From the men's room, Philip emerged just as the women's room door swung closed behind Ava.

And without a speck of hesitation or fear pumping through his veins, he barged right into the women's room like he owned the place.

Ava, who had just entered and was still in the small entryway, hadn't yet reached the stalls lined up inside.

When she turned around at the sudden sound of the door opening and saw Philip casually entering the women's room like it was nothing, she was genuinely shocked, her eyes going wide.

Although it was very unlikely and deeply unsettling for a boy to enter the women's room, she didn't immediately feel threatened or uncomfortable.

Maybe he just mixed up the signs on the doors, or maybe he was used to following his mother into women's rooms when he was younger and forgot where he was.

She didn't feel the urgent need to be cautious or scared since there were other people right outside the restroom in the waiting area, just a shout away.

"What are you doing here? Get out! This is the women's room," Ava scolded, pointing at the door behind him.

"Why did you say that to me?" Philip replied bluntly, his voice flat but his expression intense.

"Huh?" Only when Ava properly looked at Philip's twisted expression and saw the way he was staring at her did she realize the situation just might not be as innocent as it seemed.

With a creeping sense of eeriness crawling up her spine like cold fingers, she decided it was definitely best to leave the room immediately.

"You're weird. I'm gonna leave," Ava said firmly as she tried to walk past Philip towards the door, giving him a wide berth.

But just as she was about to reach the exit, Philip suddenly lunged forward and rammed her hard into the tiled wall with a loud thud that echoed in the small bathroom.

Although Ava was taller than Philip by a few inches, the sheer mass difference was still a massive factor working against her.

With the size and weight of a small panda exerting full force in such close, confined quarters, a weak and petite girl could only do so much to fight back.

*Thud!*

Ava's back slammed painfully into the hard wall, knocking the wind out of her. Philip was still pushing relentlessly against her with his shoulder, all his weight behind it.

Like a wild buffalo trapping a tiger against a tree, escape wasn't going to be easy for Ava at all.

Philip stood sideways to her, his chubby hands clasped awkwardly together. His head faced downward, avoiding eye contact. His knees and back were slightly bent to give him more balance and leverage against the wall.

Philip's shoulder, which was the only part of his body actually touching Ava, was pressed hard into her stomach, making it difficult for her to breathe properly.

"Why won't you be friends with me?!" Philip shouted, his voice cracking with frustration and something that sounded almost like desperation.

Philip had never had a single friend his age, regardless of gender, in his entire life.

Added to the fact that Ava was extremely cute and had seemed nice at first, he desperately wanted to befriend her, to have someone, anyone.

Facing such a harsh and disgusted response on his very first attempt at making a friend, Philip didn't know what else he could possibly do. So in his twisted, immature logic, he tried to physically force Ava to be his friend.

Ava, on the other hand, was completely confused by his shouted question and couldn't think of any coherent response with the pressure being pressed painfully into her stomach, stealing her breath.

"Why did—" Philip tried to ask the question again, his voice rising. But before he could finish the sentence, he was suddenly and forcefully yanked backward by his collar, the fabric digging into his throat.

Derrick, who had already suspected something was off about Philip's angry demeanor when he'd passed him earlier, had gone back to check on his sister after a nagging feeling wouldn't leave him alone.

That's when he heard Philip's raised voice shouting from inside the women's room.

Philip was so panicked and focused on Ava that he didn't even notice Derrick entering the room behind him.

Derrick grabbed him with both hands and slammed him down hard onto the cold tile floor, then immediately pressed his knee firmly into Philip's chest, pinning him down with his full weight.

He then quickly gestured with his head for Ava to leave the room, his eyes never leaving Philip.

Ava, still badly shaken by the entire incident and breathing hard, didn't need to be told twice. She quickly scrambled up and ran out of the room as fast as her legs could carry her.

"I knew you seemed off somehow," Derrick said coldly as he stared down at Philip, who was desperately trying to shove his knee off, his hands pushing uselessly.

Without any hesitation or second thought, Derrick delivered a straight, hard punch directly to Philip's face, his knuckles connecting with a sickening crack. Then he followed it up with several more rapid hits, each one landing with force.

Catching someone in the act of harassing his little sister, anyone would be absolutely enraged. Derrick was no exception to that rule.

"Stop! Stop! I'm Philip Whitmore! How can you hit me?!" Philip cried out desperately from underneath, his voice muffled and pathetic.

Philip tried his absolute best to sound intimidating and powerful with his words, but his sheepish, whiny tone completely gave him away.

Nevertheless, Derrick stopped his assault at once when he heard that name, his fist freezing mid-air.

Even at his young age, he'd heard plenty about the Whitmore family and their enormous influence before from adults talking.

And even without his father explicitly telling him, Derrick could easily figure out that his father's company was currently struggling badly, barely staying afloat.

Derrick had overheard his parents talking late at night when they thought he was asleep, saying they would hopefully get a chance to plead for a major investment from the Whitmore Company. That was exactly why he'd asked his father to bring him along on this trip.

To get to see firsthand how business negotiations were handled. His sister had also tagged along simply because it was a school day off and she didn't want to stay home alone.

Unfortunately, Derrick couldn't follow his father into the main executive office for the meeting and had been forced to wait outside with Ava.

He didn't expect his sister to be harassed during that short time. And he definitely didn't expect the perpetrator to be the heir of the Whitmore family of all people.

Derrick looked down at the sobbing, fat kid beneath him with a bleeding nose. His cheeks were so puffy and swollen that Derrick genuinely couldn't determine if they were swollen from the beating he'd just given him, or if that's just the way his face naturally looked.

He knew with absolute certainty that if things went wrong here, if he made the wrong choice, his father would surely not get the financial support he desperately needed. Or maybe even worse—his father's struggling company would suffer devastating consequences from it, maybe even go under completely.

So should Derrick just apologize profusely to Philip right now and beg him not to tell his father what happened?

That way, Philip might be merciful and forgive him, and everything could go back to normal.

Derrick still had his fist clenched tightly, hovering in the air, staring intensely down at Philip's pathetic, tear-streaked face.

"I'm gonna tell my father," Philip cried out once more, his voice cracking with each word, tears and snot running down his face.

At that exact moment, Derrick made up his mind in a split second. There was absolutely no guarantee that Philip would actually forgive him even if he begged.

Maybe Philip would even twist the entire story if Derrick let him go now, painting himself as the victim. So Derrick realized he had to go completely full-on assault mode instead.

Derrick reached down and pinched hard at Philip's already bleeding nose, gripping it between his fingers as if he were genuinely trying to rip it clean off his face.

Philip wailed loudly as the sharp, burning sensation set in and exploded across his face. But Derrick quickly slapped his other hand over Philip's mouth, muffling the screams.

"Listen carefully, fatso. If you don't do exactly as I say, I will tell your father what you just did to my sister. How you followed her into the bathroom and assaulted her," Derrick hissed, his voice low and threatening.

Philip's eyes widened dramatically in an instant when he heard Derrick's cold words, his pupils dilating with pure panic. That reaction confirmed to Derrick that his aggressive approach was absolutely the correct one.

Philip never intended to assault anyone—that thought hadn't even been in his immature mind.

He just wanted to demand answers from her, to ask her why she didn't want to befriend him. What was it about him that made her react with such visceral disgust?

But when he saw her trying to flee the room the moment she heard his desperate question, he panicked completely. And in the process of trying to stop her from leaving, he'd accidentally rammed her into the wall.

Derrick slowly, carefully took his hand away from Philip's mouth, ready to clamp it back down if he screamed.

"No! I didn't mean—" Philip started to protest, his voice desperate and pleading.