Laying on the bed, drops of clear liquid flowed into Nicole’s blood vessels through the tube. There was a burst of irritation in her heart as Susan’s words replayed in her mind. Confusion and suspicion swirled within her.
This can’t be real, right? If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it, even if she would tell me that he had rehearsed a scene with her, going as far as to hug her. Nonetheless, it happened right before my two eyes, all while I was unable to stop it. What if he actually prepared a gift for her?
She froze for a bit with such thoughts crossing her mind. Nevertheless, she convinced herself not to overthink things. After the treatment, she would head to his office to see it for herself.
At noon, the quadruplets returned for their lunch. Hence, Nicole took the opportunity to ask Juan to fill her in about the lock picking basics; he was a professional in that area. Hence, she had a plan to check out the drawer in Evan’s office in the afternoon. Seeing as such, Juan’s knowledge would be put to good use if it were truly locked.
Juan threw her a curious look. “Mommy, why are you asking me about this so suddenly?”
Nicole contemplated on his words for a while before she lied. “I’m afraid that I may lose my keys one day, getting myself trapped outside. That’s why I’m asking you to teach me now. Will you teach Mommy how to do it?”
Juan gave her request some thought before he nodded.
“Mommy, let me tell you…”
With his comprehensible lesson, Nicole mastered the basics to lock picking in little to no time at all. The drawer in Evan’s office would be the best object for her first practice.
After their meal, Maya peered at Nicole with her puppy-like eyes. “Mommy, Ms. Patty has said that I’m rather clever.”
After she spoke, the other three children had a hard time holding in their laughter.
Noticing their odd expressions, Nicole asked, “What’s the matter? What are you laughing at?”
Nina raised her head to level her gaze at Nicole. “Mommy, there’s a reason behind Ms. Patty’s words of praise.”
“And what is that?” Nicole prodded.
Nina replied, “Ms. Patty had asked us to make a sentence with the words one, two, three. Do you what Maya’s sentence was?”
“What?”
“One, two, one, two… one, two, three, four…” The girl shouted.
Nicole was stunned for a moment. Ms. Patty is really kind. I can’t believe that she praised Maya over a sentence like this.
“Mommy, do you know what Nina’s sentence was?” Juan queried in a low voice.
“Tell me.” Nicole was curious.
Juan peeped at Nina from the corners of his eyes. He answered hurriedly to prevent her from standing up for herself. “She had said this, ‘One glance from a teacher has scared a cow to death; two glances from a teacher has scared two cows to death; three glances from a teacher has scared all the cows to death.'”
Nicole was left in surprise. She turned to look at Nina in astonishment. She’s had a thing for makeup since young. She has always been judging people by their looks. I wonder what Ms. Patty said to her this time?
“Nina, did Ms. Patty say that you were clever?”
The girl shook her head. “No. Ms. Patty told me that my beauty would shake the whole earth in the future and that my charm would revitalize all of the cows.”
Nicole turned silent for a moment. Hmm, Ms. Patty is rather interesting if I must say so myself.
“Time’s up, Mommy. We’ve got to head back to school.”
“Go on, then. Let the driver send you back.”
Looking at the four tiny figures that were gradually fading from her sight, a thought sprung to her mind. These little ones are like four miniature monsters. I guess that being a teacher is not a simple task at all! They would have to deal with dozens of children every day.
After that, Nicole headed to the study room to practice the skill that Juan had taught her.
Around three in the afternoon, she measured her body temperature to make sure that it had reduced. Having confirmed that, she changed her clothes, packed the essential stuff that she needed, and drove over to Seet Group, full of curiosity.
She heard from the receptionist that Evan was in a meeting. To Nicole, this seemed like the perfect opportunity for her, in terms of carrying out her operation.
Taking no detours, Nicole headed straight to the president’s office on the highest floor.
She was startled by John’s disembodied voice, just as she was at the door of the office.
“John? Aren’t you supposed to be in a meeting with Evan?”
Scrutinizing him, Nicole was soon able to deduce that he had just arrived, seeing that his expression was panicked while he looked completely out of breath.
“I- I was helping Mr. Seet in dealing with some matters. I’ve just gotten back.” John was guilt-ridden.
Evan had ordered him to watch over Nicole. Nevertheless, he never expected that he would bump into her at the office.
