Mr. Charles's Hidden Wife novel Chapter 176

Wendy flailed her hands around in defeat. "Oh God, have mercy on me. I'm aware that it's an honour for me to listen in to a lecture given by the famous business mogul Mr. Charles of San Diego. As a mere mortal, I would absolutely love to learn your ways, but it was just my luck that the multimedia classroom was crazy crowded today. There was absolutely no way I could've gone inside at all, which was why I had to retreat to my office," she explained frustratedly.

"Oh, really? And are you sure all of your words are true?" Henson probed.

"Sure enough." she huffed with a serious expression on, even though he wasn't in the room with her to see it. 

She knew how much he liked settling scores, so she decided to deal with it as fast and as seriously as she could. 

"Alright, I forgive you this time. I'll be sure to fulfill your wishes of attending my next lecture then. I'll be waiting for you at the campus gates later. I'll be out in a bit so that we can go home together," he said.

"But I won't be getting off work for a while more," she remarked.

"No worries, I plan on paying the university president a visit anyways, so just remember to come down to the car later," he said.

With that, he hung up first.

Carmen returned to the office at the same time she did, and was wearing a new set of clothes. 

Seeing as she was limping, Wendy quickly stepped forward to help her on her feet. "Are you alright, Carmen?" she asked, concerned.

"Ugh, don't get me started. I've been standing for the past four hours. I can't feel my legs at all," Carmen lamented.

"Huh? Didn't you manage to snag a seat?" Wendy asked.

"A seat? The best I could get was a small spot in a corner of the classroom. Those kids are crazy," she ranted.

Just as the two of them were talking, a tired-looking Cael stepped into the room.

Wendy looked towards Cael and asked, "Are you alright, Cael? How come you look so dead?"  

"Achoo!" he sneezed and rubbed his nose after. "The female student sitting beside me just now had so much perfume on it smothered me. I hope I don't go down with anything the next day from choking on it for so long," he whined.

"Oh, be grateful, you. At least you managed to snag a seat. I have a feeling I'm gonna lose my legs tonight," Carmen said in frustration.

The three of them then walked into the office while propping Carmen up. 

Linda was in the middle of drinking her coffee when she saw the two of them come in. She spluttered and started laughing. "What happened to you two? How come the both of you came back depressed when you left so excitedly?" she chuckled.

Cael flailed his arms about as he went back to his seat.

"Oh, don't get me started. Just the thought of it makes me want to cry," he said.

Wendy fetched some water for them both and put it on their desks. 

Before returning to her seat. "I went with Linda just now but we both couldn't manage to get in. So, how was the lecture? Did you two learn anything from it? Was Mr. Charles a good lecturer?" she quizzed.

Carmen gave her a thumbs up almost instantly. "For students in the Business and Finance faculty, his lecture was even more valuable than ten lectures combined from any of the professors here. It was such a shame that...

... most of the girls weren't paying attention though, while the majority of the boys were as I surveyed the room from a corner. I could immediately tell why from the way they were dressed," she commented.

Cael glanced at her clothes and scoffed, "You're one to talk,"

"You have no right to mock me either, since we're basically the same," Carmen huffed.

Wendy and Linda exchanged glances and snickered. "Pot calling the kettle black," Wendy thought.

Cael then pouted and said, "Don't you bring me into this. We're not the same, if I were to compare you to the kids in the hall, you would've lost horribly by now. I now know... how to truly seduce a man after seeing them today,"

Carmen immediately nodded her head after hearing him say that. "I know right! By the way, which faculty was that girl from?" she asked.

'I'm not sure, but the young lady sitting beside her is in the English department because I've seen her before," he said.

Wendy deduced that something had happened just now.

Without waiting for her to ask them what they were talking about, Linda immediately wanted in on the story. "What kind of interesting story are you guys talking about?" she asked.

Cael exchanged looks with Carmen. "Interesting? More like embarrassing," he scoffed.

"Same here," Carmen replied as she turned around to face Linda and Wendy.

"Let me tell you two, when everyone was deeply focused on the lecture, a girl suddenly stood up from her seat and held up a big card that read 'MARRY ME, MR. CHARLES'," Carmen said.

Linda spat out the coffee in her mouth, "Oh my god, are you for real?" she spluttered.

"It's real, alright. Don’t you guys think it's embarrassing too?" Carmen asked.

"How did Mr. Charles react to that? Was he shocked?" Wendy asked.

"Of course not, the man's experienced this way too many times by this point. When he saw the words on the card, he paused and calmly replied with 'I appreciate your deep support towards me, dear student, but I feel you should prioritise your studies more. The reason I came here today was to give a lecture, not to fall in love. I'd advise you to sit down, dear student, or else I'll feel bad for wasting everyone's precious time just because of one person'," Carmen explained.

Wendy raised her eyebrows after hearing that. "That was something he'd definitely say," she thought.

"I have a feeling Confession Girl is going to explode in popularity once word gets out. Didn't I tell you guys that I managed to snag a seat, which was why I got out late? Well, when I was waiting for the crowd to subside, I saw a few girls crowding around Confession Girl, asking her about the incident. Confession Girl then proudly boasted to them saying, 'I feel I'm a brave woman for going after the best guy in the world. Even if he turned me down, I feel what I did was still worth the effort'. Tell me, when did people start feeling proud over shameless acts such as this?" he ranted.

"On the contrary, I feel that Confession Girl's pretty cool. She knew her odds were low, but she still decided to try and see if she could get lucky with her bravery. After all, the chances of getting spotted by Master Henson in a sea of people is super slim. But by causing a scene, she could stand out from the crowd," Linda said.

Carmen nodded her head in agreement after hearing that. "What she did might've come off as shameless to us, but I feel that this was a pretty good attempt to gauge if he'll fall in love with her at first sight or not," she added.

Cael waved his hands about in response. "Ugh, just forget about it. Master Henson isn't like us common folk. Why would he wait until now to fall in love at first sight? Achoo! Oh God, this is driving me crazy. The next time I attend his lecture, I'll make sure to pick a seat that's far, far away from any girls. Woe is me today," he lamented. 

"You still plan on going next time?" Linda giggled.

"Of course, why wouldn't I? Even if I can't get his attention, I'll still be able to learn something, so the experience's definitely worth the trouble," he said.

Carmen nodded and said, "That's true, that's true! I'll remember not to wear heels the next time as well,"

Wendy furrowed her brows. What kind of spell exactly did Henson cast on them?

In the meanwhile, in the president's office,

Henson sat crossed-legged as he sipped on his tea. He paid Nancy, who was sitting opposite her, absolutely no heed whatsoever. 

"Great work today, Master Henson. It's truly an honour for the university to be able to host you as a guest lecturer," President Burke flattered.

"You don't have to be so polite," Henson said.

"Oh, right! I discussed things over with a few of my staff today and we thought that you might be swamped with work since you have to take care of the affairs of your company and come to the university to give lectures, which is why we thought that it'd be a good idea to arrange a personal assistant for you. What do you say, Master Henson?" President Burke chuckled.

Henson raised an eyebrow and said, "You know what? That actually sounds like a pretty good idea,"