This time it was Amber who paused as his words registered. A slight flush crept past her neck and up her cheeks when she realized what she had just said and what he had just stated. Amber assumed he wanted to make sure she showed up, so she responded accordingly. It never dawned on her he was going to cancel—would cancel.

"I… um… you…." Amber's voice trailed off, unable to think of what to say next. She sounded like a floundering fool, even to her own ears.

"You'll save me a seat, won't you?" Hunter chuckled.

"I haven't thought about it." Amber lied, relieved at the change in topic. It was somewhat true. While she hadn't thought about their roles being reversed, Amber would have saved him a seat if he showed up late. Of course, he didn't need to know that!

Hunter laughed, inviting attention from Nathan, who sat up straighter in his seat. The pen that was in Nathan's mouth dropped as he gawked at Hunter as if he sprouted horns above his head.

At that moment, Amber's cellphone rang, and she spun away to pick up the call. She recognized who it was before answering. "Amber can't come to the phone right now. Please leave a message after the beep. Beeeeeep."

"You can only fool me once," the male on the other end returned. "I won't fall for it again."

"Hi, Dad," Amber laughed, peering out the window. Like Nathan stated, they were on the second floor of the building, and her gaze followed the students outside prancing back and forth to their next destination. "I missed you, too."

"When will you come back and visit?" In a forlorn voice. "Your mom is a slave driver!" There was some background noise before, "And she has the hearing of a bat! Come home. Soon. pleeassseee?"

"You and Mom can be so dramatic sometimes. It's only been two weeks."

"Two weeks too long," her dad responded, then cleared his throat before returning to his normal manner. He was all business now. "Anyway, just got out of a Board of Directors meeting, and there's a rumor floating around about our rival's son going to your school. Have you heard?"

"Yes, I have." Amber tapped her fingers lightly against the table. She lowered her voice, hoping to drown out her conversation with the noise of other students that had arrived. "I didn't realize Vice President Storm's son also attends school here?"

She missed the way Nathan's ear perked or how quiet Hunter had become.

"That's nothing new," Amber’s dad scoffed. "If you had been paying attention, you would have known that before you started. We told you, while mediocre at best, your campus is home to some of the best instructors in the country in information security."

"Well, I don't remember that conversation," Amber tried, really, but it was too long ago for her to recall. "As for the rumors, I only just found out a couple of days ago by chance."

"Are you able to confirm?"

First, Nathan's father, and now hers? What was so interesting about this rumored heir, anyway? "What does it matter? Why should we care if the heir is here or not?"

"He's your rival!"

"Hmmm," Amber nodded, pondering. "Unless you plan on setting me up with him to increase our fortune, it has nothing to do with me. He may be right next to me for all I care. Besides, the coward's too scared to show himself in public so just let him hide. I'm fairly certain he's deformed or has some sort of disease if all we have of him are rumors." 

There were bouts of coughing to her left, and Amber turned to see half of Nathan's shirt coated with water. In his hand was a half-emptied water bottle, and Nathan was smacking his chest, struggling to breathe. His face was a mixture of white and red, as if he couldn’t decide whether to laugh or die.

Is he all right? Amber mouthed to an amused Hunter, who was giving her an odd stare.

"He's fine," Hunter claimed, not even paying any attention to Nathan or his suffering.

"Who's that?" Her dad asked after hearing Hunter's voice.

"Students in the background," Amber returned to the conversation. "But really? Why is everyone so interested in him? And why should I be interested in him?"

Her dad lowered his voice on the other end, even though there was no one else there but her mom. "There's a story floating around that they're working to gain some smaller competition. It might make or break us if it happens, so the Board is interested."

"Let the Board do their own dirty little work," Amber dropped her tone as well. "Why is it always you? Besides, aren't you on paternity leave?"

A sigh. "Amber, this is how these things work."

Amber's voice stiffened. "When I become one of the Boards, I will—"

"Amber," her dad warned, and Amber paused. He continued. "Forget it."

"If I find him will it get them off your back?" Amber asked, referring to the heir. 

"Stay out of it. You're not ready yet."

"If you keep protecting me, I will never be ready." Amber rubbed her temples, a sudden headache starting. "I'll see what I can dig up about the heir and if I can find anything useful I’ll let you know. Not sure how advantageous the information will be but I’ll try."

She continued without stopping. "If you wanted me to stay out of this, you wouldn't have mentioned the heir. Besides, now I'm also curious. The heir must be some real spoiled brat and a real coward if he's hiding behind his parents. Better yet, he is probably an embarrassment; otherwise, why are there no pictures of him? Nothing! Maybe he doesn't even exist, and it's all a conspiracy theory by the company to keep us all on our toes?"

This time, there were more coughing fits, again, to her left. Louder. Like something caught at the base of the throat. Amber shifted, wondering why Nathan didn't learn his lesson the first time about drinking from the water bottle. She opened her mouth, about to tell him so, until she spotted who was actually doing the coughing. It wasn't Nathan. Instead, choking, with water all over the front of his shirt, was a blonde-haired young fellow with glasses sitting next to Nathan.

Good old Nathan was helping by patting the young man's back, none too gently. All the while, Hunter played with his laptop, scrolling through the news and replying to emails.

Is he okay? Amber mouthed the words to Nathan and the young man, whose eyes were on her. It looked like they wanted to laugh and cry simultaneously but couldn't decide. They were also staring at her like she'd grown horns as well. They also kept darting at Hunter, almost as if afraid. Or worried. About what, Amber didn't know, and she didn't want to find out. 

He's fine, he's fine, Nathan mouthed back.

"Anyway, what about the contract with One Security?" Amber asked, swinging back to her conversation. While Amber didn’t want to join the corporate world yet, she was still interested in most of the things that went around the company. "Did they sign it yet?"

She missed the way Hunter shifted closer to her so he could pick up the exchange.

Six months now, her parents have been working closely with the Board and One Security to get a contract signed. After months of negotiations, they were close to an agreement. 

"No," came the deep, frustrated grunt. "They want more cash, refusing to sign unless we add the three percent royalty on top of the fees."

"That's stealing!"

"Nothing we can do. The Board wants them and whatever they want, they usually get."

"Bullshit," Amber said under her breath, "Our responsibility is the interests of our members, not the Board."

"Either way, they've given us until Friday afternoon to agree. I'll stall them for as long as I can, but I don't think there's anything else we can do."

Amber rubbed her eyes, her brain struggling to reach a solution. "Send the contract to Aunt Mariam—"

"No," her old man's voice was firm. "You know I can't do that. She has her own issues to fret about."

Amber knew, but still…

"Anyway, whatever you do, be careful," he cautioned, dropping the subject of the contract negotiations. "I'll talk to you soon."

"I will," Amber answered. She inspected the clock on the wall. It was excellent timing because the Professor had just shuffled in. "Class is about to start. I'll talk to you later! Love you guys. Bye!"