Tempting The Billionaire Professor

CHAPTER 4 CALM

For some reason, I feel triumphant as I walked outside his office. I left him there questioning himself. The moment I closed the door, I let out a huge grin and started walking towards the exit of the building. I called Stephen and asked if Jane has already given birth to their child.

Because they’re living in Manhattan, I had to drive back there so I can check the two of them and the new-born that’s going to be part of our family. Well, Jane and Stephen obviously are my friends and I consider them a family too. The baby would be an addition to us.

Stephen told me to go to the hospital and if possible, he told me to stop over the convenience store to buy food for Jane. That’s the only thing he has forgotten to bring to the hospital. Jane has a huge appetite and for sure she’ll get mad if I only bought food from the store. So, instead of going to the store, I went to the restaurant where we used to eat when Jane and Stephen were only boyfriends and girlfriends. I’m sure she’ll love the food.

There was a short queue of people that’s why I had to wait before it’s finally my turn.

While I’m standing there, I notice one man looking at me straight in the face. He was standing in the corner, leaning on the wall while holding his phone. His phone’s camera is directly onto my legs. And based on his position, he’s taking me a picture without my consent.

I stared at the camera with my brows slowly raising. When he saw my reaction, he immediately put his phone down and put it inside his pocket. I looked behind me. There’s no costumer at my back that is why I can leave the line without someone taking over from my position.

I walked elegantly towards the man who’s pretending not to notice me. He’s looking away and tried not to meet my gaze.

“Hi, Mr…?”

Carefully, his head turn on me. He didn’t smile, instead he raised one of his brows on me. I chuckled lightly. How could he have this kind of audacity. And really, he’s bitching on me right now? That should be me doing that.

“Can I see your phone?” I asked in my most patient attitude.

He smirked at me.

“What will you do to my phone? Why would I give it to you?”

He sounded like he’s trying to offend me but that won’t work on me. I put my hand in front of him.

“Hand me your phone I’m going to check something.”

“Are you trying to ask for money? You can tell me if you need money.”

“I don’t need you’re f*****g money, asshole. Just hand me your phone so I can delete my photo on your gallery.”

My voice raised making all the people inside the restaurant look at us. Now that I seemed to get everyone’s attention, I moved a little closer to the man and grabbed his collar.

“Give me your damn phone.”

Looking a lot nervous from what happened, he fished his phone from his pocket and gave it to me. He was rushing thinking that I would lower my voice when I’ve finally gotten his phone.

“Password?”

He immediately unlocked his phone and handed it to me once again. I gave him a sharp look and as a sign of surrender, he put both of his hands in the mid-air.

I checked his gallery and saw my photo while I was in the line. What bothers me is that, it wasn’t only my photos are in there. There’s a lot of women’s stolen photos in a different album of his phone’s gallery.

“Please, don’t make a scene here. I did nothing wrong to you,” he whispered.

“You did something wrong not just to me but to the other women out there whom you’ve stolen these photos.”

He took his phone immediately from my hand.

“You’ve deleted your photos. We’re done here.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“I’ll let you go just this once. If I ever see your face again and I caught you doing the same thing you did to me, I won’t hesitate to call the police so they could arrest you for photo or video voyeurism.”

“Are you threatening me?”

I shook my head.

“No, I’m warning you. I am not like the other kind of woman who would just relinquish you the second time around. Mark my words.”

He’s the first to turn around. I didn’t remove my attention to him until he was gone from my sight. I was about to go back to my place when I saw a familiar figure standing in the entrance door of the restaurant. His gaze was on me and the way he looked at me seemed like he’s scrutinizing my entire humanity.

The man was none other than Marcos Sullivan. His eyes were on my face and carefully it dropped on my outfit and to my bare legs.

I didn’t give him much attention. I walked back to my position nonchalantly and acted like I wasn’t bothered by his presence.

It’s just that, whenever I saw his face, the thoughts of Shonda wanting us to get to know each other kept on pestering my head over and over again.

Marcos Sullivan is handsome, no doubt. But he has this aura that makes me want to run away from him.

I heard his loud sigh before entering the restaurant. My gaze followed him and my eyes widened a bit when I saw him sit down the chair adjacent to the woman who seemed to be waiting since I don’t know when. The moment he sat down, he craned his neck in my location. I immediately turned my head onto somewhere. I don’t want him to get a very wrong idea with the way I look. I’m just curious.

Once I bought the food that I will be giving to Jane, I went to the exit door and drove in my car. I wanted to turned around so I can see Marcos once more but I stopped myself.

Was that woman his girlfriend?

I closed my eyes lightly and shook my head. I reminded myself that I should be focusing on driving and not to other people’s lives.

When I arrived at the Presbyterian Hospital, I called Stephen so he could come out. The hospital was big and I’m not used to its facilities. I don’t want to get lost while finding the way towards the room where Jane and their new-born baby is into.

With his creased forehead, Stephen disgustingly checked out my outfit.

“What’s wrong with you today? What’s that outfit? Are you trying to seduce me?”

I laughed hysterically.

“Are you crazy? Why would I seduce you for Pete’s sake. No, I was trying to seduce someone.”

I handed him the paper bag with food.

“Seduce someone? You haven’t told us about it.” I meant not to tell them about my plan to stay near Liam Carlton. Not because I don’t trust them but because I wanted to tell them once I became successful on my first attempt. Which is I’m glad that I was able to do it.

I slightly grinned when I remember what happened between Liam and I earlier in his office. It hasn’t been long since I left that place but I can feel that there’s something inside me that longs for him.

“What are you thinking?”

I stopped from remembering my hot encounter with Liam when Stephen called for my attention.

I raised my brows at him and shook my head a little.

“Such a gossiper.”

He pouted before gesturing me to walk with him inside the hospital. It wasn’t my first-time entering Presbyterian but it always amazes me by its clean facilities. The smell inside is like ethyl alcohol but it’s much milder than the other hospital I went to before.

“How’s the baby? Wait, is it a boy or girl?”

Stephen glanced at me.

“Fortunately, it’s a girl. She wouldn’t become a problem for us when she grew up since girl is easier to discipline than guys.”

I slapped his arms.

“Hey, that’s stereotyping.”

He shrugged. “You can’t say. I am the living epitome of a headache. It’s not just my parents who’s always mad at me but also Jane.”

I nodded.

“And me,” I added.

“Exactly. That’s why I really prefer a girl than a boy.”

We both fell silent while we’re walking.

“By the way, I enjoyed the trick you gave us. It’s really thrilling when you don’t know what’s the gender of the baby. We’ll do it again next time.”

I laughed. It was just a dare I actually gave them. When Jane got pregnant, I told them that I would cover the baby’s formula milk for the entire year only if they chose not to check the baby’s gender all throughout Jane’s pregnancy. I never thought they would take it seriously.

The moment I went inside the room is the exact moment I wanted to get out as fast as I could. The temperature inside was insane. It was colder than the outside.

“What the hell is that you wearing, Katherine?” Jane’s voice that is normally high-pitched raised into much higher. She fixed her elevated position and signaled Stephen to help her as she was having a hard time.

“I’m wearing something revealing, I know that. But calm down, I did this for a reason.”

“You haven’t done this before, Kate. Are you taking drugs now? Or don’t tell me you plan on becoming a w***e?”

When I heard the word ‘w***e’ in her statement, I immediately smirked.

“Well, you got it right. I actually have a plan on becoming a w***e of a certain person.”

“What?” It’s not just Jane who was surprised with my statement but also her husband.

“You’re crazy.”

I lift my index finger and lightly shake it with my head at the same time.

“You knew about Liam Carlton, right? He’s the billionaire professor who teaches in Cornell University.”

Stephen’s brows furrowed.

“Wait, hold on. Give me a second.”

He walked towards me and grabbed my arms.

“Don’t tell me he’s the reason why you’re quitting CU?”

I bit my lower lip preventing myself to smile. “Well, you’re not wrong about it. But I must tell you that what happened to my father really pulled me down from being the best to becoming the worst.”

Jane slapped her forehead with her palm.

“I should’ve been with you when you needed me the most.”

I don’t understand if that’s hormones or because she just given birth the reason why she’s so emotional.

Stephen walked back to his wife and hugged her.

I rolled my eyes at them.

“I’m old, I think I can handle myself, Jane. You don’t have to worry about someone who’s not worrying about herself. And let me tell you, Liam seemed to be a good man.”

Both of them darted me a sharp look but I remained smiling.

“Also, he hired me to be his assistant when the school finally resumes.”

“Oh, God.”

“Shonda’s suggestion about you marrying Marcos Sullivan is way better than your plan. You’re not safe with Liam, Kate. What if he ended up to be one who killed your father. What will happen to you now?”

I shook my head.

If there’s one thing I know about Liam, that is, he’s not a murderer. It was too far for his character to be like that.

“No, he won’t kill my dad. The two of them are too close and my dad treated him as his own child. It’s too impossible for him to kill my dad. But if yes, then what’s his motive?”

And then there was a deafening silence between the three of us.

“We just wanted you to be safe, Kate. That’s all. If I were you, I won’t trust him that early. Yes, he’s handsome, rich, but he’s mysterious and people like that tend to have lots of secrets.”

I stared at Jane seriously and heaved a huge sigh. Both of them gave me a concerned look.

“Don’t rush things. You will get what you want in the future so, stay calm all the time.”