7
Ivy was completely frozen, the tears forgotten on her cheeks.
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I gave a sarcastic smile, my gaze sweeping over everyone present. “Like I said, the person in that room is no my husband.”
“My husband and Nathan switched rooms this afternoon. Professor, if you need confirmation, you can checl
the records at the front desk.”
At these words, Ivy’s face turned sheet-white. Her body began to shake violently, as if all her strength ha been drained away.
Several of the female students looked at Nathan with strange expressions.
Nathan was notorious among his peers for being slovenly and unkempt, and it was well-known that he had : one-sided crush on Ivy. He’d often tried to flirt with her, but she found him repulsive and had complained to
me about him in private.
Now, they looked at Ivy with a complex mix of pity and secondhand embarrassment.
Ivy was in a state of shock, too stunned to even cry. The realization of who she had been with, the sight of Nathan with his sleep-mussed hair and rumpled pajamas, made her stomach churn. She gagged, retching dryly.
The crowd fell into an awkward silence.
Only I stepped forward, my face a perfect picture of shock and outrage, pointing an accusatory finger at Nathan. “Nathan! How could you do this?! How could you force yourself on Ivy and ruin her reputation?! Do you have any idea the psychological damage you’ve caused? You have to take responsibility for her!”
She wanted someone to be held responsible?
Fine. Let Nathan be responsible.
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Chapter 2
The moment I finished, Ivy’s face turned a shade of livid green, as if she’d heard the most horrifying thing in
the world.
She was already disgusted by the sight of Nathan; now she shook her head violently, screaming, “No! I don’t want him to be responsible! Nothing happened between us! Nothing!”
I sneered internally but kept my face a mask of anger and confusion. “He did this to you, ruined your honor and you don’t want him to be responsible?”
“I think we should call the police! Scum like him belong in jail! And then he should have to compensate you for your suffering!”
Nathan had finally pieced together what was happening. His beady eyes darted around, lingering on Ivy’:
disheveled state.
Suddenly, as if a thought struck him, his eyes narrowed, and a sleazy, triumphant smile spread across hi face. “W-what force? What responsibility? Don’t you go slandering an innocent man!”
“It was… it was Ivy who came to me! I was sound asleep, and she just let herself into my room and… an
jumped on me… I thought…”
He didn’t finish, but his meaning was clear.
The scene descended into an excruciatingly awkward silence.
Some people looked away, mortified. Others looked at Ivy with growing suspicion.
A male student tried to mediate. “Nathan, regardless, this has gotten out of hand. You owe Ivy an explanati
- As for how to handle it, you can discuss it privately, or… let the university deal with it?”
Nathan actually chuckled, scratching his messy hair, his gaze greedily raking over Ivy. “Fine by me! Respons ibility it is! Ivy, how about… you be my girlfriend? I promise I’ll treat you right!”
He even tried to step forward and grab her.
Ivy’s face contorted as if she had been mortally insulted. She let out a piercing shriek. “Get away from me Who would want to be your girlfriend?! You’re disgusting! I don’t need you to be responsible! Nothing happe ned between us! Get away!”
She shoved his outstretched hand away as if he were carrying a plague.
The others quickly intervened, holding Nathan back and shielding the hysterical Ivy.
The girl who had initially defended Ivy looked incredibly embarrassed but still said through clenched teeth, “Let’s call the police! This has to be handled by the police! This is just awful!”
She had just taken out her phone when Ivy lunged forward and grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t call the police! N-no police!” Ivy’s face was ashen, her forehead dotted with cold sweat. Her voice was thin with terror. “I… Nothing happened between us! Let’s just drop it! I won’t press charges! I’m begging you!”
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But now Nathan wouldn’t let it go. He stuck his neck out. “Hey! A minute ago you wanted me to be responsi- ble! Now you don’t? Come on, Ivy, after all that, you might as well just be with me. I mean…”
“Shut up!” Ivy was trembling with rage, cutting him off with a scream. “You’re lying! We didn’t have sex! Noth- ing happened!”
Everyone was completely bewildered by her flip-flopping.
One minute, she was a devastated victim; the next, she was insisting nothing happened and refusing to invo Ive the police.
I looked at Ivy, who was on the verge of a complete breakdown, and pressed my advantage, my voice cold “Ivy, which story is the truth? If nothing happened, then what was all that crying and accusing my husbanc
about?”
“Weren’t you the one who said you were forced, that you couldn’t fight back, that you needed him to be resp onsible? How is it that when the man in question is Nathan, you suddenly change your story and won’t ever call the police?”
The penny finally dropped for everyone. They all turned to look at Ivy with expressions of doubt and scrutiny.
Ivy bit her lip so hard it was a wonder it didn’t bleed. She was shaking from head to toe, unable to offer single word of defense, her eyes filled with panic and despair.
In the next second, I tore away her final pretense, my voice ringing out, ice-cold, in the silent hallway.
“Ivy, don’t tell me you staged this whole thing from the beginning, hoping to frame my husband and force hin to take responsibility for you.”
