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    “No, of course not. I’m not a gold digger. Why would I do such things? I was genuinely attracted by Mr. Reedshaw’s charisma, L…” Allison couldn’t exin it clearly.

    Her heart just couldn’t stop, it was out of control!

    “Then what are you afraid of?” Josie sighed slightly.

    She added, “bHowever/b, since you know you can’t like him, why do you insist on making things difficult for yourself?

    “Are you really not considering changing departments?”

    Allison thought about it but couldn’t bring herself to do it. She said, “No, I’ll just keep my distance from him, I promise! won’t hurt anyone.”

    Josie felt both distressed and self–reproachful. “You’re simply asking for trouble!”

    Josie was about tofort Allison further when she received a call from Sean. “Are you at school?”

    “Yes!” Josie replied, “What’s UP?”

    Sean’s voice was serious. “Is Allison bwith /byou?

    “Yes, she is. Are you looking for her?” Josie was a little surprised.

    Sean denied it. “I’m not looking for her. My uncle called her, but she didn’t pick bup/b.

    “I think he has something urgent to do. He asked me to check what is up with her. bIs /bshe okay?”

    Josie bwas /bbslightly /bsurprisedb. /b“Elliot is looking for Allison? Is it urgent? Why is he worried about her? What’s going on?”

    Sean also found this a bit strange. “Reportedly, before work ended, they were alone for half an hour…”

    Sean paused slightly. “Is Allison really okayb?/bb” /b

    “She doesn’t seem to be in trouble. I’ll ask her again!” Josie felt uncertain. “Wait for me a moment. I’ll call you back

    shortly.”

    Josie hung up the phone and looked suspiciously at Allison.

    “What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?” Allison sat up. “Did something happen? bIs /bSean looking for you?

    Then go ahead. Don’t mind me.”

    Josie pulled up a chair and sat in front of her. “Allison, Mr. Reedshaw called you, but you didn’t answer. Do you want to call

    him back?”

    Allison looked nervous as she quickly pulled out her phone. “My phone is dead!”

    She looked miserable as she quickly found the charger. “Oh no, how could this happen?”

    19:35 Tueb, /b16 Sept A

    Seeing that she was upset but didn’t seem like anything serious had happened, Josie felt a little relieved.

    She asked, “Tell me honestly, did anything happen between you and Mr. Reedshaw? Are you truly okay?”

    “Nothing happened.” Allison was confused.

    She exined, “He just fainted from low blood sugar, and I gave him half a cup of water mixed with sugar. As soon as he woke up, he told me to go home.

    “Because I realized my feelingsb, /bI was a bit flustered, so I went straight back to school!”

    Allison was straightforward and not one for mind games, so Josie believed that bshe /bwas not lying.

    Josie thought, “So nothing happened during that half hour. Did Mr. Reedshaw really need her for something?”

    Josie pursed her blips/bb. /b“You call Mr. Reedshaw back, and I’ll call Sean back.”

    She walked out to the corridor to call Sean bback/b.

    Just as she finished talking about Elliot’s fainting, a gasp came from the room.

    Holding her phoneb, /bJosie immediately went into the room. “Allisonb?/b”

    “Josie…” Allison stared at the phone with a ck screen, on the verge of tears.

    She said, “Mr. Reedshaw told me not to tell anyone about his fainting, but I’ve already told you. You really mustn’t tell

    anyone else.

    “He said this was too embarrassing!

    Josie fell silent.

    Sheughed, a mix of amusement and exasperation. “I just told Sean about it!‘

    Allison said, “Oh no, it’s over! If Mr. Reedshaw finds out, he’ll definitely think I’m untrustworthy and extremely gossipy.

    “He barely has any impression of me to begin with, and now his impression of me will be quite bad!”

    Allison’s eyes were red.

    Josie, however, was thinking of something else..

    She thought, ‘If Elliot simply fainted from low blood sugar, why did he specifically tell Allison not to talk about it?

    ‘He didn’t say anything when it happened, only remembering to call afterwards?

    This doesn’t add up!‘”