As soon as Iris got the gentle push from Kim Eunji, she slowly approached Alice who was still in a daze.
"Alice?" She softly called as she approached her and sat on the opposite side of the bench.
"What do you want?" Alice spoke harshly wanting Iris to leave her alone.
However instead of backing away, Iris fisted her hand for courage and decided to stay beside Alice.
"I just want to check on you. Mistress is quite worried about you. You didn't come back after you receive that call." Iris tried to explain.
"It's over." Alice suddenly blurted out.
"Eh?" Iris was confused on what Alice was talking about.
"Dad! He's dead." Alice suddenly told her the news.
Iris was having some trouble on how to comfort her. She must have had conflicting emotions at the moment.
"I should be happy, right? I mean he'd been neglecting me all this years. But..." tears started to gushed out of her eyes. Iris was at a loss. She felt helpless in front if this crying woman. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to comfort her but a part of said to stay out of it.
'F*ck it!' Iris cursed and at the same time moved closer and gave Alice a warm hug for comfort. Thankfully, Alice didn't denied this comfort and even sob hard on Iris' shoulder.
Now Iris understood why Alice had been frantic since yesterday.
"Why do I feel like the worst daughter in the world? Tell me. Please!!! I don't want this. I don't like this pain! I hate this! Take this pain away!" Alice was mostly pleading. She felt miserable.
Iris on the other hand didn't like seeing Alice this way. She was used to her being cheerful and smiling all the time with other people. Iris excluded herself on the list as she had surely hurt her when she rejected her back then.
Since that day, she became distant and cold towards her. If not for Kim Eunji, Iris didn't know what keeps them connected at some point. She didn't want to lose Alice. That's what she realized during these days of being alone and secretly watching Alice on the sideline whenever she got the chance.
"Hush! Stop crying. You didn't want this. No matter what happened in the past, you're not that heartless to wish him harm, right?" Iris tried her best to comfort her as she gently caressed the latter's back.
Iris was startled when Alice suddenly removed herself from the hug and stood up as she tried her best to wipe away the tears that kept running down her face. Alice didn't even spare Iris a glance and left the place.
Iris was left alone. Frustrated.
She then called Kim Eunji and ask for permission of she could go out for a while.
Kim Eunji didn't ask the reason behind it but decided to let Iris do what she wanted.
Iris used her skills to secretly follow Alice and found herself walking towards a bar not that far from Imperial University. This was an elite bar and no ordinary people could easily get in.
Iris entered the bar at ease. The bouncers guarding on the door immediately recognized who she was therefore they didn't denied her the entrance.
Iris roamed around and scanned the entire area as she looked for Alice.
Then she spotted Alice sitting on the counter and already drowning a glass of what looked like vodka.
Iris decided to settle on the corner table and ordered nothing. The place was so noisy since the bar was hosting a party for tonight. Everyone was dancing and having a good time.
Iris saw how men and women were hovering on each other on the dance floor.
However, her attention was not on them. She was looking at Alice who was now on her nth glass.
Iris didn't know how long she had been staring at Alice but the former saw that the latter was now all tipsy and drunk.
Who wouldn't when she had a row of empty glasses in front of her.
She could also see that a group of men sitting on a nearby table were also eyeing Alice with malice. Good thing this people had not make a move yet.
Iris was also oblivious to the fact that lot of drunk male patrons were also eyeing on her as they were thinking on approaching Iris for a good time together. Who wouldn't?
Iris was fresh, young and beautiful. Fresh in a way that they had not seen her before inside this bar ever.
Iris only realized this when the waiter handed her a glass of cocktail. Iris wanted to refuse the drink saying that she didn't bring any money so how did she manage to order one but the waiter said that it was already paid. It's free. And even pointed towards the direction of the patrons who paid it.
They were smiling with evil intentions towards her.
Sensing that the waiter didn't want to take the cocktail back, she gave up on the idea of returning it. However, Iris didn't drink it and let it rest on the table.
Only a fool would accept it anyways. It was clearly spiked. She had no plans on becoming their victim for tonight. Her plan was to secretly watch Alice and bring her home safely when she was wasted.
She knew that her action would look impolite to those men but she didn't care. Her attention was on Alice now.
Iris frowned when she saw that the attendant at the counter gave Alice a drink that was different from what she had been drinking earlier.
Before she could even react, Alice had already drowned the liquid in one go.
"F*ck!" Iris inwardly cursed and immediately left her spot to approach Iris.
"F*ck it! How can she be careless?" Iris could not help not to scold Alice.
However, her steps halted when someone grabbed her arm to stop her. Iris wanted to let her arm free by swaying it harshly but the hold was so firm that she turned her head to check on who was stopping her.
When she saw who he was and who he was with, she felt like it would be a long night for her.
"Let go!" Iris' voice was dead serious when she said those words. However, the idiots who were clearly drunk had taken her lightly.
"Oh! She's fe-isty *hick*. I like her *hick* already. Would *hick* you like *hick* to come with *hick* us? Let's have *hick* a little fun *hick*." He was clearly wasted as well. So did his companions. They smelt reek of alcohol.
"Let go!" Iris slightly raised her voice to emphasize that she was not in the mood to have fun with her especially when some stranger was now making his way towards Alice's direction and the latter was oblivious to it as she was already very drunk.
However, instead of letting her go, the man held her arm even tighter. He became furious that he forgot his drunken state and started cursing Iris.
"You b*tch of a wh*re! How dare you yell at me?! You have no rights to yell at me! How dare you playing hard to get when it was clear that you came her tonight with the intention of getting laid!?" He was now starting naming her names. But Iris had no care for it. And this angered him even more.
"Boys! Tonight, we'll have a good time!" His companions cheered in joy when they heard him say that. He was about to drag Iris outside but he didn't manage to do so when Iris managed to free herself from his hold when she turned her body towards the man's weak spot. Of course he was caught by surprise that his grip loosened and Iris had taken advantaged of that.
"You!" He was beyond furious now. "Get her!" He ordered.
The commotion they were causing caught the attention of the bouncers and other waiters.
"Excuse me Young Master Fu, but may I ask what's going on?" One bouncer approached them.
"We saw that she was trying to get our Young Master's attention. And when she successfully did, our Young Master offered her a free drink. However, instead of being thankful, this woman was being impolite to our Young Master and started to call him names when we approached her. Of course our Young Master was furious that he wanted to teach her a lesson." One of his companion biasedly explained the situation to him. He was deliberately implying that Iris was a hooker who was playing hard to get in front of them.
Iris was looking at Alice's direction therefore the bouncer did not recognize her at all. But as soon as the bouncer clearly saw Iris' face, he was taken a back and even staggered.
"Chief!" The bouncer greeted her in recognition.
"Bring them out of Master J's bar! I don't want to see them here ever again!"
"Understood!" The bouncer inwardly cursed. How dare this fourth generation heir insulted their chief. If J would find out, he would surely be infuriated. They knew how overprotective J was to Iris like a big brother.
Though unrelated by blood, J had treated Iris like his own sibling. He even felt like Iris was more of like his real sister than Jin Li Rong.
J trusted her enough to entrust Kim Eunji's safety in her hands.
Upon hearing of her identity, Young Master Fu scoffed in disdain.
"Oh! So you're just a subordinate as well. Why don't you be our hostess and be a good example to others? After all, I have been your VIP patron for quite some time now.." Young Master Fu was so drunk that he didn't know what was good for him.
"Cancel his VIP membership. This bar doesn't need an ill-mannered customer." Iris then turned her attention to Young Master Fu when she said the last part making him to be furious.
In his fury, he was about to give Iris a slap but the latter beat him to it when Iris punched him on the face.
The man fell on the ground but Iris didn't feel any pity at all. She then looked towards the direction of where Alice was sitting earlier and she cursed one more time when she saw that she was not there anymore.
Iris ran towards the bar counter pushing people blocking her way.
"Where's the woman who was sitting here just now?" Iris didn't beat around the bush and asked the bartender who spilled the drink he was mixing because Iris startled him.
He wanted to scold her but recognizing who it was, he immediately calmed himself and said, "Oh! She already left with a guy."
"How long have they been away!" she demanded.
"A minute ago. They headed that way." He pointed out the direction where Alice and that random guy went.
Iris didn't waste any time and ran there. She was led into an open parking lot. And even in a distance, she could immediately hear a faint voice of a woman crying for help.
Iris ran towards the direction where the voice was coming from and she felt alarmed when she saw someone pinning a woman on the hood of a car.
Though the place was a bit darker and was a blind spot for the CCTV, she could clearly recognize the woman and she was Alice. And the man already had his pants down on his knees.
Seeing that Alice was about to be raped, Iris' vision turned red.
She dashed towards them and kicked the man on his leg which caught him off-guard and eventually fell on the ground on a kneeling position while groaning in pain.
He didn't get the chance to see who assaulted him as Iris added another kick on the man's chest which made him to lay on his stomach and hit his head on the ground making him to pass out.
Out of disgust, Iris kicked his groin which made him to became conscious and yelled in pain especially when he could feel a hot substance in his inner thigh. When he found out that it was blood, the man passed out once again.
However, Iris didn't pay him any attention as her attention was on Alice who had just passed out because of drunkenness not minding how pitiful she looked right now. Her top was torn by the man and her jeans was already unbuttoned.
"Gosh! How much did you drink to be like this?"
Though she said that, Iris zipped and buttoned her pants back. She also removed her jacket and let Alice to wear it. She was now left with her T-shirt.
She didn't mind if the night breeze was cold. All she cared now was to take Alice home safely.
Seeing that it was already late, Iris decided to bring Alice on the closest hotel she could find. It's not a good idea to go back to the school with how Alice condition. Also, it was already curfew there. She's still a student after all. She would just look for a way on how she could go back there unnoticed tomorrow morning.
Because for some reason, all of the twin rooms were booked for the night since the hotel hosted a function earlier.
So, Iris had no other choice but to book a double room since it's the only available at the moment.
Walking to the hallway of the 19th floor, Iris was carrying Alice on a piggy back since it was easier than walking alongside her.
When she opened the room with her key card, Alice suddenly threw up on her back.
"Gosh! This is gross!" Iris lost her cool.