A month later, things returned to normal.

Victor's and Rina's reputation were restored. Everyone also knew by now that they had Lucas backing them up.

Erica's friends made up with her, which was not too hard to do since they had stopped throwing when Erica ran into the hall calling out to Luna as her sister.

Desmond's life did not change much since the military faculty functioned almost independently and had its own war zone, despite it being another one of the faculties of the school. Desmond had already made his connections there, who had helped to cover for him when he came to his sisters' aid.

Luna experienced a little dissing and occasional harassment, but it never got too bad because she seemed to kill their vibe each time. Not only did she have a very slack expression on all the time, but she also knew the right things to say to satisfy their ego.

Luna was now in the library as usual, completely immersed in her studying. Since nothing out of the ordinary was happening, she paid Lucas no attention. This made it possible for Lucas to study her at length without her knowing.

Lucas was still struggling to understand the enigma that Luna was.

He took note of what she was studying each time. So, he noticed how she struggled with understanding concepts that he had mastered since long ago and how she tried to make up for her slow understanding with pure and intense hard work.

He even did a little digging into her records and background to find out about the kind of person she was. Nothing stood out about her. In fact, he found out a lot more about her siblings and their achievements in doing so.

Everything only served to puzzle him further. She seemed so unremarkable and common. How could someone like her be his match? Why could he not understand the things she said which sounded weirdly accurate? How did she stay so calm about everything that was being done to her? Why could he not stop his eyes from drifting to her from time to time? How did she make him feel so puzzled and irritated at the same time? Before Lucas knew it, he had begun questioning the way Luna made him feel.

Today was no different for Lucas.

He looked up from the screen of his laptop, closed his eyes, and titled his head from side to side. Despite his full intention to return to work after stretching his neck muscles for a bit, his eyes drifted towards Luna instead.

The sunlight from the large window by her side was at an angle that lit up her face. The plum blossoms were in full bloom in the background. It was a very pretty scene to behold but Luna looked as ordinary as ever. If it had been Rina in her place, Lucas was sure that this same view would stir the hearts of people.

Nonetheless, Lucas found himself unable to tear his eyes away from Luna.

‘Does she not find the sun glaring?’

At the same time that he had that thought, Luna happened to turn her head slightly.

Lucas’s eyes widened in surprise. There were some golden specks in her eyes that he never noticed before. As quickly and suddenly as it appeared, it disappeared with the slightest tilt of her head.

‘Was it just the sunlight?’

He was now intrigued and waited to see if it would appear again.

Unfortunately for him, he did not get to observe for long before he heard Victor's voice boom throughout the silent library. "Luna Lee!"

Everyone in the library jumped in shock and turned towards the source of the disturbance.

‘GODDAMN IDIOT.’ Lucas's mood instantly turned sour. However, his thoughts drifted to Luna. Curious about her reaction, he peeked at her through the corners of his eyes.

Luna's gaze shifted from the direction of the library's entrance to Lucas. After holding his gaze for a short while, Luna calmly but swiftly packed her things then left the library by walking behind the bookshelves.

She was convinced that meeting Victor spelled trouble. She could think of only one reason for people like them to pay attention to someone like her. It was to trigger another conflict between them and Erica.

‘How dumb. Normally, no one would notice or know where I am besides Erica and big brother. Now, Victor knows where exactly he can find me, just because he wants to. What nonsense.’

Not long after Luna left her seat, Victor came from a different direction.

"Lucas, do you know where Luna is? I was told that I could find her in the library." Victor asked without bothering with even a simple greeting.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Why are you finding her?"

"There are malicious rumours about us again!" Victor said through gritted teeth.

“Those?” Lucas sighed. ‘They’re not even half as bad.’

"How do you even know that it's her?"

"Who else could it be?!"

"She's not the one. Go get your facts right before you let the real culprit escape." Lucas said dismissively.

Just as Lucas intended to return to his work, Rina appeared behind Victor huffing and puffing. She had obviously been running after him.

"Victor... I told you not to be rash... You would scare the culprit off this way. Be patient, learn from Lucas, and we'll eventually catch whoever is responsible, alright?"

Victor hugged Rina. "I'm sorry. I got so impatient because I know you're really hurting. Did you really think I wouldn't notice?"

Rina's eyes teared up and she cried in his chest.

Lucas glared at his laptop. The longer he listened to Rina’s soft sobs, the more a dull ache spread in his heart.

He grinded his teeth and was adamant about not saying anything, but he eventually broke.

“I’ll get to the bottom of this…” He mumbled in defeat.

“Lucas!” Rina gasped. She was grateful for his ever constant support, but nothing the lead couple said entered Lucas’s ears. Luna's words from before were echoing in his mind and putting him in an awful mood.

The following days only made Lucas’s mood worsen. It got so bad that he had migraines and had to rely on painkillers for the pain to be tolerable.

The culprit and rumours got bolder ever since news about Victor finding Luna spread.

Victor, however, continued to ignore Lucas’s warnings and advice to lie low and avoid angering anyone. Victor also continued his search for Luna, wanting to confront her. He was sure that he could get her to confess her sins.

Victor’s actions fueled the rumours like Lucas had expected, which made the search for the one who started it all even harder.

Eventually, Lucas suspected that there was more than one person involved this time. Noting how this matter may have snowballed into something beyond what he could handle alone, he called Victor to discuss it with him.

"Where in the blazing hell are you?!" Lucas shouted into the phone when Victor said that he was not free to meet. His migraine was killing him.

"I'm at her house."

"WHAT?!"

"I can't hold back anymore! Rina's breaking down and she stopped coming to school! She can't take it anymore!" Victor hung up the phone then exited his car.

He stared daggers at the house before him. ‘You can’t run this time.’

The family of five was still gathered at the dining table, about to finish their dinner, when the doorbell rang. Their domestic helper headed out, then returned to inform them of Victor's visit.

They all looked at Luna, asking without words if she wanted to greet their guest. Only Erica did so with a frown on her face.

‘After all the trouble of avoiding him... Colour me surprised if Erica isn't triggered by this...’

"Just tell him that I'm not the person he should be looking for.” Luna calmly instructed. “If he still insists to meet me, just tell him that we're not receiving any guests. Thank you, Sal."

Luna then encouraged her family to ignore the disturbance and continue eating in peace.

By the time they finished their meal, Sally still had not returned.

Erica intended to step in, but Luna stopped her. "Just ignore him. He's really just a dog barking up the wrong tree. Trust Sal to send him away."

Erica pursed her lips then held onto Luna's hand and returned to Luna's room together. Knowing that Luna would study the night away, she lazed on Luna's bed while browsing through the news feed of her social media accounts on her phone. She had no intention to let Luna out of her sight while Victor was around.

Victor continued to stubbornly stay at their gate even after Sally left him alone. He refused to return until he saw Luna.

The Lee parents got fed up and went to meet him at their gate.

"Your name's Victor, right? Son of Principal Koo?" Mr Lee asked.

"Mr and Mrs Lee, I'm still waiting to see Luna. Please get your daughter to meet me. She keeps avoiding me."

“Well, I see it’s your loss then. Too prideful to admit it?” Mrs Lee pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

“How is that considered my loss?!” Victor exploded.

"Victor.” Mr Lee’s voice was low and deep like he was giving a warning to a toddler throwing a tantrum. “You do realise that you're outside of school, right?"

Mr Lee’s tone, fierce glare, and crossed arms intimidated Victor enough to cool his head somewhat.

"R- Running away isn't counted. Otherwise, it’d only mean that your daughter is good at being a coward-"

"Victor,” Mrs Lee interrupted him, with a sweet smile that did not reach her cold eyes, “Seeing that you're still a child, I'll let you off this time with a warning. Don't insult our children.”

Mrs Lee paused to see if Victor still dared to continue with his tirade.

Victor avoided eye contact and stayed silent, with his hands clenched tightly. At this moment, Mrs Lee felt like a snake about to gobble him up whole if he spoke.

“Good, don’t let there be a next time.” The tension dissipated a little. “Now, run along home. I'm sure your father would not like to hear of this.”

"... Can you please ask miss Luna to stop avoiding me at school? I'd very much like to speak to her." Victor very reluctantly changed his phrasing to be more polite.

"Oh my. What an unusual request. Well, I'm fine with passing that message on but are you sure you want me to do that? The school is just a playground for us adults now.”

Understanding her unspoken threat, Victor bowed low and apologised before running home with his tail between his legs.

After he calmed down, he realised the gravity of his actions and regretted it greatly. He had no power outside of school. Things done outside of school was also an invitation for real consequences outside of school that could affect entire businesses and family lives.

“Fuck…” Victor buried his head in his hands. He did not know what came over him to do something so brainless. Now he could only hope that Luna's parents would not tattle on him to his father.

"Sugarplum, why did you bother warning him? Let's just deal with the nuisance that's bugging our baby." Mr Lee sulked a little.

"Honey… Don't you think it'd be more humiliating for him if our Luna is the one who gets to toy with him?" She tapped his nose lovingly.

"Ahh… You're as cunning as ever." He grinned and hugged her around her waist, with his face approaching hers for a kiss.

However, Mrs Lee put a finger to his lips. "Let's first make sure that Luna's coping well."

Erica had shared with her parents about how Luna had been speaking weirdly and it worried them as well. If this carried on, they would consider asking Luna about going for a psychological assessment.