REBORN: MEET MY BROTHERS-Chapter 22: JEALOUS HUSBAND

Ava’s eyebrows rose, clearly caught off guard by his blunt admission. She didn’t know what to expect, but a frank response wasn’t part of it. Suddenly realizing, her eyes widened. "Was this the private conversation you dragged me to your place for?"

Maximus leaned back in his chair, and folded his arms. "Not exactly," he said with a lazy confidence that only irritated Ava more. "But if you want to make this the focus, be my guest."

She threw her hands up in exasperation. "Unbelievable! You kidnapped me—yes, kidnapped—just to lecture me about jealousy and... and... proximity crimes?"

"Proximity crime sounds creative," Maximus said calmly.

"Don’t you dare mock me," Ava snapped, glaring at him. "You’re the one acting like a caveman, hauling me here because some guys dared to come close to me!"

Now leaning forward, Maximus’s elbows rested on his knees. "I didn’t drag you here because they came close to you, Ava. I dragged you here because they touched you. Because you let them touch you."

Ava blinked, momentarily falling in disbelief. "Are you hearing yourself right now?" Her voice rose in pitch. She was already frustrated. "I tripped, Maximus! And they helped me. You know, like normal human beings do when someone falls!"

"It looked a hell of a lot like they enjoyed helping you a little too much. Or are you going to tell me their hands lingered accidentally?"

Her mouth fell open, and for a moment, she was too stunned to respond. "You’re impossible," she finally said, shaking her head. "Completely, utterly impossible. I can’t sit and listen to this anymore. I want to go home. Now!"

.

It was already past 11 AM before Maximus finally allowed Ava leave his place. As she walked out of his place, she didn’t bother with a goodbye. She didn’t see the need to. After all, she was brought here against her will.

Maximus followed her to the door, casually tucking his hands into his pockets to keep them from reaching out to Ava once more. He wasn’t thrilled with her departure. If there was a way, he’d have locked her up beside himself, but that’ll only make his little wife resent him.

Unable to stop himself, "Ava," he called out quietly, enough to stop her mid-stride. She turned slowly, but didn’t utter a word. "Stay safe," he only said with a half-smile. Ava was stunned, but she nodded curtly.

A chauffeur was already holding the door for Ava, so she slipped into the car. As the car drove off, she exhaled softly, taking one more glance at Maximus and the mansion from the tinted window.

Watching this scene blur, she suddenly realized she had no problem with him. The only reason for her resentment and hostility earlier was because she was forcefully brought here against her will.

In truth, even if she didn’t completely trust Maximus, she didn’t consider him a threat in any way. The only threat right now was her family members she was going to meet after school. She could already begin to imagine their outbursts.

Maximus watched the car disappear down the long driveway, before he pulled his phone from his pocket. He dialed a familiar number who received the call less than five seconds after it rang. "Max," Ethan spoke from the other end.

"Reschedule my cancelled meetings for the day. I’ll be working overnight," Maximus said into the phone before hanging up.

.

Ava reached the campus just in time to catch up to the professor her grandfather had so painstakingly arranged for her to meet. She was supposed to meet with him yesterday, on her first day, but Maximus happened.

Spotting the professor -- a tall, wiry man with glasses perched on the tip of his nose and a stack of papers clutched under one arm—Ava quickened her pace. She called out just as he was about to step into his office.

"Professor Hargrove!" she exclaimed, slightly out of breath.

The man turned, his sharp eyes narrowing as he assessed her. "Who are you?"

Forcing a polite smile despite her sudden frustration from dealing with this jerk of a man again in this life, "I’m Ava Whitlock," she said.

His gaze raked over her, as if sizing her disapprovingly. "Ah," he only said before walking into his office.

Ava was the least affected by his actions and she followed him inside, only to find Sasha who stood in front of his desk with some materials in her hand.

"Sasha Whitlock," Hargrove called out, smiling. "What are you doing here? I wasn’t expecting you till next week."

Sasha smiled. "I just finished the materials early and decided to hand it in," she said politely. Her smile faltered for a second as she saw Ava inside the room, but they suddenly widened again.

Sasha would never have guessed that she’ll be so pleased to see Ava. Ava had disappeared since yesterday with a man no one knew about. As the perfect daughter, she’d wasted no effort to tell their parents at home.

"Ava," she hurried to her side. "Oh my God, where have you been? Everyone had been so worried since you left school yesterday with a man."

On hearing this, the professor’s face darkened. With all the praises William had given, he couldn’t believe Ava was associated with some questionable behaviors.

He had no right to reprimand her or involved himself in their family’s business. He was just annoyed with Ava’s arrogance of wasting his precious time yesterday for another appointment. He couldn’t let this go. He was going to punish her, he thought.

Fuming, he sorted through a stack of papers. "I’ve prepared a list of everything you’ve missed so far," Hargrove said, dropping a thick packet of notes in front of her with a thud. "You’ll also find supplemental readings, key assignments, and preliminary quizzes I’ll expect you to complete by tomorrow." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Ava looked at the sheer volume of the materials, before looking at the man. He hadn’t changed. He was still a jerk. They both expected her to complain about the workload, but Ava simply picked up the materials. "What time is due for the submission?"

The man raised a brow. "Anytime tomorrow," he said, knowing Ava would not be able to finish it and he could finally report to her family how incompetent she was.

Not giving a reaction, Ava left the office.

It took Ava completely four hours to finish the materials. Thirty minutes had gone for the quizzes she’d have been able to do with her eyes closed. And the remaining time was marking some points on the papers to seem as if she read it, so the professor don’t suspect her.

In her previous life, she had studied all of these things, so they were so easy that she was yawning in boredom while going through them.

By the time Ava was done, it was already past 5, so she hurriedly went back home.

Stepping down from the car, she took a deep breath and was about to enter the mansion when she saw Jerome coming out of the house. His face darkened the moment he saw her, and before Ava could react, he dragged her by her hair into the mansion.