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Part 17

The moment Jessica's and my eyes locked each other, I could already sense trouble brewing in. I stood up from my bent position, clutching the papers in my hands, and faced her without a word uttered. We both just looked at each other for quite some time before she finally said something.

"Thanks." She spoke icily as she pulled her papers from my hands. I didn't react to that and just nodded, turning to walk away when she suddenly grabbed my hand and said, "Where are you going? I still have something to say to you."

I stopped and waited for her to get it over with. "What is it?" I asked, trying to sound friendly though I wanted it to be otherwise. I had to behave, so I wouldn't get into any more trouble, that was all I had in mind.

She smiled irritatingly at my reaction. "I was just wondering, how does it feel to lose your best friend?" She asked in a very irritating mock-sympathetic tone. "I didn't really expect Nam to listen to me yesterday. I mean, the other day, she was actually trying to threaten me about you, then the next day, she turned on you."

I knew what she was doing. She was taunting me, no doubt about it. And it was supposed to be working, since I really felt like fighting back at the start of her words. But when she mentioned about Nam threatening her, the tables suddenly turned. Nam really was telling the truth all along. That was all I needed to hear.

"I don't know, Jessica. Maybe you can tell me." I asked her confidently with a smug smile. "Or maybe not, because you don't know since she's not really your friend, now is she?"

"Hey! You're asking for a fight?" she asked with her eyebrows raised at me.

I let out a forced laughter. "Me? Of course not. In fact, I didn't mean for that to hurt you. Did that hurt you? I'm so sorry."

I knew that she would definitely get annoyed at that. And sure enough, she pushed me hard in response and I stumbled backwards. "You think you're so great, do you?" she remarked angrily. Then she raised her arm again to hit me and I braced for the impact.

However, nothing happened, her hand didn't reach me. Somebody appeared from behind me all of a sudden and grabbed her hand before it could reach me.

The first name that came into my mind when I saw the hand was Kongpob Suthiluck. It was definitely a man's hand and...I mean, who else would save me?

However, when I turned behind me, I felt disappointed to see someone else standing behind me.

Just a bit disappointed...

It was Daniel, that was why I was only a bit disappointed. He gave me a wide smile as I looked at him, and then he turned back to Jessica with a serious expression.

"Let go of my hand." Jessica ordered in a calm manner, though her eyes were grew darker. "This doesn't concern you."

"Yes, it does." Daniel answered. Then he turned to me again. "Let me handle this. Get out of here."

I nodded, turned around and walked away, despite the fact that Jessica was still shouting behind me, demanding me to stop.

As I was walking away, I caught sight of Nam together with Kongpob and Joss in the hallway. She probably called them as soon as she saw my encounter with Jessica. I didn't know what she had told them, but it didn't make Kongpob look too happy. In fact, he looked extremely pissed off.

Very very pissed off.

I breathed a heavy sigh and walked up to them. As soon as I reached them, Nam grabbed me by the shoulders with a worried look on her face. "What happened? How'd you avoid the fight with Jessica?" she asked.

"Daniel came for me. He's the one dealing with her right now." I answered quietly, noticing how Kongpob's expression turned from being pissed to being upset for some reason. He scoffed angrily, but kept his piercing gaze on me.

Nam frowned. "How? I mean, could he do that?" she asked carefully.

Of course I knew what she was worried about. It was a given fact that Jessica was absolutely reckless and unstoppable unless it was Kongpob himself who would stop her. But before I could say anything to that, Kongpob suddenly moved past me and Nam and headed towards where I came from. Joss followed behind him, a confused look on his face.

"Where's he going?" I asked Nam in a whisper, not wanting to let Kongpob hear me.

Nam shrugged. "I don't know." She remarked. Then she signaled me to follow her as she tailed behind Joss.

As we followed them, I realized that Kongpob was approaching Jessica. And seeing that, I couldn't help but wonder, was he going to have a fight with Jessica?

Or was it with Daniel?

When Kongpob reached Jessica, she instantly stopped shouting at Daniel and turned to Kongpob with a small smile. "Kongpob." She exclaimed in fake-surprise.

Okay, so I expected him to ignore her greeting and just grab her hand, pulling her away from Daniel. Or if not that, he would face Daniel and then punch him for whatever reason. After all, he was pissed, right? (I guessed I was too influenced by Korean TV dramas of handsome men rescuing their loved-ones in the coolest ways possible).

Unfortunately, Kongpob did neither of them. Instead, he had his usual charming smile on his face. "Jessica." He started slowly, smiling wider. "You like me a lot, don't you?"

When he said those words, I really wanted to snap at him for being so damn full of himself. But Nam seemed to have seen right through me before I could do anything. "Don't even think about it." She warned me quietly and held me by my arm.

But the funny thing was, when Jessica heard Kongpob's question, she blushed deep red and nodded like a lovesick puppy. It was really ironic how she could act so tough in front of everyone else yet she looked like a helpless child in front of Kongpob.

"Then you'll listen to anything I say, right?" Kongpob continued, smiling even wider. When Jessica nodded again, he placed his hand on Jessica's arm, asking her to lower it. "Put down your hand."

It was amazing, really, how Jessica executed Kongpob's every command without hesitation. She was like a robot programmed to follow every word Kongpob uttered. And as much as I hated it when Kongpob acted like he was some mighty brat with all the power in the world, I was actually enjoying the show.

Once Jessica finished doing what Kongpob asked her to do, she smiled at him widely. "Do I get a reward for what I just did?" She spoke flirtatiously, batting her fake eyelashes.

"A reward? You want something in return?" Kongpob asked, suddenly changing his smile into a playful one.

"Of course, I think I deserve one." Jessica answered, sliding closer to Kongpob and seemingly unbothered by us witnessing the whole thing.

Kongpob looked behind him, eyes scanning through the crowd of students staring at the school's most popular guy confronting Jessica. Then, his eyes locked with mine and for some reason, when Kongpob saw me, there was that familiar mischievous glint in his eyes.

And I knew immediately he meant trouble.

Ohoh...

What is that arrogant brat up to now?

"Okay then, I'll give you a reward." He finally told Jessica, facing her again. "I'm going to tell you the truth about Nam and my breakup."

"What?!" Joss exclaimed from the crowd, prepared to step forward, but Kongpob nodded his head at him to signal that it was alright and Joss stayed quiet.

"Jessica, do you know that there's a person behind the breakup? The real reason for it?" Kongpob continued, moving closer to Jessica. "Do you want to know who he is?"

...He???

Did I hear it correctly???

From the way Kongpob was moving closer to Jessica and smiling that knee-droppingly handsome smile at her, it seemed like he was talking about her. And because of that, Jessica looked pretty hopeful and smiling widely as she answered him. "Why don't you tell me?"

Ugh...I guess no one else had heard the "he" part...

Or they just chose to not pay attention to it.

"Well, that person is pretty, smart and...feisty." Kongpob replied playfully. "There's no one who thinks of me the way that person does."

As Kongpob was talking, Jessica's lips formed into a wider smile as she was absolutely certain Kongpob was describing her. "Go on." She told him excitedly.

"What else can I say? Aaah, that person is very near me right now." He said, closing in on Jessica and leaning close to whisper in her ear.

That was all I could take. My stomach had twisted into uncomfortable knots and I couldn't stand looking at them any longer. I was about to puke from their disgusting flirting.

Although, a tiny part of me felt also angered by this flirtatious scene in front of me. Why did Kongpob chose to be so...overly nice with Jessica? Did he really like her?

...

But the bigger question was...

...

Why was I so bothered by Kongpob liking her?

Ugh...

And so, before I could puke all over the hallway (or worse, say something I would regret later), I started moving backwards to quietly leave the scene. But before I could, Nam grabbed my hand and shook her head. "Don't go just yet. I think he's going to say it now." She whispered to me, her eyes on Kongpob.

"Let me tell you then..." Kongpob said in a loud teasing voice, that sly handsome smile widening on his face and making his chocolate brown eyes twinkle with excitement. He really did seem genuinely happy about this.

I sighed and decided to stay for 1 more minute. I glanced at Daniel who was standing on the sides as well and I could tell from the displeased expression on his face that he wasn't enjoying the show either.

All eyes were on Kongpob, the anticipation grew but so did the tense silence and after a while I was pretty sure that 1 minute was up. Frustrated, I walked up to Daniel, nudged at him and started walking away.

But the moment I turned around to leave, Kongpob's voice bellowed loudly and what he said was absolutely unbelievable.

"...That person is Arthit Rojnapat."

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