บท 33: I am evil, herself

SHE WALKS THROUGH THE PARKING LOT, headed for the small store on campus. In her simple grey trousers and white buttoned-down shirt, she eyes other girls gathered around the parking lot.

The girls chat with excited smiles to their friends, while some hang around their boyfriends and goof around. The other thing Aubrey notices; they all have nice, fancy clothes on. Even those who don't like to dress up, have nice, quality clothes on.

She doesn't let that fact distract her for too long as she hastens towards the snack store to get lunch before her afternoon classes.

It becomes more exhausting everyday having to juggle between part time jobs and school work, making it harder to focus on her social life.

Since Aubrey and her project partner, Harper finished their assignment, they have not spoken. Aubrey knows Harper has been avoiding her since their last encounter and she hasn't seen her around either; she has also been absent from classes.

Speaking of things not seen and heard of, Aubrey hasn't encountered any godly activities for two weeks now.

Ever since she miraculously appeared at the front of her doorstep- back at Mid-Bayern, Aubrey hasn't seen Connor. Even Kai who promised to come to her the next morning, he was never spotted, not even in a silhouette form.

That should be a great thing. Maybe all that happened two weeks ago was all her imagination and she can blend back into her ordinary life. However, ordinary starts to feel boring to Aubrey.

She jolts when a basketball hits her feet.

"Oh, so sorry about that." A tall and dark boy runs up to her, apologizing as he picks up his ball.

The little scene along with her squeak, draws attention and people around start turning to her.

She suddenly gets self-conscious of the stares directed to her but she keeps on walking. She only needs to get food and get back to class.

Unfortunately, that isn't all fate has in store for Aubrey.

As her eyes wanders round the lot for familiar faces and on-going drama between students, she accidentally comes in contact with some Juniors. She recognizes them for their immoral and spoilt behavior. Aubrey hastens her steps to get away from them and their toxicity.

"Who is that?"

One of the four girls look over at her after the basketball incident.

"You don't know who it is?"

A frown appears on Aubrey's face, surprised by how she can clearly hear them speak when she is a feet away. Could it be the wind's direction causing the echo to be this loud? She wonders.

She starts walking faster in order not to hear what they have to say about her, but no matter how far and fast she walks, she can still hear the girls.

"That's Aubrey Kim. A sophomore."

"I haven't heard much about her but most people say she has anger issues; turns down invites and doesn't speak to anyone."

"What a loner. Her parents are dead, right?"

Aubrey's fingers form a fist but she keeps walking away. Soon, she will be out of the lot and unable to hear their gossips. However, once she is out of the parking lot, their voices are still audibly heard.

"Didn't you hear what happened to Harper Quinn?"

"She got partnered with her for a project and since then, no one has seen Harper or heard from her ever since."

"Are you saying she had something to do with that?"

"Gosh, we better get back into class and stop staring at a psychopath."

"Even her clothes don't look normal. This school really should watch the kinds of people they give admissions out to."

Aubrey halts in her steps, anger taking over. She worked hard to get into Mid-Bayern University and deserved every penny her parents spent, then they dare talk about her and her family without a second thought? She isn't trained to take insults as compliments.

She tightens her fist, stumping her feet on the ground. She has had enough of people gossiping about her because she doesn't participate in whatever the other students of Mid-Bayern do.

She turns around, prepared to walk up to them but she is shocked by what she encounters.

She suddenly shivers as her eyes land on Kai, standing before her.

Once she turns, her face almost smashes right into his chest which gives her a heart attack; hyperbolically speaking.

He straightens up, arching his back elegantly to look bigger and intimidating, while his eyes roam round campus as he pretends not to have spotted Aubrey.

Aubrey can't breathe as her eyes are trained on him. She did not expect him to appear all of a sudden once she turned. She has been expecting the gods' presence for a while now, however, seeing Kai here gets her shaken.

His eyes finally come to settle on her pale face and he smirks.

The smirk that says he is up to no good.

Aubrey breathes out, able to catch her breath once she is relaxed.

All she wanted was a peaceful walk to lunch.

"I got this for you."

He pulls out a drink from behind along with flowers. "So, you don't have to walk all the way down to the store."

Her hands are shaky as she takes the cup from him. "How did you know?"

"Is that what you want to ask? Or how you were able to hear what nasty things those girls were saying about you?"

She gasps, unable to react as she feels numb. Has he been following her around or the gods really monitor everything that goes around?

He pushes the flowers into her hands and that's when she snaps out of her daze, staring skeptically at the yellow bouquet of flowers.

She takes a step from him, unsure if to accept his little gift. She has never been given flowers before but she hopefully believes one day she would receive them. However, not today. Especially not from a god, who threatened to kill her brother.

"What are these?" She stares hard at the bright yellow, beautiful flowers.

"Dandelions." He answers, casually. "Just like me."

His addition only twirls her mind about. She sighs, getting tired of the games he plays. "What do you want?" She speaks; venom in her voice.