[Music Recommendation: "Scenery" by Kim Taehyung (BTS - V) 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 ~

So that was the reason for my classmates' sudden change of attitude towards me. They were scared of Kaiden. It was amazing how he could bring such terror at such a young age to everyone yet be so kind and gentle to me, and his friends. And deep inside, that was very touching. The feeling of being protected… the security and warmth from it… how very heartwarming. I'm not even sure how to respond to all this aside from being grateful.

I couldn't help but smile from what Kaiden did. He really was the vengeful Kaiden. I didn't expect that he'd come back with those that bullied me. It was unfortunate—what happened to them, but I didn't feel any remorse. After all, they deserved it. That should teach them a lesson not to bully anyone and not to think that their secret deeds wouldn't be exposed to the public. I hope they learned their lesson and not do it again. If they had that much energy, they should exhaust it chasing their dreams instead of drowning themselves in jealousy. Writing baseless harsh words to me, that really wasn't nice. They just wanted to have someone to blame for their own envy. And that was plain stupid. If they bullied someone, did they think that would make them better and ahead of that person? What nonsense. Ugh. I better stop thinking about them.

Anyway, I should thank Kaiden later. How did he find out everything about it in just a few days? I mean, even arranging this with the News Club or whatever they're called, would take time, right? And he had been with me most of the time! When did he find the time to do all that? Wow. Just wow. I gotta learn his time management skills and efficiency.

"What a protective boyfriend," Marie teased, "and very 'vengeful' indeed. The whole article is basically a gossip article written to warn everyone in school. It's a mystery how his last sentence was allowed in the papers! 'Prepared to bring hell on earth' is such a dangerous remark. But then again, they basically own this school and the Dean or any faculty would barely have any say on this."

'For someone who said she hated talking, Marie talks to me a lot—I just noticed. That's great though. I'm not complaining. I just noticed.'

"Yes," I agreed with her. "It IS pretty dangerous to be quoted upon such words. And you're right. They do own the school. But don't they still need to abide by the rules?"

"That, he did. And very witty I must say."

"Witty in what way?"

"He's basically taking advantage of his age. Since he's still considered minor by the law, he won't be held accountable. Plus, with his family connections and a lot of resources at his disposal, he can do anything and get away with it. And the rules of the school—it's kinda hard to explain with all the technicalities but—the dangerous words he said were delivered in a way that it's not pointing at anyone and will definitely be considered a warning, which is really okay. So it's kinda like, ahm, not bending the rules because that's basically changing it in some way, but… going around the rules? You get what I mean? Sorry, I suck at explaining."

"Oh no. I think I get what you mean."

"Great. So yeah, that's pretty witty of him."

I chuckled at the realization of it. "He's a genius after all. It should be easy for him to plot things out and get away with it."

"Ha-ha! That's true."

While we were busy chatting, some of our classmates went to me to apologize—for ignoring me, being rude to me, not standing up when others harassed me, talking behind my back, thinking bad about me when I did nothing, and everything else along those lines. It was amazing what fear could do to people. They were all suddenly confessing their mistakes to me… after all this time.

With all honesty in my heart—as I mentioned before, I'm really no saint—I wasn't sure what to feel about their apology. I wasn't sure if it was just me or it just felt empty. Forced apology just didn't sit right with me. Actually, they didn't even need to apologize to me. I understand it if that's how they perceived me. People were innately judgemental, so I didn't blame them. I'm cool with that. As long as they wouldn't become like those girls whose names I already forgot.

"It's fine."

"I don't blame you."

"I understand."

I repeated those words numerous times with the amount of people that came to me. It turned into one of those meet and greet events with celebrities—only, I wasn't a celebrity and what we were all doing was an apology event. Saved by the professor, we started the next class. My goodness, if that continued for another minute, I thought I'd lash out or be irritated.

Hours passed as class continued and not much later, lunch arrived. I had been looking forward to it since earlier. I wanted to personally thank Kaiden for everything and doing so much for me. Again, I'm indebted to him. I probably owed him a lot of things already.

When I went out of the classroom, Kaiden was already outside, ready to fetch me. Callan was also there, waving his hands towards me. I parted ways with Marie swiftly and ran to them.

"Hey, princess," Callan greeted me when I was about to speak my thanks to Kaiden. Talk about timing.

"Princess?" I asked with bewilderment so apparent in my face.

"Oh wait, they said 'queen' in the article," Callan pondered, caressing his chin. "But sorry, I only call Crystal queen, so that's 'princess' for you."

"Pft! Ha-ha-ha! Yes, loverboy. But I prefer being called by my name, thank you."

"But Kaiden is a boss—like a BIG BOSS. And you're his—"

"Shut it, Callan," Kaiden shushed him. Turning to me, he asked, "You were gonna say something?"

He noticed. Of course. He had always been very observant.

I made sure to smile warmly towards Kaiden before saying those words with all my sincerity and heart.

"Thank you… very much."

Kaiden looked surprised with what I said. He shouldn't be though—I mean, it was all over the school newspaper. He should be aware of the article.

But then… It seemed that he was surprised for another reason. Because after I said that, his face drew near my face, as if he was in a daze. And his lips fell on mine.