Chapter 184: Reward.
"You can cook?"
The girls around him reacted immediately.
Naomi glared at the one who said that. She clearly did not like the interruption but—
"You can cook!?"
"Really!?"
"Invite me too! I want to taste the food you make!"
Lucian paused at that.
That pause, however, was more than enough for the rest of the people who weren’t around to join as well.
"Me too!"
"Invite me too!"
"Let’s have a party instead!"
"What!? There’s a party? Invite me too!"
Within a few seconds, the entire class was now staring at Lucian, waiting for an answer. Lucian blinked, he turned towards Naomi, who seemed speechless.
"You won’t be able to cook for so many."
Naomi was now worried.
"How about I just order it? Instead of a cooking show, why not order food and drinks and have a party instead? My treat."
He offered and the instant he did—
"Agreed!"
"Yes!"
"That would be fun too!"
"Right after University?"
"I vote for that!"
Before Naomi could answer, the rest of the class nodded.
Naomi looked at Lucian, then at the classroom, then back at Lucian again. She could see the excitement in their eyes, these people had already invited themselves in. Saying no would be rude now, it would make her seem like a stuck-up who wanted to keep Lucian for herself.
"L-Let’s do that then!"
Naomi nodded, giving in under the peer pressure.
"Done."
Lucian smiled.
"YES!!"
The girls exclaimed excitedly, one of them quickly took out her phone.
"We need to make a group."
"Yes."
"Add everyone."
"Add me too!"
"What do I wear?"
"Help me choose an outfit too!"
"Can’t we do it on the weekend? I need a new outfit..."
"We don’t know when Lucian will be available next! What if he disappears again! It’s happening now! Right after University!"
"Do you guys need a DJ? I know a guy!"
"Give me the number! I’ll talk!"
"Oh, I also know this group..."
The planning started almost immediately, phones came out, names were exchanged, people argued over food, some wanted pizza, others wanted noodles, one girl demanded dessert, another asked whether it was possible to only order vegan, everyone stared at her with flat looks on their faces.
"You guys make the list of things you want and put it in the group, I’ll arrange what can be arranged."
Lucian answered everyone calmly.
"YES!"
"That’s good!"
"Perfect!"
The students nodded, some of the girls returned to their seats, planning everything in their heads.
Naomi and Lucian watched it all, both were slightly overwhelmed, then, when Naomi finally returned to her senses, the first question in her mind was—
"Are you sure you should be doing this?"
She asked with a worried look on her face.
"There are at least thirty people. It will be expensive."
"Don’t worry, I have money."
Lucian smiled as he looked at Naomi.
The rest of the people didn’t really matter, only Naomi did. However, Lucian also knew that if only Naomi came to his house, things would get messy.
The normal world might end it with a few gossips, but the Supernatural World...
That was different.
Lucian still knew he needed to create distance.
And yes, he was doing a marvellously bad job at it, but still...
If the entire class came instead of Naomi alone, it would act as a cushion at some level.
"You shouldn’t waste money like that."
Naomi whispered softly.
"Don’t worry, I just got my salary today, look."
He took out his phone. There were countless missed calls and hundreds of notifications, Naomi narrowed her eyes at that.
They were all hers.
And from the looks of it—
Lucian truly had not used his phone at all.
There were still month-old notifications and Lucian was someone who had the habit of keeping his notification tab clean.
Lucian smiled at her apologetically, then he opened his banking application.
"Watch carefully."
Lucian entered the password with a confident smile.
The application loaded, then his account appeared. He then clicked on the show balance option, entered the PIN and—
His smile disappeared.
Naomi froze as well.
$32,001,245.
Both Lucian and Naomi looked at each other, then they looked back at the screen as if they couldn’t believe it. Lucian refreshed the page three times, thinking it was a bug, but even after refreshing, the number did not change.
He checked the name, just to be sure.
It was his account.
He went to the account statement to check the most recent transaction and—
Voss Security Solution.
It was the Enclave.
’This... is the reward Claire mentioned...?’
He couldn’t believe it.
"Lucian..."
That was when Naomi called out, her eyes full of utter disbelief.
"...is that real?"
"I... don’t know...?"
Lucian was shocked too.
"What do you mean you don’t know?"
"I didn’t know they were paying me this much."
Naomi looked at him.
Then at the screen.
Then back at him.
"How much did you think they would give you?"
And Lucian—
He couldn’t answer because he didn’t know.
He had never negotiated a salary.
He just... went with it.
"What happened?"
One of the girls nearby noticed their expressions and questioned curiously.
"Nothing."
Lucian immediately tilted the phone away in a way that didn’t look awkward or suspicious.
"You both look shocked."
Another student turned around.
"Did someone cancel?"
"No."
Lucian locked the screen. Naomi was still staring at him, a boy from the desk ahead leaned back.
"How much money do you have?"
Lucian looked at him.
More students turned in their direction.
"What happened?"
"Did he check his account?"
"How much was it?"
"Show us!"
One girl stood on her toes, trying to look over Lucian’s shoulder.
Lucian slipped the phone into his pocket.
Then, without even pausing—
He sighed dramatically.
"It’s not the money, it’s the charge."
"Charge?"
The students frowned.
"They charged me for a subscription I cancelled."
"How much?"
"Enough to ruin my morning."
He sighed again.
"Never trust free trials."
"What subscription was it?"
One asked curiously and Lucian just sighed—
"Porn."
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