For the next few days, Kelly went about life as usual. She attended classes when scheduled, spent time in the library otherwise, and worked part-time at The Sippery in the evenings. At 10:00 pm, Leon would pick her up. Other than being constantly on edge, terrified Leon might discover her secret, her days were actually fulfilling and pleasant.

“You’re this anxious every day. Wouldn’t it be better to just tell Professor Butler?” Melissa couldn’t hold back any longer.

“Tell him, he’ll definitely stop me from working,” Kelly said, her face falling into a frown.

“So what? Then stop working. You’ve got him to support you now. Didn’t he give you a car?”

“He did, but I can’t use it.”

Melissa tapped her forehead. “You’re so stubborn! You grew up in a loving family. You wouldn’t understand,” Kelly said, her voice low. “It takes so much mental effort to ask someone for money… her parents for money.”

Melissa’s heart ached. She’d never experienced that herself, but the fact that Kelly would rather exhaust herself daily than ask her own parents showed just how much she had endured.

Melissa didn’t say anything. Kelly saw her expression and knew she felt bad for her, so she quickly smiled. “That’s why I’m trying to earn as much as I am now. Once my belly starts showing, I won’t be able to, even if I want to.”

Melissa pouted. “Let’s see how long you can keep it from Professor Butler. You’re pregnant with his baby and still sneaking off to work. If he finds out, he’s going to…”

Kelly’s face flushed. “Stop talking nonsense! He would never do something like that.”

Melissa grinned mischievously. “I’ve heard people like him, the serious-looking type, are the worst in private. Come on, tell me, how perverted is he?”

Kelly glared at her. “Don’t talk about Professor Butler like that.”

“Oh, please. You’re still calling him Professor Butler? You should be calling him hubby by now.”

Before she could finish, Kelly had already landed several punches on her.

Kelly knew Leon would eventually find out about her part-time job, but she didn’t expect it to happen so soon. That evening, she was working at The Sippery as usual. When Sienna saw her, she looked around cautiously, then pulled Kelly into the staff locker room.

“Kelly,” Sienna said tentatively. “What do you think of Gavin?”

Kelly was surprised by the question but gave it some thought. “He doesn’t talk much, but he works hard and seems serious about learning.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Sienna hesitated.

Kelly looked at her in confusion. “I mean, he’s kind of weird.”

“Weird? In what way?”

Kelly looked puzzled, which made Sienna start to doubt herself. Just then, a customer came in. Sienna couldn’t explain further, and the two returned to work.

While taking an order, Kelly noticed Gavin cleaning the table from the previous customer. She watched him for a moment but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

It was pure coincidence that Leon discovered Kelly wasn’t in the evening self-study session. The teacher in charge of rounds had called in sick. Since Leon had been working late at the school nearly every day, the teacher had reached out and asked if Leon could cover. Leon agreed without hesitation.

When he got to Kelly’s class, he scanned the room full of students. She wasn’t among them. His eyes quickly landed on Melissa, who looked like she was trying to disappear into her seat. He knew she was Kelly’s friend.

“You, come out for a moment.” Leon’s eyes were fixed on Melissa.

Under the weight of everyone’s gaze, Melissa stood and walked out to the door, trembling. Leon stood casually, but his presence was intimidating. Everyone in the class perked up their ears, trying to catch what was being said.

“Where is she?” Leon’s tone was steady, his emotions unreadable.

Melissa stammered. “P-Professor Butler, I can’t betray my friend.”

Leon moved closer to her, his gaze softening. “Do you want to fail this course?”

It was the kind of gentle threat that cut the deepest. Just like that, Melissa completely caved, spilling everything she knew about Kelly’s whereabouts. Only then did Leon fully realize that Kelly hadn’t been attending the evening self-study session at all these past few days. She had been working at The Sippery. His emotions were complicated.

After he left, Melissa, overwhelmed with guilt, immediately pulled out her phone to call Kelly. As the call rang, Melissa silently willed Kelly to pick up. Leon was on his way, and judging by his expression, he wasn’t coming to chat. If Kelly didn’t get herself ready soon, things were about to get ugly.

But the call didn’t go through. The phone kept saying that the person was unavailable. Melissa’s hands dropped at her side, feeling hopeless. She sighed heavily and felt sorry for Kelly. It wasn’t that she wanted to betray Kelly, but Leon had threatened her with failing the course. And if there was one thing Melissa feared more than anything, it was failing.

Kelly had no idea disaster was on its way. When Melissa called, a large order had just come in at the shop. She was busy helping to get the beverages ready, and with her phone buzzing nonstop in her pocket, she had no time to check it.

When things finally calmed down, she wiped her damp hands, pulled out her phone, and saw that Melissa had called her over ten times. She wondered what had happened and got a bad feeling.

Just as she was about to call back, the shop door opened, and footsteps came in. Standing by the register, she instinctively greeted, “Welcome. What can I get you?”

She looked up. Leon was standing right there. Kelly froze. Her eyes widened in panic. Before she could even think, she dropped into a crouch, instinct taking over. Her brain scrambled for an escape plan, but it was clear—there was no way out of this.

Resigned, she stood up and forced a grin. “Hey, Professor Butler. Fancy running into you here.”