Three days later, Stefan received a message from Reuben, his father-in-law, on his way to work. As far as he remembered, he has a good relationship with this man and he respected him as Cayenne's biological father. He couldn't remember a single event that could have hurt this man. He's also trying his best to do what he had promised - not to hurt Cayenne in any way.
Now what was alarming to him was the favor that this man asked. He was told not to inform Cayenne about their meeting.
Although he lied to Cayenne about the house and the wedding, he never wanted to lie to her about anything else. He wanted her to know whatever it was that he was doing.
"Boss, are we not telling Madam about this?" Tristan asked when Stefan told him to change lane and go for City D. "It's a long way to visit Mr. Montefalco and we may not make it before lunch."
"I'll send a message to Cayenne later. I don't know why he wanted to meet me but this must be crucial to my marriage with Cayenne."
"Can he really change your marriage if he says no?"
"Of course, not." He confidently said with a wide mischevous grin. "Ayen would never let this man influence her decision."
"I agree. Madam isn't someone who gets influenced by others easily."
As they continued their trip to City A, Cayenne was bugged with another issue. Their school forum, which is viewed publicly by students and teachers, has a new post that has shaken the a lot of students and professors.
Some of the students were in disbelief, others were laughing in schadenfreud but most of them just ignored this post.
Since she was someone who married a bigshot, they no longer make a fuss whenever she gets involved in some news.
There were so many rumors about her that students got tired hearing about her name already. Some just stopped stirring trouble and spread the news because they'd only be slapped by the truth and receive warning from Stefan's lawyer. Who wants to mess with someone who owns almost half of City A? Not just that, he has different lines of businesses outside of the country.
Do you want to get blacklisted by all of those companies? Only a fool would think so.
Faith and Noah looked at Cayenne who was reading some comments on her YT account. They were trying gouge her expression and see how she was doing but oftentimes, she'd smile on a comment and reply on it.
"Yenyen?" Faith called out after a moment since she wasn't sure if Cayenne was really doing alright or if she was just good in masking her emotions. As a friend, she wanted to be there when Cayenne is feeling down. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. What's there to be worried?"
Noah and Faith looked at each other with questions in their eyes.
"Did you hear anything about the school forum?" Noah asked this time. He got curious if this woman ever paid attention to this kind of stuff.
"You don't?" They both exclaimed at the same time. No wonder she wasn't the least bit worried with the unsettling gazes thrown at her.
"Well, I paid attention to it before." Cayenne said as she closed her phone and looked at her friends. "Then, things happened and I thought there's nothing really important there aside from holiday reminders and whatnot. So, I logged out from the forum and asked Stefan to log in for me."
"You mean, Stefan knows everything that is happening in our school forum?"
Instead of feeling worried, the two of them burst out laughing. They never expected that Stefan's obsession with Cayenne's welfare would reach to this point. This attack on Cayenn's name was like a punch to a cotton, there was no damage at all.
"We're worried for nothing." Noah stated with faint chuckles.
"I got on another rumor, didn't I?"
"They said that you promised to get engaged with professor Brian. Isn't that funny?" Faith added which gained nodding agreement from Noah. "I don't know what got into that person's brain to spread this news around campus."
Faith and Noah: "Oh??"
"Uh...it's true, though."
Faith and Noah: "What?"
The two of them dropped their jaws from the shock of Cayenne's confirmation. After all, they all thought that this was just another news. Who would have thought that this was true?
"You really promised to marry him?" Noah inquired, wanting to clarify if he was hearing things.
In the end, Cayenne had to explain the truth of the rumor and the fact that it was Stefan who knew it first before she realized the connection she has with Brian.
"Did Stefan get mad?"
"He did!" Cayenne exclaimed when she remembered the night he wanted to punish her. "But we worked it out."
"People are really testing your relationship before your wedding." Faith retorted which caused Noah to glare at her. Realizing what she did, she thought of excuses to make. "Right! You guys are married already."
"Hahaha. You are being funny."
"Well, most couples are tested before their marriage so, my mind draws the same scenario for you and Stefan."
"But trials and challenges don't happen before marriage only. Even after your marriage, you will still go through many things that will test your relationship. Like me and my husband."
"I agree." Noah nodded while taking glances at Faith. They almost ruined Stefan's wedding surprise.
The two of them received their wedding invitation already so they knew what Stefan was up to.
Pushing the rumor to the back of their mind, they attended their classes as if nothing happened. When they met professor Brian around the campus, they greeted him like usual.
Since Cayenne didn't pay attention to the rumor and the people who threw strange looks at her, most of the students started to forget about it and continued with their life. It has nothing to do with them, anyway.
Meanwhile, Stefan and Reuben finally met. The man brought Stefan to his study room and showed the information about Cayenne's engagement with Brian and his affair with Kelly.
"I am the person behind the issues."