Chapter 3

My cousin drove away. I stood there watching for a long time before carrying the lychees back to the dorm.

Sure enough, as soon as I entered, I was met with my roommate's strange look.

"What's wrong?"

He laughed awkwardly. "Ah, lychees are already in season? I love lychees."

Usually, he loved taking advantage of small perks.

But I locked the lychees in my cabinet. "These are for me only. I can't give you any."

His expression grew even stranger. He pushed the tissue box on my desk over to his own.

Like he wanted to draw a clear line between us.

I opened the school forum and, as expected, many people had photographed my "intimate moments" with my cousin. I saved them all.

In the afternoon, while checking student attendance, I heard people muttering that I was gay and showing off my wealth.

I didn't explain. I let them gossip.

Then I saw the four girls---Lily and her roommates.

Emma rolled her eyes at me. "Mr. Reed, we went to facilities at noon. They said the school has no precedent for buying refrigerators for individual students. We'd need approval from school leadership. In the meantime, we could only put the medication in the cafeteria's freezer. But when we went to the cafeteria, they said it didn't meet hygiene standards. They refused! We wanted to buy a small fridge for the dorm, but the dorm supervisor won't allow it either."

I shrugged. "Then there's nothing I can do."

Lily said timidly, "Mr. Reed, could you keep a fridge in your office or dorm? A very small one."

I shook my head. "I don't have an office, and high-power appliances aren't allowed in the dorm."

Lily's eyes quickly filled with tears, ready to fall but not quite falling.

Emma felt terrible for her and quickly patted her chest. "I'll buy one and put it in the activity room with a lock. It'll be fine."

But Lily wasn't satisfied. She kept looking at me.

Honestly, she was very beautiful, soft and delicate, inspiring protective instincts. I'd helped her several times before.

God knows I'd only helped her as a teacher should, never imagining it would give her inappropriate ideas.

Emma said sarcastically, "Ha! Some teacher---dressing up like a peacock, not caring about students at all. You deserve this title? I'm going to file a complaint against you!"

I rolled my eyes too. "Ooh, I'm so scared! Go ahead. If you don't, you're a coward!"

All four girls were stunned.

I was an intern teacher who paid close attention to my performance evaluation. I was almost always accommodating to students' requests, known for my good temper.

Now I looked like a completely different person.

After they recovered, they all took out their phones to write complaints to the principal's email.

Not only wasn't I panicking, I mocked them. "A bunch of broke losers acting like entitled babies all day long, like the whole world should pamper you. What garbage. Don't you look in the mirror every day?"

Lily burst into tears.

The other two girls' eyes also reddened.

Only Emma looked at me like an angry bull, eyes bloodshot. "You just wait."

I crossed my arms. "I'm waiting. Who's afraid?"

Emma looked like she was about to explode, pointing at me with her long manicured nail. "Fine. Just wait to get fired!"

I believed her.

These four girls were terrible at studying and terrible people. They were experts at spreading rumors and cyberbullying others.