After breakfast, Grandpa Lu waved the lovers away. He said he needed some peace and quiet. Although he sounded like he was complaining and chasing them out of his chalet, the lovers knew that the elder was just giving them the opportunity to spend more time together.
Iris freed her schedule for the entire morning and moved her lessons in the afternoon instead. They rode the shuttle bus to the main castle. She toured Jin Liwei around the academy, showing him where she usually spent most of her time.
There weren’t a lot of people, as most of the alumni and even some of her fellow students already left the academy after the welcoming dinner for her and Grandpa Lu.
Nevertheless, they still met some alumni along the way who were even familiar with Jin Liwei. Most of them worked in the financial and business industries.
“Liam, what a surprise!” one of them greeted Jin Liwei in English. “I didn’t expect to see you here. How have you been? Oh. Hello, Xiulan. We met at the dinner. Are you two…together?”
Jin Liwei and Iris greeted the man. Then Iris looked at Jin Liwei, tilting her head to the side.
“I’m doing well, thank you,” Jin Liwei said, pulling her closer to him by her waist. “Yes, Xiulan and I are together. I’m here at the academy to visit her, my girlfriend.
“Oh! I thought so! You two look great together. Truly a match!”
They exchanged pleasantries and then briefly talked about general topics before easing the conversation to an end. They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.
When the man was gone, Iris looked at Jin Liwei with deep, questioning eyes. He raised his eyebrows, a faint smile on his lips.
“En. My English name.”
“Oh. It’s a nice name.” Then she paused. “But I still like Liwei better.”
He chuckled. “Of course. I’ll always be Liwei. Liam is just a name I use for convenience whenever I travel overseas.”
“Mmn.” She nodded and then pulled his hand. “Come. Let’s go downtown and go on a date instead.”
“Okay, baby.”
Excitement bubbled within her. She planned on confessing her love for him at a good spot she found downtown.
They were about to leave when…
“Xiulan! Xiulan!” Amanpio chased after them. “There you are! I’ve been looking for you all over the place. I miss you so much!”
Jin Liwei frowned. Who was this punk and how dare he tell his baby girl ‘I miss you so much’? Also the guy kept his eyes on his baby girl, not acknowledging his presence even for a bit.
“Oh, that. I lost the strip of paper with your e-mail address on it.” Amanpio shrugged, waving a dismissive hand. “Anyway, I was looking for you because I wanted to ask for your opinion about the lovememometer prototype that I’m building. It’s because of you that I got the idea, anyway. So will you come to my lab and check it out?”
“Sorry, Amanpio. I can’t. I’m with my boyfriend right now. He just arrived and I want to spend more time with him. Maybe you can ask some of the academy staff if they want to volunteer as your test subjects. And by the way, this is Liwei, my boyfriend. Liwei, this is Amanpio, an inventor. He’s a fellow student.”
Amanpio finally looked at Jin Liwei, sweeping his narrowed eyes at Jin Liwei’s head to toe and then back up again. “Huh. So this is the boyfriend you’ve been talking about? What’s so special about him? I’m more gorgeous than him and most importantly, I’m a genius. You’re better off with someone like me who’s on the same level as you…” He continued to babble such offending words in a careless manner.
Jin Liwei scowled, his hands tightening into fists. This bastard was just asking for a punch. How dare he flirt with his baby girl right in front of him and insult him at the same time? He might not be a genius compared to them who were Cross Academy students, but he was still an important business leader recognized in the international level.
He wanted to beat this bastard so badly, but he controlled his temper. This wasn’t his territory. He didn’t want to make a scene and trouble his baby girl who was the newest student in the academy.
‘Calm down,’ he told himself. ‘Just ignore—’
“You a**hole!” Iris pounced.
Before the two men could react, she already smacked Amanpio’s face with a powerful open palm strike. Amanpio was tall but was thin. Not to mention that he was unprepared, he fell sideways and even rolled a few times on the stone floor.
Iris was still raging and was about to attack the already fallen inventor again when Jin Liwei recovered from his surprise. He caught his baby girl, wrapping his arms tightly around her flailing body.
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The sight of her smacking the bastard was just too satisfying, but he didn’t want to get her into trouble. He already saw some people making their way towards their direction. He continued to calm her down.
“F*ck. My handsome face…you actually hit my handsome face!” Amanpio touched his nose and mouth, checking if there was any bleeding.
“What’s going on here?” a deep, stern voice barked at them.
It was Professor Erwan Dupont, followed by Giulia Moretti. The two were on their way to their offices to start another working day when they heard the commotion. They actually witnessed Iris’ impressively quick movement of smacking Amanpio and sending him rolling to the floor.
“Headmaster! I’ve been wronged!” Amanpio cried. “Xiulan suddenly beat me up out of nowhere!”
Everyone frowned at his claim.
‘What beat you up? She just hit you one time!’ they thought to themselves.
Jin Liwei and Iris glared at Amanpio at the same time.
“Ah! Look, Headmaster! Xiulan and her boyfriend are bullying me! Please give justice for my handsome face…I mean, for my injured body!”
“But I already told you what happened!” Amanpio complained.
“Mr. Kileksky, the Headmaster wants to hear both sides. Please don’t interrupt,” Giulia Moretti snapped at the overdramatic inventor.
Jin Liwei drew Iris closer to him in a protective manner, but she reassured him with a pat. Then she stepped forward.
“Professor Dupont, I apologize for causing a ruckus within the academy grounds,” she said in a sincere tone. “I know that I violated the rules, so I’ll accept whatever punishment you deem fit to give me.” Then her expression hardened. “However, I’m not sorry for hitting Amanpio…”
“Listen to her! She’s not even sorry!” Amanpio finally stood up from the ground, pointing an accusing finger at Iris.
Professor Dupont gave him a hard look with such intensity that Amanpio instinctively stepped back, shutting his mouth.
Iris continued, “I’m not sorry for hitting Amanpio because he insulted my boyfriend right in our faces. For me, that’s unforgivable. He deserves the smack on his face.”
