"Ah... You're quite great," Leila chuckled softly, raising an eyebrow. "Daydreaming in the afternoon? Not getting enough sleep at night?"
"Don't worry, I will give you what you seek!" Jessica sneered, turning sharply to the bodyguards. "Are you deaf? Hit her for me."
The bodyguards showed no hesitation, stepping forward with their large strides closing in ominously.
"Should we call the school management?" one of the watching students suggested nervously, worried about the escalating situation.
"What if Jessica finds out?"
"Th-then are we going to watch them beat a girl to death here?"
"It's not like they will kill her," her friend murmured.
"I'm going to tell!" the first girl said firmly, adjusting her large-framed glasses and sprinting back into the school compound.
Her friend called out, but she had already left, leaving her friend sighing before making up her mind and then proceed to run after her.
Aditi gritted her teeth and faced the bodyguards, clenching her fists in determination.
"You'll have to get past me to touch her!"
Leila's heart warmed as if a sunlight beam hit her chest as she gazed at the taller girl in front of her. She pursed her lips, glancing behind her where Julianne had disappeared to God-knows-where without notice.
Slowly, she turned back and held Aditi's hand. "It's alright, Addy."
"Miss Aditi, please step back. We don't want to hurt you," one of the bodyguards said coldly.
"Hurting my friend is tantamount to hurting me, especially when she's done nothing wrong." Aditi stood her ground.
To her, acknowledging Leila as a friend meant protecting her when she could. There was no way she was going to stand by and watch her get hurt.
"How do you know she's done nothing wrong?" Jessica retorted coldly.
"Oh? Then can you tell me what she did?" Aditi glanced around, noticing that Julianne wasn't around. For the first time, she was slightly hopeful that Julianne had gone to call for help.
"She knows what she did. If she dares to message me and insult me online and even has the audacity to send someone to call me here, why wouldn't she dare to get hit?"
"Wait, sending you a message online?" Leila repeated, catching on the two strange sentences she had no idea of doing, just to make sure her ears weren't failing her.
"Are you going to deny it?"
Leila laughed briefly, shaking her head. "No, but I'm curious about the content. How about you show it to me?"
"Why should I show it to you?" Jessica refused, thinking that this b*tch was stalling for time.
"Then it means you're lying," Leila said confidently.
"I'm lying?" Jessica scoffed, enraged, as she ran a hand through her hair.
She turned to a bodyguard. "Slap her mouth for me."
The bodyguard, imposing with his leather-gloved hand, looked so threatening that nearby students paled.
"Don't you dare touch her!" Aditi stood before Leila, her expression cold and resolute.
Though she appeared ready to tear the bodyguard apart, her palms were sweaty with fear.
Jessica's bodyguards were once mercenaries and were even more well-trained than her father's. Aditi had witnessed their prowess after accidentally entering Sir Todd Hudson's study and seeing one of them beat a man to lifelessness.
She had watched the whole ordeal.
At that moment, fear had gripped her chest so tightly she covered her mouth to keep herself from making a sound.
From then on, she feared them immensely.
"Sorry, Missus," the bodyguard said roughly, shoving her aside and marching towards Leila, raising his hand.
Leila gulped, looking at the taller figure before her. Her hands were tightly clenched, her face white, her heart pounding loudly.
She shut her eyes tightly and then...