Meeting

Now, of course, there's no way Cadmus would admit that.

His pride would never allow it, and he's so embarrassed right now. He could hear the onlookers chattering among themselves, getting louder and louder as he remained too stupefied to speak.

"You!" he then eventually started, hissing under his breath.

"Oh, no! I'm sorry!" exclaimed whoever this blob of purple was.

"Where were you looking?! Are you blind or something?!

"I-I didn't mean to! A-And besides, you're kinda in the w-way."

"What?! So, you're saying it was my fault?!"

"Of course not! I-It's mine, too. I'm sorry. Let me help you up."

"No, thanks! I can perfectly stand on my own-"

Cadmus trailed off.

She held out her hand to him despite his protest, and he noticed her fingers quivering. Even though she's trying so hard to conceal it, she looked as shaken up as he was.

He's still furious, sure, but he's not heartless.

It also won't be good for his reputation to lose his cool in front of everybody. Whether she intended to ruffle him on purpose or not, he's not going to lose his cool here.

"Master Cadmus! Are you okay?!" he heard Jamir call out as he rushed to his side with Irvin and Russell tagging along from behind.

Cadmus schooled his expression into a calm, mature one. But then, as he was about to talk to the girl once more, he noticed Russell back away for some reason.

"Yikes. Of all people," he heard him mutter, looking somewhat creeped out.

That baffled Cadmus quite a bit. It's not like Russell to react that way.

Especially to a stranger, or at least he believed a stranger.

"Anyway, for now…" Cadmus said without looking, face inscrutable.

"I accept your apology, and if you still have something more to say, we can talk somewhere else."

"Ummm… Master Cadmus…" Russell called, a little bit reluctant.

"Do we really have to bring her along? She didn't even look like-"

"Shut up, Russell. I'm inviting her."

"O-Oh, right. Yes. O-Of course."

Russell shrunk. Cadmus sighed.

In the end, it seemed he wasn't able to completely stay composed. He just wanted this to be over and done with. If he had something to say to him too, he could do it this instant.

Russell did no such thing, however, so Cadmus proceeded.

"Let's use one of the lounges."

---

"She's the transfer student I was talking about earlier! We shouldn't involve ourselves with her! She's a war freak troublemaker that we have to avoid at all costs!"

Now, this was pretty interesting. Russell had gone said it ultimately, and Cadmus had been fairly surprised. There's something not fitting in, though.

"You're going to be the president of a news company, Russell. It won't be a good habit to keep exaggerating this kind of story…" Cadmus lectured with a forbearing smile, one leg over the other as he sat poised before Russell and the others.

"How could you describe her like that when she obeyed me so easily?"

Right, this girl was nothing that Cadmus could not handle.