Harmony grabbed Kathrine's hands and firmly pulled them away. She looked at her with an indifferent expression—not cold, but the lack of emotion in her eyes made Kathrine shudder.
Harmony's gaze shifted to Beatrice, who stared back in disbelief. Like Kathrine, she too couldn't help but shudder.
"Even if I told you it wasn't me, you already have your answer. What else do you want to hear from me?" Harmony asked flatly.
Kathrine clenched her jaw, clearly frustrated.
"Confirmation?" Harmony scoffed.
"I'm sorry, but I won't give you that. I won't give you the satisfaction of justifying your blame or your slap just because of those things," Harmony continued, her voice calm.
She then glanced at the rest of the onlookers, her gaze sweeping over them without saying another word. She simply turned and walked to her classroom.
Defending herself seemed like a hassle, and it didn't matter to her whether they ignored her or not. In a few months, she would be done with this class, this school. She would continue to act as she always had.
…
Later that afternoon, after returning from lunch break, Harmony let out a deep sigh as she approached her desk and found it vandalized.
'Murderer.'
'Get out of this school.'
'Devil.'
Various other curses were scrawled all over her table.
She ignored them, sitting down and waiting for class to start. Her nonchalance only fueled her classmates' frustration, their gritted teeth betraying their anger.
They could only go so far without risking the school's intervention. She knew that, and they did too. They couldn't take things too far, or the school would step in.
However, Harmony was also waiting for the school to take action against what "she" had supposedly done. The accusations were serious, yet no action had been taken.
'I wonder why they haven't addressed it when what "I" did is supposed to be so serious,' she thought, ignoring the hostile stares she received.
She glanced at the words before wondering whether to laugh, 'Murderer? How drastic.'
She closed her eyes while leaning on her chair after putting on her earphones.
There were far more important things for her to worry about than the ongoing harassment.
"Hey, do you think she's the one who did it?" Kenneth asked quietly.
"We can't be sure," Justin replied, his focus still on the musical piece in his hand.
"We don't know her well enough to say either way," Gabriel added, not glancing in her direction.
Kenneth shrugged, then peered over at Justin's sheet.
"Wow, isn't this piece more complicated than the one you used in the last concours?" he commented.
"What can I do? The competition this time is fiercer," Justin sighed.
"Oh, right! I heard that person's going to be there," Kenneth said, hitting his fist into his palm as if he had just remembered.
"So don't bother me. I need to concentrate," Justin waved him off, returning to his music.
Kenneth pouted, "You're busy, Gabriel's buried in his books again, and Luca went home. This is boring."
"Don't you have your own competitions to worry about?" Justin asked, still not looking up.
"I do, but we practice outside of class. It's not like I can train in the classroom, right?"
With nothing else to do, Kenneth laid his head on the desk.
"Wake me up when the teacher gets here," he said with a yawn.
…
Harmony's peaceful life never returned.
Instead, it was replaced with constant, silent harassment.
No school was perfect. When enough students were involved, they could keep things quiet, and if only a few teachers were willing to turn a blind eye, the harassment would continue unchecked.
The vandalism extended beyond her desk. Her books were defaced, and students "accidentally" sprayed her with water or dirt. They even tripped her in the hallway and during gym class.
"I'm starting to feel bad for her," Kenneth muttered one day.
He and the other two were part of the group of onlookers, never directly involved but always observing.
"I don't think she needs that," Gabriel replied calmly.
Kenneth glanced at him, confused.
"Look at her eyes. Does she look bothered by any of it?" Gabriel gestured toward Harmony.
Kenneth, and even Justin, looked over at her. Gabriel was right—Harmony didn't seem affected at all by the harassment.
"If we were to step in, she might end up in more trouble," Gabriel added before walking away.
Meanwhile, Kathrine was fuming.
"How can she be so nonchalant after what she did?" she growled.
Beatrice smiled weakly, "It's fine. Let's just leave it alone."
Though she said that, Beatrice couldn't shake the feeling of sadness. Most of the students were harassing Harmony now, and it seemed like there was no need to dwell on it further.
But she couldn't get the image of Harmony's eyes out of her mind.
When Harmony had looked at all of them back then, it wasn't just indifference or emotionlessness that Beatrice saw. There was disappointment and resignation as if Harmony believed that everything had already been predetermined. That no matter what she said, their minds were made up.
It was the reason she hadn't defended herself.
The more Beatrice thought about it, the more she wondered if Harmony had been framed. However, the anonymous post and the photos made it hard to fully believe that.
Kathrine clicked her tongue, "I should've hit her harder back then."
"But… what if someone's framing her?" Beatrice asked hesitantly.
"Do you honestly believe that?" Kathrine scoffed.
Beatrice pursed her lips, unsure of what to think. She had admired Harmony after the school festival—her writing, her acting. But now, everything was confusing.
If Harmony had done it, Beatrice would feel sad. But if she hadn't, then she didn't deserve any of this.
…
When the bell rang for the lunch break, Harmony quietly stepped out of the classroom.
She had found a new place to escape to after the harassment had started, as even the garden behind the building was no longer peaceful.
"Good afternoon," she greeted softly.
"It seems you still don't wish to address what's going on," Larissa said as she greeted Harmony at the clinic.
The clinic had become Harmony's refuge. The students couldn't harass her there, and Larissa welcomed her with kindness, especially after what Harmony had done for Luca.