Chapter 26 The Trails Begin to Connect
The afternoon atmosphere on campus felt humid as Aveline arrived. Aveline walked quickly down the corridor, her hair still slightly messy after rushing away from Ezra's apartment. She had canceled the afternoon class, but her teaching schedule wasn't finished yet. There was still one evening class, and she had no excuse to skip again.
With a breath that hadn't fully stabilized, Aveline pushed open the door to the lecturers' room to grab some books. The room was almost empty. Only Professor Barbara was still sitting in her corner, writing something in her notebook with thin glasses perched on the tip of her nose.
As soon as she saw Aveline, Professor Barbara came out of her office.
"Oh, Aveline. Where have you been? I was looking for you after the first class."
Aveline managed to keep her expression calm. "I had some business off-campus, Professor. I apologize for not having time to let you know."
"What business?" Barbara asked, her voice sounding flat but full of its usual analytical scrutiny.
Aveline swallowed. She knew that even one small mistake would be spotted by this professor.
"Hospital," she finally answered. "I wasn't feeling well."
A lie. But she had no other choice.
Professor Barbara looked at her for a long time, as if weighing the truth of her words. Then she nodded slowly, although the look in her eyes showed she didn't entirely believe it.
"You must take care of your health. But more than that..." Professor Barbara closed the folder on the table, then stood up. "Remember that you need to keep your distance."
Aveline knew what she meant even before Barbara mentioned the name.
"I'm still worried, Aveline," she continued. "About you and Ezra."
That name made Aveline's chest tighten slightly.
"I haven't seen him since this morning," Barbara said, her voice sounding like she was digging for information. "And you... also seemed absent."
Aveline immediately shifted her gaze to the bookshelf. "It's just a coincidence, Professor."
Barbara let out a long sigh, a breath that sounded more desperate than angry.
"Aveline," she said, quieter this time. "Are you sure you're not too close to Ezra?"
Aveline froze. "We are just a student and a lecturer, Professor."
"But Ezra's expression toward you... the way he looks at you... Plus, the information from several witnesses around you, I've been teaching long enough to know what that means."
Aveline bit her lip. She didn't know what was more embarrassing. Whether it was being warned like that, or knowing that Barbara was right.
"I told you before," Barbara continued. "The Selina case... is not a light story that can be ignored. And Ezra is not an easy child to predict."
"Professor, I—"
"Please listen." Barbara's voice was firm this time, almost pleading. "I'm serious about this, Aveline. Don't let yourself get trapped in a relationship that could ruin your reputation, your career, and even your safety."
Safety. The word echoed long in Aveline's ears.
Something had changed in Barbara's tone. Something too serious to be taken as just a senior's concern.
Aveline forced a polite smile. "I understand, Professor. Thank you for the warning."
Barbara studied Aveline's face for a few seconds, then nodded softly. "Alright. Then I hope your class goes well."
With that, Barbara went back into her office, sat down, and opened her notes again. As if the conversation between them had never happened.
Aveline walked out of the room, but her steps faltered as soon as the door closed. Her head was filled with Barbara's voice, fragments of information spinning like a damaged film.
Ezra... Selina... danger...
She took a deep breath, trying to calm her too-fast heart rate.
Aveline leaned against the empty corridor wall. In her mind, the news clipping she read about Selina the night before appeared again. The woman's face. Her age. Her personality. Her mysterious death.
One sentence suddenly popped up:
Selina, a lecturer at one of the universities who died mysteriously...
At the time, Aveline didn't pay attention to the details. She was too focused on the word mysterious and the fact that Ezra's name was implicated.
But now she realized...
"This university..." she whispered unconsciously. "Selina... wasn't just a lecturer at this university. She was also... an alumna!"
A cold shiver ran down her neck.
Why hadn't she thought of that earlier? Selina in the news. Selina who died mysteriously and was linked to Ezra. Selina who was in the photo Adrian hid. Could it be... they were actually the same person?
Aveline felt her knees weaken instantly. No. It couldn't be. Or... was it actually very possible?
She closed her eyes, trying to dismiss the possibility, but the more she resisted, the stronger the feeling dragged her in. Because if it was true... if the Selina in Adrian's photo was the Selina who died and was once close to Ezra... then it meant Adrian and Ezra had a connection to the same woman.
And both of them were hiding something.
A light drizzle fell that afternoon, wetting the windows of the empty campus archive room. The energy-saving lights on the ceiling flickered slowly, creating a gloomy atmosphere that matched exactly what Aveline was doing. Or more precisely, what she was breaking. The archive room was closed to the public after five o'clock, but she had lecturer access. That protected her... and also gave her too much opportunity to do something she shouldn't.
Aveline stood in front of a two-meter-high steel cabinet, her hands still clutching a brown folder containing old lecturer data. Her gaze was restless. Several times, she made sure the archive room door was really locked. No one would be passing by this late, except for the cleaning staff who usually only swept the main corridor.
"Selina..." she whispered softly, finally finding the name on the dusty label of one of the folders.
But what made Aveline shudder was not just the name Selina. But the fact that the folder... was empty.
There were only two sheets of paper. One was standard administrative data and a teaching schedule list. There was no personal history, no evaluation notes, no recommendation letters, not even a health report. The folder seemed to have been deliberately cleaned out.
As if someone wanted to make sure that Selina's life left no trace behind.
But precisely because of that, she had to seek the truth. Adrian knew Selina from college and had been keeping her photo all this time. Selina taught at this campus and died mysteriously. While Ezra... somehow, was known to be the last person close to Selina, which made him the accused. Then Adrian's gaze at Ezra... Aveline was sure it wasn't a jealous look. But fear. As if Adrian already knew Ezra.
Aveline lowered the folder and began opening other archive drawers. She checked the joining and leaving years of the staff, looking for anything related to Selina. Several times, she pulled out files only to find ordinary things like leave reports, seminar lists, or trivial administrative documents.
"Why is there nothing...?" she muttered frustratedly, starting to feel desperate.
But suddenly her eyes caught something. Something that might be hope and a bright spot in her search.