Sweetness

Chapter 38

"How is it going?"

The girl nodded timidly at the other person. She will get what she want, right? An invitation to exclusive banquet with fullday treatment and wardrobe plus a hot guy as her escort. She received an envelope.

"Good. This is your reward. Remember to keep it between both of us, ok? You didn't want people knew that actually you are the one who cheat, did you?"

Those words made the girl turned pale. Wha..

"Ah, don't worry, don't worry. It's just a friendly reminder, na. Just enjoy your rewards. And do help me again next time, ok? Have fun."

With those words, the girl were left alone at the empty hallway, clutching the envelope tightly on her cold hands. She felt like she signed a binding contract with evil.

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Never in his mind Forth ever imagined he would had to come to Kantaphat wearing a suit and preparing himself to hear what the Dean of Medical Faculty had to say to him.

When Beam called him, he just finished his last meeting and what he heard on the phone puzzled him like nothing else.

Beam told him that he was accused of cheating on his latest block exam.

Which is weird. And completely nonsense. He knew how smart Beam were (having a full pledge scholarship is extraordinary) and from what he heard from Yo and Beam himself, Beam did his best to keep it. The study sessions for the exam were hellish. Yo even got worried with how intense they had to prepare for it. That's why what Beam said on the phone confused him.

He rushed from the office immediately and now Forth walked toward the counselor room. He saw Beam were sitting outside the room with Pha and Kit. Both of Beam's best friends looked livid.

If Pha's jaw locked tighter, his molars could chipped. Kit's face were in the harshest scowl Forth ever witnessed. Hearing his foot steps, all of them looked up. When he saw Beam's face, Forth really wished he could punched someone.

Beam's faced were pale.

His skin looked pasty, his pupil blown wide and his lips tremble slightly. Forth rushed his steps and Beam stood up from the chair then went straight to his arms. His arms wound tight at his back.

Forth didn't say anything. He just tried his best to hug him tightly. He touched Beam's neck and felt how clammy his skin felt. He hated to see Beam like this.

Forth rubbed Beam's back while directed their bodies to the chairs. Beam let him go when his knees touched the bar. Forth kept his arm around Beam and asked the first question on his mind.

"Guys, what did happen here?"

If possible, Pha's jaw locked tighter while Kit's knuckles got whiter. Pha took a deep breath before he told Forth what he knew.

"We were having the last block exam today, P, and it's tedious. All of us really do our best about it, all by our self. When the time finished and we already went out from the table to hand over our answer, one of the student said they found a fiece of folded paper fell from Beam's pocket. The class were almost empty; there were not a lot of people inside. When the exam supervisor opened it, it contained materials summarize, all in small fonts. A true cheat sketch. It looked suspicious as hell."

Kit rubbed his hands together, trying to make blood circulated again on his locked fingers, before continued Pha's story.

"Beam were called one hour ago to see the Dean here. It seemed wrong. So suspicious. Beam were a scholarship student. When something like these happened, the faculty didn't take it lightly because no one go around implied their fellow classmate's cheated in block exam. The one who found it out is someone so ordinary, just a fellow student. But their statement were doing Beam harm.That's why we asked Beam to call you here because you are a full-pledge adult and someone's neutral. We, as his friends and fellow students, could do more harm than good about this."

Forth kept his mouth shut. He knew the implication. There's a proof and a capable witness. The setting were impeccable. If the Dean weren't sympathetic, the worst output were Beam losing his scholarship and got expelled.

No wonder Beam looked so scared. Forth grabbed Beam's cold hands, his fingers locked until his knuckle's turned white. With his stern gaze, Forth stared right at Beam's eyes.

"Did you do it?"

Forth's slow question made Beam eyes widen in surprise, disbelieved then anger. Before he could snapped his hands out from Forth's grasp, Forth tightened his hold and repeated his question, slowly - louder.

"Did you do it, Beam?"

If Beam were a cat, Forth were pretty sure he will be covered in angry scratch marks. "How dare you... I didn't. I didn't do it! Never in my life I felt so insulted! I tried my hardest to finish my exam and I will do nothing to risk my scholarship!" Beam voice got louder, his face flushed with anger.

Forth were smiling when he saw that.

"Maintain that expression, na Bee. That's what you should show your Dean in our meeting. No one looked scared when they didn't do anything wrong. I'll accompany you like you asked me to but this is your fight, Beam. No one can figth it for you. Fight and come out unscathed. I'll do what I have to do to protect you."

Forth's words calmed his nerves. Beam locked his jaw tight. There's no way he will let something like this snatched his scholarship. No way!