"What isn"t fun?" He asked himself but got no answer. He just stared at the door in horror and said, "She went away just like that." He shook his head and bore his head into the pile of doc.u.ments lying on his desk. He heard another knock at the door. Thinking that it might be those monsters who are back, he held his forehead in one hand and said in a deep voice, "Come in."
A man in voilet shirt and black trousers ran towards him and almost crashed on his desk and said hurriedly, "Dean, we have a huge problem."
"What is it that made you run so fast that you almost crashed on to me?" Mr. Collen asked rubbing his belly with one hand and his forehead with another.
"Press." The teacher-in-charge slightly ran his fingers through the parted hair said in a barely audible whisper.
"Press? Here? How is it possible?" He was shocked and almost jumped in his seat. "Why is everyone giving him a headache today?"
"I don"t know. But they are making a huge ruckus in front of the gate."
"Why would they create a ruckus?"
"I don"t know, Mr. Collen."
"Okay, lead the way." He got up from his comfortable recliner chair and slowly came in front of the teacher-in-charge.
The teacher-in-charge, Mr. Vale took a deep breath in and led the way. The Dean followed him.
Mr. Collen wiped the huge beads of perspiration on his forehead and said, "What the h.e.l.l? The press aren"t allowed inside the University Campus. Why are they here? They know it very well."
Mr. Vale decided not to hide the truth and said, "I heard some rumors that Mr. Samuel Tyson called them."
"What?" Mr. Collen dropped the book he was holding. He pushed the spectacles over his nose almost to the bridge of his eyebrows and picked the book up before saying, "Isn"t there any rules stating that a student can"t bring media here?"
"There is one rule, I guess."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Sir, there is an exception to that rule too."
"What is that?"
"Sir, the President of the Student Council can call the Press during some emergency or some occasions."
"d.a.m.n it." Mr. Collen cursed and muttered to himself, "That guy won"t spare me."
"Sir, did you say something?"
"No. Why don"t you walk faster? Come on take me there fast."
Mr. Vale was stunned. "Why did I get scolded all of a sudden?" He thought, but was smart enough not to ask it.
Mr. Vale and Mr. Collen came downstairs to the staff room and saw all the Professors and a.s.sistant Professors gathered around the table. He took his seat in the middle and Mr. Vale sat beside him.
"Does any of you have any idea about this?"
"No Sir." Everyone answered in unison. He noticed that only Ms. Lisa Hudon was quiet.
"Ms. Lisa, do you want to say something?"
"May I Sir?" She pointed at herself and asked.
"Please." Dean Collen gestured with his hand asking her to speak.
"It"s just that, it could be a coincidence too. I don"t know. I feel something is really fishy. I saw some people were taking photos in the morning too. I was sitting with Mr. Brad and having a chat with him over breakfast and saw some people were recording us. It could be something else too. But, my hunch says that it is not."
"I see."
"Anyone else noticed anything unusual?" Dean Collen asked.
"No." They replied again.
"Ah, I see. Come with me Mr. Hudon." Mr. Collen said and looked at her knitting his thick eyebrows together.
"Mr. Vale, you know what to do. I"ll be in my office then."
"Wha.. No.. I mean.." He didn"t know what to say. Why would the Dean push all the responsibilities on him? He cursed his luck and that Tyson brat in his mind a thousand times.
"Let"s go, Ms. Lisa."
"Sure Sir." Amelia aka Lisa answered demurely, but her voice carried power and was enough to gain immediate attention.
"So, tell me everything in detail." Mr. Collen asked as soon as he entered his office with Lisa on tow.
"There is nothing much I can say. I heard Mr. Holman mention that those weren"t from the college. So, I don"t know much about it."
"What is your relation with Mr. Holman?"
"What has that got to do with you, Mr. Collen?" Amelia turned defensive upon hearing the question.
"It"s nothing, Ms. Lisa. I just wanted to know. That"s all."
"It"s not good to go around asking people these sort of questions, do you know?"
"I…" Under Lisa"s intense stare Mr. Collen couldn"t utter a single word. At last he said, "Look, I"m not trying to probe, but this is related to the College. We need to place security if you have relation with Mr. Holman."
"What do you mean?"
"Mr. Stephan Holman asked us to protect him. We are already doing that in a way that it doesn"t affect his peace. I"m a teacher, and I"m good at reading people. I know that you have some relation with that boy, don"t you?"
"Yes." Amelia decided to tell him the truth. She knew that it was not the time to hide things. So she said, "I"m his mother, Mrs. Amelia Holman."
"What the …." He couldn"t curse in front of the Mayor"s wife.
"Mrs. Holman, as far as I know, you have been a guest lecturer for almost 20 years now. I mean, it"s unbelievable."
"I know."
"Does Mr. Holman know about this? What about your security?"
"Mr. Collen, you are forgetting something. I am Lisa Hudon. I"m neither Amelia nor a Holman. I am Lisa, a guest lecturer of every University in New York. You know very well about my fame. Am I right?"
"Ah yes, I forgot." He replied and after that he opened his mouth a few times and closed it again.
"Spill it out, Mr. Collen."
"Brad, umm… Does he know?"
"What? Is it about me being the guest lecturer?"
"Yes."
"He knows. But Mr. Collen, don"t you think you are wasting time instead of taking any measures?" Amelia found something fishy. Mr. Collen was fiddling with his phone from the moment they entered his office. He was behaving unlike his usual self.
"What?"
"Nothing, Mr. Collen. Have a nice day, It"s time for me to leave."
"No, you can"t." Mr. Collen madly dashed at the door and closed it with a bang. Beads of perspiration could be seen on his chubby face and he rubbed his hands together and said, "Please forgive me, but you can"t leave."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Um… Nothing. Let"s have a chat slowly. Mr. Vale has already gone there. He"ll be able to handle the situation." It was difficult to talk to this lady. She was extremely cunning. Even until now, she kept her calm. He did not know what to do.
"Okay. Let"s have a chat, then."
"Yeah yeah. We should have a chat. Definitely." Even Mr. Collen did not realise that he was repeating every sentence. His nervousness was visible on his face.