Chapter 10 Professor or Beast

Three days passed since Jessie's visit to the Lan family's villa. Her wound hadn't healed yet but the scars were slowly fading. Soon, her marriage would take place, sealing an alliance between the Lan family and the Lin family. However, neither of them spoke about the marriage or had any phone calls in the following days. Jessie couldn't care less about it. At the moment, she wanted to concentrate on her studies and restore her good grades.

"Jessie, did you pass your dissertation? I failed again! You know, it took me almost half a month to finish my dissertation. The professor is grading very unfairly!" a classmate complained, feeling wronged.

Jessie was worried about it too. In a matter of three days, she would marry Mark and go to the Lan family's villa. There, she would have to deal with the cunning man Nelson and his mysterious son Mark. Every second of the day, she dreaded about it. She liked to believe her troubles would end. But deep down, she knew being there would be more painful than being in her house.

And now, she had dissertation to worry about! When her life was in a mess, how could she get the inspiration to work on a dissertation?

Suddenly, one of her classmates said, "Oh, right. Today is professor's birthday. We are going to host him a party. If we keep him happy, he will be lenient, grading our dissertation very generously!"

"But will that actually work?" Jessie asked, not quite sure if this was the right way to get good grades.

"Yes, of course," her classmates said confidently. Jessie wasn't convinced. According to Jessie's opinion, this method was bound to fail.

Once their class got over in the afternoon, Jessie was dragged to the nightclub against her will. Her classmates insisted she should join them. Yet, she just wanted to go back home. After all, she knew their plan was going to fail. No matter what they did to please the professor, their grades wouldn't change.

'Unless someone hooked up with the professor,' she thought, disgusted at the thought.

Jessie didn't consider herself charming enough to catch her professor's attention. She sat quietly in a corner, letting her classmates do whatever they wanted. Every once in a while, she would go over, eager to see what was going on.

However, she was oblivious of the fact they were setting a trap for her!

"Jessie, you are so boring. Don't sit here and waste your time. Come and sing."

"Exactly. We are your friends; what is there to be shy? If you continue to remain so restrained, we will assume you don't like us."

"No, it's not like that," Jessie said with an embarrassed smile. "I happen to be a terrible singer. Trust me, you guys don't want to hear me sing. I suggest you all to have fun. Stop worrying about me."

Ever since Selina Wang started studying in this University, she knew that Brad Li was a terrible man. He did all kinds of nasty things, taking advantage of his position as a professor. However, in order to pass her dissertation, she would let him have what he wanted.

Brad Li had always been fond of Jessie, but she was too indifferent and never gave him a chance to approach. She rarely participated in class activities as well. This time, Selina Wang put in a lot of effort and brought Jessie here. To her utter disappointment, Jessie turned out to be dreadfully boring, not even taking a sip of the alcohol. Selina Wang bit her lips and looked at Jessie. She couldn't let Jessie ruin her plan.

She picked up the wine glass, made her way towards Jessie. Once she was there, she settled on the seat next to Jessie and said, "Come on, drink with me. Cheers! For we've been classmates for the past four years!"

Jessie looked at her.

"Sorry, I don't drink," she said.

"What? You don't drink?" Selina Wang exclaimed. She didn't know whether Jessie was actually innocent or if this was just a lie. "Why don't you drink a little? This beer has low alcohol. If you take a few sips, I promise you won't get drunk."

Selina sensed that Jessie didn't want to drink. Instead of giving up, Selina Wang continued to persuade her. "Let me tell you, you are going to have a hard time if you don't learn to drink. When you graduate and start working, you will see that drinking is quite common. You have to attend business meetings and social activities. And if your company achieves success, there will be all kinds of parties. They will all involve a little drinking. If you stay behind like a recluse, your boss won't be happy. How about this, you take a sip and I finish the rest. That sounds like a fair deal, doesn't it?"

Selina Wang was quite a persuasive girl. Jessie only had a handful of friends at school. She realized this would perhaps be her last party with them. She saw no reason to refuse Selina's request.

She picked up the glass in front of her and gulped down half of it.

As she watched this, a smile appeared on Selina Wang's face. She thought to herself, 'Now that Jessie has sipped this, I can definitely make her do what I want.'

Selina Wang felt triumphant. She then left Jessie alone and joined her other classmates. With Selina gone, Jessie was all on her own. There was nobody else near her. She simply watched her classmates dance.

After a few minutes, Jessie's vision became blurry. She felt a heaviness in her head. Something was happening to her! She struggled to keep her body from collapsing. Keeping her hands on the wall for support, she began to walk slowly.

As the seconds passed, she began to feel uneasy and hot.

Standing in front of the wash basin, Jessie looked at her flushed face. To wake herself up, she kept beating her face with her hands.

She hoped that the cold water could stimulate her nerves and make her sober.

However, things didn't get any better. She felt weaker and weaker.

What was happening to her?

She had no idea.

'Am I drunk?' she thought to herself.

But she realized that was impossible. Even if she was drunk, she wouldn't be feeling so ill.

What Jessie hadn't known was that her drink had been drugged. And to make things worse, the biggest nightmare awaited her.

Selina Wang had seen Jessie, staggering her way to the washroom. She quickly informed Brad Li about this. His eyes brightened with excitement. Without wasting any time, he rushed towards her.

When Jessie came out of the lavatory, Brad Li was waiting for her eagerly. Seeing her discomfort, he felt satisfied He walked towards her and feigned concern. "Jessie, are you all right? Did you drink too much?"

Jessie raised her head and answered, "Mr. Brad, I'm fine. I just feel a little uncomfortable."

"If you are not feeling well, I can drive you home."

"Oh, no. That won't be required. I will be fine. Mr. Brad, I wish you a very happy birthday. I really don't feel well, so I will just head back ho-" Before she could finish her sentence, she lost her consciousness.

Brad Li's face broke into a triumphant smile.

He held Jessie in his arms and walked out of the club.

The next day, Jessie woke up with a throbbing head ache. She had been asleep for long hours and it was already afternoon. Her phone was buzzing.

"Hello, Blake. What's up?"

"I have something to tell you. Are you at home now? I'll come there."

"I..." Still in a daze, Jessie cast a quick glance at the room and said, "I'm not at home. I'm outside. I'll come to meet you."

"I have a plan. How about we meet at the French restaurant in the west of the city," Blake suggested.

"Okay."

After hanging up the phone, Jessie was wide awake. Everything that happened to her last night left her exhausted. She looked at her naked body and shame filled her eyes. Grabbing the quilt, she looked at the ceiling, her eyes beginning to turn ferocious.

Everything came back to her. She remembered the dirty way in which Brad Li had looked at her. Jessie wished she could run back to school and kill him with her own hands. And Selina Wang! Her fury rose another notch when she thought about her.

Jessie clenched her teeth, hatred pouring out of her.

'Brad Li, I won't let you go. You will pay for what you did,' she thought, determined to get her revenge.