Chapter 108: The Secret Rendezvous

Secretary Evelyn quickly corrected her own internal monologue, adding politely: "President Sterling, since you two are officially in a consensual, normal boyfriend-girlfriend relationship now, sneaking around doesn’t technically qualify as a secret rendezvous anymore, does it?"

Victoria curved her lips into a radiant, mischievous smile. "No, it’s still a secret rendezvous."

"Imagine this: what if I keep my Julian so preoccupied and intimately distracted while he’s on a phone call with his former crush, Natasha? Wouldn’t that add an exquisite layer of excitement?"

Furthermore, she reminded herself with quiet satisfaction, her Julian was a prize she had personally snatched right out of Natasha’s hands.

Secretary Evelyn was left completely speechless.

While talking on the phone with his ex-crush... getting intimate? Just what kind of wild, twisted psychological fetish has President Sterling developed?!

At that exact moment, Secretary Evelyn had zero inkling that in the near future, she herself was going to get sucked directly into the chaotic, escalating games played between Victoria and Julian.

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Back inside the crowded lecture hall—

Principal Smith stepped forward, his voice cold and imposing as he scanned the room: "I sincerely hope that this serves as a permanent, agonizing warning to certain students across our campus. Do not ever attempt to steal or manipulate things that do not belong to you, or you will end up meeting the exact same miserable fate as Ben Wanli."

"If you don’t want your dirty secrets exposed, then don’t commit the crimes in the first place. All of you with ulterior motives better keep a very close eye on your own behavior starting today!"

The principal cast one last warning, freezing glare directly toward Leo vance before turning on his heel and sweeping out of the lecture hall.

Deputy Director Abraham—who had just been officially promoted from his deputy status—stepped up to the podium, clearing his throat. "Alright, students. Let us proceed with announcing the remaining departmental standings for ranks four through ten."

"In fourth place: Leo vance."

"In fifth place: Natasha."

"..."

At this point, the entire student body was completely checked out. Every single student kept glancing sideways toward Julian Vance, their minds completely consumed by mental replays of Victoria Sterling kissing him in broad daylight.

Nobody in the hall possessed a shred of interest in listening to Director Abraham drone on about the remaining lower-tier grades.

By now, the explosive news of Victoria Sterling and Julian Vance officially dating had already gone viral across the Capital University student forum:

> [BREAKING NEWS! MASSIVE GOSSIP! CEO Victoria Sterling of the Sterling Group and Julian Vance are officially together! Photographic proof of them locking lips intimately inside the lecture hall attached!]

The comment section instantly blew up:

— Holy mother of god! Victoria Sterling is insanely gorgeous! She’s literally a living goddess of destruction!

— Let me trade places with Julian Vance right this second... I have never experienced a level of burning envy this violent in my entire life. How on earth did Julian manage to hook up with the richest, most powerful woman in the country?!

— AAAAHHHHH! My campus idol crush is officially taken, waaaaah!

— Wait, don’t despair—since the person who took him is CEO Victoria Sterling herself, none of us mortal women even stand a mathematical chance of competing. I yield.

— I was sitting right there in the hall, and let me tell you: President Sterling literally loves the ground Julian walks on. The level of doting obsession was terrifying.

— I am officially putting in my application to be kept by a wealthy, hyper-powerful woman too!

------

Sitting quietly in his row, Julian could physically feel an intensely , burning gaze of bitter hatred stabbing toward the back of his head.

Julian calmly turned his head to trace the source of the glare, locking eyes directly with Ethan Mercer.

Ah.

The original protagonist.

Julian raised an eyebrow inwardly. When he had been reading the original web novel, he had thoroughly analyzed the protagonist Ethan Mercer’s core personality profile: Ethan Mercer was a textbook narcissist who suffered from severe main-character syndrome.

He was the classic type of hypocritical male lead who wanted to have his cake and eat it too.

Even though Ethan desperately wanted to avoid being hunted and locked away by Victoria Sterling, he simultaneously possessed a fragile ego that deeply resented the idea of Victoria getting close to, or showing affection toward, any other man.

Seeing Victoria publicly claim Julian as her boyfriend had undoubtedly shattered Ethan Mercer’s ego and sent him into a silent rage.

However, Ethan was too calculating to openly charge into a suicidal confrontation with Victoria Sterling right now. The original protagonist would only ever resort to approaching Victoria when he was utterly desperate, backed into a corner with zero alternative options.

Whether Victoria would even deign to look at Ethan twice when that time came was a completely different question.

Unbothered, Julian calmly withdrew his gaze.

The departmental meeting finally adjourned.

As the students began clearing out, Julian vance and Sean stepped out together, heading side-by-side toward the grand campus cafeteria.

"Julian... wait, no—Brother Julian," Sean corrected himself immediately, still looking like his brain was struggling to process reality. "Even right now, I still feel like I’m hallucinating. You’re actually dating CEO Victoria Sterling?! Everything you told me previously wasn’t a joke at all!"

Julian had previously mentioned to Sean that the reason he was driving around in an multi-million-dollar hypercar was because Victoria had practically booked him. Sean had naturally assumed his buddy was just messing around and spinning tall tales.

Turns out, every single word had been dead serious.

"I’m a very honest, transparent guy," Julian chuckled smoothly. "I don’t go around telling lies."

"Brother Julian, tell me the absolute truth right now: how on earth did you and Victoria Sterling first cross paths? How did a legendary titan like her fall head over heels in love with you? And exactly how long have you two been secretly together?!" Sean bombarded him with a machine-gun volley of breathless questions as they walked.