Chapter 110 First Task

KIA

My attention was drawn away from the list of students organized by level when an unexpectedly opened door brought Asteria to my attention. She had entered through the door. As she came closer to me, her arms were crossed behind her back.

She questioned him by asking, "What do you want?" If the glare of death could kill you instantly, then I suppose that I have already passed away by this point.

As I continued to look for the documents, I said, "Wait..." and paused for a moment. "Here," I said as I deposited the three stacks of documents on the table in front of me. It was a burden to carry. "This document contains the names of all of the first-year students in the school along with their grade levels. I need you to make a digital copy of that document, and then sort all of the first-year students according to the level that best fits them—"

"The whole thing?! What the actual f*** are you thinking right now?! "She made a complaint.

"Yes. Why? Are you going to complain? Asteria, you have no grounds on which to lodge a complaint. I made the decision to include you on this committee despite the fact that you are only a first-year student. Seeing as how you are my half-sister, I don't want you to have to start out at the bottom, so I decided to give you an opportunity similar to the one I gave Vera. You can now step down from your position and become a part of the lower tier because there are still a lot of slots for them. If you are unable to do that one simple thing, you have the option to do so."

In addition to crossing her arm and rolling her eyes, she furrowed her brows.

"Now, pick Asteria as your answer. Will you either proceed to obey my instructions or will you dismount from that position immediately?" I remarked as I stared at her in rapt attention.

She appeared to be concentrating as she narrowed her eyes and shifted her gaze between me and the documents on my table. She got closer and then used her hand to slam the table I was sitting at.

She sighed and said, "Fine," before reaching over to pick up the stacks of papers I had just deposited on her table. I can tell from the way that she is carrying herself that she is having a hard time dealing with the weight of it all. "This is much too burdensome. Do you seriously anticipate that I will be able to lug all of this around with me as I explore the freshman campus?!"

I responded with a "yes." Her pupils dilated, and she cast a malevolent glance my way. I am aware that she is already uttering obscene things about me in her head, even if she chooses not to say a word. After taking a look at the mountain of paperwork, I nodded my head "Okay, that is a lot of weight to carry. Okay, I'll give in and let you call for assistance, but there's a catch: you have to split it down the middle and hand over half of the documents to the person who will be assisting you."

"What?! Why can't I just give everything that I have? "She made a complaint.

"Would you like some assistance, or not?"

"Tss! Fine! "she shouted before storming out of the office in a huff.

When I looked at her obeying the things that I said, a grin formed on my face. At long last, I have the power to command her obedience. I just have to keep my fingers crossed that she will finally clean up her act after all of this... Nate came back into the office shortly after Asteria had left while he had his hand in one of the pockets.

"Mr. Ramirez—"

"Can you stop being so formal? Just refer to me as Nate, the same way you once referred to me as Kia "Suddenly, he cut in.

When I looked at him, I made a conscious effort to narrow my eyes. "Mr. Ramirez, we are in the middle of a school day right now. Do not anticipate that I will address you by your nickname while we are in this position because we are expected to conduct ourselves in a professional manner. I would like it if everyone could be as formal as possible with one another so that we could avoid saying inappropriate things to each other as much as possible."

"I understand… My apologies, Ace… "he said.

I had compassion for him, but I purposely avoided developing a close relationship with him because I didn't want our collaboration to change our dynamic. Because I don't want my husband to get things wrong, I need to take care of this as soon as I possibly can.

"Good. To get back to the business at hand, I need you to log in to the page for the university and post an announcement with the names of the students and the level they are currently studying at. I will send it to the email address you provided."

"I am unable to gain access to the university website at this time—"

"If you write a letter to the dean requesting permission to access it and give it to her, she will grant you access to it. And that is it. I need it to be finished before the end of the class." I continued speaking without turning my head to look at him.

"You got it, Ace." Before leaving the office, I see him kneel down and bow his head.

After Nate had exited the building, Miaree, accompanied by Marcy and Vera, was the next person to enter the workplace. They looked good at this point. "It's encouraging to see you three behaving in this manner. I have had enough of hearing about all of these catfights... In any case, I want the three of you to work together and come up with a layout for this workplace. You can rely on Vera to do a good job designing interior spaces because she is skilled in that area. Because I need to submit it to the dean, once I've finished the draft, I want to look it over before you girls put the finishing touches on it. This afternoon will mark the end of the grace period for it. Before we move on to the second topic in the afternoon, I need to see how far we've come. Got it?"

They responded in a mechanical manner with "yes."

"Good. You can all go now."

Everyone is working hard to complete all of the assignments that I assigned to them. At this very moment, I am occupied with the process of taking notes on everything that I wanted to alter and enhance on campus. I am going to make some sort of activity available to the students. I just have to keep my fingers crossed that our first day will go well...

After what seemed like an eternity spent seated in my chair, I was finally given the opportunity to stand up and proceed to the cafeteria. I just placed an order for a cheesecake and a juice to have as a refresher. During the time that I was waiting for my order, I could hear students arguing around the corner. Because I thought they were just joking around and having fun, I didn't take offense to what they were doing.

The woman greeted me by saying, "Here is your cheesecake," as she handed me the tray that contained my food.

"Thank you!" I brought it to my seat and was about to dig into the cheesecake when I noticed the students around the corner being cruel to one of their classmates. I jumped to my feet and went over to speak to them straight away.

"Hey!" I yelled at them, and as they were about to flee, I suddenly said, "Try to run, and I will make you clean the restroom for a month!" They stopped in their tracks and stared at me in shock.

They turned around and went back to the corner, all three of them lowering their heads so that they could no longer look at me directly in the eyes. "What's the matter? You guys used to be so brave and made fun of him a while ago, but now you boys can't even face me?"

One of them responded by saying, "We were–we were just playing, Ace."

"Playing? Is intimidating other people a fun activity for you to participate in?" The fact that I said it made them even more terrified. "So, you're a first-year student, right?"

"Yes, ace…"

"Are you three together?"

"Yes, ace…"

"Mhmm, I see… I am aware that you are already aware that bullying is not acceptable behavior. You should never bully another person or make fun of another person's insecurities. You have no authority to act in such a manner. Nobody has the right to talk down to another person. Now, I want the three of you to apologize to him for what you said earlier." I ordered.

They immediately helped him stand up and apologized to the guy that they bullied, but it appears that their intention to apologize to him wasn't entirely sincere in the first place.

"You three sounded completely fictitious... Give me your ID." I told them, and they handed it over to me right away. "Oh… You, Kris, and Ambrose will now be considered to be a part of the lower tier moving forward. My decision is final, and that won't change if you three don't change the way you're thinking about this. It doesn't matter where you came from or how smart you are; I've already made up my mind."

The three of them appeared surprised, but they were powerless to change the outcome of what I had said. They didn't even raise a complaint about it.

"You, can you give me your ID?" I suggested that you inquire with the victim of their harassment. After he handed me his ID, I snatched my phone from my pocket and started looking for his name on the list. When I saw his name written on the lower tier, I immediately narrowed my eyes. It stands to reason that this is why they were making fun of him. "You will now be considered part of the middle tier from this point forward. I really wish you would put in more effort in your studies so that I could catch up to you in the higher tier, Glen..." I said, and the expression on her face became happier as it became clear that he had finally processed what I had said.

After looking at the list, I was able to determine that he hails from an average family. His father is a truck driver, and her mother is a stay-at-home mom. However, I was most impressed by his academic performance. Everything fell neatly into place in a row of one! This explains why he should have been considered part of the middle tier. It makes no difference to me if we break the dean's guidelines. Since I have the upper hand, I will decide how the game is played from this point forward.