Back at the sky residence, he took a refreshing hot shower, changed into comfortable casual clothes, and sat on a lounge chair on the balcony with a great view, leisurely brewing a pot of fine green tea.
The aroma of tea filled the air, and before his eyes lay the river rushing endlessly in the morning light and the city gradually waking up, his mind filled with clarity.
Seeing Maddie's phone ring, Ethan glanced at it and saw it was her roommate calling, asking if she was up, since she had class that morning.
Ethan picked up her phone, tapped lightly, and replied with a concise message: "Can you cover for me for the morning, thanks."
He put down the phone and didn't wake the exhausted girl, letting her sleep in.
Eleven o'clock in the morning.
Maddie's eyelashes trembled a few times, and she finally struggled to lift her heavy eyelids.
Her consciousness slowly returned, and with it came a sore, weak sensation, as if her whole body had been taken apart and put back together, especially her lower back and legs.
She whimpered softly, struggling to turn over, just in time to meet Ethan's eyes filled with a teasing smile.
"You're awake?" Ethan's voice carried the slightly hoarse tone of morning, sounding especially lazy.
Maddie pouted, her eyes instantly filled with accusation and grievance: "Babe..."
Her voice was so soft it seemed to drip water, filled with deep grievance, completely losing the boldness of last night's "You still got it in you?"
Facing Maddie's slightly resentful gaze, Ethan innocently shrugged, his smile deepening: "I'm not taking the blame for this. Who volunteered last night to bravely take up the challenge?"
Maddie's fair cheeks instantly flushed with two clouds of red. Embarrassed, she buried half her face in the pillow, her voice muffled: "That's what I said!... but you didn't have to go so hard!"
The bold heroine from last night now looked nothing but delicate and pitiful.
Ethan chuckled and stopped teasing her: "Alright, walking wounded, go get cleaned up. A hot shower will bring you back to life."
He pointed to the sun hanging high outside the window: "Then, it's time to go downstairs and find some food — it's lunchtime."
"Ah! Already lunch?" Maddie suddenly bolted halfway up from the bed, the movement tugging at her aching muscles, making her wince, "Oh no, oh no! Morning classes! All missed! Did they call roll? What did the professor say?"
It was like a college student sleeping through their dorm alarm — waking up to find their roommate already back with lunch from class, the sky feeling like it had fallen.
She fumbled on the bed for her phone, like a startled little rabbit.
Ethan looked at her flustered expression and couldn't help but laugh: "Alright, stop looking, it's on the table. Your roommate texted asking about you this morning. I saw you sleeping like a log, so I didn't wake you. I answered for you and asked her to cover you for the morning. Don't worry."
"Phew—" Maddie's tense nerves instantly relaxed. She let out a long breath, her small hand seriously patting her heaving chest, "You scared me half to death... thank you, babe!"
That adorable, just-survived-a-disaster look softened Ethan's gaze a little.
...
Lunch was at a low-key, upscale private restaurant near The Hudson Residences.
After lunch, Ethan drove the bright orange McLaren P1 to drop Maddie off at the gates of NYU Tisch.
Amid the many students' amazed and curious gazes, Maddie stepped out of the car like a happy little bird, glancing back with every step as she walked into campus.
Then he drove back to NYU.
He drove the car to Oak Ridge, parked the P1 steadily, then switched into Alex's understated black Audi before leisurely driving back to the dorm.
Back at the dorm, Marcus was nowhere to be found. Derek was lying on his bed, snoring evenly as he napped.
At this moment, Derek and Kevin were the only ones in the dorm.
But Kevin was still going at it, playing games there with the speaker on full blast on his own phone.
And the sound was thunderous, with intense gunfight sounds and teammates' shouts clearly echoing through the not-so-large space: "One down, one down! Reload! Damn! Where's the sniper?"
He showed no concern for anyone else's peace and quiet at all.
Ethan frowned slightly and walked straight to his desk.
He opened the drawer and took out the remaining half pack of premium cigarettes inside.
Without even looking, he flicked his wrist, and the half pack slid precisely across the table, stopping right next to Kevin's mouse pad.
"Put your headphones on." Ethan's voice was low, but it carried an undeniable penetrating power, clearly cutting through the game's noise.
"Damn!" Kevin was so startled by the sudden "airdrop" and the sound that he nearly jumped up, and in a flustered panic, paused the game.
When he saw it was half a pack of premium smokes, his eyes lit up instantly!
He grabbed it in one swift motion, skillfully squeezed the pack to confirm it wasn't empty, and immediately broke into a smile. He turned to Ethan, his voice suddenly a lot more respectful: "Alright, Ethan! Headphones going on right now! Zero sound leakage, I promise!"
He quickly pulled the headphones out of the drawer and put them on, not forgetting to flash Ethan a sucking-up smile.
The effect was immediate; the room instantly went quiet.
Ethan's lips curled up almost imperceptibly. That trick really worked.
He'd recently noticed Kevin hadn't called him by his first name in a while, replaced more and more by a respectful "Ethan."
Trading resources for peace and respect — good deal.
...
Afternoon.
Economics classroom.
Ethan walked into the lecture hall right on time.
Sure enough, Marcus had already claimed his usual spot, a few seats over in the last row by the aisle.
Ethan walked straight over and sat down in the empty seat to Marcus's right.
Further right, against the wall, was Nora's spot.
Just as he sat down, a voice as thin as a whisper, tinged with a hint of caution, came from beside him: "Um... you didn't come home for dinner last night, so I finished all the food I made."
Nora lowered her head, unconsciously twisting the edge of her notebook as if reporting something important.
Yesterday, Ethan hadn't gone back to Oak Ridge for dinner, but Nora had obediently finished all the food he'd left prepared.
Ethan felt like what he'd said before hadn't gone to waste; she'd really taken it to heart.
He turned his head and looked at the girl's lowered profile, her fair neck showing, and for once let a gentle smile show: "Good. That's how it should be; otherwise it'd just go to waste."
Nora softly answered with a "mm," as if receiving high praise. Her tense shoulders relaxed slightly, and she immediately opened her notebook to focus on copying the formulas off the board.
At the front, the professor was eloquently breaking down the current economic situation.
Marcus, sitting in the back row, leaned forward slightly, leaned closer to Ethan, lowered his voice, and started up his usual class-time banter.
Recently, Ethan had fully handed off control, letting Marcus run their little shared stock account entirely on his own to get some practice in. If he lost money, so be it!
Either way, Marcus was going to have to learn the market on his own sooner or later, so better he see how brutal it could be early on.
There are 130 advance chapters ahead in my Patreon. If you are interested can check it out.
patreon.com/B_A_3439