'Relax, Senara. You can do this! Just introduce yourself properly and tell them you're friends with the twins. Phew! Okay. Fighting me!'

I breathed deeply before answering them, and gave my best professional smile, trying to act as calmly as possible. I was the complete opposite of Crystal when it comes to conversing with people I didn't know.

"Hi," I waved my hands, "I'm Senara Lee."

They all replied with hellos and their names that I forgot as soon as they said it. They seemed friendly since they were all smiling at me—that's good news, right?

"Ahm… a-about your questions—"

"Yes, yes. Are you dating Kaiden?" one of them blurted out. It seemed that it was the most pressing question they had.

"No! I'm not," I immediately corrected her. "We're friends. Me and Hora, the other girl we were with, we're friends with the twins."

"Oooohhh," they chorused and began murmuring words of acknowledgement after.

I swear I saw some of them sighed in relief. They must be members of the twin's fans club. Either that, or they had a huge crush on Kaiden. I didn't blame them though.

"Then why did you arrive with them? And you even sat beside the driver's seat?" another woman, whose jealousy painted all over her face, asked in an interrogating manner.

The others who were also curious looked back to me.

"Oh. We're currently staying at their homes. They kindly offered—"

"WHAT?!"

Everyone's faces turned into shock. Oh no. Did I say something I shouldn't?

"Are you his fiancée?" the sour-looking woman almost shouted at me.

"No!"

"Then why are you living at their home?" she asked, now shouting angrily at me.

"C-Crystal offered… It's a long story but it's an agreement between my dad and—"

"Then you are his fiancée!" another concluded and they began murmuring again. Observing their facial expressions, I could tell some of them were beginning to hate me.

"What? No. I'm just—"

[Music Recommendation: "In Silence" by Janet Suhh (It's Okay Not To Be Okay OST)-available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in a loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this chapter ~

My professional smile and calm demeanour was gone. They wouldn't let me finish my words and kept on interrupting! How would I be able to explain myself? I didn't know staying at a friend's house meant that in this country. Back in my country, that was totally fine. Hora and I sometimes stayed over Ken's house and no one complained.

'Ugh. I hate this. I hate being misunderstood.'

Their eyes looked at me like those co-workers I had in my past life. Already judging me when I haven't even explained myself or said my piece. It was really frustrating. It's as if you're being accused of something you didn't do.

I breathed deeply to calm myself. My heart started to sting from the frustrating memory.

'It's alright, Senara. You've experienced this many times before. Whatever you say, they won't listen. They already made their judgement towards you based on their own vile opinions that only concerned their own interests. It's useless to speak to people like these. Yeah, it's better to ignore them. You don't need such kinds of people in your life.'

Comforting myself with those words, I put on a poker face. It had become my defensive mechanism ever since. I knew that when I did so, I looked like the unkindest woman in the world since I had a "resting-bitch face" despite Hora's claim that I was beautiful. My eyebrows weren't even arched—it's a normal straight type. With this kind of look, I could pass as Maleficent or any villainous roles.

Perhaps they sensed my anger that some of them returned to their seats. But that sour-looking jealous woman whose name I forgot, still stared at me as if I did something wrong to her.

'It's your own wicked thoughts that's causing your dissatisfaction.'

I stared at her back, then rolled my eyes and turned to my bag, taking off some books and a notebook. I purposely rolled my eyes to annoy her. I heard her stomping her feet as she went back to her seat.

'I'm not some saint that will put up with your nasty acts. If you don't like me, then I don't like you back!'

They already made their judgement anyway. The murmurs continued but I didn't even care whatever they're saying. Let them misinterpret as much as they want. It's not like they're Kaiden's girlfriend for me to explain.

Later on, the professor arrived and began teaching. Our first subject was "Introduction to Creative Writing" which I loved. The professor was great and I really looked forward to my first class but what happened a few moments ago left my blood boiling the whole period. Even my handwriting showed how angry I was—with my strong strokes and the marks it left on the next page. I could drop an ink on there and it would follow the letter marks as if I embossed it.

How I wished Hora was one of my classmates. But we took different courses so that's impossible. We could share some minor subjects but not the major ones.

In my anger, tears formed in my eyes but I did my best to hold them up, looking up every now and then. Any outburst of emotion still made me cry. But I didn't want to—no, I couldn't and shouldn't show them my weakness.

'Maybe it's because these people are aiming to be authors, too, and have highly creative minds. Yeah, that's why they already drew their opinions with just a few words I said. Way to go, highly creative minds! I don't mind dramas but I hope not those ridiculous kinds. Ugh.'

Thinking that, I sighed and shrugged my shoulders. I looked back at my notes and just tried focusing on the lesson. Hours passed as I immersed myself in the lecture. I became so focused that I didn't notice the time until the bell rang, indicating the end of class.

I packed up my things hurriedly, not wanting to give anyone a chance to talk to me again. Actually, not talking—they interrogated me. I'm still continuing class though. It's not like their interrogation would scare me from going to school. They could hate me all they want now. Good thing I loved writing more than the opinions of other people at me.

Still a bit pissed off, I strode towards the door in a flash and was the first one to open it. To my surprise, Kaiden was there, handsomely—I mean, "normally" leaning on the wall, browsing his phone.

'How long has he been standing there? Was he waiting for my class to finish?'