Chapter 191: Mic Check
Fortunately, after listening to Yvonne speak for a while, Elias realized her voice had not sohow evolved into a special weapon made only for him.
The sound system was the culprit.
With the auditorium speakers carrying every syllable, her voice beca dangerous to everyone. The proof was written all over the room. Students who had been whispering before now sat frozen in their seats, listening like they had been invited into a private confession. If this had been so high-fantasy world, Yvonne would have belonged to a school of magic built entirely around sound, the kind where one sentence could put a whole battlefield under hypnosis.
Elias relaxed a little.
For one terrifying second, he had thought his body had already beco Yvonne’s property. If she could make him go soft at the knees with one public sentence, then there would be no fun left later. Thankfully, it had only been a false alarm.
He listened for another minute and decided the actual speech was boring.
The content was not that different from the usual polished university talk. Success, discipline, responsibility, giving back to the institution that shaped you, all the usual things important people said when an auditorium full of students had no choice but to clap.
Without Yvonne’s voice, most people probably would not have listened closely.
As it stood, almost everyone was intoxicated by it. The content stopped mattering. Her voice was rich and low through the speakers, smooth enough to make people forget they were being lectured.
Elias remained honest with himself.
He lowered his head and started playing with his fingers.
Yvonne’s speech did not last long, only a few minutes. This was still a gala, after all. Inviting famous graduates and powerful guests was, in a way, Westbridge University showing off its reach and status. It did not an those guests could take over the entire program, or the students would start getting restless.
When Yvonne finished, applause broke across the auditorium.
It was not scattered applause either. It ca down in one clean wave, so synchronized that hundreds of hands seed to rge into a single thunderclap. Then another. Then another.
Elias’s ears hurt at once.
He let out a small, wounded sound and ducked into Giselle’s arms like a frightened rabbit.
Giselle’s brows drew together. She looked down and saw him frowning too, his face tight with clear discomfort.
She did not hesitate. Both of her hands lifted and covered his ears.
Her touch was very gentle. The movent was so careful that Elias barely felt the pressure. He only felt the roar of applause drop by more than half.
His expression eased.
He lifted his head, surprised, and looked at her gratefully.
"Thank you."
Giselle shook her head. "Let’s go."
Elias heard her.
He also saw her mouth move.
So he pretended he did not.
"What did you say?"
Giselle frowned. "I said, let’s go."
She had never wanted to attend this gala in the first place. Now her dislike had sharpened into sothing colder. Maybe it was because Serena was here. Maybe it was because Elias had been uncomfortable. Either way, she was done.
"What?" Elias asked again, still acting like he could not hear.
Giselle had no choice but to lower one hand from his ear and lean closer. Her lips nearly brushed his ear as she repeated herself, her breath warm against his skin.
"I said, let’s go."
A brutal tallic screech cut through the auditorium.
It ripped across everyone’s ears like a live wire dragged over steel. The applause died instantly.
Elias startled and turned his head.
Giselle had been too close to move away in ti. Her lips brushed his ear.
It was light, almost nothing, but it landed like a kiss.
Giselle froze.
The sensation lingered on her mouth, warm and soft, carrying a trace of his body heat.
Her eyes lowered without her permission, settling on Elias’s ear. His earlobe had gone red, bright enough that it looked almost ready to bleed color.
Now she understood where that flash of heat had co from.
Elias, anwhile, acted like he had noticed nothing. He turned toward the stage.
Serena stood there with a microphone in her hand.
The mic had fallen a mont ago. That awful screech had co from it hitting the floor.
The host in front of her looked terrified and kept bowing her head in apology. Serena only smiled and shook her head, then took the microphone and walked forward.
To everyone else, it looked like the host’s mistake.
Elias rembered very clearly that the screech had happened at the exact mont he and Giselle had been caught in their most suggestive position.
Of course.
That damned Serena streetlamp.
If she was jealous, she could just be jealous. Did she really have to make the poor host take the bla?
As Serena moved to the center of the stage, the atmosphere in the whole auditorium changed.
Yvonne’s presence had pulled people in.
Serena’s pressed them down.
Even with a smile on her face, Serena carried too much force. She made the room feel serious without raising her voice. It was as if making a sound in front of her would be an insult.
The auditorium went silent again.
Elias used the pause to murmur to Giselle, "I’m not leaving."
His tone was unusually firm. His gaze stayed fixed on Serena.
[System Theta: Host...]
Giselle’s face had gone pale with anger.
Elias stayed calm. "Let her be angry. Serena is jealous, so Giselle can be jealous too. I told you, I am very good at treating everyone equally."
[System Theta: So if you cannot make everyone happy, you make everyone unhappy...]
Elias’s gaze sharpened. "Hm?"
[System Theta: I was joking. I’m sorry.]
Serena’s speech was not especially interesting to Elias either. It was still the sa kind of speech powerful people gave on stages, but from her mouth, it carried a different weight. She had actually done the things she was talking about. She had built herself step by step into soone others had to look up to, so even ordinary lines sounded convincing.
As she spoke, her gaze moved over the auditorium with the calm pressure of an executive inspecting a boardroom.
To everyone else, it probably felt like she was looking at the crowd.
To Elias, it felt different.
She was looking at him.
Every turn of her head, every sweep of her eyes, every pause in her delivery felt like an excuse to et his gaze in a way no one could accuse.
Elias was almost touched.
She was really doing all this for him.
How moving.
Naturally, he could not let her effort go to waste.
His expression cooled at once. He looked at Serena as if he were looking at an enemy. Anger, hurt, hatred, and unresolved longing gathered in his eyes until even his silence seed to accuse her.
Then, after holding her gaze for a long mont, he looked away first.
It was the perfect amount of conflict. Enough resentnt to show pain. Enough avoidance to show he still could not face her cleanly.
[System Theta: Host, Yvonne Quinn is leaving.]
Elias followed System Theta’s prompt and saw that Yvonne was indeed preparing to leave the auditorium.
Already?
How could that be allowed?
He had not even spoken to her.
"Thanks, baby."
Elias stood at once.
Giselle grabbed his wrist.
Her eyes held him in place. "Where are you going?"
Elias lowered his voice. "Bathroom."
When Giselle shifted like she was about to stand too, Elias hurried to stop her. "I can go by myself. Why would you co with ?"
He truly wanted to curse Giselle for being a pervert.
Did she want to follow him into the n’s room too?
Dream on.
Looking at his embarrassed, flushed face, Giselle hesitated for a mont before settling back into her seat.
After steadying Giselle, Elias imdiately slipped away after his bedmate.
If the atmosphere lined up right, maybe he could even make a very bad decision in a bathroom.
User Comments
0 comments from readers