Chapter 119 - 119 Caught In Between

Before the day ended, Alice was getting ready to meet the man that was arranged for her to marry.

She looked at Iris who was peacefully sleeping inside her RV one more time and whispered, "I'll be back babe, wait for me." Then she closed the door and carefully to not disrupt her sleeping.

However, she didn't know that Iris was only closing her eyes but she was not sleeping at all.

Iris decided to get up and went back to their dorm.

She was thinking about what happened today. About Alice's confessing to Kim Eunji that she liked her.

"Do I like her?" She asked herself.

"Maybe. Haish! I don't know." Iris was clearly confused with her feelings.

"Oh my! Are you okay? I've heard about what happened. We came to visit you but you weren't there in the infirmary when we came. Where were you?" Guo Xiaolan worriedly asked her the moment she came in and saw Iris inside their dorm.

"Chill! I'm fine. This is nothing. This won't kill me you know. I'm stronger than you think. I just went somewhere that I didn't realize I had fallen asleep." Iris bragged and reasoned at the same time.

Guo Xiaolan heaved a huge sigh of relief when she heard Iris.

"I'm glad you're fine! That Lady Jin Li Rong had gone too far this time. Now, the school may receive a negative impact because of her." Guo Xiaolan expressed.

"Is she really like that?" Iris asked her since she's her senior and had stayed in Imperial University for three years now. She had heard stories but she wanted to confirm.

"Well, Lady Jin? She's a very known bully here in school. A lot of scholars decided to quit because of her since her first year. It's not our fault if we were smarter than her. She wanted to be on top, always!" Guo Xiaolan narrated.

"Well, Master Ling Bao and her earned their titles as the king and queen of the school because they were both on top. But actually, both of them were not deserving. But when compared to each other, the former was better than the latter." Guo Xiaolan added.

"It's alright now I guess. At least EJ had asked Master J to punish her, his sister. I don't know if she would survive if it was EJ who gave her the punishment that she deserved." Iris hinted.

"Really?! I thought she and her minions were serving their one week community service outside as punishments." Guo Xiaolan asked in surprise.

"Well, they might do that. It all depends to Master J. But I doubt Master would let her off this time. She had attempted to hurt someone very important to him. I think he would make sure she would regret what she had done. I doubt… even her parents could not save her from him." Iris added.

"Geez! Good thing you were there to stop them from hurting EJ."

"Well, I happened to pass by the area and arrived just in time to stop them." Iris shrugged her shoulder in the process.

Guo Xiaolan then tapped her uninjured shoulder and said, "You did a good job! So there's no need to worry about it anymore."

"I'm not worrying about it." Iris replied and then sighed deeply.

"That was deep! Tell me what's wrong? Is something bothering you right now?"

"Nothing." She denied.

"I don't believe you honestly. Come on! Tell me." Guo Xiaolan pleaded.

"Is it about love? Oh my! Don't tell me you're in love!" Guo Xiaolan could only guess.

Seeing that Iris was silent, Guo Xiaolan's teasing smile became wider.

"I knew it! Who's the lucky guy?" Guo Xiaolan excitedly asked her.

"There's no lucky guy. And give me a break, please. I'm just confused." Iris told her.

"Oh. Then, why so confused? Do you want any help?"

"No need." Iris felt like Guo Xiaolan would not understand her.

"Let's go. It's going to be dinner soon." Iris told her and was about to stand up but was pushed back by Guo Xiaolan back to her seat.

Marie also joined them inside the room.

"What's wrong with her?" Marie immediately asked especially when she saw that Iris was wearing a problematic face.

"Feels like spring is finally happening to her." Guo Xiaolan whispered to Marie.

"Oh! Then that means our Iris is in love?" Marie asked Guo Xiaolan for confirmation.

Marie didn't need to ask where Iris got her injuries as she happened to hear it from Darren herself.

"I guess so." Guo Xiaolan simply said.

"Geez! Girls, please stop! It's already enough that Lady Boss and Master Boss keep on feeding us dog food everyday. Do you want me to add as well? I believe you guys won't survive." Iris reasoned just to make them quiet or change the subject.

"Wait, Lady Boss? Master Boss? Do you mean brother-in-law and EJ?" Guo Xiaolan asked Iris in excitement.

"Yes." Iris sighed as she thought that she had successfully diverted the topic to Kim Eunji and Nathan.

"Wow, that's cute!" Guo Xiaolan complimented.

"Wait, I suddenly recall that you addressed her as Mistress when Ling Bao confronted EJ earlier. What's really your relationship with EJ? Are you really her cousin? Or is she your employer? It's kind of confusing."

"I'm in no position to tell you." Iris chose to not say anything.

"Oh, you're so KJ Iris. Come on!"

"Well, I think I'll leave this to your imagination." Iris said in finality. But since Iris didn't want to talk about her relationship with Kim Eunji then the topic went back to her.

"So that means the guy or the girl is here at school!" Guo Xiaolan exclaimed in happiness. However, Iris didn't know if she should laugh or cry.

"No. She's not a student here. It just so happen that she's here." Iris immediately covered her mouth as she knew she had messed up.

Honestly, she wanted to ask help but she didn't know how to get that help and whom she should ask.

"What's wrong?" Kim Eunji came in. She just came back from Nathan's villa. She had to get some stuff to bring there. Like her laptop, camera and some of her clothes.

"Well, Iris here is having some love problems." Guo Xiaolan explained.

"Spring has finally smiled to her." Kim Eunji chose to tease Iris.

"Not you, too Mistress!" Iris whined.

"What? What did I do?" Kim Eunji acted innocent.

Iris decided to stay quiet.

"EJ, is Iris your subordinate?" Guo Xiaolan decided to ask Kim Eunji instead.

"She's a family. A friend whom I can rely and lean on. My protector even though I found it unnecessary since I can protect myself. She was arranged by my cousin J, to look after me. But I'd prefer look at her as a friend, a sister than be someone in charge for my security and safety." Kim Eunji honestly said.

"Oh, wow!" Guo Xiaolan said in amazement.

"Wait, didn't I already tell you about this?"  Kim Eunji asked.

"You did?" Guo Xiaolan asked back.

"I think I did." Kim Eunji answered though she was unsure herself.

"Okay. Well, I forgot so it's an even." Guo Xiaolan replied in nonchalance.

Dinner came and Kim Eunji went with Nathan to have their private dinner leaving Iris with the girls.

She was about to follow Kim Eunji earlier but the latter had waived her hand and asked her to stay.

"Who are you looking for?" Yun Mei softly asked Iris as she saw that the latter had been looking around the cafeteria. But for Iris, she felt like she was teasing her instead.

"No one. Let's just eat." Iris said but deep down, her thoughts were wandering and in a mess.

"Okay. As you wish." Yun Mei said in retreat.

After dinner, the girls decided to went back to their respective dorms.

Since Kim Eunji was with Nathan, Iris felt board and wanted to talk to someone but the girls were out of options.

She didn't want to get trapped with their teasing.

She decided to go out just to kill the time. She went to the yard and decided to sit on one of the park bench.

She had been sighing a couple of times now.

"Geez! Brain, can you just stop?!" She mumbled as she ruffled her hair.

"Seems like someone was having some trouble." A voice behind her echoed.

"Derek." Even though she didn't see the man, she immediately knew who he was.

"Hi!" he greeted her.

"What are you doing here? Go back! They might need your help."

"Go back and what? Hear their endless moaning? No thanks. It would be the death of me!"

"Oh!" Iris face was suddenly became shy as she understood what Derek means.

"And besides, there are many guards there to seek help if there's any." He added.

"How's your injuries? You fought pretty good earlier." He asked as he volunteered to sit on the empty space beside her.

"Not aching. Dr. Amanda made me drink pain killers though I know it's not really necessary." Iris said.

"Oh. Then you should at least rest now. You must be really tired given how extreme you had fought those thugs back there." He commented.

"Nah, I'm fine. I had a nap earlier." Iris told him.

"Is something bothering you? You won't be like this if there's nothing."

"Fine. Xiaolan had been pestering me since earlier. Good thing she knew how to not disclose everything to the rest. It would really be embarrassing." Iris honestly answered.

"Well, I'm all ears." He encouraged.

"I don't know. Really. Like I'm confused about this person. I felt something about her but it was still too early to classify it as that feeling which could be spelled in eight letters and three words."

"Is that person single?" Derek asked her.

"Probably. I don't know. We didn't know each other that much. But I guess she is." She honestly told him.

"Oh, a she?!" Derek would definitely be lying if he would say he was not surprised about it.

"I know this is wrong." Iris felt sad as she realized that.

"There's no right or wrong when it comes to love. And there's no gender in love. We didn't even know if cupid is a boy or a girl. All we knew about him or her was that if he decided to hit our hearts with his or matching arrows, there's barely no escape for that feeling."

"Geez! Why are we talking about love when it's still early September? It's not yet February. It's not yet Valentine's Day!"

Derek could only chuckle because of her antics.

Iris also laughed with him however her laugh faded when Derek told her something.

"I like you Iris."

"What?!" Iris immediately stood up from her seat.

"I like you so much...like romantically. In fact, if you'd allow me, I'll court you." Derek admitted which made Iris's mind to be blown away.

"We-wait! You like me?" Iris asked him one more time as she slowly processed everything.

"En!"

"Why me?"

"Why does it have to be you?" Derek asked her but it was more like asking himself.

"Geez! Be serious!"

"I am serious. I really don't know why it has to be you. Blame cupid then." He reasoned.

"Gosh! Could this day end quick please?!" She could only say that. It was too much for her to handle.

"Why? You don't like me? Did I lose my chance already? Do you love her now?"

"Derek." Iris helplessly told him to stop.

"I'm sorry to bring the bad news but Iris would never like you because I'm here!" Someone spoke behind them.

They decided to turn around to scold the person who was eavesdropping on their conversation but Iris was surprised to know who the person was.

"Miss Alice."

"Alice?!"

The next second, Alice walked towards Iris and grabbed her lapel and bring her closer to her.

With no hesitation, Alice kissed Iris in front of Derek.

"You're mine! She's mine!"