Before Caleb could even open his mouth, Professor Lewis fired her shot.
"Alright, spill it. What are your intentions with Claire?"
Caleb stared at her, caught between exasperation and disbelief. "Mom, do you really think I'm that kind of guy?"
"She's several years younger than me, and more importantly, she has a fiancé!"
Professor Lewis gasped in shock.
Who on earth had moved that fast?!
"She's engaged already? Was it an arranged childhood marriage?"
Why else would a family lock down an engagement for someone so young?
Caleb thought about it for a second and nodded seriously. "Actually, yes. It was a childhood arrangement."
"From what I understand, it's a generational pact that she inherited."
"Inherited?" Professor Lewis was baffled. Since when were marriage pacts transferable?
Or was it purely enforced by the elders?
"The agreement was originally between Claire's mother, Melissa, and the youngest son of the Green family. But now, it's been passed down to Claire and Dane."
"Melissa? Wait... the Green family? Are you talking about the Melissa I'm thinking of?"
As a Cabinda native who grew up in the same era, Professor Lewis was intimately familiar with Melissa's legendary status.
What shocked her was the revelation that Claire was Melissa's daughter.
And her fiancé was none other than the heir to the Green empire.
Wasn't this just the older generation forcing their unresolved baggage onto the youth?
This engagement felt less like a romance and more like a debt being repaid.
Was a wonderful girl like Claire being forced into a loveless marriage with a ruthless billionaire?
"Is... is she actually happy with the arrangement?"
It wasn't that Professor Lewis was overly suspicious; it was just that Claire's lineage came with an immense amount of scandalous baggage.
After all, the whispers in Cabinda still circulated about Melissa abandoning her wealthy fiancé to run off with a penniless nobody from the countryside.
Did the Green family truly harbor no resentment? Were they just transferring their bitterness onto her daughter?
This was the child of Melissa and that impoverished nobody, after all.
But looking at Claire's immaculate elegance, how could any rural backwater produce someone like her?
The rumors had to be heavily exaggerated.
It was highly likely that jealous socialites had fabricated the worst parts of the story to ruin Melissa's reputation.
"She and Dane actually have a very strong relationship."
Caleb gave his mother a weary look. "Please do not try to play matchmaker here. I strictly view her as a younger sister."
"I have absolutely zero desire to make an enemy out of Dane."
Hearing this, Professor Lewis rolled her eyes, her disappointment palpable. "You coward. If you actually liked her, who cares if you made an enemy out of him?"
Caleb nearly burst out laughing. "Mom, are you seriously encouraging your son to be a homewrecker?"
Professor Lewis's mouth twitched. "I wouldn't go that far! They aren't married yet, right? Who knows, maybe she hates the arrangement!"
"You'd be completely wrong. Dane is exceptional in every regard. Why would she hate it?"
"You met her. She's brilliant. She knows exactly what's best for her She isn't some hopeless romantic who would throw her life away for a fling. anything, she's fiercely ambitious."
Caleb held a deep respect for Claire A teenager possessing the medical mastery of a veteran physician had deadly spent her entire life dedicated to grueling, relentless study.
"Are you implying her mother was a hopeless romantic?" Professor Lewis frowned, finding the term entirely unfitting.
Would a woman as brilliant as Melissa genuinely abandon her prestigious life and career for a fleeting romance?
Back then, Melissa was already a rising star in the mathematics world. Cabinda University was preparing to offer her a professorship, guaranteeing a stellar academic career.
Rumor had it that top-tier research institutes were also desperate to recruit her. Yet she had walked away from all of it to disappear with a man. It had always felt completely out of character.