Chapter 22：The knights without armor

"What do you think to are doing? Let go of her!" Kaiden shouted at the girls.

Matthew went right towards Renae and asked, "Are you ok?" He saw the bruises on Renae's face, arms and legs. Blood oozed out of the cuts and wounds on her leg.

The duo gave a death stare to the girls. "Ok girls, let's go. And Renae, we're not done with you yet,"Min instructed them to leave. Renae didn't bother replying to her, she felt there wasn't a need to. She didn't wish to talk to Min, she wasn't a person worth talking to.

"Min, go to the office with these girls. Admit wrong and apologize to Renae and Cathy now!" Matthew demanded her.

"Why should I? I didn't do anything wrong? I just taught her a lesson not to cling onto you," Min said with a smirk on her face.

"You DID do something wrong. Now apologize," Kaiden responded strictly with an antagonised glare.

"Oh whatever, I'm going to leave first," Min flipped her hair.

Kaiden helped Cathy up while Matthew carried Renae up.

The girls were waiting for Min to take the lead to walk out of that deserted area.

Then, Min said something to the girls, after which, the girls left before Min.

"Girls, you leave first," Min said as her smirk turned into a jealous expression.

The girls left quietly and Min walked up to Renae and Matthew.

"Get away from Matthew. You have 2 legs for a reason. It's for you to walk!"

Renae fired back, "Then why aren't you using them? You aren't walking either."

"You-"

"Enough. We need to tend to their wounds. And Cathy... " Matthew said, his words trailed off as his gaze shifted to Cathy's unconscious body. "We should go to the nurse's office. I heard she's going to be gone for a while so we don't have anyone to question how ya'll got these injuries." Kaiden suggested as he carefully pulled Cathy onto his back for a piggyback. They all agreed. Renae put her left arm around Matthew to lean on for support.

They took some time to get to the nurse's office. Class had already started, so there weren't many teachers and students in the hallways.

"Do you have any medical knowledge?" Matthew asked Kaiden. "Cause' I don't..." Kaiden chuckled, "Yea, I do. You go on and tell the teacher in our class the reason for our absence. Keep it vague though." Matthew nodded. After wards, he left.

Kaiden slowly laid Cathy down onto one of the beds. Renae took another bed.

"Thanks for saving us today," Renae said to Kaiden with a smile.

"Take care of yourself. Don't be so gullible," Kaiden's expression softened.

"I will."

"Should we report the fake news and bullying to the principal or at least the teachers?" Kaiden asked Renae.

"I think we all should but it's up to you," Kaiden added.

"No, not yet. Give Min a chance to turn over a new leaf. The moment she put her nasty finger on Cathy, someone who was TOTALLY unrelated to this, she almost crossed my bottom line but... nevermind," Renae said still with a halfhearted smile on her face.

"You sure?"

"Sure," she responded immediately.

"Alright then..."

Kaiden looked around the infirmary and found the gauze, disinfectant wipe and oilment. He first treated to Renae since her wounds were much more dire compared to Cathy's wounds.

"Brace yourself, it's going to hurt..." Kaiden warned before using the disinfectant wipe to slowly clean a wound on Renae's leg. Renae cringed and bit onto her lower lip as the pain surged through her body. The wound wasn't big, but it was a little deep.

Meanwhile, in class, Matthew entered the classroom slowly. "Matthew? Why are you late? And for so long too!" The teacher asked in a strict tone. "Renae, Cathy, Kaiden and I got into an incident. May we be dismissed from this class? I'm very sorry I was only able to tell you now, but the situation only calmed down a little while ago. We still are not able to come to class though." He explained with utmost respect. The teacher could hear the seriousness in his voice and decided to trust him.

"Alright, I'll dismiss you guys this time." The teacher said and did a dismissive gesture. Matthew thanked her and returned to the infirmary.

After some time, Kaiden had finished tending to their wounds. Renae was all bandaged up and Cathy was still unconscious. Kaiden confirmed that she was fine though. Renae was stuck in a difficult situation. She was sure Cathy was going to have this problem too. She had no idea how she was to explain this to her parents. Her questions were answered when school ended and she got a call from her mum.

"Renae? I'm so sorry we're telling you this so last minute, but we received new that your grandfather's cousin's brother's son just died so we have to fly to Malaysia to attend the funeral. It just so happens your dad's boss also asked him to head there for business matters quite soon so we'll be in Kuala Lumpur for a while. Oh! And your grandfather's cousin's brother's son died of old age. I'm not so sure when we'll return, but we're leaving this evening. You have keys right?"

"Oh, alright, mum. Yup, I have keys. You guys stay as long as you need to. I'm older now so I can take care of myself. I know how to cook simple meals and I can buy food so it's fine," Renae responded.

At that moment, she really wanted to kneel down and thank God, but she still had a conversation to end with her mum before she could do that. They chatted a little more before hanging up.

She explained what they talked about on the phone to Matthew and Kaiden. "Wow... that's some luck right there! But what about Cathy...?" Matthew asked. "Her wounds aren't as bad as Renae's. I'll be frank, she probably fainted from shock or terror instead of too much pain, so it should be fine," Kaiden said with a smile. At that moment, Cathy woke up. "Ah..." she mumbled as she slowly sat up. They switched their attention to Cathy.

"Cathy!!" Renae exclaimed, gently giving her a warm hug. "Oh my goodness... I- I remembered everything that happened. Are you okay?!" She said, the moment she realised what had happened. It really made Renae's heart warm. The first thing Cathy thought bout was her? "I'm fine. Completely fine!" Renae responded. They filled Cathy up on what had happened.

"I need to stay out until my parents leave for Kuala Lumpur, so what should I do...?" Renae thought aloud. "Oh! I know, we have to go to the poli-" Renae covered his mouth in a panic. She whispered in his ear, "Don't tell them! I don't want them to worry." Kaiden nodded his head. Matthew's jealousy ignited when he saw this, but he kept it to himself. Behind his closed lips, he clenched his teeth tightly.

"Kaiden and I have to go somewhere after school, it's a book club," Renae lied. She knew fully well that if she said something out of the ordinary, Matthew would realise. She said book club as she has interest in reading. "Oh, okay," Matthew casually replied.

They parted ways when they reached the front of the school. Renae and Kaiden headed to the car park.

"Let's go?" Kaiden asked. Renae nodded her head and they both got inside the car.

They arrived at the police station and saw a girl slightly older than Renae, wearing a lilac coloured dress with black heels. This must be the new lawyer that the police hired! They both thought to themselves.

The police invited the trio to enter the station and sat down in the same enclosed room as before.

"Good afternoon, I'm Ms Lee. I'll be the lawyer for this case. I've heard that you've hired a lawyer previously who betrayed you," the lady gave a short introduction and stated what she knew.

"Yes. Lana, which is Larry's sister, has filed a report that she is going to sue the police management and the two of them," a policeman briefly said.

"I see... What has caused Lana to sue?"

"She said that it was because the police management allowed the 2 of them to join in on an investigation."

"OK..."

"I have a plan," Renae said.

"Let's hear it," Ms Lee replied.

"Ok. So, I realized that Larry, Phillip and Phillip's twin, which were jailed for robbery case, didn't have their phones with them. And, the investigation was only publicly announced after the investigation. Thus, Lana wouldn't have had a chance to know that Kaiden and me were in on this case. I suspect that the proof Lana will show on the day of the court is fake and made up. I suggest that we have someone to go undercover to find out what the fake proof is. This is so that we can get evidence to support our statement that whatever they say is false. We will then show the proof during court."

"Alright. I'll get some of the policemen to go undercover. What do you think of Renae's plan, Ms Lee?"

"I think it's not bad. Especially for a student. We'll go with it. The day of court is in 1 week's time so let's report back with the information we get from the policemen 2 days from today," Ms Lee responded, thinking carefully.

"I'll see all of you again soon. Goodbye now," Ms Lee said and left first.

Soon, Kaiden and Renae left the station. Kaiden sent Renae home and gave her a thumbs up for the plan she came up with earlier.