Chapter 5 - 5: Her Assistant

It was not even 10 am when she got home. Sophia Green opened the door and entered the house. Kate wasn't home. She turned on the TV.

The Glinton University lab fire was being reported on the news, but there was no mention of the victim. Sophia Green had been following reports of the fire ever since she woke up, but the news never went into much detail.

She thought about the scene of the fire all the time. She would never forget those terrible moments.

She was sure that the fire had been targeted at her. When she had found the lab on fire, she had tried to escape, but the door was blocked from the outside. Ever since she joined the university, all the steps in and around the lab were transformed into slopes, so she could get around easily in her wheelchair. If only she had been able to open the door, she would have been fine.

She could have jumped through the window if her legs worked. The windows were alarmed, but people could still escape from them in an emergency, and her lab was on the ground floor, so it wouldn't have been dangerous to jump.

But she couldn't do it. There was no way for a disabled person to escape under such circumstances.

She had no idea who would have had so much hatred for her. She had worked in that lab for years and did not make contact with many people. She could not figure out who she had offended.

But she would figure it all out.

Her new home, as the other Sophia Green, was not far from Glinton University. Seeing as her mother was not at home, and she had nothing to do, she decided to go to the university lab to see if she could find any clues.

After thirty minutes of cycling, she got to Glinton University.

It was the first day of the semester at Glinton University too. The freshmen came from all over the country, and everywhere she looked, she could see parents and children hauling luggage out of cars. With so many people about, she wasn't stopped or questioned.

Many students were talking about the fire. Everyone had heard about it on the news, and as Glinton students, they were all very interested.

"I heard someone died," one student said to another, as Sophia passed by, "I hope it wasn't Sophia Green. She's my idol."

"How could anything happen to her? That kind of star is always taken good care of. Don't worry. Maybe it's just a rumor, and no one died. There's been nothing on the news about it, right?" the other student said.

Sophia Green sighed inside. Her university had taken good care of her. But the fire was completely unexpected; there was nothing they could have done.

She cycled towards the laboratory. It was a big school campus. And it took her a while to get there.

And here it was. The school's energy research station. It was an old building with three floors. It was said to be more than a hundred years old. The building had not collapsed in the fire but stood solidly. She wondered if it could still be used after renovation.

The exterior walls of the whole building were burnt black. Sophia Green sighed and walked slowly into the building.

Her lab was the first room on her left. Due to her mobility difficulties, the school had given her the room closest to the entrance.

Being here again gave her a feeling of familiarity, but it also felt strange.

She went to the door of her lab. The door was made of iron. She looked at it carefully and found nothing unusual. She did not know what had hindered her from opening the door that night.

She gently opened the door and stepped into the laboratory. As she entered, she saw a familiar figure standing with his back to her.

A tall young man in a simple and dignified black suit.

She had always been looking up at him and had never noticed how nice his back looked in a suit.

The man heard the noise and turned around. He stared at her with cold, dark eyes. In her memory, the eyes of Albert Pearson were always smiling. And whenever she had looked at him, there had always been a faint smile.

But the person in front of her was completely cold. He was not like that warm Albert Pearson at all. She would have doubted whether it was even him if it wasn't for this familiar face.

"Who are you?" his voice was as cold as his eyes, "A freshman? You shouldn't be here. Leave now."

Sophia Green felt funny. She did not know why he pretended to be cold. No matter how cold he looked, he was still Pearson, the cute, warm assistant who followed her around all day.

"Why are you here?" she said lightly.

"I work here." Albert Pearson replied tersely.

"I'm a student." Sophia Green replied.

She didn't say she was a student of Glinton University, deliberately misleading him though she should have been at college by now, and not just headed into the eleventh grade.

"Students should not come to the laboratory."

"This place is badly burned. So you can't be here to work. Since neither of us has any good reason to be here, you can't judge me."

"I don't want to talk about it. If you don't leave, I'll have the porter take you away." Hearing his own irrational words, Albert Pearson had nothing else to say and frowned.

She was not a student here, so if the porter asked her to leave, it was not the end of the world.

"I'm not a bad person. I'm actually a big fan of Sophia Green's. I heard she had an accident. So I just wanted to come and check if it was true. You must be a big fan, too. We are all so sorry about it." She spoke politely.

And she looked at Albert Pearson with a little expectation. She was curious about her assistant. Had he worshipped her? Judging from the way he had always acted, he seemed to.

"I'm not her fan." Albert Pearson was not angry anymore, but his tone was surprisingly firm.

She was a little disappointed. So, she did not have a place in his heart, but surely he was only here because he missed her?

"You can check around. But you can't touch anything. The police have obtained evidence, but they may have overlooked something." Albert Pearson continued.

"I won't touch anything. I just want to look around.. I won't touch a thing."