The Hidden Toxin ✔(#6 in the Our Side of The Dice Series)

Chapter 19: Russia's Independence Day

It was eleven o'clock—one hour till midday—when the school officials would make announcements on the speakers for the students to go downstairs and enter the buses that have been made available by the school authorities.

Right now, Ebun was in the animal dentistry lab class just like Sean had planned it. She was wearing a navy blue hoodie and a black face cap. The previous day, Mrs. Mariyah made a casual comment about her woolly hair.

" your ghyeir is too tick. You should kat eet little,"

As usual, Mrs. Mariyah's English was always poor and hard to understand since she was a Russian who barely had any proper education, so Viktoriya explained what her mother meant. "She said that your hair is too thick. You should cut it a little."

"Oh, " Ebun answered in realization.

"I'm sorry her voice sounded too harsh, especially if it scared you and made you think she was mad at you. That's how we Russians sound when we speak English in the way we know. We soften the 'e's' and have a hard time pronouncing the 'h' sound, so we pronounce it as 'g' instead." Viktoriya explained.

So later that night, she trimmed her hair a bit lower and was thankful she did because the face cap fit on her head perfectly. Now, as she was present in the laboratory, she found a discrete corner to settle down. It was the exact spot where she sat the last time—at the far left end of the laboratory and amid many people who didn't give a hoot about her.

The only difference this time was that she knew which direction to look at—no need to waste time looking in corners where she wouldn't find the post-graduate man. So she stared at a group of girls that are sitting towards the right end of the laboratory. There were three bubbly girls wearing headbands, flashy t-shirts, and crop-tops.

The colors of their headbands were that of the Russian flag. The three white girls were talking in hushed tones and giggling as quietly as they could so the lecturer wouldn't notice their side-talks. Their responses seemed choreographed. A few times, Ebun heard words like "great!" and "nice!" too often. As though everything they said had to have such responses even when the words weren't so "great" or "nice."

But there was a girl among the trio that caught Ebun's attention. Not because the girl had black hair, but she'd studied the girl's reaction. She didn't seem comfortable with her friends, but somehow, she didn't have an option but to associate herself with people like that, and so her countenance and even with the mannerisms in which she uttered her words felt like she was afraid to offend her friends. A yes-man.

The girl looked soft, shy, and sheepish. Something hit Ebun's mind. Instinctively, Ebun looked a bit beyond the group of girls—precisely behind them and saw the man wearing a white face cap. Ebun's heart skipped a beat. She was surprised that she'd looked in that direction, expecting to see him but was taken aback by the fact that he was actually there.

Freaking bastard.

Although Ebun couldn't see his face, she was sure he was the one because she'd caught his side view a few times during the past few days. He was sitting calmly by the far-right end side of the laboratory, close to the window.

Disgusting piece of shit.

Ebun tried to look in the direction in which the man was staring, and when she traced it, she realized that he was looking at the sheepish black-haired girl. She was his target for today—the main day. Today was Russia's Independence Day, and it was about to be the worst day of the poor girl's life.

Ebun stared and stared in between the girl in her group of girlfriends and the man watching her calmly from behind, waiting like a ticking time bomb. Several emotions swayed through Ebun's heart as she observed.