Xue Guangxi sprung on his feet and rushed towards the exit of the lush botanical garden.
"Where are you going?" Taken aback, Kang Sola rushed after him hurriedly. "I"m going with you! Guangxi, wait!"
Both of them skipped cla.s.s.
As they spoke and went outside the university, further development worsened the situation. A censored video of a girl telling the same confession was released over the campus website. Photo of Guangxi together with a girl whose face was censored leaked at the same time. It was disseminated rapidly at a blink of an eye.
The best of friends were still unaware of it.
They boarded Xue Guangxi"s car and he told the chauffeur where the address they were heading. He also called Butler Lee for help. "Butler Lee, I have a favor to ask of you. There"s a rumor about me in the university. Please help me clean it up and contain it. Conduct an investigation right away and let"s identify who"s behind this. Let"s discuss later. I"m going to meet her."
Xue Guangxi kept silence for a while. It seemed that Butler Lee was responding at the other line. "Yes. Her. Don"t tell my family, please, Butler Lee. I won"t go overboard I promise that."
The two went on the outskirts at a women-and-children center.
"What are we doing here?" Kang Sola"s inquisitiveness got the better of her when she realized where they were.
"To meet someone."
Xue Guangxi talked to the lady at the front desk and asked for a resident of the place.
They were asked to wait in the garden, seated comfortably on benches around a picnic table. Not too far away, children were humming happy noises and laughing while they played on swings and slides.
A few minutes pa.s.sed until a girl approached them tentatively. There was evident fear in her countenance.
Xue Guangxi would have stood up to confront her. He would have wanted to grab her by the collar or elbow and simply make her confess the crime. Good thing he was able to control himself for Kang Sola"s sake who knew nothing of their past. Instead, he sat still, behaving like a docile kid.
"S-Second Young Master." Su Jingjing greeted while getting seated across them. She threw Kang Sola a pa.s.sive glance. The girls nodded at each other.
Xue Guangxi placed the cellphone in the middle of the table and modulated the volume. "I"ll get straight to the point. Do you know any of this?" He played it.
Su Jingjing"s visage went from dull to horrified. "No! No! I swear I don"t know anything about it! I"m living peacefully here, keeping my end of the deal to behave and to be of service to you. I"m at the Xue"s disposal. I won"t betray you again, I promise. I swear."
She was totally defensive but she"s frightened too. It was apparent. "If you"re not involved with it then you"re not. No need to get overly fl.u.s.tered by it."
"Yeah, please calm down." Kang Sola added.
"Sorry."
"What are you sorry for?" Xue Guangxi was irritated with her whims."Guangxi." Kang Sola frowned at her best friend. He was frowning as well, but not at her. He looked away.
"I know you"re innocent Guang… I mean Second Young Master. I"m sorry I can"t really help you with it. But one thing"s for sure. My uncle, w.a.n.g Xi Fu is back. I"m so sure of it. He"s been sending me warnings… hints… even threats… He wants me to leave this place and disappear."
"But… I don"t have any plans to do that and be his accomplice again." She came clean.
Kang Sola was lost. Her gaze went back and forth from the girl to Xue Guangxi.
"Good. You choose well this time." Xue Guangxi stood up, ready to leave. "If there"s anything on your side whether it be related to w.a.n.g Xi Fu, let Butler Lee know immediately." He said stoically without sparing her further glance.
"Let"s go, Sola."
"Huh? En. Okay. I"ll just use the restroom for a bit. Wait for me in the car."
"Okay." Xue Guangxi headed first.
When he was out of earshot, Kang Sola turned to Su Jingjing. "I know it"s not my place to ask but, I"m simply really curious, what happened between you two? Why are you here?"
Su Jingjing bowed her head. "I think it"s better if you ask him. What I can share is my side, my perspective. I… I was his first love, and he was mine, too… But, I betrayed his trust. My uncle tried to kill him years ago. He used me as a bait, a puppet to lure him out of the Xue Family"s protection. It was a simple slip, yet it almost… almost… took his life…" She bit her lips and blinked several times. Her tears were contained well – it did not fall.
She touched Kang Sola"s hands on the tabletop. "I can see that you"re special to him. He trusts you. I… I don"t have the right, but I envy you. Please take care of him. He"s too hurt… I hurt him… I cannot take care of him… We cannot go back to the same innocent selves we were before when we were still full of dreams… Dreams we built together…"
"Not a day went by without me feeling less guilty than I should be feeling. I would want to devote the rest of my life redeeming myself, my reputation to the Xue"s. But his sister doesn"t even want to listen to my pleas. She transferred me here as her last stroke of kindness to me because I have nowhere to go… But that"s it. I"m not even allowed to get near him. I am surprised by your visit today."
"Xu-jie?" Kang Sola had a different version of Xue Jinxu in her mind – a kind, tolerant, doping sister to her and Guangxi. Perhaps she wasn"t the same to Su Jingjing.
Kang Sola was speechless with the new knowledge about Xue Guangxi. Truly, he was not just the heartthrob at school. There"s more to the image that he had been portraying. Her eyes flickered with it.
"Please do tell us if your uncle tries to contact you again, or whatever."
"It"s nice to meet you. I have to go or else Guangxi might come to find me."
She stood and rejoined Xue Guangxi in the car.
***
Meanwhile, inside the car, Xue Guangxi received a call from Butler Lee. "We tried to contain the situation in your university, Second Young Master, by talking to the management. The students who have a copy of the recording were encouraged to delete it. Since nothing has been proven, it"s still a consider slander against your name. Knowing your background, the school does not want to get involved, or better yet, be on your bad side."
"But then, a female student was allegedly a.s.saulted so they have to perform the standard investigation procedure."
"Let them. That"s better so that the truth will be out sooner. I"m not afraid. My conscience is clear." Xue Guangxi retorted rashly, thoughtlessly.
Butler Lee also informed Xue Guangxi of the further development – the video of the same confession as the recording, but the girl"s face was censored beyond identification. He also told him about the picture of him and a girl together. "We"ve been tracing the IP address used to upload the video and photo onto the campus website. Will revert on that. The thing is, Second Young Master… The photo…"
"So there is more to it than the voice recording?! What about the photo?"
"It"s the same photo that the paparazzi took of you and Miss Kang Sola. The ones that we confiscated."
Upon hearing Sola"s involvement, he nearly jumped from his seat.
Butler Lee continued. "But it wasn"t Miss Kang Sola"s face. They edited the photos and used another girl"s face and head."
"What a dumb idea." He scoffed. "We can start there. I"ll discuss this matter with Sola."