Something suddenly occurred to Aria. "Hey," she said, "do you think Sharon Lowe was the one who made that forum post? I mean, she chased Todd Hayes for so long, and he never even gave her a second glance. Now he’s chasing you, and you turned him down. Doesn’t that mean even the guy you rejected is still out of her league? She must hate your guts."

Eve Vaughn rolled her eyes, speechless. "What a wild imagination you have."

Aria muttered, "I’m just making a guess based on her petty, calculating personality!"

"Quiet down and pay attention. This lecture has a lot of important points we need to take notes on."

Eve Vaughn cut Aria off, and the two of them finally focused their attention on the lecture.

When class ended for the day, Eve Vaughn got a call from Mason Lawson.

"Mrs. Linton just called. She said she has to take care of her daughter again tonight and can’t come make dinner. I’ll take you out to eat."

’Even though the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with Sharon Lowe,’ Eve Vaughn thought, ’she’s acting like she’s on death’s door just to get me to pay up.’

’I just wonder if Mrs. Linton knows what her daughter is up to.’

Eve Vaughn couldn’t understand it. ’How could someone with Mrs. Linton’s temperament have a daughter like Sharon Lowe?’

And just like that, Eve Vaughn agreed to go out to dinner with Mason Lawson.

’After all, a powerful CEO like Mason Lawson, a man who calls all the shots, can’t be expected to cook for you every day.’

She was self-aware enough to know that much.

The person who came to pick her up after class was Mason Lawson’s assistant, Shawn.

"Miss Vaughn, the President is still in a meeting. He has a lot of them today, so he asked me to bring you to the company first."

"Okay, thank you."

When they arrived at the Lawson Group headquarters, Shawn led her to the private presidential elevator, which took them to the CEO’s suite on the top floor.

A secretary quickly brought in some snacks and a beverage, stealing a few glances at Eve Vaughn.

After all, Eve Vaughn had a naturally youthful, almost childlike appearance, and her oval-shaped face made her look even younger than she was.

Coupled with the backpack she was wearing, it was hard to tell if she was a high schooler or a college student.

Secretaries are a gossipy bunch by nature, but this time, even after staring for a long while, she couldn’t figure out the relationship between Eve Vaughn and Mason Lawson.

However, the President had given instructions before his meeting: when Miss Vaughn arrived, she was to be treated with the utmost care.

That was why the secretary was so attentive. "Miss Vaughn, is there anything else you’d like to eat? Please don’t hesitate to tell me. I can have it prepared for you."

"No, that’s alright. Thank you."

Eve Vaughn wasn’t quite used to people trying so hard to please her.

After the secretary left, she sat quietly on the sofa in Mason Lawson’s office, waiting for his meeting to end.

With nothing to do for the moment, Eve Vaughn took out her phone and sent a message to her ’Uncle’.

"Uncle, thank you for helping me again. If it weren’t for you, I don’t think I could have cleared my name this time."

After she sent it, a text message notification pinged from the direction of Mason Lawson’s desk.

Eve Vaughn paused for a moment, but she dismissed it as a coincidence and didn’t think much of it.

But she felt her last message hadn’t fully expressed her gratitude.

So, she sent another: "I really don’t know how to thank you. After all, I’ve never even seen you. I have no idea how I’ll ever be able to repay you."

After she sent the text, she once again heard a notification sound from the phone on Mason Lawson’s desk.

A jolt went through her as an unbelievable thought surfaced in her mind.

But she quickly shook her head. ’That’s impossible.’

To test her theory, her hands trembled as she found ’Uncle’s’ number and called it for the very first time.

As soon as the call connected, sure enough, the phone on Mason Lawson’s desk began to ring nonstop.

Eve Vaughn hung up and called again. The phone rang at the exact same moment.

She was utterly stunned. She rushed over to Mason Lawson’s enormous desk and began searching for the phone.

Following the sound, she traced the ringing to one of his desk drawers.

Just then, the office door swung open, and Mason Lawson, his meeting over, strode inside.

He glanced around the room but didn’t see Eve Vaughn.

’That’s strange,’ he thought. ’The secretary said Eve Vaughn was waiting for me in my office.’

Just then, a figure slowly rose from behind his desk, her eyes red and misty with tears.

Mason Lawson was slightly taken aback. "What are you doing over there?" he asked.

Eve Vaughn took a deep breath, her voice choked with sobs. "Mason... the ’uncle’ who’s been sponsoring me... that’s you, isn’t it?"

As she spoke, she dialed the number one more time. And sure enough, the phone rang again.

Mason Lawson froze. For the first time in his life, he felt the guilty panic of being caught red-handed.

He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I just wanted to help you."

He thought Eve Vaughn would be angry with him, that she would think he was toying with her.

But a second later, to his surprise, she suddenly ran to him and threw herself into his arms.

Tears stained his expensive dress shirt as Eve Vaughn buried her face in his chest, sobbing, "Why are you so good to me?"

’So all this time, since the very beginning, Mason Lawson had been secretly helping me.’

She was crying and laughing at the same time. "There weren’t all that many kind strangers, were there?" she said. "It was always you, supporting me from behind the scenes!"