Chapter 3

Two other girls seized my shoulders with a vice-like grip, while another grabbed my hair.

I could hear my clothes being ripped apart audibly, and everyone was cheering and whistling even as I felt the cool air in the room on my skin.

A camera shutter flashed repeatedly, so blinding that I couldn't open my eyes.

With the corner of my eye, I could see Susie leaning intimately against Ken's shoulder, both of them smiling savagely.

Ken was even adjusting his camera angle, aiming it straight at my cleavage.

However, just before he took the photo, Mrs. Dent entered again, snapping impatiently, "What are all of you standing around for? There's still another important forum tomorrow. Go to bed!"

The class quickly formed a line to block me from view, with Ken clasping my mouth firmly in his palm.

As for Mrs. Dent, she looked around but turned to leave as she found nothing strange.

Ken only let go when Mrs. Dent's footsteps faded into the distance, while I dropped limply to the ground, my tears falling uncontrollably.

Susie grabbed my face right then, her nails digging into my chin.

"Just look at you," she breathed venomously into my ear with her sickly sweet voice and shoved me away in disguise. "Do you understand now? Ken has only ever loved me—you're just a tool used to flirt with me. Hell, he was treating you like a dog just to please me!"

I wiped the blood off my cheek, only finding the situation laughably ironic as I watched Susie strut off smugly.

Ken had no father and only managed to get into our school and pay the tuition fee thanks to his mother's meager salary as a janitor.

Considering how difficult it already was to get him in, if the school and the parents found out he and Susie were revealed to be responsible for this diplomatic incident in Aram, I certainly looked forward to what would become of them!

-

The next morning, Ken gathered the whole class again and distributed the swimwear again.

When they were done, I was once again at the center of attention, as Susie was fiddling with a bottle of sunscreen while flashing an innocent smile at me. "Come on, we'll all be enjoying the sun soon… But I'm so sorry I forgot someone's bikini, so just sit tight like a good doggie!"

"Exactly!" The girl beside her quickly echoed. "She'll be working the whole time while we're sunbathing and taking nice photos. But all her work is still our work in the end… Just the thought makes me happy!"

As the class cheered, a boy was smacking the table dramatically while laughing and pointing at me. "I'd hang myself if my class hated me this much! What even is the point of your existence?"

My nails were digging into my palms as I clenched my trembling knuckles, stung by the class' sickening behavior.

I narrowed my eyes—the audacity they had to mock me for it!

Over the last few days, I was the one who had worked overnight, reviewing and tabulating data and writing reports. During the forums where Mrs. Dent was present, they would only mime all my work as if they had done it!