Chapter 117: Ch 117: What happens after?

Noah watched Erin carefully, noticing how the professor suddenly became busy with everything except looking directly at him.

"Why would I be nervous? Do I look nervous? Of course I am not nervous, and neither should you be nervous..."

Erin asked with an innocent expression, but Noah was not convinced. He had known Erin for far too long to miss the little signs he showed whenever he was hiding stuff.

After all, Erin only became flustered like this when he was hiding stuff.

"You are moving around too much, and you keep avoiding my eyes. That usually means you are nervous about something."

Erin froze for a moment before he let out an awkward chuckle.

"You are imagining things. I am perfectly fine."

"That is exactly what someone who is nervous would say."

Noah narrowed his eyes, causing Erin to sigh and finally sit down behind his desk.

"Alright, perhaps I am a little nervous. But it is not because of what happened yesterday."

"Then what is it?"

Erin remained silent for a few seconds before looking at Noah with a complicated expression.

"I am worried about you."

Noah blinked before his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"About me? Try lying like this again and I will give you a reason to be worried about. Now out with the truth already."

Noah was not telling Erin this; he was demanding this from Erin. It left Erin with no choice but to give him what he wanted.

"Fine, I will tell you, so don’t get angry at me. You do have an idea where those bombs outside came from, right? Well, the labs have found a way to retrieve those bombs to get whatever data they need from them. It is just a little frustrating to not be able to stop this from happening."

Noah took a deep breath to stop himself from cursing out loud.

He already knew that those bombs were related to the labs somehow, but he did not know that their reach extended this far.

"So, you are saying that this academy is connected to the labs..."

"Not exactly. They do have a connection, but it is more of a partnership at this point. They should not interfere with each other for the most part..."

Erin was still lying. Noah had gotten good enough at spotting that much.

But which part of Erin’s words was a lie? And why would he lie to Noah like this? Was he also here to trick Noah-

"Don’t doubt my sincerity for you, Noah. All I am doing is trying to make our lives better. It will all result in the end goal that you want to achieve, so don’t worry."

Erin promised Noah while grabbing his hand. He looked serious, and Noah could not help but feel like his mind had been read.

Sigh

"Fine, I will choose to trust you and wait for you to make a decision first. But don’t take too long, alright? I can only wait for so long."

Noah reminded Erin, who nodded, and his hand twitched by his side, wanting to reach out toward Noah but never daring to.

However, Noah chose to ignore that gesture as an act of defiance and punishment. Erin needed to learn that he could not get away with everything.

Erin’s nervousness was increasing by the second, and it seemed like he was about to crack any second. Noah just needed to wait a little more.

"Noah, I-"

Ring

Unfortunately, that ring ruined everything, and Erin picked up his call.

He looked worried as he took the call before he sighed.

"It seems like there is an emergency and I am needed. I...will see you again soon, so don’t worry."

Erin told Noah before he left the room. He did not even bother kicking Noah out because he trusted the guide that much.

Noah could only sigh in regret at Erin’s actions.

"One day, he is going to get in trouble for trusting the wrong person. And by then, it will be too late to do anything. I should teach him...ugh, forget about it. Erin is all grown up now. What would I even gain from trying to teach him at this age?"

In the end, Noah sighed and decided to head back to Alan and Daniel’s side. It was pretty clear that there would be no classes held today.

...

"So we really have to eat out today? I can get us something in the room-"

"But it will take too long. And honestly, this will be a nice change of pace from your room, so don’t pout like that, Alan."

Noah reached out to press Alan’s face into a smile, but he did not look happy. In fact, this made him frown even more.

"But it is not fun. I don’t want others to see your face. I know they will all try to pounce on you-"

"Alan, you are alright doing that. You should allow Noah some room to breathe at least."

Daniel pinched Alan in the side before dragging Noah away from him, which allowed Noah to breathe a sigh of relief.

The look on Alan’s face was one of betrayal, almost as if he could not believe what had just happened.

"Daniel, why did you do that? I was just trying to protect Noah."

"You were practically suffocating him."

Daniel replied without hesitation, and Alan immediately puffed out his cheeks in annoyance.

"I was not!"

"You were."

Noah could not help but chuckle at their argument, though he quickly covered his mouth when Alan turned his attention toward him.

"Even you are laughing at me?"

"I am not laughing at you. I just think you two are funny."

Noah tried to explain, but Alan clearly did not believe him. He reached out to grab Noah’s hand, only for Daniel to pull him back again.

"Let him eat in peace first."

Daniel reminded him, causing Alan to grumble under his breath.

"Fine, but I am sitting next to Noah."

"Of course you are."

Noah sighed, already regretting agreeing to eat outside.