Chapter 57

Wilson was in a unique position. He was an experienced professor and vice principal with a connection to the Wilder family. Moreover, he was single and available. If he had a beautiful lady on his team, there would be no stopping the unsolicited advances. However, Tama would make things different for him. She was the kind of young lady whose appearance was nothing short of extraordinary.

She was also timid and quiet, burying herself in her research. Although she wasn’t as skilled as Wyatt and the others, she was diligent and tireless. With her on his team, Wilson’s lab was always spotless, documents were always in place, and the lab apparatus and instruments were pristine whenever he looked at them.

He was happy to have someone like her on his team. Most of the time, Wyatt and the others looked after themselves, but they were rather reluctant to do the miscellaneous work. Wilson was aware that it would eventually fall to Luna to maintain the Engine, but these were minor tasks. If she made it her mission, so be it. More to the point, nobody forced her to do any of it; she took it upon herself. So, he turned a blind eye and didn't ask too much.

Throughout her years with Wilson’s team, Luna had won many awards, with handsome monetary rewards as well. Then there was the assistant allowance she received for being part of the team. In all honesty, there was no need for Luna to cut back on her expenses unless Trevor and the others had defrauded her.

Russell also came from a farming village with virtually no pocket money. He might have had the assistant allowance as well, but his materialistic desires grew once he saw how much bigger the world was outside his village. It wasn't a crazy idea for him to take advantage of her.

Someone was willing to give Russell the present, and he happily took it. When all was said and done, Tama was the fool who could blame nobody but herself. She was willing to be forced to do it. It was preposterous how she regretted her decision and how the whole thing blew up on the internet afterward. She had dragged Wilson’s reputation through the mud.

Wilson became increasingly enraged. He would have given Russell a good beating if he could. Fortunately, the others had called Russell back, and he showed up shortly after. Before he could reach Wilson, Wilson was already charging at him and tackling him to the floor.

“You bastard! I can’t believe you’ve been swindling young ladies all this time. Why did Lever take you in as my mentee? You’ve dragged my name through the mud. You’re the blemish on my teaching career!”

“Professor Harday!” Wyatt extended a hand and stopped Wilson, who was about to go in for another round. “It’s not entirely Russell’s fault. If you ask me, the fault lies with Luna.”

“She wanted to give him the expensive present… I mean, no one made her do it.”

“She’s only making a case out of it now because she was unhappy that she was kicked off the team!”

The others chimed in as well. “Wyatt is right. She would never have shamed Russell this way if she were still on the team. I’m willing to wager she’d be begging to give all of us presents.”

“Exactly,” Ethan hurriedly added. “Luna was the youngest person on the team, and she was the slowest when it came to learning. We looked after her whenever we could and guided her through experiments. Let’s not forget that we also engaged in academic discussions with her and answered questions. She was worried that we might not want to help her anymore, and she basically forced us to accept the pets she bought us. We felt obligated to take them because we wanted to encourage her better. None of us knew just how cunning she actually was, and we certainly didn’t expect her to make a fuss over it now!”

Clutching his belly, Russell sank to his feet. That was exactly how he felt when he first accepted presents from Luna. What he didn’t want to admit was that he was jealous of Bier for all the monetary rewards she had gotten. Although he had received pretty much the same amount of money, his expenses were much bigger than hers. On top of that, Russell had to eat into his savings. Meanwhile, Luna had it easy because she only had to support herself.

It should also be said that they were close, and he had helped her countless times. It stood to reason that she should buy him some nice stuff and repay him. Russell had never thought he was in the wrong. After all, his gifts for Luna, while not expensive, were thoughtful. He actually treated her as a friend. However, all his good intentions had done no good. She was such a heartless lady, and he hated her with every fiber of his being.

Russell rubbed his eyes and gave Wilson an embarrassed look.

“Professor, I was wrong to act the way I did. I will return every gift Luna has ever given me and not look for her anymore. I know I’ve brought shame to you, but I will not repeat this mistake.”

Meanwhile, Mia had contacted her friends to delete the gossipy posts on the internet while Wilson was busy teaching Russell a lesson.