Jane flinched and nearly leaped to her feet when the sound of a familiar male voice reached her ears.
'Charles? What is he doing here? I wasn't expecting to see him today.'
Vernon took a step back, shaking his hand off to get rid of the black liquid whose smell had already managed to cling to his skin and clothes. He jerked his head upwards to meet the eyes of the person who prevented him from leaving, his brows furrowing as Charles Chastain's frowning face stared back at him with a look of quiet resentment in his eyes.
"You have to watch where you're going when you're carrying a drink in an open cup," Charles hissed at him, his eyes narrowing.
Vernon threw a now-empty cup into the plastic trashbin positioned next to the exit of the classroom and adjusted his glasses.
"You were the one who bumped into me," he said firmly, yet his voice was surprisingly quiet.
"What?" Charles snarled, stretching the front of his blue cashmere sweater. "Then how do you explain this? Your carelessness left me with a nasty coffee stain on my new sweater."
"So what do you want?" Vernon curved his lips into a mocking smirk. "A new sweater?"
"A simple apology would suffice," Charles replied with an equally displeased smile.
Jane felt the tension level rising between them; she hated confrontation and had no idea what to do when they happened. Clutching her phone tightly against her chest, she left her chair, pushing it loudly away with her legs in hopes of attracting the attention of at least one of the guys.
Unfortunately, no one wanted to pay her any mind.
Vernon snorted. "I am not going to be the only one to apologize. If anything, we are both at fault here."
He tried to push Charles away from the door, but the guy did not budge. Instead, he tried to do the same, shoving Vernon back into the classroom.
Jane gasped and took a step back, almost colliding with the blackboard behind her. She had never seen Charles this mad and it was making her uncomfortable.
"What is this behavior? Do you really think you can disrespect me simply because you are my senior?"
Vernon could not help but laugh at his audacious words. "Disrespect? I don't care about you enough to display something as strong. is that all they teach you at rugby? To pick up meaningless fights to help you blow the steam off?"
"Listen here, you arrogant jerk," losing his cool completely, Charles grabbed Vernon by the collar of his shirt and slammed him hard against the wall.
Jane could practically hear his laptop crush inside his backpack and judging by the visible flinch that shook his features, Vernon heard it too.
"Charles!" No longer able to watch it, Jane darted towards her boyfriend, grabbing him by the wrists and pulling his hands away from Vernon's clothes. "Stop it, you are going to get in trouble!"
Charles, perhaps shaken by the realization that his girlfriend had been watching him this whole time, let go of the tutor immediately, taking a big step away from him.
"He is the only one getting in trouble here," he grunted harshly but Vernon could only laugh to this.
Peeling his back away from the wall, he tried to suppress a groan, but Jane still noticed that something was wrong.
"Listen to your girlfriend, Chastain. She might be not as dull as you want her to be."
"What––"
"Charles, p-please," Jane pleaded with him again, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Seeing that, her boyfriend sighed and threw a final warning glare at Vernon.
"Don't think I will let this arrogance slide that easily."
"Sure, whatever," Vernon was about to leave when Jane's voice forced him to falter again.
"Are you alright?"
He looked into her face and the mere sight of her big blue eyes filled with worry and unshed tears made him sick to his stomach. He did not know exactly why, but even the way she was looking at him was making him cringe.
Without saying a word, he stepped out of the classroom and marched away, leaving Jane absolutely stunned. Again.
***
"Vernon, honey, are you alright?" Mrs Lin knocked on her son's door but as she heard no reply, she carefully opened it, and peeked inside. Her light brown eyes widened as she saw Vernon sprawled on the floor, his entire body covered in tiny beads of sweat.
"Oh my God! Vernon, why are you on the floor? What's wrong?!"
Falling down onto her knees right beside him, she placed her cold palm on his forehead and gasped in horror realizing that he had a fever.
"What is it? Do I need to call an ambulance?"
"No," Vernon finally responded, grunting loudly as he tried to peel himself off the floor. As he straightened his body up, Janet saw a crumpled cooling sticker stuck to the brought fabric of the rug.
"Can you help me with the cooling pads please?" Vernon spoke again, slowly turning his back to his mother. "I did not want to bother you while you were cooking."
Hearing her son's words, Mrs Lin felt her heart clench.
Noticing the medicine bag on Vernon's bed, she pulled it down and retrieved a few more cooling stickers, immediately proceeding to unwrap them. It had been a while since she had to do it and for some reason, she felt like crying.
"The pain must be excruciating if you're having a fever... Are you sure you don't have to go to the emergency room?"
"No," Vernon replied quietly. "Don't worry about it."
Mrs Lin opened her mouth to retort but then decided against it. He would never confess what had happened; even if he gave her an answer, it would be a lie.
"There, all done," she said, struggling to suppress her tears. Without looking at him, she started putting things back into the medicine bag, her next words addressed more to herself rather than to anyone else. "Your back injury was pretty bad... The doctor said to be extremely careful... I just..."
Letting out a sigh, she clutched the beg against her chest and added, now louder, "I will go by some antipyretics. Don't stay on the floor, you will only make it worse."
With that, she left his room, her footsteps almost inaudible.
Exhaling loudly as if he had been holding his breath this whole time, Vernon slumped his shoulders and covered his face with both hands.