The expression Wendy had on her face wasn’t too far off either.
Prior to this, she did suspect the people in her office,
but she refused to believe it was true upon seeing it for herself.
“Isn’t this Cael from your office?” Jason asked as he stared at the screen.
Wendy and Linda both shot each other a look.
“This must be a mistake, Howell. It must be… a coincidence, right? Perhaps Cael also just so happened to visit the Internet Café that day?” Wendy asked after a long pause.
“Even if he so happened to post on the forums that day, it can’t mean the comments are a coincidence as well. Two coincidences just seem too unlikely to me. There’s even a video at the back stating that the comments were posted from a different Internet Café. These two Cafés might be a distance from campus, but just so happen to be near to where Mr. Cael lives. How’s this considered a coincidence anymore?” Howell explained.
“I can’t believe that Cael could even do this to a young lady. That’s just pure evil.” Jason scoffed.
“How are you any better than him when you also came up to Wendy without any proof to scold her when you clearly didn’t have the facts?” Linda voiced out, all upset.
When Howell heard her say that, he looked at Jason in displeasure. “How dare you bully Miss Evans,” he growled.
“I just wanted some clarity out of this whole situation we’re in right now,” Jason muttered guiltily.
“Clarity doesn’t mean you can go around accusing Miss Evans of something she has never done without proof,” Linda snorted in reply.
Howell then crossed his arms in response. “Even if Miss Evans did it, so what? The girl was from your faculty, so the fact that she confessed to a man and got rejected doesn’t concern our faculty at all. Is it really that hard for her to accept the truth?” he added and shot him an evil eye.
Linda nodded in agreement and continued, “That’s right. Remember your promise just now, Jason? You have to apologise to Miss Evans now that she managed to show you her evidence,”
He frowned as he wasn’t willing to part with his pride just yet. “But it was one guy in your office did it, wasn’t it?” he argued.
After hearing him say that, Wendy immediately buried her sorrow and replied him in a chilly tone, “The people in my office can’t represent me. Cael is Cael and I am me. A man shouldn’t go back on his word, Mr. Bell, so I suggest that you apologise to me right now,”
He heaved a long sigh and later apologised out of frustration.
However, this made her scoff instead. “I told you to bow and apologise to me. The reason behind it is because I wanted you to take this matter more seriously. This is in hoping that you never falsely accuse anyone of any wrongdoing without providing evidence next time,” she said.
With his arms still crossed, Howell twisted his lips and spat, “Can you even call yourself a man, Mr. Bell? Can’t you just admit you fault after boldly accusing someone of doing something they didn’t?”
Jason finally clenched his teeth, walked up to Wendy and bowed in earnest. “My apologies, Miss Evans. I’m truly sorry for accusing you when I didn’t get my facts right,” he said sincerely.
“Apology accepted,” she said then immediately pulled Linda and Howell by the arm to exit the canteen together.
With the truth out, everyone now shifted their discussions to Cael.
“I’ll treat you to dinner another day. I need to return to my office by noon time,” Wendy said to Howell after they all stepped foot outside.
He was fully aware of how pissed she was now, and how she wanted to return to her office to vent it all out.
“Sure. I’ll be looking forward to my feast another day then,” he chuckled.
“Alright, alright,” she giggled and patted his shoulder. “Thanks for today,”
“You should thank Henson, not me, by the way. The moment he heard that you’d been bullied, he was so angry he left his meeting abruptly to find someone to clear your name,” he whispered into her ear.
It wasn’t the first time she held up Henson’s work.
She felt guilty, but also felt glad at the same time
as Henson always shone through to get her out of her pickles whenever she needed him the most.
When she returned to the office with Linda, they saw Cael having takeout at his desk.
Cael smiled when he saw them coming in. “Did the two of you have your lunch yet? Let me tell you, this spicy chicken noodle dish I ordered today is the bomb! Do y’all want me to order for you?” he chirped.
“No, thanks. I don’t want to have the same kind of noodles you’re having,” Linda said, stone-faced.
“What’s with the tone, Linda?” he asked, confused.
“You’re right, my tone does sound off, but I suppose it’s better that I’m acting like this in front of you now than if I were to stab someone in the back with the same words,” she snapped.
“What do you mean by that?” Cael replied in displeasure after hearing her words.
Wendy then walked in front of her to block her path before looking back at him.
“She’s trying to say that we’ve got no power to offend such a despicable man like you,” she sneered.
He immediately stood up from his seat at that. “What the f*ck, Wendy? What right do you have to call me a despicable man?” he shouted.
“Just based on the fact that I already know that you posted that thing about Avril and posted the comment that led the masses into slandering me. I can’t believe you even pretended to be worried about me and said you wanted to help me clear my name by uploading a post under your real name. I wasn’t aware that you didn’t even have a conscience,” she scoffed
and saw the fierceness in his gaze subside a little after that. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” he snapped.
“What’s with the guilty look if you really did nothing wrong?” Linda shot.
“I don’t have a guilty look on,” he replied.
“I’ve been your colleague for ages, Cael, so I naturally know you better than Miss Evans does. If you truly weren’t guilty of doing this, then you wouldn’t stand being humiliated like this. The fact that you said you knew nothing about this only revealed your guilty conscience. Also, it’s not like you can deny it anymore as we’ve already got conclusive evidence to back our claims up,”
The moment she finished, the door swung open to reveal a Carmen who shouted, “Big news-”
But before she could finish her words, she immediately stopped herself
as she could sense that the atmosphere in the room was very tense at the time.
Linda crossed her arms and explained, “No need to shout anymore, Carmen. We already found out about everything,”
Carmen then turned to face him. “Was it really you, Cael?” she asked after a moment of hesitation.
“Shut your mouth, it’s none of your business,” he snapped as he walked towards the door.
Wendy quickly stepped forward to block him from leaving. “Why did you do it, Cael? Did I offend you in the past or something?” she asked.
He then glared at her in disgust. “Is it wrong of me to say that I just don’t like you? You’ve been causing trouble left and right ever since you graduated and became a professor’s assistant. Because of you, Mr. Taylor came to work on campus and set up some insane demerit system which made us professor’s assistants live in constant fear.
“The previous president obviously hated your guts, and yet everyone else put you up on a pedestal. And I couldn’t stand the fact that you always got the best treatment after the new president took office. Was it because of your looks? Was it because you’re one of the prettiest icons on campus?
“I can’t take it anymore. Here we are, working our *sses off, and yet we still constantly lose out to your looks. What right do you have to act so arrogantly in front of us anyways? People like you shouldn’t even exist on campus, so please get away from me as far as you can,” he ranted.