Chapter 24："My Condolences"

Inside the radio room, Mairin's anger was unleashed like hell. It came deep inside from her stomach. She looked as if she would destroy anything and everything that came in her path and right now Niall was the biggest obstacle. In her raging sea of anger, she held Niall's hair and shook her head violently. "You slut!" she shouted at her. "You have been sleeping with Oscar all this while. No wonder Oscar hadn't picked up my calls. When I called his family to enquire about him, they said that he is at a friend's place." She pointed at Niall and shouted, "He was with you in the Lake Villa in the same bed that he shared with me!"

Niall's eyes bulged with shock. How did she know? Did Oscar tell her? It was a perfect plan. She had roped in Oscar so tactfully. Her plan was simply foolproof. Then how did the information leak out?

In her fury, Mairin kicked the chair on which Niall was sitting. Niall fell down with the chair, hurting her back. "Stop it!" she winced in pain. "I haven't done anything. It is Dawn who is the culprit. You should go and tell her." She somehow got up and crawled out of the chair. Her body was trembling.

"Really?" Mairin spat. She took her phone out, clicked on her social account, and showed her the video that had gone viral. "You whore! This is what you've been doing behind my back. I gave you my personal information and you went around to use it against me? You sick hoe! I trusted you so much and this is what you did to me? How dare you sleep with the man I had been dating for so long? I thought that you had roped him only to pull Dawn down, but I didn't know that you went and fucked him and even told me about my medical condition." Mairin said that in one breath. She inhaled deeply and placed her hands on her waist. She stood straight and ran one hand through her hair in tension. She realized one thing at that point of time – if Niall had planned a horrible plot against Dawn in the beginning to remove her from the golf team, how could she not repeat the same treacherous behavior? Plotting and destroying people's reputation was her basic nature. She would do that again. She realized what a fool she was to be entwined in connivance with her.

Niall's lips trembled and her mind became numb. She checked in Mairin's phone that there was an explosion of comments about her in the social media. Everything that she had schemed crumbled in front of her and so did her prestige and character. When she read the statement from Elize about filing a police complaint, her chest became heavy. Even if Elize didn't file the report, the police might come knocking at her door. She shook her head and brought her fist to her mouth. "This just can't be," she croaked. She stared down with her neck bent forward as her tears kept pouring out and fell on the floor. Only one question bounced in her head – how did this happen? Who took that video and how?

Unbeknownst, the entire University heard about what happened in the radio room.

---

Inside the classroom, Oscar had gone berserk. He scraped his hands through his hair and his breath accelerated as nervousness took over him. He eyed the exit and bounced his knee. The increased sweat on his hands and feeling of faintness only made matters worse. From the back Dawn could see how fidgety he was. She crossed her arms across her chest and relaxed back on her chair. The students were talking in whispers about Oscar. The entire focus had shifted from her.

She noticed that Professor O' Riley was sitting with his back stiff as a ramrod. She clucked her tongue and waited for the video to get over.

However, the Professor of Marketing got up and said loudly, "Stop playing this immediately."

The technician pressed the stop button. The lights came back. He looked at Dawn and gave her a knowing wink.

Oscar's eyes fell on the envelope that Dawn had given him. He opened it and took the card out. On it was written "My Condolences." Furious, he tore the card and looked around to find Dawn. When his eyes spotted her, he stared at her with daggers in his eyes. Then he got up from his place and dashed out.

Professor O' Riley's face was red in embarrassment. He was internally thankful that the video didn't have his daughter, Mairin, else his life would have become impossible. He didn't dare look at anyone. He just got up and left in a hurry.

Sitting back with a relaxed mind, Dawn remembered how two days back when she came to know about the deceit, she didn't know how to handle it. She had gone back home with a heavy heart. Since there was no one she could turn to, she tried to concentrate on her studies for the next day's quiz. It was during the midnight that she got a text from Elize.

[If this is of any help, then Oscar is cheating Mairin with Niall.]

Dawn couldn't understand why Elize told her so late, but she didn't ask her, instead she replied, [How do you know?]

[They have been meeting secretly for two months.]

[How will this help me?]

[Currently, they are together at Oscar's Lake Villa. I can take you there.]

[Let's go now?]

[No, it is too late for me now. Let us go tomorrow evening. They will be there until the weekend.]

[Do you think it would be worth it?]

[We can try…]

With Elize's information, Dawn's mind relaxed a little. She could see light at the end of the tunnel. She went off to sleep with a disturbed mind.

Next day she came to give her test to the University and rushed back home.

Elize called her at 4PM and gave her the address of the Lake Villa. "Meet me there, in an hour."

Located at the far end of the town, it was a beautiful property but very peaceful. The two of them sneaked their way inside through the backyard. Elize took her to the window of the room where things were 'happening'. Luck was in Dawn's favor. She heard them moaning and immediately took the camera to the window's edge with the help of a selfie-stick and started recording.

Elize was having a hard time stopping her giggles all the while. Shina, another member of the golf team had filled her with the information. She didn't know where Shina got her information from.

As soon as they had got enough evidence, they brought the camera down and left as quietly as cats. The two friends burst into laughter while driving back.

"Wish you all the best," Elize said as she dropped her home.

"Thanks," Dawn replied and hugged her. "See you tomorrow."

In the evening Dawn called Arawn.

"Can you help me with something?" she asked.

Arawn folded his hands around his chest and said, "First tell me what is going on between you and Mairin."

It was a small place. Dawn wasn't surprised about his knowledge about the entire fiasco. She told him everything right from the beginning.

Arawn shook his head in indignation. "Niall is very crafty," was all he could say. "So how can I help you?"

"I need her Mairin's medical records."

"That would be risky to get, but not impossible." There was a wicked smile on his face. After all he was a magical beast. "Give me an hour."

Next day, when Dawn went to the video classroom, she knew that Arawn had already told the technician what to do. So when the lights went out, she gave the pen drive to him.

After the video was played, the Campus and the town buzzed with the latest scandal. Dawn was forgotten and if she was remembered, it was how she escaped the conspiracy just in time. Mairin, Oscar and Niall became the talk of the town.

Niall was finished. Cire stopped hoping of ever getting back in the Campus.

Oscar and Mairin could kiss goodbye to their liaison.

Later that day, Elize and Dawn went to the golf range and practiced their hearts out.

Dawn Wyatt decided never to get into a relationship ever.

Little did she know that ever since she had left the country, he would go almost every week to the place where he had found his abandoned car that rainy night. Daryn was desperate to smell the scent that had a drug-like effect on him.