Max clenched his fist tightly as he glared at Gwen with bloodshot eyes.
"Don't you have anything to say to redeem yourself?" Max voiced croaked a bit. "Duncan has explained himself."
"Hey, excuse me. I don't have time to explain myself. What I said is a fact. Understand?" Duncan said not caring how tensed the air in the room was. But Max didn't even throw him a glance and continued glaring at Gwen who seemed to not have found her tongue.
Max sighed then removed his cellphone from his pocket and punched in some numbers. The ID was 'nosy principal'. Duncan smirked when he saw how Max stored Mr. Hollingsworth's name on his phone.
"Miss Klein is hurt and needs to be treated right away." Max talked immediately the call was answered. He kept silent listening to what the principal had to say.
"Okay." He said before hanging up.
"So?" Duncan asked raising a brow.
"He said we should wait for him." Max answered in a low voice.
"I..." Gwen finally uttered a word after finding her tongue causing Duncan to avert his gaze to her still wearing the calm look on his face.
"Shoot babe." He said firmly making Gwen to flinch.
"I, I didn't mean to hurt Claire. I just got jealous and angry when I saw her with Duncan. I didn't mean it." She explained, her voice shaking. Her explanation caused Max to chuckle.
"Duncan did you hear her?"
"What do you mean by that. Are you trying to tell me I'm deaf?" Duncan asked quite annoyed.
"Sigh. She became jealous and furious just seeing you and Claire together. Such a stupid excuse." Max scoffed.
The room fell dead silent with Gwen shaking slightly. Soon Mr. Hollingsworth arrived wearing a worried look.
"Come on. Let's take her to the infirmary." He ordered without wasting a second.
Max gently scooped Claire up in his arms and followed Mr. Hollingsworth, leaving Duncan and Gwen in the room.
Duncan sighed and walked to the windows enjoying the view of the huge and exquisite compound of the school. He heard Gwen sobbing which kinda annoyed him very much.
"Stop it! You are disturbing my peaceful moment." He warned causing Gwen to immediately wipe her tears and walked silently to Duncan.
"I'm sorry." She apologized immediately she reached Duncan.
"For what?" Duncan asked without looking at her.
"I didn't intend to hurt Claire."
"Hmm."
"I just got furious when I saw her trying to abuse you. Please save me from this situation."
"Sigh. You should your brain sometimes, Gwen. You know Claire is not physically strong and I can beat her to pulp in just a second. Why didn't you try to reason this out when you saw us. I know I hate her very much but I know my limits. Right now, no one can save you except Claire. So it's better if you start praying to all the deities so she forgives you." Duncan reasoned before leaving Gwen alone in the room.
***
Claire was conscious but her eyelids were heavy. She forcefully opened her eyes and was greeted by a bright light. She blinked a few times to adjust to the light before sitting on the bed.
Her head really throbbed causing her to press her forehead. There was a bandage fixed around her head. She finally remembered everything that happened before she blacked out.
Casting her eyes around the room she was in, she realized she was in a familiar ward; she was at the infirmary.
She threw the quilt covering her lower body aside and got down from the bed. She was having a hard time keeping her balance as she walked slowly to the door.
Before she could reach for the knob, the door suddenly opened and the school head nurse, Mr. Hollingsworth and Max came into view. Max immediately rushed to Claire when he realized what she was trying to do.
"Claire, you shouldn't move about yet. You're still weak." Max worriedly complained.
"I'm fine Max, don't worry."
"Yeah, you are fine but you still need to rest." The nurse said and Claire obliged.
Max helped her back to the bed and tucked her in it. Soon Tracy came in panting. She stood next to Claire as she looked at Claire with worried look.
"Oh Claire, are you okay?"
"I'm very very fine." Claire shot Tracy an assuring smile.
Duncan arrived with Gwen behind him.
"What's she doing here? I heard she is the reason you're here." Tracy scoffed when she saw Gwen.
"Ahem." Mr. Hollingsworth cleared his throat to draw everyone's attention. "Miss Klein, what action do you intend to take. Do you want the management to call your parents?"
Gwen shuddered when she heard what Mr. Hollingsworth said. She has heard a lot from her parents about Claire's father who was the CEO of VR Empire and her mother who was the vice president of this same empire.
This couple was regarded as King and Queen in the business world though a lot haven't seen them either on TV or real life. They were like ghost. Nobody could bring down this giant company though it was ranked third in the whole continent.
Claire's parents didn't bat an eye when destroying their enemies. Though they had underground resources but no one could use that against them. They had the government and media in their hands. So with this, Gwen's parents never dared to cross their path. Would they even dare?
And talking about their only daughter, anyone who dared to lay a finger on her or even harm a strand of her hair was going to face their wrath.
"Uhm sir I think that won't be necessary." Claire protested pulling Gwen from her train of thoughts. "I don't want them to cause any ruckus. And as you know, they are very busy and calling them here right now will be a waste of their time." Claire reasoned.
"Hmm, if you say so then it's fine." He agreed then turned to Gwen. "Miss Shenton, do you have anything to tell Miss Klein?"
Gwen stared at Mr. Hollingsworth's face not knowing what to say. She fiddled with the edge of her skirt then she squared her shoulders and gave a slight nod of the head before approaching Claire.
Claire raised her brow in amusement. She was really enjoying Gwen's situation. She sat up and rested her head on the headrest when she saw Gwen approaching. She was anticipating on what Gwen was going to do.
Gwen stood beside Claire's bed looking on the floor. She sighed then raise her head staring intently at Claire's face. She kinda hated what she was going to do right now but she had no other option but to go with the flow.
She raised her hands and lifted Claire's hand in them. This action made Claire to arch a brow.
"Claire, I'm very sorry for hurting you. It was never my intention to hurt you to this extent. I know you're probably finding it hard to believe but I'm telling you, I... I never wanted to hurt you. I hope you forgive me." Gwen pleaded.
Claire just stared at her face in amusement. She knew Gwen never felt sorry for what she did because there was no trace of remorse on her face. She just sighed then nodded with the corner of her lips slightly curved up. She then slipped her hand out of Gwen's hands. This action quite annoyed Gwen but she just smiled before whispering a 'thank you'.
She then turned to Mr. Hollingsworth and slightly bowed then left without glancing back at anyone. Mr. Hollingsworth also bid Claire a goodbye leaving Max and Tracy as well as Duncan in the ward.
The room fell dead silent. Tracy stood between Max and Duncan throwing glances at both of them and waiting to see who will be the first to initiate a conversation. The tension was very tight and she couldn't bear it.
"Uh, I've got something to do. I'll see you guys later." She found a perfect excuse then winked at Claire before running out of the room.
The two continued their glaring battle which made Claire uneasy. She cleared her throat to attract some attention but it seemed those two were deeply immersed in their battle. She frowned at them and intentionally dropped the plastic empty water jar which made the boys turned to look at Claire.
"Are you done?" She asked raising a brow. "Do you know how you two looked when you were glaring? You even scared Tracy away." Claire said but Duncan just sauntered over to the windows and looked outside not caring.
"And you." Claire referred to Duncan. "Why are you even here?". Duncan turned raising a brow with a smirk on his lips.
"Why can't I be here? Of course I need to be here to make sure you are perfectly fine because you know well that, I am the only who can hurt you not some random individual, you know." He shrugged which made Claire roll her eyes.
"Max, when am I leaving here?"
"In the evening." Max answered.
"Sigh. Okay."
...
In the evening, Claire was escorted to her dorm by Max. The two chatted happily on their way. Max bid Claire a goodbye when she reached the dormitory. Claire headed for her room and saw Tracy and Kim lazily seated on their chairs when she opened the door.
"Claire you're back!" Tracy shrieked as she ran towards Claire and jumped on her. Kim also went to them and took Claire's bag. They offered Claire a chair and Tracy started to bombard Claire with all sorts of questions and blabbering whilst Claire just lazily answered.