While the bullying didn’t stop after that incident, it definitely reduced. All the other students chose to avoid them and they stopped making bad remarks. At times, their group would be met with looks of pity, but that was all. 

Most of them in their group were entirely grateful to Kai. Diego followed Kai wherever he went and would help him if he ever needed anything. Even May-Lynn, who rarely said anything, muttered thanks to him. 

Wyatt, who was meek and terrified of Kai, stopped quivering at the sight of him. However, he still had a look of caution on his face. 

Even Tamaya looked at him gratefully. Tamaya pulled Kai to a corner, hoping to speak to him alone. 

“So, how did you pull that off?” Tamaya asked, trying to sound unimpressed. 

Kai scoffed. “It was pretty easy. I recognised that professor the moment I saw him.” 

“It was just by luck he still had the file.” he said looking at her. She gave a thoughtful look. 

“Besides, if he didn’t have the file, I could twist the story to favour me.” he said looking at his fingernails. He smiled with a glint of cunningness. 

Tamaya stared at him. She bit her lip. Although at times, she often saw Kai as a friend who she loved to tease and make fun of, there were times she forgot how sinister he could actually be. She shook her head, shaking herself from that thought. 

She opened her mouth to say something when Diego came running. 

“Guys. We have an issue.” he said hurriedly. Both of them followed Diego who beckoned them to follow him without a clear reason why. 

They followed him back to the large bulletin board. The place where their identities were mostly revealed. Tamaya scanned the board and noticed the poster really wasn’t there anymore. They had kept their word and taken it down. 

However, there was still a large group of students crowding around the board. The students were discussing among themselves animatedly. 

Diego pushed through the crowd with Tamaya and Kai following closely behind. Some people who came into contact with them immediately flinched and moved away. Others smiled at them. 

Something was definitely off. As they reached the front of the crowd, they noticed there were seven different papers stuck to the board with a single thumbtack. Each paper had a group name followed by students' names underneath. Tamaya noticed the headline of each paper was the different departments in the security sector. One had traffic security, while another had cybersecurity. Tamaya scanned and looked at each and every paper, wondering if they were included in this sorting. 

She found her name and her group members’ name in the last paper titled ‘Prison Officers’. There were four other names, out of which she only recognised one; the senior from their orientation. She scanned the paper to the bottom and saw the name of the prison they were assigned to. 

“Fuck.” she heard Kai curse. Her eyes widened at the name of the Prison. 

They were assigned to the most top security prison. A place that hosted the most dangerous criminals, the type of people who were often heard off and warned to stay clear off. They were going to ‘No Escape’ prison. Not as criminals, but as prison guards. 

Tamaya looked at Kai, he looked as terrified as her. She bit her lip and tasted blood. Was this all part of their programme?