In the front row of the classroom, Imogen held her phone, looking conflicted.
However, the ripples in her cold, beautiful eyes proved her mood was actually joyful.
Arden's analogy to Miami companion services had sparked a vivid imagination in Imogen's mind.
She wasn't repulsed. On the contrary, she looked forward to something ambiguous happening between her and Arden during this trip.
Looking at the $2,000 freshly deposited in her account, her mom's medical expenses for next month were covered again.
This meant Imogen could work fewer hours in the lab and rest more.
Working in the lab was exploitative, as anyone who understood knew.
Professors charged high fees for corporate projects but only gave students a tiny percentage.
They took advantage of undergrads having limited earning options, arbitrarily lowering wages.
Some students were so caught up in the grind that they'd work for professors even without pay.
Under the sycophantic behavior of these "model students," Dr. Miller's lab required students to clock minimum weekly hours to receive work stipends.
Basically like a job.
Imogen was genuinely speechless about these people.
Of course, speechless as she was, Imogen had no bargaining power with the professor. She was a prodigy, sure, but only a freshman—still in the developmental stage of her genius, constrained everywhere.
In comparison, working for Arden was incredibly cost-effective.
This cost-effectiveness clearly included Arden's ulterior motives toward her.
However, Imogen also had ulterior motives for Arden.
Decision made!
Next month, she wouldn't work in Dr. Miller's lab.
She might as well use that time to serve Arden, and the time saved could go toward coding her own side projects.
Easy and fun.
So for this companion trip, Imogen secretly decided to confess her feelings to Arden. For someone with social anxiety like her, this was incredibly difficult, but... after all, they'd be traveling for two or three days. With courage, she'd surely find the right moment.
Worst case, she'd just hug him and kiss him, right...?
And her legs in black tights—guys should like those, right?
Imogen fell into strange, confused fantasies, clutching her phone, her slender, fair neck tinged with beautiful pink.
Emma Anderson, standing at the podium, took all of this in.
Blinking her lovely eyes, a gossipy curiosity arose.
She'd recently heard rumors about Arden and Imogen in the student group chats.
From Emma's perspective, these two students were quite a good match.
However, when she thought of those videos Arden had sent her, then looked at Imogen's expression like a girl falling in love, Emma suddenly felt a surge of jealousy.
She snapped back to awareness, followed by deep shame.
Arden was just checking in with her as usual. As an advisor, how could she think such inappropriate thoughts?!
A mortified Emma had no choice but to say, "Feel free to keep discussing, everyone. If there's nothing else, I'll head out."
"Thanks!" "See you, Emma!"
Seeing the advisor leave the classroom, Imogen's mind cleared a bit. She glanced around, noticed not many people remained, and quickly headed to the back of the classroom, walking up to Arden.
Imogen reached out and tugged Arden's sleeve, whispering, "We... let's go register!"
Evan Thornton: ???
Evan's face changed colors at lightning speed.
His trembling hand reached for his chest.
Ryan Wells, who'd been grinding gacha, sensed something and quickly looked up at Evan.
Holy crap, this guy's gonna collapse again!
Just as Ryan thought he'd have to take Evan to the health center again, Arden asked confusedly, "Register for what?"
"Register with Emma for the roster. I'm going with you on the trip."
"Oh, I'll tell her about that. You don't need to worry."
"Mm, okay."
Imogen paused, then spoke with difficulty, "The trip... with you, I'm really looking forward to it."
After saying that, she covered her face and ran away shyly.
The people around them, especially the guys, all showed murderous gazes.
Damn it!
They should've left the classroom with Emma.
Look at this—is this even appropriate?
It had only been a few days since school started, and Arden had actually gotten together with Imogen.
They'd originally thought it was just rumors, but Imogen seemed even more proactive.
Why?
Besides being good-looking, Arden was pretty ordinary in every other aspect—nothing special.
Several people pursuing Imogen were way better off than Arden.
Those were genuinely rich, handsome, tall guys.
Why did they lose to Arden?
What Imogen had just said to Arden was bound to spread among students, causing huge drama.
At that moment, Evan clutched his chest.
At least he could breathe normally now.
When he first heard Imogen say "register," he'd thought she meant marriage registration with Arden.
Turned out it was registering for a travel activity. Ha.
"Bro Arden, I think we roommates should maintain unity and friendship. How about Harrison 510 goes together—us plus Imogen—and we find a few more from Arts?" Evan suggested.
"I don't mind, but are you really okay?" Arden was skeptical. If Evan witnessed his ambiguous interactions with Imogen, this guy might actually drop dead on the spot.
"No problem!" Evan said with determination. "Letting me see your sweet moments with Imogen firsthand will just help me move on. Honestly, I've pretty much accepted reality. Now I think Lily Everett is my type. After all, she buys Sennheiser—she has musical taste!"
"Dude, can you have some backbone?" Tyler was displeased.
"What's backbone? This is called adapting to circumstances, being flexible. Besides, Imogen already has Arden, and Lily's single without even a situationship. Obviously I want to pursue such a pure girl."
As expected of Mr. Sophisticated—full of pure love ideals.
Arden sighed, thinking this was actually good. Young people without some romantic idealism couldn't all be morally bankrupt, right?
"By the way, Imogen and Lily are roommates. We can ask Imogen to invite Lily to join the team."
Evan looked at Arden with burning eyes. "Bro Arden, you'll help me, right?"
"Uh... that depends on what Imogen wants."
"Damn it! You're already calling her by a nickname! How far have you two gone?! Ahhh!"
Evan held his head, losing it.
Tyler, however, had a gloomy expression, thinking from another angle.
Damn it, are they really gonna let this pompous asshole Evan hook up with Lily?
What if it actually worked? It wasn't impossible. Supposedly Lily came from some small town upstate, so she might be drawn to a LA pedigree, and Evan was artistic and pretentious—he might actually stumble into success.
Immediately, Tyler felt a strong sense of crisis.
So Tyler also decided to join this team.
Ryan saw this and figured, well, might as well go too.