While heading out for lunch in the afternoon, Wendy and Linda
walked past a few students outside the office building. She could hear them whispering behind her back.
Linda turned to look at her in concern. “What say we don’t go to the cafeteria anymore? How does takeout in the office sound?” she suggested.
Wendy pursed her lips in reply. “I’m fine, Linda. I didn’t do anything wrong.” she said firmly.
“But don’t you feel annoyed? It feels like I’m being tailed by a pesky fly,” Linda said.
“It’s fine, it’s just lunch. Plus, people would deem me even more suspicious if I hid in the shadows,” Wendy said while remaining a calm demeanor.
Linda fell silent after seeing how insistent she was.
The restaurant was originally bustling with life, but after Wendy showed up, many heads turned around to stare at her with judgmental eyes.
She thought the saying, ‘good news stays hidden, while bad news always spreads far and wide’ couldn’t be more true now.
She queued up to get her food as usual, but before she could dig in, she noticed a counselor from the English Department walking up to her.
While standing at the table’s edge, the man stared at her with a stern look on his face. “Miss Evans, Jason Bell here. Do you mind if I talk to you about the matter regarding Avril?” he asked.
“You must be Avril’s counselor,” she said while gazing at him with a calm expression on her face.
“That’s right,” he said.
“Sure, take a seat,” she said with a nod.
He then sat opposite her and started, “I read the posts from a few assistant professors from your faculty in the forum clarifying the incident with Avril earlier today. Do you have any evidence to back up their claims of you being unrelated to the incident?”
He’d said it pretty loudly too. It was clear that he was here to stand up for his student.
She felt speechless. Why was she the one who had to bear the brunt of his anger while he fought for justice for his student?
She put down her cutlery and stared at him with eyes full of determination. “Tell me then, Mr. Bell, why should I be the one to present the evidence when I’ve clearly done nothing wrong? I don’t see YOU going to all the people who accused me for proof, so why should I take the blame for this for no reason at all?” she argued.
“I went to Avril and she told me that only the four of you were present with her when she confessed to Master Henson. So, even if it wasn’t you who did it, it’s definitely got to be one of the others,” he snapped.
Linda became upset after hearing that and slammed both her hands on the table. “Mr. Bell, even the police need evidence to solve their cases, so what makes you think you can just accuse us willy-nilly? If you insist on pinning the blame on us, I suggest you show us your proof,”
she said loud and clear, which made
him even bolder. “Is there even any need for it to come to this? Only the four of you were present at the time, so if none of you spilled the beans, no one would be the wiser, no? Avril’s still young, so was it wrong of her to develop feelings for someone and eventually confess to them?
Can you all even wrap your head around how much pain she had to endure because of that? Her bravery had cost her her dignity, and now she’s the laughing stock of the entire campus. The girl doesn’t even dare to come out of her dorm now. Can you even begin to imagine how pitiful she is right now?” he argued back.
Hearing this, Wendy said, “Well, did you ever stop to think that her confession and this whole incident has nothing to do with us? Why should we take the fall for her when it’s none of our business?
“If that’s the case, then I can also argue that I’m truly innocent. I also feel wronged today to see all those forum posts slandering me for no reason? Now, I can’t even have lunch in peace without all these judgmental stares and whispers about me.
“Let me word it this way for you, Mr. Bell. I, Wendy Evans, will not tolerate this slander as I wasn’t the one who was behind this. If you keep insisting that I am, however, then I’ll tell you the same thing Linda said to you, bring me your evidence, if not, get out of my sight,” she threatened.
He originally intended to use the excuse of standing up for his student to seek justice for her, but
he failed and was now the target of the people who started this whole mess in the first place. He didn’t want to admit defeat just yet.
The three of them then stood at the table in a stare-off, their gazes seething with rage.
Her phone suddenly started ringing. She let out a sigh of relief and bent her body over to retrieve it.
Howell’s voice sounded on the other end of the phone. “Where are you right now, Sister Wendy?” he asked.
“What’s up?” she said annoyedly.
“Why that tone? Can’t I call you even when things are fine?” he said.
“You can, but I’ll have to call you back. I’m kind of in the middle of something right now,” she replied.
“Then call me back when you’re done. Oh yeah, you better have my gift ready by then,” he snickered.
“What did you do this time?” she asked with a frown.
“Oh, lots. I managed to track down the person who posted that thing about you in the forums, by the way. Don’t you think I deserve thanks for that?” he chuckled.
This caused a smile to slowly creep up on her lips. “And you’re certain that you managed to track them down?” she asked, amused.
“Absolutely. Surely you can trust my brother if you don’t trust me, right?” he said.
“Did you tell him about this yet?” she whispered as she turned her body to the side.
“I already told him. How could I possibly just stand by and watch as Sister Wendy gets bullied?” he snickered.
She then glanced at Jason from the corner of her eyes before saying to the phone, “Perfect, why don’t you swing by the staff cafeteria to hand me the thing you said you managed to get? I’ll be waiting,” she suggested.
“Now? Sure! That way you can treat me to a meal too,” he said in a giddy tone.
“Fine,” she giggled and
hung up. She then threw her phone back into her handbag.
After that, she continued staring at Jason coldly, with determination in her eyes.
This struck fear into his heart.
“If you can prove that I was the one who did it, then I’ll gladly apologise to everyone on campus, but if I’m able to prove my own innocence, then I want you to bow down and issue a formal apology to me, Mr. Bell,” she said firmly.
He raised an eyebrow as if to accept her challenge. “Sure, you’d better not back down when the time comes, Miss Evans. After all, you have so many people to be your witnesses here,” he sneered.
“Rest assured, I’m a woman of my word,” she scoffed in reply.
Just as he was about to leave, she stopped him. “Wait right there, Mr. Bell. I’ve still yet to show you my proof,” she said.
Linda turned around to look at her and gasped, “Miss Evans, you-”
Wendy spun around to face her too. “Let’s wait and see, Linda. I, too, am curious to find out the person who’s behind all of this,” she chuckled through pursed lips.
Not a single staff got up to leave the whole time they were waiting,
probably because they were also curious to see the second part of the show unfold.
Howell arrived less then ten minutes later and
when he stood at the entrance, he noticed Wendy waving to him.
The atmosphere in the restaurant felt somewhat off to him, but
he shrugged it off and merely walked towards her.
“I’m here, Miss Evans,” he announced, which
made her stand up from her seat and ask, “Can you really prove that I didn’t do the things the post described I did?”
“Of course. I told you, the evidence is in my hands,” he gloated.
“Where is it?” she probed.
“I had someone track the original poster’s IP and they managed to use it to track down the Internet Café where they posted it from. I then managed to get a picture of the person by going through the surveillance footage in the Internet Café. Plus, they’re also the same person who first left a comment on the post,” he explained.
and took out his phone to click on a video.
She grabbed his phone, and just as she was about to watch it, Linda and Jason had both walked over to her side.
Linda covered her mouth in shock immediately after seeing who it was in the video.