Chapter 59: Chapter 59

JONEA

After hitting Hunter, I ran really fast. I didn't want him to see my anger. I didn't want to embarrass myself if I stayed there any longer.

The most annoying thing was that the gazes of all the students on campus changed to me. They started to look at me cynically. Not a few even openly mocked and insulted me.

I had just entered the toilet. Not long after, I heard two girls also come in. It seemed they were standing in front of the sink to fix their makeup.

"Hey, have you heard? About how the seniors judge Jonea?"

"Yes, I have!" replied the second girl.

When I heard them say my name, I froze and sat on the closed toilet. I didn't do anything because I didn't want to attract their attention, and they didn't know that I was also in the toilet.

"I heard the seniors judge Jonea as a boring and uninteresting girl. Even if given for free, they wouldn't take her. Haha... even funnier, Hunter was there too, and he just kept quiet.”

“Oh, that’s right. Why does Jonea tease Hunter so often? I think Hunter hates Jonea, too. Jonea is always with Hunter, and it is as if she’s so special. What a disgusting and embarrassing girl.”

“Hey, keep your voice down! What if someone hears you?”

After that, there was no more conversation between them. Not long after, I heard them leaving the toilet. My heart ached so much. I slowly exited the toilet cubicle after ensuring no one was there.

At the same time, someone had just come out of the next cubicle. I was surprised to see the new student, Evangelista. Did she also hear the gossip of the two girls earlier?

***

EVANGELISTA

Gosh, these wolf cubs are really annoying. How can they talk about their own friends so cruelly? Jonea even heard all their horrible chatter, and she kept quiet.

I couldn’t stand it anymore. I immediately left the toilet and contacted Daran.

“This university is much more interesting than I thought. On my first day of college, I was assigned to write an essay and conduct a survey of several museums. You know what? I was paired with someone in class. I will visit several museums with a man almost 700 years younger than me.”

“I shouldn’t have sent you there,” Daran said. “If I had known you would call me so often, I wouldn’t have agreed.”

I pretended not to hear Daran’s complaints. I continued to report what I found today to him even though he didn’t ask.

“The real interesting story begins now. The red moon girl, your bride, is paired with a boy with a red mark on his forehead. Is his name Hunter Abraham, huh?”

“No need to report every detail to me. I want you to keep Jonea safe, not investigate her personal life,” Daran said firmly. “Just make sure you keep her safe from anything bad happening!”

“So, can this be considered dangerous?” I teased. “I met Jonea in the toilet. She looked like she was about to cry.”

I didn’t hear any response from Daran for an awkward moment.

“Are you sure you’re not interested in her personal life?” I tried to pique Daran’s curiosity.

Daran finally said, “I’m not interested at all. So, if it’s not about her wolf seal, leave her alone.”

***

JONEA

I was going to my next class. When I walked in, I saw that several students had already arrived. Among them were the two girls who had been talking about me in the toilet earlier.

They pretended to be friendly when they saw me coming and acted as if nothing had happened.

“Jonea, are you okay?” one of them reprimanded me, probably because she saw my cold face.

“I’ve heard the story,” the girl continued.

“What story?” I asked, pretending not to understand.

“Everyone on campus already knows how the seniors judged your appearance and looked down on you. I feel sorry for you. It must be awkward to attend a seminar with them after this.”

“I don’t want to talk about someone who isn’t here right now,” I replied, intending to tease them.

One of the girls was offended and started grumbling. “You’re just pretending to be calm.”

I chased after her and confronted her. “What did you say?”

The girl started to show her true face in front of me. “Did you hear what I said?”

“You spoke loudly on purpose because you wanted me to hear it.”

“Hey, Jonea, I think your arrogance is unreasonable. You pretended not to care about men and always acted calm. But suddenly, you became close to Hunter Abraham. I want to learn how to act innocent and arrogant like you.”

“I agree,” the second girl chimed in. “You should share your secret with us, Jonea.”

I took a deep breath before saying, “You two don’t need to learn how to pretend. You’re good at talking about people behind their backs and then pretending to be friends in front of them. Like what you’re doing to me right now.”

I couldn’t stay silent and accept all their bad treatment of me anymore. I had to defend and protect myself.

“What?” the two girls shouted.

“I heard you two talking about me in the toilet!”

Then, they both exchanged glances before finally getting ready to attack me.

“I find it more uncomfortable to be with you guys than with the seniors who often bully and call me names. At least, I thought you were friends. I didn’t want to talk about something this awkward, but why don’t I talk about it?”

“Hey, Jonea, you flirtatious girl,” they growled. “Do you think you’re special by constantly teasing Hunter?”

One of them walked quickly and intentionally bumped into my shoulder, causing my bag to fall. Then, they left me to try to pick up the contents of my scattered bag.

I was so tired of such attacks and curses. I had heard them too many times. I really had no interest in attending class today.

I just locked myself in the studio to paint for the rest of the day. I tried to avoid people. I busied myself with the tasks that I had to complete. I was like a crazy person, constantly moving and keeping myself busy so that my mind would not be tainted by anything other than work.

When I finished painting, I saw the sky outside was already dark. I immediately packed up and cleaned my painting equipment. When I looked at the time on my phone, I was shocked at myself.

“It’s already late. Daran will definitely be angry because I didn’t keep my curfew.” I grabbed my bag and immediately ran out of the university building.

I crossed the street using the underground crossing. The place resembled an underground tunnel and was tranquil, and the lighting was also very dim. The smell of urine was everywhere. I quickened my pace because the situation here was really unsafe at night.

With every step I took more profoundly into the gloomy underground crossing, the lights above my head suddenly turned on one by one. The lights kept turning on alternately as my footsteps moved forward as if they were accompanying my movement.

I wondered to myself. "Did they just replace the lights with automatics?"

When I looked up and back to examine the row of lights on the ceiling, I saw Daran standing at the end of the hallway.

"It seems you came home late, so I picked you up," he said in a very calm tone.

We stood facing each other in the middle of the long and quiet hallway. All day long, I had managed to hold back the sadness and other mixed emotions in my chest. But when I saw Daran standing before me, I suddenly became weak. I cried and sobbed in front of him like a child complaining to her father about her troubles.

“Are you okay, Jonea?” Daran lowered his head slightly, and his tone sounded a little worried.

But all I saw on Daran’s face was an expressionless mask. Between sobs and gasps, I told him that I was not okay.

“Why are you crying? Did something happen today?” Daran asked with concern.

The way Daran behaved and treated me was very different from Owen's. If Owen were in front of me right now, he would definitely sneer and scold me instead of comforting and accepting my sadness.

“Sorry,” I said hesitantly. “I tend to cry first when things are unfair to me. The anger and annoyance in my chest are so great, I can’t hold it in, and what comes out are tears of annoyance.”

Daran took a step forward and took me in his arms. Instead of calming down, my crying got louder. Sadly, I really was like a child wailing.

“You must be very upset, huh, Jonea?” Daran whispered while continuing to hug me.

“I’m sorry. Something so unfair happened to me today. Then I broke down when I saw you.”

“Jonea, in my case, whenever I feel sad, I go to the mountains alone. Everything that bothers me slowly disappears every time I walk down the mountain. So, if you also have a place like the mountains for me. I’ll go there with you!”

“Really?” I muttered.

Daran nodded.

Then I whispered the name of a place I wanted to go with Daran that night. After hearing my request, Daran stepped back and looked at me in surprise.

“Are you sure you want to go there? That place is too dangerous!”