High School Again: The President's Secret Lady Boss

Like what August promised to Winter the other day, he left work early and drove to her school to pick her up. 

However, he is not only going to fetch her. He plans to make use of this opportunity to do the things he never did for her as her elder brother. It will also be a good chance to get to know each other more, and hopefully, it will draw them closer. He really doesn't want to make the gap between them even larger nor make her want to continue putting her distance.

With all that said, August came up with a list of places that he could take Winter to. 

"We're going to eat outside?" she asked him the moment she settled down beside the driver's seat and received that invitation from him.

"Yeah. We haven't really done something like that before, right?" he replied with a small smile. 

"Uhhhh... No. I don't recall that we have." 

"Then, let's do it."

Winter is both surprised and impressed. 

She thought that August was going to cook dinner at home like usual, but it turned out that he had other plans for this day. He never spent too much money on her either, which was why she was kind of astonished to hear that he would be treating her somewhere. It made sense to her, though - if he wanted to show that he meant what he said back when he argued with her the other day, he would have to bond with her like what a sibling does.

"After that, we can go shop at a department store if you want..." August added all of the sudden, taking Winter aback. 

"You can buy anything you like. I'll pay - I can 'also' do that, you know."

Now, she is even more surprised and impressed - and a little incredulous, perhaps.

It seems like he's dead set on making this work. From his determined expression alone, she can tell that he's going to go all out. But at the same time, she couldn't help but take note that he literally said 'also' there. She already had an idea what he meant by that.

'What? He's still suspecting that I have a sugar daddy? Oh, for crying out loud...!' Winter grimaced and let out an exhausted sigh which went unnoticed by August. 

'Well, let's just leave it at that. I can't argue with him again. Otherwise, it'll ruin the plans he has for today.'

---

On the other hand, the suspected sugar daddy has a plan of his own as well.

Claude took notice that Marcellus went to his office and started out early in the morning. He also seemed to be finishing his paperwork much faster than usual, and he even saved some of his appointments for tomorrow. From his determined expression alone, he could tell that he was up to something. 

And as soon as they made it to the bottom line of their to-do list, he got to know the reason at last.

"Since you moved and passed over several parts of your schedule today, that was your last appointment, President..." Claude chimed in from the driver's seat while he was driving down the road - having only finished meeting up with some of their business partners.

"Got any plans to do? Are you going on a date with someone?"   

"Oh, a date it is..." Marcellus muttered underneath his breath, looking all grim and serious while sitting on the passenger's seat at the back.

"But I'm not the one who's going."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Hurry to Marie Claire High School, Claude. We can still make it on time."

"Huh?!"

As much as he wanted to question his motives here, he was only but a secretary.

He really did not need to ask further, anyway - he knows that his boss is planning to sneak around and watch over the Agreste siblings. That explains why he'd been on a rush to get things done as soon as possible. He recalled that Winter already told him not to bother her, but he was too childish and stubborn to listen. Now, it had come to the point when he had turned into a stalker.

"A stalker?! No, I'm not...!" Marcellus denied firmly while Claude only put on a flat and unamused look.

"I'll prefer to call it watching from a far, observing at a distance or maybe intensely investigating an individual-"

"Okay, okay. I get it, President. We'll just have to follow them, right?"

"Yeah. Don't get too close, though. Ms. Agreste might notice."

He could only let out a sigh in the end, giving in and carrying out his order.

From that point on, they went and followed the car that August was driving. It eventually led them to a local family diner, which Marcellus thought was typical of the Agreste's - Winter has always been fond of restaurants that are homely and comfy rather than fancy and costly, after all.

He ordered Claude to pull up their car at the nearest spot to their seat which was fortunately right next to the wall window.   

"So, we're just gonna watch them from here until they finish?" the secretary asked, still straight-faced.

"We can go in and have a listen too," the boss suggested, throwing him into panic.

"N-No, no! Let's not go that far, President. Watching them is bad enough."

"What're you being tense for? We used to do this kind of thing with our targets, and we even looked into their private records. Watching is nothing." 

"Seriously, though... Why do you have to do this, President? Ms. Agreste is only with her elder brother. It's not like she went out with another guy or something."

"I'm quite curious about this elder brother of hers."

"I thought you already looked into his private records as well?"

"Not enough data. And that's not the kind of information I'm looking for."

Marcellus remembered what Winter told him about at one point - regarding August, that is.

She had once opened up to him about her relationship with him. It was strained by their indifference toward each other and was nowhere near amiable. He also heard from her that they had an argument days ago. Going by all these details, he had the feeling that she was being treated like that because she was only adopted - another detail about her that made her seem so burdened at such a young age.     

"I don't have a good impression of her elder brother. Why is everyone around her is either indifferent or full of contempt? Just how can a girl like her take so much? May it be at school or at home - she was never happy..." Marcellus said in dismay and frustration.

"I always have the feeling that she's really never happy. Ever since I found out that she's being ostracized in her class, I always have that feeling - even when she keeps smiling and laughing like nothing's wrong. She doesn't open up to me that much. And I'm starting to get impatient after all the worrying I did."

"You never tried to bring up the topic?" Claude inquired with a solemn expression, understanding the seriousness of the matter.

"I did try. Several times. But you know how good she is in changing subjects."

"Then, all we can do is watch over her in the meantime. She'll open up when she's ready. At the very least, she knows that you're concerned about her."

As Claude continues looking at Marcellus through the rear-view mirror of the car, he can see that he's more than concerned - and he can't deny that it's a rarity to see him like this.

He's the type who never meddled in much too much even though he's a busybody. When it came to understanding others in a personal level, he either had a hard time or would not care at all. He never wanted to go too deep, and he was too focused on his work to even make an effort on it. 

But at this moment, Claude can see how much Winter means to Marcellus - in such a short span of time, the two of them got that close.   

And he can tell that he no longer sees her as a mere object of interest or an extraneous variable in his plans. Over the course of the past months, she had become an irreplaceable companion to him. Most probably, she's even more than that.

'I'm relieved that someone's finally making you experience all these things, Sir...' Claude thought in silence as he kept his gaze glued on Marcellus, smiling a little all the while. 

'Your grandparents will surely be glad.'

While it was his uncle who hurled him up in the world of trade and commerce, it was his grandparents who raised him as an individual. He knew that they would be happy to know that their grandson was starting to learn the things that they were not able to teach him in the past -

He's finally learning how to love someone romantically.

"Claude, this is bad...!" Marcellus then bolted out all of the sudden, abruptly pulling Claude out of his thoughts.

"Red flag! A red flag has come!"