103 All's Well That Ends Well 3

Monday morning. 9:45 am.

The sun shone brightly today. The birds outside chirped and hummed a very mood-lifting tune as they danced around the tree crowns and branches. There were smiles and cheerful voices drifting in every classroom. Though bad news about one of the most infamous students spread last Saturday, for everyone else in this academy, the world was still very beautiful and full of hope!

Okay, that was a lie...

Today was a rainy Monday and there were lesser students than usual. The gloomy weather, of course, had infected the absentees with something called laziness disease. Aside from that, today was just going to be a 'checking papers' day. Students felt like it was perfectly okay not to partake in it.

As usual, no amount or type of scandal could make the management announce a break. There were still classes, but since the exam had just finished last Friday, the teachers only made students help in marking test papers.

Tomorrow would be the announcement of rankings, then after that would be the semester clearance. Students were already eager for the clearance day to arrive, knowing the next day would be the official start of a long break! A two-week long break!

Which dumb student would not feel impatient for it?

Of course, none. Actually, some from the absent bunch were already thinking of not going to school this whole week to make it a three-week long vacation! What? There's still the semestral clearance? Oh, easy! It's perfectly okay to worry about it next semester!

Really, the geniuses within everyone always surface once one's convenience and interests are questioned.

At 9:45 am, after eating a pasta dish at the cafeteria, Steffy was already on her way to her classroom. She was by herself. Her friends decided to take a trip to the restroom while she didn't feel like accompanying them there. She couldn't help but wonder though, why do girls always have to pull someone with them whenever they want to go to the restroom?

She was a girl too. But now that she pondered over it, she could only laugh dryly as she simply doesn't know the answer.

Well, no use thinking about weird mysteries like this. Otherwise, she'd just become weirder than she already was.

"Hey!"

At that familiar voice, Steffy naturally turned her head, thinking she was the one called. When she looked over, the person was really familiar. It was the ever so pretty best friend of her sister, Wendy. However, when she followed the direction of the voice, Steffy realized that Wendy was not shouting at her, but to another guy whose back was facing her.

Confusion and curiosity both crossed Steffy's face as she alternatingly took a glance at the two. She was at the intersection, the corridor she was standing at was perpendicular to where Wendy and the guy were. Not long after, she saw Wendy finally catching up to the guy, and Steffy, the curious cat, couldn't stop herself from crouching down and peeking at them. Her intention couldn't be any more obvious.

She wanted to watch the drama!

And she didn't have to wait long for it to start.

"Hey, you're planning to transfer to another school?"

She heard Wendy asked. Steffy blinked and wondered how this guy was related to their pretty, brainy, but egotistic girl.

The tall young man replied, "Yeah. I don't know how you found out, but what of it?"

The girl went silent for a while, her left brow raised. Actually, if Steffy were to describe her friend's expression, the word would be 'sad' or 'disappointed'. It was immediately replaced by anger or something like that and it was evident from her voice when she replied, "You don't plan to help me with the investigation anymore? Hey, that's foul! You did not even last a week at the parttime!"

The boy answered indifferently, "You know for yourself how you managed to drag me there."

Wendy went silent again. The guy took that chance to bypass her, however, despite looking somewhat lost, she still managed to spread her hands wide as though declaring she wouldn't let him pass.

Steffy grimaced at the girl's childish acts. She reckoned by now the opposite party must be sporting an annoyed expression. Who wouldn't be? If the one obstructed without warning was her, she would have raised her voice at the perpetrator, or mimicked her sister and slapped the person until her senses return to her!

'What is she doing? And what investigation? Why is she bothering this guy? Don't tell me she has a crush on him? Aiya, I have so many questions but no one can help me answer. I'm sad! I'm so curious!'

Steffy felt frustrated and wondered if her sister knew something.

Then, her train of thoughts was interrupted by Wendy's voice. She looked at them again but was quite surprised when she found the guy turning around and walking to her direction. Instincts made her hide immediately. Thankfully, when the male students arrived at the intersection, he didn't turn to Steffy's direction but walked straight ahead.

She breathed a sigh of relief and thanked the heavens for not letting these two people know she was eavesdropping. Since she realized the talk was already over and that no interesting things would happen after this, she grunted and turned around too.

What she didn't know, Chris paused walking and walked back to the junction. He couldn't understand what he felt, but to confirm whether he was just hallucinating or not, he went back and checked if the girl he saw was someone he knew or not.

A girl walking towards the opposite direction greeted him. With her back turned to him, all he saw was her long straight dark blonde hair. However, he couldn't shake off the feeling that she was very familiar. He found the way she walks away from him familiar, and this triggered several painful memories in his heart and mind.

While he remained stupidly looking at the gracefully retreating back, he subconsciously mouthed,

"Felicity?"

Caught in a stupor, he didn't notice Wendy arriving at his side, "Which of our school's Felicity?"

The girl followed the direction of his eyes and saw a familiar lass heading towards the Grade 10's building. She furrowed a brow and said to him, "Even if she has her back turned to us, I know she is my Sofy's sister."

Because of Wendy's words, his wandering mind got pulled back to his body. Remembering that the person he hoped to see had already died long ago, he sucked in a cold breath and reluctantly looked away.

Afterward, he bitterly smiled, 'I'm probably going crazy already... It seems my decision to transfer away is the best I've made so far.'

A couple of moments later, after he regained his calm, he bid farewell to the annoying girl and walked back to the admin office.

His parents were already there, helping him talk things out with his class adviser... Finally. He was just one step away from leaving all the bad memories behind.

...

Sofony remembered the intel she received from Gio last night and sighed. The terrible helplessness she felt that day coming back to her again.

Gio told her, a few of their men had encountered the woman this Saturday midnight, with around five mercenaries found dead. She mourned for the five men and once again blamed her weakness which led to this tragedy.

25 people already died. Maybe more.

Sofony reflected and realized, if she only was stronger, then Clarissa would have been incapacitated or dead by now. There wouldn't be any more unwelcomed deaths.

How she hated that she didn't plan more and laid out countermeasures against the woman. There were so many 'what ifs' in her brain and the more unanswered questions surfaced in her mind, the more she blamed herself.

Tonight, she went out and strolled the main road of Central Alina. A minute later, she was already marching into a huge residence, the several maids and male servants of the mansion ignored her and acted like they didn't see her.

Sofony didn't comment. Nevertheless, she did climb the staircase and stepped onto the second floor. She didn't have to spend time guessing which room to barge into as she could hear gasps, moans, and cries for mercy from the innermost one. She was sure, the person she was seeking out today was there.

'They didn't even close the damn door.'

Her eyes turned icier as she walked into the place and witnessed a crying maid raped by a pig on the bed. The young woman's clothes were not even removed.

Sofony's hands tremble. She felt sorry for the woman but there was nothing else that could do to reverse time for her. All she could do was punished the beastly man.

A second later, the lights in the room went out. The fat man naturally became alarmed and stopped what he was doing. The woman cried and backed away to the farthest corner of the bed.

A voice resounded after. Both the man and woman were scared because they felt like it came from nowhere... or maybe from the underground.

"Abenson," it creepily called out. "...You seem to be.... enjoying yourself...."

"A GHOST!!!!!!" The woman immediately shrieked, her screams filling the room.

However, the door had already closed, and since the room was actually soundproofed since the fat mayor loved doing many unspeakable things to the maids and women brought secretly here, no one from outside heard her.

The fat naked middle-aged man also started screaming. As he couldn't see anyone in the darkness while the voice seemed to be coming from a place not from here, he also assumed that it was a ghost.

His fear even deepened when it continued speaking, "A pity... Though you two seem to be doing something nice.... even if I wish to join... I don't have a physical body.... anymore..."

The creepy laugh that followed scared the sh*t out of the fat man. He started trembling and stuttering, "W-who are you? S-show yourself!"

The laughing female voice did not stop. It even became louder. It persisted until the woman fainted from fright. Then it teasingly asked, "You sure... you want me... to show myself?"

When the fat man thought out the answer, he realized how stupid his question was. He hurriedly begged for mercy and spouted nonsense how he was a very nice person and that as a mayor, all he had done were good things.

'In other words, please spare me!'

The more he said something though, the more the temperature of the room lowered. Near the door, Sofony kept giving the gross-looking man detesting glances and she had barely stopped herself from hypnotizing the man to death.

Sofony looked around to make sure there were no others in the place aside from them. Then she started interrogating the mayor for Clarissa's whereabouts. She also tried if she could fork out some information from him. Unfortunately, Clarissa did not show herself to him after their fight. If her guess was correct, that woman must have sought refuge in that mafia lord's territory.

Gio had already tried attacking the mafia. However, since those people were also deeply rooted in the city, and with many connections and means too, they only managed to weed out some of the weaker peripheral members.

In this trip, probably Sofony's greatest gain was not the fat mayor's sudden falling into a coma but making him remove the wanted order and search order issued for a kid named Leo Jones. If she guessed correctly, this youth was the other host hunting Clarissa. Of course, she recognized his face and realized that he was the one who almost killed them through an explosion.

When she remembered who he was, fear also made way into her heart. She also started praying that his attention would only be with the other girl.

Sofony did not stay long at the Abenson's mansion. After all, the invisibility powder would be expiring soon. However, she did check on Lara and found her confined in the basement.

It seemed her family was punishing her for all the shame and embarrassment she brought to them. For the whole week, the woman got locked in that dark room and was not allowed out. Her meals too were greatly watered down.

Also, she heard from one of the maids' clique talking behind their masters' backs that Lara would be sent abroad next week, probably never to return again to the country.

To be honest, Sofony did not feel guilty for Lara. She disliked the woman for badmouthing her in front of so many people. Aside from that, because she remembered that Miller dude's pestering and found it odd, she asked the system and learned what Lara planned out for her. This killed the little guilt she felt for the woman. Add to that the fact that she also tried to chase her man.

Sofony shook her head. She then decided to not think about Lara anymore as she walked out of the place and went home...