Mr. Sinclair was currently in a meeting.
All eyes were on him.
But at that very moment, with everyone's attention fixed on him, a generic, system-default ringtone sounded from the table.
Mr. Sinclair frowned and asked, "Whose phone is that?"
None of the employees answered.
Mr. Sinclair found it a little strange. The assistant standing behind him spoke up, "Chairman, it's your phone."
Mr. Sinclair glanced down and saw it was an unknown local number.
He looked a little embarrassed, but he didn't hesitate. He picked up the phone, turned to his assistant, and said, "You take over the rest of the meeting."
With that, he walked out of the conference room without a backward glance.
Of course, no one dared to object to the big boss taking a call during work hours, so the meeting continued smoothly.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sinclair walked to his office, but by then, the call had already automatically disconnected after ringing for too long.
When he tried to call back, the line was already busy.
Just then, a notification for a new WeChat message popped up.
Q [A teacher from school just called. They said Chloe skipped class with a male classmate and asked us parents to come over. I'm already driving there now.]
Z [Skipping class? How could our little sister possibly skip class? There must be some kind of misunderstanding. I'm heading to the school to ask about it too.]
Mr. Sinclair's eye twitched as he read the group message. He snatched his suit jacket from the back of his chair and drove to the school.
The father and his two sons arrived at the school at almost the same time. They exchanged a look, then said in unison, "Together."
—
The school administrator was the dean of discipline for the eleventh grade. After lecturing Chloe Sinclair and Summer Beckett, he dragged the two students back to his office.
After making the phone calls, the dean of discipline looked at the two students standing in the corner and couldn't help but say, "Don't be nervous. I've just asked your parents to come in for a little chat."
He thought they were both quite good-looking, especially the young girl in front of him. Her skin was fair and smooth, and her dewy eyes made her look utterly pitiful.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK—
Just as he was about to start his verbal reprimand, three men appeared at the door.
'This…'
The dean of discipline quickly stood up and guessed, "You must be the parents of these two students?"
Mr. Sinclair nodded, his eyes immediately finding his daughter standing in the corner.
However, his mood soured the moment he saw Summer Beckett's devilishly handsome face.
The atmosphere in the office instantly grew heavy.
"I'm Chloe Sinclair's father."
"We're Chloe Sinclair's brothers."
The dean of discipline was speechless.
In all his years of teaching, it was the first time he'd seen so many family members show up for one misbehaving student.
When his gaze fell on Landon Sinclair, he felt the face was somewhat familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place it.
But the other two men looked like social elites, so he figured their family discipline was strict. He therefore chose his words more carefully.
He recounted the day's events to the three of them from beginning to end.
Although he didn't know the two students personally, every teacher in the school had heard of Summer Beckett, the king of skipping class.
He had been a little worried, afraid that Summer Beckett would act up. If that happened, even he wouldn't be able to discipline the boy.
After all, the school's new library and academic building were all donated by the Beckett Group.
Summer Beckett was basically the "crown prince" of the school.
But to his surprise, Summer Beckett had obediently admitted his mistake today and had even clarified things on the girl's behalf.
"So that's how it is. Summer is also Chloe's only friend, so he must have been worried when he saw his friend wasn't in class. We're sorry to have troubled you, Teacher."
Mr. Sinclair put heavy emphasis on the word "friend." After speaking, he fixed Summer Beckett with a dark, profound gaze.
Summer Beckett happened to look up, and his eyes met Mr. Sinclair's. A chill shot up from his feet, and he nearly lost his balance.
Mr. Sinclair's words had also given the dean of discipline plenty of face, causing his impression of them to improve greatly. He couldn't help but say, "Oh, so the two of them are friends. It seems I misunderstood."
With that, he prepared to see the three men out.
Before leaving, Mr. Sinclair gave Chloe Sinclair a few instructions, which she quickly agreed to.
"Ethan, from now on, you and your brother will take turns picking Chloe up."
'I absolutely can't let that Beckett boy get any ideas.'
He had previously thought his daughter had feelings for Summer Beckett and was quite worried, but a moment ago, his doubts had vanished.
Their relationship really did seem to be just that of friends.
But no matter what, he had to guard against the Beckett boy developing other feelings for his daughter.
The two brothers felt the exact same way and agreed without a second thought.
After the three Sinclairs left, Summer Beckett's father also arrived immediately.
The moment he saw his son standing meekly in the corner, he strode forward and slapped him without a word.
"Summer Beckett, why do you do nothing all day but cause trouble for your old man?"
In his youth, Mr. Beckett had been in the criminal underworld. Although he had since gone straight, he always carried a black briefcase, wore a thick gold chain around his neck, and when he spoke, you could see a gold tooth in his mouth.
His entire person seemed to scream the four words: "I am very rich."
Summer Beckett didn't seem surprised at all that his old man had hit him without warning. He shrank back and apologized profusely, "Dad, I was wrong, okay? From now on, I'll study hard and get into the Ivory League to make you proud, how about that?"
He seemed surprised that his son had taken the initiative to admit his mistake this time. He froze for a moment, his hand hovering in mid-air.
Seizing the moment while his father was distracted, Summer Beckett immediately escaped his clutches.
The dean of discipline explained the situation again, stating that this time, they would only have to write a thousand-word self-criticism essay and it wouldn't go on their permanent records.
Mr. Beckett came from a humble background and didn't understand the nuances, but he knew the teacher was letting Summer Beckett off easy and was extremely grateful.
As he was leaving, he even insisted on donating another academic building to the school.
This, of course, made the dean of discipline ecstatic.
The two of them, safe and sound, both returned to the classroom.
On the way, Summer Beckett was still very confused. "Chloe, what did your dad mean by staring at me like that?"
He had accidentally met Mr. Sinclair's gaze, and in that moment, he felt like he was being executed by a thousand cuts.
Of course, Chloe Sinclair knew why her father had been looking at Summer Beckett that way.
"He probably thinks you're good-looking."
"Of course! This young master may lack a lot of things, but my handsome looks are enough to make all the girls in class jealous."
Summer Beckett had always been blunt about his own appearance.
Seeing that Chloe Sinclair was ignoring him, he quickly chased after her.
"Chloe, how come I never knew you could do parkour?"
"How did you learn all those moves? Can you teach me?"
In just one morning, Summer Beckett had come to admire Chloe Sinclair down to his very core.
They had just reached the classroom when the bell for class rang.
Chloe Sinclair returned to her seat, took out a small bread roll, and started to replenish her energy.
During class, she entered the system to study Physics.
The progress bar was moving much slower now; a whole day had passed, and she hadn't even completed 1% of the progress.
After school let out, Chloe Sinclair ran off to that same little alley from the other day.
After chasing that rush of limits and thrills, Chloe Sinclair felt refreshed in both body and mind. She finally understood why Summer Beckett loved extreme sports so much.