24

Louis’ chewing slowed down so much that he took his handkerchief out of his pants and lent it to Helena, who was still coughing from the shock of Louis’ words.

She took the handkerchief and wiped her lips, thanking Louis, amused as well that the handkerchief smelled so nice.

“But I thought you were busy?” She pointed out.

He shrugged. “I can manage. Besides, I need to watch over you. The Ashers are expecting that I would take good care of you.”

“Oh, it’s fine. Besides, the girls here are friendly, and I have friends already. Bruno is here to guide me too.”

She had seen how Louis’ brow raised as soon as she mentioned Bruno. Her heart was starting to pound slowly, and the words of the girls suspecting Louis might have feelings for her resurfaced in her mind, and she could not stop thinking about it anymore.

“You like him?” He clarified.

Helena was slightly taken aback by his bold question.

“Oh…I don’t. I just… like the way he takes care of me here since he is my mentor too. He guides me in the camp, and…” she stopped on her words for a while when Louis shifted his seat and leaned against the chair, looking at her heavily.

“Don’t misinterpret his actions. He is like that to a lot of people, mostly girls since he has a playboy reputation.”

“And…what about it?” She looked confused.

“You now have a reputation with me, Helena. Our family would bond soon, which means it would be through you and me. We are bound to…marry each other.”

Her eyes widened. She knew that they were fixed in an arrangement, and they would fall soon on marriage. But to hear it from Louis is just shocking. She could still not believe it.

“But it’s for the family. It’s not… because we love each other,” she clarified.

“I know. But I want us both to have a clean reputation. I have a clean reputation. I don’t have issues with any girls in this town, so I also want you to have a clean reputation like me. This might create drama if you… would like someone else.”

“I don’t like Bruno as you think,” she corrected.

“I’m just trying to remind you that despite the arrangement, you are still my woman. Whatever no strings we have right now, we must stay loyal to each other.”

It was funny for Helena because she heard a lot of things about Louis’ first love. He is in love with someone else, and she doesn’t get why she is not allowed to fall in love with someone else as well.

“But you like someone else, right? Am I not allowed to…like someone else too?” she asked, testing the waters.

Louis folded his arms. He looked calm, but the serious expression made him look mad for something.

“It was a long time ago. I don’t know where that woman is. And I already agree with this arrangement,” he clarified.

“But what if she suddenly comes back? What if she shows up one of these days? What would you do about it?”

She had seen how Louis seemed to be thinking about it, and even his eyes flickered a bit. She could really sense that this woman is who Louis wants after all.

“It’s impossible,” he insisted.

“What if it’s possible?” She tried to argue.

He leaned closer, crouched, and rested his elbows on the table as he looked at Helena with furrowed brows.

“Why? Do you want to date Bruno?”

Her eyes widened again. She didn’t know where those questions were coming from for Louis to come up with those kinds of questions.

“Of course not.”

“Then why are you insisting on the woman who already lives in my past?” He asked.

“Because you seemed like he was the only woman who would break your composure and whom you cared about. I heard a lot of things about you… talking about her… and you kept on telling me that she is the only woman you wanted to bring here… to introduce to them.”

“Are you jealous?”

Her eyes widened in shock, and she wanted to just jump out of her seat, as she could not believe that Louis really asked for something so impossible.

“No! Of course not. I don’t like you romantically.”

Louis looked at her deeply. He seemed to be analyzing her answer to see whether she is telling the truth or not.

“We still have a lot of time to figure things out. Besides, I am more concerned with your personal worries than you having feelings for someone else,” he said, putting his attention back on his food.

Helena calmed down for a bit when she realized that Louis had a point. Because her least priority right now is falling in love as well, she still can’t picture having to have feelings for someone else while her mind is still haywired from the past.

Other than that, she hasn’t moved on from the tragedy yet, and she is still scarred. She could not even digest the fact that Ingrid and Darren were having the best life while she was out there miserable—suffering from something she didn’t even do.

“I want you to prioritize yourself for a while. I put you here so you could reflect and enjoy yourself. This is your own distraction and your stepping forward to develop your own skill that might help you to move forward.”

She was speechless. Louis was on point, and she couldn't believe he had seen through her own pain. Or maybe because she had already broken down many times and he witnessed it.

Knowing that Louis also told her that she is safe in his own territory just proves that Louis might have sensed that he felt scared.

“I don’t… like him romantically,” she confessed and looked at her food as well.

Louis nodded. “That’s good to hear…”

She blinked twice and looked at him again. What was that supposed to mean then? Good to hear? Maybe because he only cares because of our reputation, knowing that he is a Montville and his future wife might be involved in cheating issues, which he wanted to avoid.

Those were the thoughts that kept on bugging Helena’s mind as she tried to make it seem like Louis only meant it about their arrangement and nothing serious at all.

But she would not lie to herself that it was making her heart pound. Although she knows her boundaries, she would sometimes confuse herself about why Louis’ words seem to have an effect on her.

“How’s your first class, by the way?” Louis asked.

“Oh. It’s actually fine. I have an assignment since Miss Bridget gave me another homework to be passed on at the next class meeting.”

“Really? Let me see…”

Helena stood up and excused herself to get her bag from the sofa while Louis was curious what kind of new questions Miss Bridget had for Helena since, according to her story, Helena didn’t take an hour answering those hard questions. And he wanted to see how heavy it was for Miss Bridget to worry about it.

As soon as Helena got it, she walked back to the table and handed it to Louis. Louis took the paper and raised his brow as soon as he got a look at it.

The three questions contain the hardest analysis that is close to not being able to get the right answer. It was made to be answered by those who were already classified as C, and only the topnotcher could probably ace it. The given questions aren’t meant for students to answer them.

“Do you even know how to answer this?” Louis asked.

“Maybe? If I analyze the questions.”

Louis then handed it to Helena so she could see it. Louis looked at her seriously while Helena was trying to process the questions. And even she seemed confused.

“These are advanced questions. I bet this was studied yet, and no one has created a formula to solve it yet,” she answered.

Louis was somehow amused by her conclusion.

“How can you tell? Are you familiar with the critical question?”

She shook her head. “No. That’s why I felt like these questions were already to be done through experiment yet. But since Miss Bridget has added to make a formula about it, it seems like she wants me to solve this on my own. I should probably make a formula according to my own analysis, whether it was correct or not. She only wants to see what kind of formulas I would formulate on this kind of critical question.”

Louis won’t lie; he was impressed to hear it because that’s what he also thought when he looked at the questions. It seems like it was looking for your own formula, not written or studied by scientists and philosophers, but it would come from the individual who is reading it.

He was highly impressed that Helena also got that kind of idea. She immediately analyzed the right answer to those questions based on her own output and understanding that there is neither a correct nor a wrong answer.

“Sexy mind,” he complimented, and Helena lifted her head unexpectedly.

“You have a sexy brain,” he added.

“Oh, thanks,” she blushed a little.

“I like girls who are deep thinkers,” he murmured.

She couldn’t say anything and just stared at the paper since her whole face turned into a tomato now. She was freaking out.

“How about you? What is your type in men?” Louis asked curiously.