Chapter 7
The news of the incident spread like wildfire through several college chat groups.
Hugo called me into his office. “Yvette, what’s going on? We agreed you wouldn’t talk about this. Why is everyone suddenly aware of it?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t?” Hugo’s voice rose in frustration. “Then how do you explain it? The only people who were there were the four of us–you, Rose, Harvey, and me. It had to have been you. I already promised to handle this, so why did you tell everyone? I’m still your faculty advisor. You need to go online and post a statement saying the video was fake, or there will be consequences.”
In the face of such a blatant threat, I took a deep breath and replied, “I didn’t say anything. If you don’t believe me, call the police.”
With that, I turned and walked out of his office.
I never expected that the very next day, I would be facing my parents.
The moment my dad saw me, he slapped me across the face. “Yvette, I heard you’ve been running around causing trouble at college! Do you have any shame?”
I stared at them, feeling like I was back in my past life–when they looked at me as if I were their worst enemy.
I rubbed my face and thought carefully. In this life, because I had reported the incident to the police, Harvey never released the video. So, only the people at our college knew. But somehow, my parents had found out. I was almost certain that Hugo had told them.
I fought back my tears and explained the whole situation to them. I thought that if I told them the truth, they would understand and stop being angry.
Instead, when they learned that Hugo’s reputation had been ruined at the college because of me, they were even more furious.
My dad pointed a finger at me and yelled, “What were you thinking? You’ve offended your faculty advisor! Who cares if others started the rumor? You went and made this whole thing worse. What’s going to happen now?”
My mom added, “Your dad’s right, Yvie. You’ve made an enemy of your advisor. What if he starts making things difficult for you? You shouldn’t have paid attention to the rumors in the first place.”
As I listened to their harsh words, the weight of the situation hit me like a cold wave.
I remembered how, in my past life, when I returned home, my parents blamed me for not calling the police sooner. They insisted that if I hadn’t done anything wrong, no one would have falsely accused me.
They went on and on about how I should have reported it right away.
Finally, I snapped. “Enough. If you think I’m wrong, then don’t consider me your daughter anymore.”
Without waiting for a response, I turned and walked out.
Behind me, my dad’s voice echoed angrily. “What’s with your attitude? We’re just trying to help you! Do you think making a scene will do you any good? If your attitude isn’t usually problematic, why would anyone say these things about you?”
I was disheartened at his words and said, “Yeah, I’ve got problems with my attitude. Fine. Cut ties with me then, and don’t call me your daughter anymore.”
+25 BONUS
Chapter 7
It seemed that their pride and reputation were more important than anything in the world.
When it became clear that they couldn’t force me to apologize to Hugo, they gave up trying to reason with me. They stormed off, threatening that if I kept this up, I would regret it someday.
I returned to my dorm, and the first person I went to see was Melanie. I didn’t even hesitate–just marched right up to her and asked, “It was you, wasn’t it?”
Melanie clearly felt guilty, and she avoided my gaze. “What do you mean?”
“The rumors about Rose and Hugo–did you spread them?”
She nodded and apologized. “I just couldn’t stand it. I didn’t know Hugo would blame it all on you. I’m sorry. I’ll go talk to him and tell him to leave you alone.”
I stopped her, shaking my head. “Hugo is a jerk. You wanna join me in making sure everyone knows how he really is?”
