The next day, Alex rested. The only thing he did was take a walk around the campus.
He walked to the sports ground, which was full of activity. There were people playing basketball and others playing badminton. On the track, people were running or taking part in fitness classes.
He noticed that one of the classes was the one that Debbie attended.
He watched the young people flirting with each other. Some boys were brave enough to chat up girls, but they were usually rejected. He couldn't help but laugh as he watched them.
Alex sat and watched Debbie's class for a while. He waved at her, and she gave him a big smile.
He heard someone saying, "Alex, you're here," and looked up to see Melissa walking toward him carrying a thermos flask.
"Hello. What are you doing here?" he asked. He was joking because he knew that he and Melissa were now friends.
"I've come to see you. It's been getting so cold lately, so I made a big pot of mushroom soup. But I had plenty left over, so I brought you some," Melissa replied. She was smiling, but there was something unnatural about her expression.
"Well, if you're offering, I wouldn't turn down some soup right now," Alex told her.
"Great, I'll pour you a bowl. I've brought two bowls. We'll eat together." Melissa felt happy as she put the thermos flask on the table tennis table, took out the two bowls, and poured the soup into them.
She secretly glanced at Alex and saw that he was looking at the sports ground and not paying her any attention. He didn't notice as she took the small bottle of poison out of her pocket and poured the contents into one of the bowls.
"Alex, eat your soup while it's hot," Melissa said as she passed the bowl containing the poison to Alex.
"Well, Melissa, whoever marries you will be a lucky man." Smelling the delicious aroma coming from the soup, Alex dipped his spoon into the bowl.
Melissa held her breath as she watched him. As long as Alex ate the poison, it would all soon be over.
At that moment, there was a commotion on the sports ground. Alex looked up and saw that Debbie had fallen over while she was running. He put down his bowl and ran over to her immediately.
Melissa watched him and thought to herself bitterly, Unbelievable. Debbie just had to fall right at that moment. It's almost as if she did it on purpose!
Then she remembered that she was supposed to be pretending to be good friends with Alex and Debbie so she should be concerned that Debbie fell. She thought she had better go over and see if she was all right.
She carefully placed her bowl of soup on the table and ran over to them.
"Are you okay?" Alex asked Debbie, who had been helped up by Celeste and Selene.
"I'm okay. I wasn't looking where I was going, so I tripped and fell down," Debbie said. She was so embarrassed.
"Come and sit down with me for a while." Alex frowned and looked at Debbie. He was very worried.
Melissa ran up to them with a concerned expression. She said, "Debbie, are you all right? Do you want me to take you to the hospital?"
Callisto answered before Debbie could say anything. "Go away," she said. Debbie has us and she doesn't need you."
"Callisto, don't be rude," Alex whispered crossly. He was secretly a bit pleased to see that Melissa was concerned about Debbie. He didn't want Callisto to ruin it.
Callisto was quiet, but she still hated Melissa.
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me," Debbie told Melissa cheerfully.
Alex helped her over to the table where he and Melissa had been sitting. Callisto massaged her injured leg, but it was clear from Debbie's expression that she had not been badly injured.
"Alex, Debbie is fine. By the way, you didn't eat your soup. I'll pass it to you before it gets cold," Melissa told Alex.
But when she looked at the table, she saw that two students were using it to play table tennis. Their thermos flask and bowls had gone.
"Where's my thermos?" Melissa asked in a panic.
"Melissa, it's here," Alex called to her. The two students had put it on the ground and Alex had found it.
"That's a relief," she told Alex as she walked toward him.
"This bowl's for you." Alex casually picked up one of the bowls and handed it to Melissa. He picked up the other bowl.
Melissa stared at the two identical bowls of soup. She had no idea which bowl contained the poison.
She hesitated as she tried to decide what to do, and she trembled as she thought about drinking poisoned soup.
"It's delicious," Alex told her. He had already eaten half of his soup.
Melissa had an idea. "Debbie's injured. I think she should have this soup to warm her up," she said, and then she passed the bowl to Debbie, saying, "Debbie, this is my mushroom soup. It's really delicious. Try it."
"Yes, it's lovely. I already finished mine," Alex said as he showed them his empty bowl.
"Thank you," Debbie said as she took the soup and went to eat it.
But Callisto grabbed Debbie's hand and said, "Don't eat it, Debbie. I don't trust her."
"Callisto, if you talk like that again, I'm really going to get angry. Melissa's a good friend. She would never hurt me," Debbie said.
Debbie took the bowl from Melissa and ate the soup.
"Your soup is delicious, Melissa. You should open your own restaurant," Debbie joked.
"I'm glad you liked it," Melissa smiled back. As she watched Debbie and Alex closely, she forced herself to keep smiling. Her heart was thumping in her chest, and she was rubbing her hands vigorously behind her back.
**
Back in the dormitory, Melissa picked up a few of her things and ran away from the university.
She asked Chris to meet her in a room at the Hilton Hotel.
When he arrived, she threw herself into his arms. She kept saying in a low voice, "I'm so afraid. Chris, I'm so scared."
"Well, did you get Alex to eat the poison?" he asked impatiently. He didn't care at all about Melissa. His only concern was whether Alex would die.
"Yes, I gave him the poison. But I don't know whether he ate it or Debbie did. One of them definitely ate it."
Chris grabbed her shoulders and asked impatiently, "What are you talking about? Did Alex take the poison or not?" His face was stern and frightening.
"Maybe he ate it or maybe his girlfriend did. Chris, even if his girlfriend ate it, that's nearly as good as him eating it himself. From what I know about him, if his girlfriend died, he wouldn't want to keep living." Melissa was frightened by Chris's hostile expression and tried to calm herself down.