By the time Mia arrived at school, she first went straight to the girls’ dorm to wear her school uniform. Due to yesterday’s attack, her uniform was ruined.

Thankfully, she had two school uniforms, so she was saved. 

The moment she entered the room, Martha dashed to her side at once. 

Concern was written all over her face as she spoke, “Mia, where have you been? I’ve been worried sick about you—are you alright? When I came back and didn’t meet you, I was scared. I called you, but your phone rang in here.” 

Mia had finished dressing up and they’d now stepped out of their room. She noticed that as students passed by her, they stopped and laughed mockingly at her before going their way. 

She nudged it off. It was about yesterday’s issue. 

She turned to look at Martha with a soft smile on her face. “I’m okay.” 

She felt guilty for letting her best friend worry so much about her. 

“Are you sure?” Martha hesitated for a while before she said, “a video was posted very early this morning…”

“I’m so sorry they did that to you, Mia. This is all my fault—” Tears formed in her eyes.

Mia immediately picked up on what her best friend was talking about—it was definitely a clip of her being beaten to the state of unconsciousness yesterday. 

No wonder passers-by were laughing at her. She’d initially thought it was because of yesterday’s audio recording…

They must have all watched the video clip. 

Well, she wasn’t bothered. She was already used to stuff like this.

“I’m fine, really. I’m okay, Martha.” She assured her friend with a warm smile. 

The kids didn’t matter to her at all. They could think all they want. But her best friend mattered a lot to her.

Sincerely, she was indeed very fine. The painkillers Vivian fed her yesterday really worked. And the balm, effective. It worked like magic. This morning, when she stepped down from the bed, she didn’t feel any pain at all. 

That balm—well, what did she expect? The demi-god was stinking rich, so everything in his possession was top notch. 

The bell suddenly rang, signaling that classes had begun. 

“I’ll see you later.” Mia waved at Martha.

Her face beamed as she went her way. 

Martha was left standing alone, watching the girl hop away, with mixed feelings. 

Mia truly looked fine. She didn’t seem at all like someone who had been mercilessly beaten the previous day. How was that possible?

She unlocked her phone and played the video clip for the umpteenth time. 

After being beaten blue black, the girl wasn’t supposed to attend school today at all. And even if she managed to, she was supposed to come here looking extremely terrible… black eyed, with puffy face… fractured ribs or arms… and perhaps, a broken knee. 

But there she was, skipping happily to class. She didn’t even have any scar—except for a small cut along her jawline.

Martha furrowed her brows in deep hatred. She wasn’t even able to get the chance to ask her where she passed the night…

Maybe her father’s house—and that stupid Madam Grace must have been the one who tended to the girl’s injuries. Neither Mia’s stepmother, nor her father, would have done that. 

Stupid Madam Grace. Martha stomped her foot and marched to class angrily.

***

Immediately classes ended and school was over, Mia headed straight to her dorm room to pack her things—a few important things, of course.

She picked up her phone to see if she had any missed calls, since she didn’t check in the morning. She had only one, and it was from Martha—yesterday. 

Oh, she lived such a lonely life. Tsk tsk tsk. She was used to it anyway.

“What’s going on?” Martha stepped into the room, eyeing the bag in Mia’s hand. 

“Where are you going?” She was confused. 

Why was the girl packing her stuff—was she moving out? 

Did she catch on and find out that she’d been faking her friendship with her all this while? Various thoughts flooded Martha’s mind as she stared, wide-eyed, at Mia. 

She was so nervous that she didn’t even notice Mia was only packing a few things. 

Mia heaved a soft sigh and turned to face her. She felt guilty as she was unable to tell her best friend what was going on—that she’d gotten married to someone—someone way older than her—rich—influential—dangerous. But she couldn’t. 

She let out another sigh. She’d already told the demi-god to keep their union a secret. If she were to spill the beans and go back on her words, he would skin her alive. 

“Martha, I’m so sorry, but I can’t tell you right now. Yes, I’m leaving the dormitory, but I can’t tell you where I’m going.” 

“When the time is right, I’ll tell you everything. I promise.” Mia could only say these few words. 

Having said her piece, she quickly walked out of the room. Any longer in there, and she might actually spill everything out. Plus, she didn’t want to annoy the demi-god by dilly dallying around, after school was over.

For an unknown reason, she felt excited about the whole… She felt the urge to be a diligent wife to her husband. 

Despite the whole thing being a sham marriage, it was still a marriage with autentice certificates. And apparently, marriage was a lifetime commitment.

 Even if theirs didn’t end up being one, she vowed to be responsible and committed until it was all over. 

Besides, her relationship didn’t end well… Mia didn’t want her marriage to be like that.

As soon as Mia stepped outside the huge gates of the dorm, she flagged down a taxi and headed straight to Magnificent with her ‘important stuff’. 

Shawn had already given her a pass card in the morning, so getting in wasn’t a problem. 

Since commercial vehicles were not allowed to enter the residential area, when the cab arrived, she simply stepped down after paying the cab driver. 

She showed her pass card to the uniformed security men, and walked in by foot.

Meanwhile, in a certain corporation, “you’re fired!” the CEO’s shrill voice resounded through the entire conference room. 

Yesterday was bad enough… but today, even worse. 

Immediately the CEO arrived at the company, in the morning, the day got marked ‘WORST’ for all the employees working in Beats Corporations Headquarters.