Mr Rich's Secret Agenda

**Cyndi**

“Make sure your assignments reach me by next Thursday. I have no tolerance for excuses,” the moustached professor says just before he leaves the theatre. His name is Sir Andre, but he is only one of my many professors for my major. His lecture is the last one I have for the day, and I am glad to be away from the noisy class and return to my world.

On the outside, I seem just like any other university student, except that everyone in my major views me as the top nerd. I am one of the top three students. Other than my boyfriend of three years, Roman Hills, a quarterback at the same university, nobody knows my real identity as the heiress to my parents’ construction group.

In a year, I will graduate and inherit my parents’ group. But half a year ago, something happened at one of their worksites, leading to a major lawsuit. The only way out is for me to complete my studies. Once I graduate, I will have access to the fund my late maternal grandfather left for me, and it is at least a few billion—just enough to prevent the businesses from going into bankruptcy.

My phone suddenly beeps. I have just received an urgent text from my boyfriend, and I hurriedly grab my bag and leave the lecture hall. As usual, nobody cares to ask the matter. Nobody likes being with a nerd. My only best friends in university are Raine, my buddy since I was young, and Roman.

My heart flutters as I open the door to the room where he is studying. Roman struggles with studying and takes hours to just get a theory into his head. He often rambles about it during our dates, and I just laugh it off that he needs to sleep with a book on his face.

But today, his face seems grave, as if something is bothering him.

“I came here right after I received your text, Roman.”

“Lock the door, Cin.”

Questions cross my mind upon his instruction. What could be so secretive that he needs to lock the door? Nevertheless, I just do as he asks and return to him. He closes the lid of his laptop and stands up, moving towards me in slo-mo. He places his hands on my shoulders and stares down into my eyes. I feel myself descending into his romanticism.

No words are needed. He swoops down on my lips and kisses me tenderly. His hands rake through my hair, tearing them out of the neat ponytail I had put in much effort for this morning. He conquers me with his warm lips and locks me into a corner with my back against the wall. My heart tenses as he continues to hold me close.

“I promise, I won’t do anything more than this. Trust me, Cyn. When have I ever lied to you?”

His words grant me instant relief. We stay like that for a while, just holding each other. It’s a tender moment, but I can’t shake the feeling that something else is on his mind.

He breaks the embrace, whispering, “Can we just sit and talk for a while?”

I nod, and we sit down on the couch, holding hands. I can tell he’s nervous, so I wait for him to speak.

“Cin, something’s been bothering me. I’ve been thinking a lot about our future. With everything that’s happened with your family’s business and our studies, it’s been tough.”

“I know, Roman. But we’ll get through this together. We just need to stay focused.”

Before he can respond, a loud knock follows. Roman panics and lets go of my hand. I hastily stand up and straighten my clothes, trying to compose myself before answering the door.

I take a deep breath and unlock the door. A man I don’t recognize looks me up and down warily. I quickly retreat to allow him entry before I grab my bag. The door is open now, and I need to make my escape as soon as I can, but without drawing suspicion. We are on a scholarship after all, and if we are found out, it can cause us to lose our funding.

“Are you alone, Miss?” The man interrogates with cold air. I nod fervently, trying to act as normal as possible. On the first impression, he is scary even if he is the most handsome man I have ever seen. His eyes bear a cold stare, but the way he has his hands on his hips strikes me with his dominance. I can imagine his abs under his shirt, which clings tightly to his sculpted figure. His body seems crafted like a Greek god in modern times.

My heart wavers. Is he one of the student welfare officers designated to check on students? He stares at me again for a few seconds before he mutters “thank you” and moves to the dark corner, close to where we had been standing earlier.

“Ah, there you are.” He picks up a black object which I surprisingly didn’t notice earlier. The red flash in the top right corner tells me something is off. He presses a button on the top of the object, and a feminine AI voice sounds.

“Recording stopped.” The hair on my skin stands on end and I stare at him. What was that about a recording? Why would he be even leaving a device on recording in an empty room?

“That was…” I stammer nervously, thinking about the odds that our action earlier could be caught on video.

“This baby is one of my investments for Grandis. I’ve been told that some students have been behaving erroneously on campus. Don’t worry, I’m not implying that you are of that kind.”

“Oh.” I just nod, hopeful that the spy device wasn’t a 360-degree view type that could rotate around the area while recording. I prayed hard that we were safe, or not only would Roman not get a good job considering he was from a low-income family, but I also would not be able to save my parents’ businesses. Dream Construction was the fruit of my father and paternal grandfather’s hard labor.

My family already objected to our relationship. Graduating from Grandis Fall University was the key to us being together for the rest of our life. No matter what, for our happiness and for Dream, I needed my graduation certificate.

“Anyway, are you a student in this faculty? I’ve not seen you before.” The man looks at me with an icy smile.

“Uh, yeah.” I don’t know what to say.

“Thanks to you, my baby was still safe here. I owe you one. What about dinner tonight at eight?”

I glance towards the table, and a gesture from Roman tells me to accept.

“O...okay.”

The handsome man retrieves a soft card from his pocket and hands it to me. “Here, I’ll see you tonight. Remember to be early, I have no tolerance for lateness.”

After he departs, I look under the table to realize that Roman is gone as well. I read the name of the restaurant in bold print, wondering what could be in store for me tonight.

**Bellamia Cafe**

Roman hasn’t been answering my calls. I feel nervous as I walk into the cafe wearing my best dress, hand-picked by my best friend Raine. It’s bright red with frilly sleeves, reminiscent of a princess dress, and has a low neckline that shows some cleavage, which makes me uncomfortable but Raine insisted it looked great on me. Since buying the dress, I have not dared to wear it yet, but I have to tonight since I don’t have access to anything classier.

I hope the man doesn’t notice my unease. I enter shyly and look around for the man from earlier. It’s 7:45 p.m. I see him already seated at a table and wave to him. He helps me into a seat and asks if I had a tough time getting to the cafe. I shake my head with a polite smile.

I look at the menu, feeling bad to impose on his wealth since we just met, so I order the simplest dish on the menu: spaghetti carbonara. He observes me as if I just asked a tough riddle.

“The ca