Jessica’s POV
The next morning, Liam waited to drop at school. We didn’t speak, even if I wanted to say sothing. And I could feel him sneaking glances at . He probably also wanted to say sothing but didn’t know what to say.
At the gate, just as I was about to step out of the car, he stopped .
"Jessica."
I turned my head, waiting for him to finish. He took a deep breath. "Did he call you?"
"Who..." then my mind clicked, "No."
He nodded gently, waited for a while, then began, "I’m sorry for whatever happened yesterday. It was my fault."
"That’s not true. I lashed out on you when it shouldn’t have been the case. I’m sorry."
He smiled and held my hand, "I’m not angry." Pulling his hand back, he took out a file and gave it to . "He’s the contract. Go through it and sign."
I stared at him, speechless for a while. Didn’t he say that it would take about a week to draft the contract? This doesn’t look like a week later. I knew he was lying when he said that. I sneered in my mind but took the file and read the terms.
Seeing there were no shady clauses, I signed the contract right there. And he also did the sa. Putting the file aside, he changed the topic.
"Your sister ca looking for you. She wanted your number, but I didn’t give it."
"Maddie?" I frowned, why would she look for ?
He nodded, "Seems they’re worried about you."
I bit my lip. What was wrong with those people? One minute, they’re acting like a real family would, and the next minute, they don’t want . Taking a deep breath, I nodded.
"I’ll see them after classes." I haven’t asked about the orphanage they adopted from yet.
When I was little, my step parents had said they adopted from a rundown orphanage. I needed to see the adoption papers to know what my next step would be.
"Jessica...?"
"Hm?" I held his gaze, waiting for him to speak.
"I beat up Kristen yesterday..."
My eyes widened in horror and a shrill cry subconsciously escaped my vocal, "How could you?!"
He pressed his lips together and said nothing.
"He’s sick, Liam," I toned my voice down a little. "He needs all the affection and care he can get, not beating. What if his condition gets worse?"
"I was wrong," he said ekly.
There was a way about how he said it that made feel sorry for him and drop the nagging.
"Send him so fruits and apologize to him, if you’re really sorry." I paused, watching his reaction, but he had none. "I know you’re not happy with the arrangents. I understand, but there’s nothing we can do at the mom–"
"There is. I can take him abroad to the best hospitals to get him treated."
I stared warily at him, "Do you want his mories to be forcefully stimulated? What if it backfires and he loses them completely?" I took a deep breath, "Liam, you’re not more uncomfortable than I am about this whole thing. I’m more stressed than you are. My brother..." I trailed off, rembering I shouldn’t tell him about the Silverwood family.
"Brother? You have a brother?" He was surprised.
I quickly shook my head, "Kristen is like a brother to . It would make really sad to see him lose everything. Let’s try and help him for a couple of weeks, perhaps months, and see if he’d be alright."
"Okay." He provided with two keycards. "What’s this?"
It’s a house, not far from here. I think you’ll like it." Then, he handed a deed to the house. It was in my na. "Liam, this–"
"You should get going. I have a eting at the office." He stepped out to open the door for .
He didn’t give the opportunity to reject his offer. Holding the property deeds, I stepped out of the car. I could always return it in the future.
...
The atmosphere around the school seed off. Almost everyone was in groups, staring at their phones, talking in low tones, laughing, or looking worried.
I walked past the congested hallway with slight difficulty, and headed to class, after stopping at my locker.
Our class was worse.
As I entered the classroom, I was imdiately struck by the electric atmosphere. The noise level was almost deafening. Standing by the entrance, I searched for Annabelle, but she was nowhere in sight.
"Jessica!" Joseph waved over to his seat. He was also a runner for the class president.
I walked to his seat, wondering what was going on.
"I was amazed by the rumor. How could they?"
"They’re so shaless. I heard he’s married."
"Oh my god! She’s a howrecker!"
The voices were hushed, but I could still hear them. "What’s going on?" I asked Joseph, dropping into his seat.
"You haven’t seen it?" he asked.
I shook my head, feeling a sense of trepidation. "Seen what?"
"It’s on the school forum." He brought his phone to my view, and I took the phone, going through the gossip. My eyes popped when I saw the subject of the discussion.
Sandra and Professor Ednut Timberlake!
"Who...? How...?" I didn’t know what to say, or what to think. My mind was in a jumbled ss, racing with shock and confusion. I scrolled through the forum, my eyes scanning the comnts and posts.
Thousands of hateful comnts, hundreds of shares, and thousands of reactions, which most of them were angry or surprised emojis. Everyone seed to be against Sandra. She was called all sorts of evil nas, that ’slut’ was the nicest.
Apparently, the poster claid to have walked in on them and ran away when they noticed her. And she was chased down the stairs by the two, who had the intention to kill her, to hide their secret affairs.
My heart dropped. That... That was ...?
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