I Married the President

Perhaps because she had just left him, Claire Sinclair seemed a bit off her game during today’s recording and kept getting distracted.

Once the morning’s filming was finally over, all the trainees went back to rest. The afternoon was scheduled for their fourth performance rehearsal.

Claire Sinclair wanted to go see for herself, but she suddenly spotted a trainee on the monitors. He was kneeling on the floor, frantically slamming his hands on a laptop, his expression twisted in agony.

A few other trainees saw what was happening and rushed over to him. The monitors had no audio, however, so Claire Sinclair couldn’t tell what the matter was.

Seeing the young man sobbing uncontrollably, Claire Sinclair couldn’t bear to just watch and decided to go see what was wrong.

After leaving the observation room, Claire Sinclair walked for a few minutes and finally reached the practice room in question.

The other trainees were already gone, leaving only the one who had been crying. He was now sitting on the floor, his face ashen.

Claire Sinclair walked up to him and asked with concern, "Joel Lewis, what’s wrong?"

Joel Lewis glanced up at her, then lowered his head again without a word.

He had never liked Claire Sinclair much, thinking she was redundant and just chasing clout. And while the last episode had revealed her purpose as a mentor on the show, he still didn’t believe she was qualified to be their conduct mentor.

Claire Sinclair sensed his hostility. She glanced at the black-screened laptop by his feet and frowned. "Is your laptop broken?"

Joel Lewis was growing impatient and spoke rudely. "Professor Sinclair, I’m going to be eliminated next round anyway, so you might as well dock all my conduct points. Don’t waste your time with fake concern unless you can actually solve my problem."

No matter how good-natured Claire was, being challenged so defiantly by a trainee was upsetting.

"I’m here checking on you as part of my duties as a mentor, not because I’m being nosy. Second, I have no reason to dock your points arbitrarily, but you will absolutely be penalized for disrespecting a mentor. And lastly, open your eyes wide and get a good look at what it means to be presumptuous."

With that, Claire Sinclair picked up the laptop from the floor and, right in front of Joel Lewis, began typing rapidly on the keyboard.

Joel Lewis was stunned by how skillfully and rapidly her fingers moved across the keys. His eyes went wide as the laptop screen suddenly flickered to life, displaying strings of complex code.

A few minutes later, the computer booted up.

Claire Sinclair restored the screen to how it was before the crash and handed the laptop back. "It just crashed. It’s not that big of a deal. You need to install a solid-state drive when you get the chance. This thing is way too slow. You’ve saved everything to the C drive, and your files are a complete mess. It’s no wonder it crashed on you."

Joel Lewis stammered for a moment before finally managing to say, "Professor Sinclair, how are you so good with computers?"

"You think all I can do is run my mouth and write a few articles? That I’m not qualified to be your conduct mentor? If that’s what you think, then you’re incredibly short-sighted. Everyone who makes it to the top has their own strengths. In the future, try not to judge people with such a narrow-minded view. It’s about humility, same as anything else. Got it?"

Joel Lewis’s lips moved, but he couldn’t utter a single word in response.

Claire Sinclair slowly rose to her feet. "Ten points deducted for disrespecting a mentor," she said finally. "Go and reflect on your behavior."

And with that, she left.

Joel Lewis remained sitting there for a long time. Only after she was out of sight did he remember something and shout, "Professor Sinclair, thank you!"

But Claire Sinclair was already too far away to hear. She returned to the observation room and resumed observing the trainees.