I had bought to start my investment company. More than anything, our work consisted of dealing with the jobs and projects that Grandpa gave me.

The people from the fan club were also there, but they didn't know my face. Lucas and Sarah, who had become the CEO and lawyer of the firm respectively had taken the other side of the office. Those two managed to take the best offices.

"No... yes... I don't know..."

I sat in front of the computer watching them without encouragement.

"My grandfather wants me to go to the Lark family reunion."

"What?! Are you saying that he is going to betray you? Will he give out your identity?"

I shook my head. "He wants me to go under another identity, remember? I'll be the scholarship student Eva Cote."

Maya frowned and pouted. She had seen my costume before and she didn't like it at all. She said I looked horrible in my oversized, cheap fabric tops and sweatshirts. She didn't like to see me out of style.

"I need to make my face not look like… me."

"You'll need a lot of makeup for that," Maya said, "maybe some prosthetics too… I'll get a good special effects makeup artist."

"Don't go overboard Maya, I don't have to change my whole face, just a little."

"I understand," she stood up and nodded while taking her phone, "I'll go contact the artist right now to start running the tests."

Maya left quickly and Vin stayed on the call in the meantime.

"Eva…" I heard Vin but he was using a hesitant tone. I haven't listened to that kind of timid voice for a long time. 

In the past few days, I noticed how much he had changed. He became less timid and introverted, though, I'm afraid it has to do with Maya. The two of them had become closer and maybe something happened at the graduation.

They didn't answer my call for a long time till the next morning. They haven't told me yet what happened but I hope one day they will give me an explanation. Hopefully, they start dating soon.

"What's up, Vincent Klein? Speak now or forever hold your peace "

The young man who was now wearing stylish clothes and looking more masculine sighed wearily. He would always sigh once or twice when he argued with Maya, but never with me. Something must be giving him trouble.

"It's Thunder," he answered, looking me in the eye. "I know you didn't want to know anything about him, but... yesterday he discovered the offices, and the other time, I noticed some people watching the building outside. Then someone tried to hack into our databases but that someone didn't succeed thanks to your security system."

I was speechless, after that day when I rejected him, I hadn't looked for him again. Sometimes I thought about him, but I forced myself to distract my mind immediately.

"Don't worry, just ignore it."

"But, if he finds out who you are."

"It doesn't matter, he won't be able to do anything."

Vin nodded, but I knew he was hesitating. Thunder was not a normal person after all.

I know Vin tried to find information about him, but there was nothing, it was as if he were a ghost. There was no trace of his real name or a photo of him. 

I told Vin to stop looking or Thunder would do something to him, and I wasn't sure if I could help.

I finished the conference and dedicated my time to studying the things that my tutors had left me.

Grandpa knew that my grades in certain subjects were not good, and he had forced me to take lessons, in literature, history, economics and geography, biological sciences, and so on.

Tch… the history of this world was different from my past life, how did they expect me to know anything? I could find it on the internet, but it still caused me confusion. I started mixing dates, names, and sometimes, countries. 

Anyway, that was the deal with the old man.

***

"Are you sure this will work?"

Maya arrived at my grandfather's mansion two days ago, with her team of stylists, special effects makeup artists, and designers.

I told her not to exaggerate.

"It'll work, we've already found the perfect look for you, no one will know it's you, and at the same time, you'll look fabulous."

"..." I'm nervous, it won't turn me into a busty blonde, will it?

By the time they finished, and put me in front of the mirror, I was shocked. My face was not the same, I looked different in many ways, but without losing shape.

My eyebrows were fuller, and my nose was a little sharper, my blue eyes had changed to caramel color, and my face had a cute, rounder style. My hair ended up being cut short to my neck. I was also wearing black-rimmed glasses, which made me look so different but, at the same time, I looked glamorous.

I was truly surprised, even my grandfather was astonished when he entered the room. Now he didn't laugh.

Then, he greeted me by shaking my hand, "Miss Cote, how are you?"

I could only roll my eyes when the man began to flirt with the makeup artists, stylists, and other artists who were in the place, saying that he had lost his granddaughter. Damn old man!

My outfit, as expected, was impressive, without looking over the top, well no... Maya made it over the top.

For the party, she found me a short black dress with a lace neckline. It looked ordinary for a guest at the Larks' party, but that was my persona, an ordinary student.

I hope no one notices.

"Darling," Maya whispered to me as she finished picking out the rest of my clothes to attend Empire College in a few weeks. "You have Lizzy's number, she will help you with makeup and prosthetics when you need it, and she will also give you the garments you require."

I nodded wearily. I didn't want to dress up so much every day, but I had no other.

"You should go with me..." I begged for the third or fourth time, but Maya had a different destiny. She would go to a specialized fashion school. We had already discussed it before, and we cried together.

She took my hand and squeezed it. "My love, you will be very close to me, the schools are in the same city, only a few minutes away, if you have problems you can come to me."

"..." I felt like a little girl. "Tell me what you did to Vin..."

"What?"

She jumped and released my hand. "What are you talking about?"

She avoided my eyes.

"Did you have sex with him? You took his virginity, right?"

Maya blushed as she had never done in her entire life, but she didn't answer, instead, she closed my suitcase and threw it at me.

"I have to go, I have to leave now... to convince several authors to join the publishing house. I have to look pretty for that."

Tch... What's wrong with her? Don't tell me she couldn't take Vin's innocence away. 

Or maybe... there was something else. What on earth happened?