A Campus Ride and Hidden Records

Sunlight streamed through the tall windows of Solis Hospital, casting sharp shadows across Elias’s private office. Margot sat quietly on a plush leather sofa, flipping the crisp pages of a thick medical journal. The day of her rotational schedule belonged to Elias, the quiet and highly focused dean. However, a sudden influx of emergency surgeries derailed their schedule completely. Elias barely spoke a word to her before vanishing into the operating theater at dawn. Left alone, Margot peacefully entertained herself reading medical books in his private office, savoring the rare silence. She remained undisturbed until nightfall officially ended her uneventful rotation.

The next morning belonged to Caspian, the youngest brother. Since the family chauffeur was off duty, Bennett reluctantly agreed to drive them to Caspian's elite university campus.

The morning commute started in absolute silence. Suddenly, the quiet was shattered. Caspian stared wildly at his glowing phone screen in the passenger seat, his eyes widening before he let out an explosive curse.

"Hell no, Bennett!" Caspian yelled, twisting around in his seat. "Someone just shattered your legendary racing record at Shadow Valley!"

Bennett’s jaw clenched. Shadow Valley was a notoriously dangerous track, and Bennett had held the undefeated title there for over a year. His face darkened with immediate competitive irritation. "Who did it?"

"It’s a woman," Caspian said, furiously tapping his screen. "But her face is completely hidden beneath a professional helmet."

In the backseat, a sleepy Margot sat with her eyes half-closed. She rested her head against the cool tinted window, completely ignoring Caspian’s frantic, useless attempts to search the internet for the mystery driver's true identity.

Nearing the university gates, Caspian spun around in his seat, glaring at Margot with narrowed eyes.

"Hey, country bumpkin," Caspian snapped. "Do you have a massive crush on Julian or something?"

Margot opened her eyes, meeting his gaze with a flat stare.

"Don't play dumb," Caspian scoffed. "That incredibly expensive Lare microphone you gifted him last night? You’re just making a desperate attempt to gain a celebrity's affection."

Annoyed by his endless questioning, Margot looked at him coldly. "Why would you think something so stupid?" Before Caspian could fire back another insult, she rolled her eyes and stepped out of the car.

Behind the wheel, Bennett watched her retreating figure. His grip on the steering wheel tightened significantly. His knuckles turned stark white as a quiet pang of jealousy twisted in his chest. *Does she actually prefer Julian?* He found himself silently, intensely wondering just how much thought she had put into tracking down that gift.

Before driving off to work, Bennett sternly ordered a highly reluctant Caspian to keep a close eye on her throughout the day. Caspian merely groaned in response.

Once inside the sprawling campus, Margot instantly felt the weight of a hundred hostile stares. As the Ashcroft family's rumored fiancée, her mere presence acted like a magnet for the wealthy students' glares.

She spent the first few hours sitting through a boring morning lecture. Halfway through the professor's dull drone, she was stunned to overhear a group of girls sitting nearby sneering about her.

"Did you hear she's actually trying to seduce Caspian?" one girl whispered loudly.

"I know. What a shameless country bumpkin. She’s throwing herself at him despite her obvious age."

Margot frowned, her pen pausing on her notebook. She was only twenty years old. She sat there, completely bewildered as to who would bother starting such an absurd, baseless rumor.

The simmering campus hostility quickly boiled over the moment the lecture ended. Margot slipped away from the crowded halls and stepped into a quiet campus washroom stall. When she pushed open the door to leave, she found her path completely blocked by a tight group of wealthy, mean-spirited female students.

The leader of the group, Melissa Kirk, crossed her arms. She glared at Margot with intense disgust, looking her up and down like a piece of trash.

"Do you honestly think you deserve someone as handsome and elite as Caspian?" Melissa demanded, her voice echoing sharply against the tiles.

Margot looked at the glaring gang with absolute indifference. She kept her hands relaxed by her sides. "I have no interest in Caspian," she stated calmly.

Melissa sneered, taking a threatening step forward. "Liar," she hissed. "A dirty country girl like you will never be allowed to stand beside an Ashcroft." She cracked her knuckles, her eyes flashing with malice as she and her gang prepared to put her in her place.