Had Elize not warned her, Dawn would have got into this quagmire in the worst possible way. However, how did she reach the garden and that too at the same time that these girls had? She lifted her pants and ran a finger on her dragon. "Did you help me?" she asked softly. After sometime of sitting there in solace, Dawn got up, picked her bag and walked out of the garden. The social media was on fire with negative comments about Dawn within a day. By the time it was evening, Elize called her. "Dawn, things are going out of control. Do you have any plans to check it? They are b.i.t.c.hing about you on the forum non-stop. Do you still have that recording in which you caught these girls? It"s Cire and Niall who are spearheading this campaign against you. There is total chaos."
"I don"t have that recording Elize. I had deleted it after Dean"s a.s.surance," she replied with a pain in the back of her throat.
"In that case, I would ask you to not go on the college forum and look at those posts," Elize advised. "If you like I can go and talk to the Dean for you."
Dawn never had a presence in social media, so she chose to ignore it all. Besides, she had a lot on her platter to deal with. She said, "No, Elize, there is no point in going to the Dean."
"Then how will you combat this?" Elize sounded worrisome.
Dawn took a deep breath and said, "I have to give my quiz tomorrow. It is important that I get good grades in order to maintain my scholars.h.i.+p. So for now I will concentrate on my studies."
She heard a sigh from Elize. "Well, if I can help you in any way, let me know, okay?"
"Sure," Dawn said and then got back to study for her test. The University had internal a.s.sessments for the Management students. Students had to pa.s.s them with nice grades in order to have good overall results by the end of the year. With Dawn, it was a necessity. She had to have good results to maintain her scholars.h.i.+p.
Next day Dawn went to give the quiz. When she went to the cla.s.s, almost everyone was looking towards her with so much animosity that she cringed. Oscar waved at her. She waved back at him and went to sit on her seat. The quiz started and lasted for an hour. After the test, the Professor announced, "Day after tomorrow we will have a special cla.s.s in the visual theater where we will be talking and watching about the anti-fragility of a leader"s mind. Make sure that you all attend the cla.s.s. Sociology Professor Jen O" Riley will also be giving us insights about an interesting topic."
Dawn"s hands were clammy upon hearing that. Professor Jen O" Riley was Mairin"s father.
As soon as the Professor left, Oscar called Dawn from across the cla.s.sroom, "Come here Dawn!"
Dawn collected her bag and replied, "I am sorry. I have to go somewhere." Before Oscar could protest, she was already gone.
Dawn puffed her cheeks and walked out of the cla.s.s only to see how other students were looking at her and talking everything s.h.i.+tty they could think of. Her head was reeling and she felt nausea rising. Because of her heightened sense of hearing, she heard them saying-
"What a s.l.u.t?"
"Poor Mairin. She had a miscarriage because of her."
"What? How come?"
"Because she went and hara.s.sed her."
"Oh my G.o.d! She is such a b.i.t.c.h. Now that she has Oscar wrapped around her little finger, she went after Mairin?"
"I hope that Oscar sees through her."
"They say that Mairin was traumatized by her because she went and threatened her to back off from Oscar."
"Poor Mairin. It is possible that this trauma caused her miscarriage."
Tears welled in Dawn"s eyes but she stopped them from coming out. Had it been her country, this wouldn"t have happened at all. In fact her father would have wiped out all the posts from social media and protected her. However, he wasn"t there anymore. She was alone. Dawn quickened her pace and left the University Campus.
She didn"t come for the cla.s.ses for the rest of the day and also the next. The college forum was buzzing with the rumor upon rumor about her that she was hiding in shame and that how she seduced Oscar for her own benefits. After all, he was a prize catch being the son of a prominent businessman. They all were after her to apologize to Mairin and Cire. Some even went to the extent of telling the Dean to revoke Cire"s suspension and take her back in the golf team. Some asked for Dawn"s suspension.
And all this time no one heard a thing from Dawn. It was as if the ground had swallowed her or she had disappeared in thin air.
Oscar must have called her over fifty times, but she didn"t pick his phone.
In the meantime, Niall and Mairin had decided to shame Dawn publicly, for which the plan was that as soon as she would step in the college next, they would start announcing from the Campus"s radio room as to how she deceived Mairin and framed Cire falsely. They would bully her to the extent that she would get rattled. They had asked Oscar to send them a message as soon as he saw her. They planned on finis.h.i.+ng her completely. So they waited for her with all preparation for two days.
The irony of it all was that Dawn never wanted any attention and on the contrary she was in the middle of it all. She wanted a peaceful life and yet just because of other people"s aspirations, she became the scapegoat. In short, her life was a complete mess.
Dawn came to the University two days later and that too for the visual cla.s.s that was compulsory to attend.
Excited to spot her, Oscar immediately messaged Niall about her. Niall sprinted to the radio room while calling Mairin. The plan was perfect. Mairin had already told her father about Dawn and knew that she would be chopped to pieces in the visual cla.s.s. Her excitement was over the roof. She couldn"t wait to appear like a victim. She didn"t know how many advantages she could take. The first one being acceptance from Oscar"s family despite her miscarriage. It was like getting featured on the town"s social scene.
When Dawn reached the cla.s.s, she noticed that the Professor of Marketing was talking with the technicians whether they had set up the projector or not. He had given them the pen drive that had to be played.
Dawn came and sat in the right corner of the room just behind Oscar. He seemed to s.h.i.+ft in his place with her proximity.
"Hi!" she whispered.
He replied faintly, "h.e.l.lo Dawn." Then he turned and said in a sugary tone, "Where were you all these days? I missed you a lot."
"Oh! I am sorry, I had a lot to do," she replied with a tight smile. Then she bent down to pick her bag and took an envelope out. Handing it over to him she said in a honeyed voice, "This is for you."
Oscar was slightly taken aback but he played with her. He moved his hand forward to take the envelope but Dawn immediately removed it. "You have to promise me one thing."
"What?" he asked with a frown.
"Open it after the cla.s.s is over," she purred.
"Sure," he chuckled. He thought that after the cla.s.s, she would be begging for mercy.
Professor O" Riley came and sat down next to the Marketing Professor. He stared at Dawn for a moment and then lowered his eyes. His facial muscles were tight as he glanced at her time and again.