A different view

Chapter 3

"Nong Preeth, juniors aren't allowed inside."

"Yes, P'Park. I just need to talk to P'Forth.... outside"

"Sorry, he's busy. Some other time" As Park tried to close the door, Preeth slid her foot in and pressed her hand on the door with equal force. Her eyes met Park's and he could feel the cold stare that Lam sometimes gave him when he was upset. He was momentarily taken aback that someone as frail as her could show such physical strength.

"Nong, don't make me hit a girl" Park hissed. Forth was by his side now.

"What is it?"

"Let's talk outside P'Forth. I won't bother you after today. I'll take any punishment you have after this. Venting up your anger hasn't helped has it?"

Park moved in to teach the girl some manners but Forth stepped out. Preeth walked towards the food court and Beam. Forth followed. If nothing else he would get the satisfaction of punishing her in the SOTUS event.

She stopped in front of Beam and Forth stood with both arms on his chest.

"P'Forth, I have no feelings towards P'Beam apart from respect and the same towards you. To be quite frank I think your insecurity will be the death of your relationship if a freshman can plant ideas inside your head that could take apart your love this easily. I took your name to avoid confrontation with another senior. It was a mistake that I regret. There is nothing beyond that. I hope I've made myself clear. Tell me what needs to be done to fix this" she said pointing at the both of them "because you are acting like school children right now."

Beam was completely focused on Forth's reaction.

"Answer what Beam needs to know" Forth commanded

She took a deep breath and faced Beam. "P'Beam, yes we know each other but you might not remember and it's probably best that you don't. We were in the same school 8 years ago. We were not friends but mere classmates."

"Why don't I remember you? I've been searching online in the school's pages but there's no mention of you."

She sighed. "My parents changed my name P'Beam."

"And why is it best that I don't remember you?"

The entire conversation she had dared to look into their eyes so that she could get her message across in a concise manner. Her gaze now fell back on the table again.

Forth slammed his hands on the table. Beam flinched but Preeth didn't. "Answer him!" he said with gritted teeth.

She took out her phone and typed for a couple of moments. She left it on the table so it was visible to both seniors. It read: "I was raped by the school attendant 8 years ago in that school. P'Beam found me and tried to fight him off. It was too late. The records were sealed to protect me as I was a minor. The school never made it public. We moved out of the country soon after and my father changed my name. We moved back only a year ago."

She took back the phone and deleted what was written after both had read it. Beam was looking back at her in an empty gaze and Forth did not shift his stance. He was still leaning on the table.

Preeth continued talking in a softer tone but no less firmly. "Our history is not worth remembering P'Beam and is most definitely not worth recounting out loud. I had heard you suffered from that trauma as well. I never wanted to cross paths with you so as to not bring back those memories to you. I knew you had taken medical as your core subject and was confident we would never meet but we are here now. I apologize for it all.

I believe I have answered all questions and this is enough to drive out any suspicions. If you don't mind, I'd like to leave now."

Not a leaf stirred as she walked past the 2 of them and out into the darkness of the campus.

Pha's POV

Forth had called me to come over to his place right away. Something happened today that shook the mighty Forth and it could only mean it was related to Beam. When I stepped into his room Beam was on the bed wrapped in a blanket. Kit rushed to his side and called out to Beam who looked back with no emotions.

I looked at Forth and Kit soon joined to hear what happened. How Forth managed to get him from campus to here in this state was beyond me. The moment Beam asked me about a girl over 8 years ago I had my suspicions but it seemed far-fetched at the time.

"Pha, you knew didn't you?" Beam asked looking straight at me from the bed.

I sat next to him and held him tight. "Yes Beam. Both Kit and I know what happened. How you found the girl and screamed for us to get help. She was bleeding all over you and you had nightmares after. Your parents convinced you it was just that, a nightmare. It was too harsh of a reality for our young minds to accept. Kit and I didn't remember as much but we knew it was real and promised we'd never bring it up again. We never heard of what happened to that girl, even if she survived."

"They found the bastard and he was given to the police. I kept tabs on him for years after. I gave up after it started becoming an obsession." Kit continued

Forth hugged Beam from the other side. "Beam you saved that girl. She is here today and man she is a firecracker!"

"Yes, she's so strong isn't she? She's wonderful" Beam said with a smile so wide it made me feel so much lighter. Forth showed no sign of jealousy and that was the icing on the cake. Beam looked at me with tears in his eyes "We saved her Pha. I never stopped getting those nightmares. I just stopped talking about them. At least now I know we saved her." He laughed suddenly and put his head on the wall.

He suddenly jerked back again talking faster than normal. "Pha, I just remembered. P'Sharp wanted to court her. She declined his advances. I think he's been bothering both her and her friend."

"I'm on it" Forth said.

"No, let me," I said. "Since he is from our faculty we'll talk to him first. If it doesn't work out, we'll let you know."

Kit was still sitting by his side holding his hand as Beam fell asleep. During our sleepovers whenever Beam had a nightmare, Kit would stay up all night by his side. Beam stopped talking about his nightmares but Kit always knew when Beam struggled in his sleep.

"Are you guys alright?" I asked Forth. He just nodded as he leaned on the balcony looking at Beam sleep.

"Will he be ok? Is he likely to have an anxiety attack?" Forth asked. I knew he had to leave for the gear giving ceremony soon and was worried to leave Beam alone.

"Just spend the night in Beam's room next couple of days" I suggested. "If there's anything Kit will be able to attend quickly. I'm guessing he should be alright now. I think the not knowing which was reality and which wasn't was eating him up more than anything else."

It's strange how sometimes we end up on the path we try to avoid. Preeth probably never wanted to see anyone from that school again and yet we ended up meeting again. Fate knew we needed this closure. We were owed one.