Like what the system said, Felicity didn't come to school. Flag ceremony and morning classes ended with nobody seeing even her shadow.
Sofony believed it was for the best. The girl would not witness how people talk about her dirtily while pointing at her nude and nauseating pictures posted all over the campus. She would not be more heartbroken that way. After all, what the eyes could not see would not be able to hurt the heart. Oh, she phrased it wrong. It was actually 'what the eyes can't see, the heart doesn't grieve'.
She remembered all that happened around 7:50, before the start of the first subject period.
"Should be the work of the student publication..."
Wendy's expression was very scary when Sofony arrived and passed by the entrance of their building. That was where the bulletin boards were. Her best friend was there, standing near the rear end of the crowd, glaring at the sea of people feasting their eyes on the naked captures of Felicity and Floyd's whole gang. The school was much livelier than usual and the commotion was on a greater scale than when people gossiped about the murder case yesterday.
"Sofony, don't look. It's bad news. A very bad one." Wendy's tone was very low and icy.
"...I, already saw it."
Back then, she stood next to Wendy with bowed head. She couldn't bring herself to really look at the scene directly. Her heart was not ready. The cause of all this nightmare was her.
She remembered the conversation that followed after she said that. Wendy became very furious and began to scold and curse everyone that she could. As her guilty best friend, Sofony didn't speak and only listened.
"This is a real stupid mess." Wendy started, and she made out how every word was stressed with anger, mockery, disgust, and some emotion that she didn't know.
"Just yesterday, Floyd is being badmouthed for raping, killing and running away, but he's still on the run out there, because badmouthing couldn't help us get him caught and imprisoned."
"And I don't know why I'm bringing that scumbag up in this damn conversation."
"But look at this stupid bunch. They probably all watched the videos already. Maybe even relieved themselves as they did. And now, these stupid articles and pictures are up. I'm sure this is the work of that stupid publication that never waits to make a huge gossip out of every little damn thing."
She remembered, by that point, everybody in front of or near the bulletin board heard Wendy's voice. They quietened down and looked back to a girl so angry that her queenly aura was on full swing. Unfortunately, this same girl was so consumed by her emotions.
"So why am I ranting after seeing these wonderful photos and articles that everyone is dying to read and see, and even take pictures of? I don't know. I don't even know what I am saying. Probably I am just so annoyed and disgusted by what I am seeing."
At those words, somebody courageously inserted a remark in between Wendy's raging speech, and said, "R-right, this is really disgusting."
A simple comment. It came from a sweet looking girl who later received a very scary eyeing from Wendy.
"You know. Everyone can see. It's disgusting! And everyone is loving it! Who can tell me why it's so contradictory? Eh? It's because it's the greatest scandal of the year? A very juicy gossip material?"
"The point is, everyone is not even asking why a video like that suddenly appear. Nobody asked if the face is not exchanged with some AV actress."
Another one braved the lion, "I-I am a video analyst, it's not edited or magicked in any way."
"Oh, then here's a dumbass goofily interrupting my speech. So then, why is nobody answering my first question? Who uploaded it? What is the motive? Why after that rapist murderer playboy disappeared? Heh, don't tell me no one noticed the dogs are the rapist and his gang? Wow. Tell me, how many of my questions can you all answer?"
Sofony that time bit her lip. The system taunted her that she perfectly knew all the whats and whys.
Wendy then continued to argue and pointed out that no matter if the video was real, funny, sexy, damnable or whatever, it should not have been posted this blatantly in public. She publicly, before the rushing teachers and staffs, questioned why this kind of immoral posts was allowed to be stickied into the bulletin boards. Was this what they go to school for? Wendy said, if it was, then she better drop out now to save her morals from being tainted.
"No one knows the truth. I'm sure of that. Now, what of it if you saw the video showing how the participants enjoyed the act? Is all in there already the whole truth? You don't know the girl's side, those bastards side. What's the story behind it? And who's the son of the bitch who so kindly shared these atrocities to the stupid us that now evict people to death just because of some dirty videos?"
>
The guilty girl looked away, with her lips and eyelashes trembling.
Wendy did her best to stand up for her friend and succeeded to at least make the crowd try thinking deeply about the matter. A teacher ashamedly and madly ordered to take down all of the scandalous contents.
Unfortunately, the video's speaking power was greater. Every content was a solid slap to Felicity's already very stinky reputation. Inside and outside of the school, she was being talked about, in a very bad way.
'So... Her name is Felicity? The famous wench of Holy Child Academy?'
'Oh, yeah, the beautiful future AV actress, a prostitute who enjoys f*cking with his boyfriend and everyone in her boyfriend's gang. I wonder if she's open to common people like us?'
As all these talks happened all around the premises, Sofony tried to see how Chris was doing, but when she questioned someone from Section B, the random person told her he was not around. Chris Meyer had even asked to be excused from the afternoon classes due to an extreme headache.
'I'm sure he already knows...'
'Have I told you how much I always want to kill you? You're the most spiteful thing I've ever encountered! There's never been a day that I didn't regret binding with you! Go to hell!'
Sofony did her best to control her emotions. She couldn't let her insecurities and bad mood reflect on her expression because there's still a person before her. She did her best to appear attentive to what Chris' classmate was saying and then after some time, she bid the person a farewell. Her footsteps headed towards her classroom. Evidently, Sofony decided to ditch the afternoon classes. She only told Wendy before fetching her bag and disappearing from the school.
She stopped on the sidewalk and anxiously waited for a cab to pass. Before giving a reply, Sofony let her heart calm down first as she had been greatly made bitter by the system a while ago.
"I don't know. But system, I just realized last night. When you offered me information on how Felicity and Chris are doing, that is after we released the videos, you said it was a purchase... And I think it implies I can actually buy intel from you!"
Sofony hailed the passing cab and was thankful when it stopped in front of her. It was actually the third one because the first two ignored her, probably because there were already passengers inside.
She hurriedly urged the system to tell her where Chris was and begrudgingly let it deduct 25 Points for a mere address.
"Beautiful Miss, where to?"
Sofony placed her bag and phone in her lap as she took a seat at the back, then replied the place dictated to her a while ago. "Greenpark Village please, Phase 3, Block 14."
"Haha, no problem," laughed the seemingly good-natured old, skinny, bald taxi driver wearing a white polo. He drove the cab along the busy street. They got caught in heavy traffic a few hundred meters from the gate of her school, the reason being the funeral procession crossing the intersection ahead. A few minutes later, it seemed the driver became bored with watching the multicolored sea of cars and black wearing people. He began speaking to his sole passenger. "Do you live there, Miss?"
That time, Sofony's eyes were following the black parade, her mood also dropping as she saw many melancholic faces crossing the wide street. She was anxiously imagining how things would turn out later so the sudden question made her tense and fidgety. She blinked a few times, then answered, "Ah, did you say something?
"Dear deities in heavens," exclaimed the driver. "Miss, it seems you're mentally absent today. Hey, I asked if you're living at Greenpark."
Sofony awkwardly stared at the laughing driver sitting in front. "No, but my friend does."
"I see, then your friend must be rich."
"Is that so? Why?"
"I just know. Blame it to my experience as a driver. I'm telling you, if she's not rich, then she must be the daughter of a rich man."
"I didn't say that my friend there is female."
"Jeez, I'm betting it's a girl because you're also a girl." The driver heartily laughed. "Anyway, most houses there are big, some are even huge villas with breathtaking gardens and balconies. I'm sure when they go on vacations, our country's beautiful beaches cannot enter their eyes. They always fly overseas to enjoy their holidays. It's really enviable. What a perfect life."
Sofony awkwardly laughed, finally realizing how reputable that Greenpark Village was. Then she realized that Chris naturally would be going to Felicity's house, hence the address given to her should be that girl's. Wendy said that one reason why people assumed Felicity's family was perfect was due to their wealth. The father was a successful senior illustrator with high income, while the mother was a house mom with a large dividend from a very large business. Naturally, the daughter would not grow up living in a place less peaceful and well-secured than Greenpark Village.
When the taxi dropped her off at a beautiful three-story mini-villa with a tall iron gate, Sofony exclaimed within that Felicity's life could have been many times better. Living up to how everyone expected it to be. Unfortunately, a beautiful house doesn't mean a beautiful future. A single beast in the family could render even the most beautiful palace into nothing but a beast's den, everyone inside would be ravaged.
She shook her head to clear up all the nonsensical and stupid thoughts, then strode towards the gate, figuring out how she should alert somebody inside to let her in.
But, this was rendered unnecessary when the smaller gate opened, revealing Chris Meyer. He was crying. He covered his face with a hand, but his trembling shoulders couldn't hide his lonely and crying appearance.
Her heart skipped a beat at the realization that he and Felicity already talked! What had happened?! Why is he leaving? Why did he cry?
"Mr. Meyer!"
She tried to call out, but the crying young man didn't pay him any attention, probably already too preoccupied with his aching heart to notice a girl stranger calling out behind him. All he cared was to run away from there. To not look back to the place where his first attempt of offering his heart ended up in it being torn to pieces. In the blink of an eye, his back disappeared into the wide and peaceful roads of the village. He probably didn't even know that Sofony was standing there.
Sofony frustratedly sighed and decided to just see Felicity first. Luckily, the smaller side gate did not automatically close, seemingly inviting her to trespass. Since this was the case, with nervous steps she crossed the distance but stopped just before the man-size entrance. The red paint of the iron gate made her hesitate somewhat. To her, it looked like something created to remind people that what lies beyond was a place reserved only for the wealthy. And Felicity is someone living beyond this gate.
'Now that I think about it, this gate looks like a tall monster warning people to stay away. But in reality, the male owner overseeing the place beyond it is the real monster.'
Sofony exhaled and lifted a foot over the small gate. Her mind urged to quicken her steps, and so she did. She was nervous though, thinking if Felicity would welcome her sudden uninvited visit.
She didn't answer. What could an immoral system understand anyway? It was not human, and could never be humane.
The moment she stepped into the place, the full view of the three-story house fronted with a very beautiful combination of hedges and flower garden stunned her silly, but recovered immediately as a familiar person standing lonely at the middle came to her sight.
Time passed by quickly that they were like that. Sofony suddenly could not summon the courage to step forward. But when Felicity turned to her, time seemed to have frozen, her heart stopped beating alongside it.
"It's you." The girl spoke with astonishment, the distance between them a mere five meters. "How did you come in?.... Did he leave the gate open?"
Sofony repeatedly opened and closed her mouth, thinking of so many things that she wanted to say, but in the end, she could only utter, "Miss Felicity... You..."
'You are crying...' That was what she wanted to voice out but could not.
Felicity was standing quite close to her and the girl's tear-stained face, with the still-crystal-like glistening drops falling from her face, was a picture of a broken heart and endless regret.
In the end, Sofony realized. A girl with a lewd and unsavable body was still a girl with a fragile heart. There were instances when not even the most stimulating bodily pleasure could mask the hidden sorrows within. For example, a girl letting go of her love, but still hurting inside when her real love and special someone could not accept her flaws. The most painful part was how she couldn't complain nor cry out for fairness because she perfectly understood the reason why.
Chris' love was a true one, Felicity never doubted it.
Regrettably, true love could also be lacking, far from enough to accept how a girl's body was willingly offered to some other men.
...