"Yeah, together."
Ethan liked being around Claire; it made it much easier for him to mentally log his observations of a true genius.
"You could have stayed home for a couple more days."
Claire felt it was completely unnecessary for him to tag along.
Ethan shot her a look. "It's fine. I'd just be reading at home anyway. Studying at school might actually be more productive."
Claire instantly decoded the meaning behind that glance.
He was basically saying: You're not going to secretly outwork me.
She was speechless. No matter how she tried to explain herself, it just felt off, so she simply clamped her mouth shut.
Whatever. Let Ethan think what he wanted.
Having a relentless overachiever glued to her side was making Claire feel like she was being forced into a competition.
Upon landing at the Cabinda airport, Claire received a call from Dane, letting her know he was already waiting outside.
She turned to Ethan. "My friend is here to pick me up. Are you riding with us?"
Ethan assumed she was heading straight back to campus and figured catching a ride would be convenient.
But since he had no idea what kind of person this 'friend' was, he felt obligated to tag along.
His dad had told him to travel back with Claire precisely so he could help her out and keep an eye on her.
Claire was a girl, after all, and a stunningly beautiful one at that. It wouldn't be good if she ran into a creep.
"Sure."
Claire silently scoffed. The guy really wasn't shy about inviting himself along!
But the moment Ethan saw her ride, he froze.
"The 'friend' you mentioned... is your fiancé?" Who casually calls their fiancé a 'friend'?
Had he known her fiancé was picking her up, he never would have aggressively third-wheeled her.
Even though Ethan considered himself fairly resilient to embarrassment, he couldn't help but feel incredibly awkward right now.
"A fiancé is still a friend, isn't he?" Claire saw absolutely nothing wrong with her phrasing.
"Dane, why did you come in person?" She genuinely hadn't expected him to show up himself.
When he said he was picking her up, she assumed he meant sending a driver.
Especially since he had been swamped with work the past couple of days.
"My meetings wrapped up early, and we had people visiting the house for the holidays."
Dane's tone carried a distinct underlying message.
Claire blinked in understanding.
His guests were probably people he despised, prompting his quick escape.
"I was planning on going over to wish Baldrick a happy new year. But since you have company, I'll visit another day."
The mere thought of Latonia being in his house infuriated Dane.
It was perfect that Claire wasn't going today.
né
However, as fate would have it, when Clairevisited the very next day,
m the Franklin
family anyway.
Achilles had brought Latonia and Cyrus Franklin along with him.
Claire shot Dane a pointed look.
There was no way this was a sheer coincidence.
"Baldrick said Achilles was supposed to visit yesterday. I have no idea why they showed up today," Dane murmured.
Claire gave him a knowing smile. Why else? Because of his fatal charm.
They were obviously here for him.
"Dane!"
Latonia's face lit up the moment she saw him, but her radiant smile
instantly froze when she notothe
gir standing next to him. Content`
She hadn't expected Claire to be here.
Remembering what her cousin had told her, the smile on Latonia's face grew strained.
Even though sending Cyrus to pursue Claire was a bit underhanded, her cousin was
a great catch.
Latonia honestly believed Cyrus and
Claire were a better match. They were the same age, both medical students, and classmates they actually had things in common.
What could Claire and Dane possibly even talk about?
Weren't they on completely different wavelengths?
Latonia refused to admit that she was jealous.
But she was painfully aware that Claire was younger than her.