14. Unreasonable Gossip

"It's very hard to take care of someone who doesn't even respect herself. Once I let my guard down, she can really get 'broken' in the hands of someone else who isn't responsible."

- Vikram Andreyson

***

Just with Vikram's figure alone has attracted the attention of almost all the students who passed by. They already know that Vikram is the only person who is very close to Laura, the bad girl who always causes trouble at school.

Several people stopped for a moment to watch Laura's appearance, who looked sexy as usual. When the car door opened, out came Laura's figure and the presence of an additional man who gave the people a question mark.

"Who is he? How come I just saw him?"

"Wow, there's one more guy stuck with Laura!"

"Looks like a new student, his face is still foreign."

Various whispers were heard from all directions, only by the presence of Angkasa with Laura. Angkasa tried to control his expression to keep it cool with sharp eyes.

"Good, Angsa. This is the reaction I want with your presence." Laura smiled lopsidedly. The look in her eyes looked satisfied to hear the responses from the people around her regarding Angkasa.

Laura walked over with her chin raised, giving her a haughty look. Her hand gripped Angkasa, showing everyone that Angkasa was the male figure she carried.

As the two of them stepped between everyone's gazes, Vikram followed behind them, just in case no lecherous man took the opportunity to touch Laura's exposed thighs. Vikram is worried about Laura's sexy appearance, which arouses the lust of men who have weak faith.

Several times Vikram caught Laura, who only smiled crookedly when a man touched her thigh openly. Laura even seemed okay with receiving a lot of abuse from other people a few times. If Vikram doesn't take care of Laura by sticking around wherever the girl goes, Vikram is worried that Laura will be completely 'broken'.

"Hah… Laura is really worrying. With Angkasa's presence, at least I will share the burden of protecting her from lecherous men who are after Laura." Vikram stroked his chest in relief.

"Vikram!"

Vikram reflexively turned his head when someone called out to him. He saw Susan's figure sprinting toward him. "Susan? It's a shame you just arrived at this hour. Aren't you the diligent type of girl who leaves early in the morning?"

Vikram had no intention of stopping his steps, even though he saw Susan's figure approaching. Susan, who managed to catch up with Vikram, tried to match her pace with the man.

"I missed the bus, so it took a while to wait for another bus." Susan explained the reason why she had come to school just as the bell was about to ring.

"Oh I see." Vikram nodded his head in understanding. An offer spontaneously came out of his mouth. "Want me to pick you up, so you don't have to bother waiting for the bus?"

Susan shook her head with a panicked face. "No need, Vikram. I'll just take the bus. Aren't you going with Laura? What if Laura doesn't like me with you?"

Vikram thinks about Susan's words. He glanced at Laura, who was walking in front of him. He thought of Laura, who had saved Susan from being bullied. "I don't think Laura has a problem. After all, since Laura got involved in your troubles, you're no longer a stranger to Laura."

Susan did not understand the meaning of Vikram's words, which seemed to contain various meanings. "But, ..."

"If you're still in doubt, I'll ask Laura later. For sure, if Laura doesn't have a problem, you have to want to ride in my car!" Vikram finally made the final decision. He didn't want to argue further with Susan, who was too uncomfortable.

Susan surrendered to Vikram's words. As her eyes stared straight ahead, she saw Laura walking hand in hand with a man she didn't know. As far as Susan knew, there was only one man who had been attached to Laura, that man was none other than Vikram.

"Vikram, who's with Laura?" Instead of guessing, Susan chose to ask Vikram who most likely knew the man's identity.

"He's a new student and Laura's boyfriend." Vikram replied with a lazy gaze fixed on Laura and Angkasa.

Susan was surprised to hear Vikram's unexpected answer. She had guessed at least that the man was a new student at Dove High School, but she didn't expect that Laura's relationship with the new student was not as simple as expected. "Laura's boyfriend? Aren't you Laura's boyfriend? You guys are very close and inseparable from each other."

Vikram shot Susan a sharp glare. The expression on his face was unsightly, as if the words Susan to say earlier were something that bothered him a lot. "Since when did I become Laura's boyfriend? Just because I'm stuck with Laura, doesn't mean I'm her boyfriend! After all, where did you get that conclusion from?!"

Susan grimaced, not expecting Vikram's response to be so vehemently refusing her words. "Uhm… I heard from classmates. Coincidentally, in my class there are many who like you, Vikram. However, they don't dare to express their feelings for fear of competing with Laura."

Vikram's eyes twitched, he didn't expect that the gossip involving him with Laura would actually go so far that the girls who liked him chose to back off before even trying. Vikram wipes his face angrily.

"No wonder I've never gotten a declaration of love from girls. It turns out that because the gossip doesn't make sense?!" Vikram had felt strange from the start because not a single girl at school had confessed her love for him.

Even though, according to Vikram, his face is at least in the handsome category. Surprisingly, during the two years of schooling at Dove High School, not a single woman has confessed her love for him. It turned out that this was caused by the unreasonable gossip.

"I didn't know that it turned out that you two were really just friends because the rumors I heard were very convincing. Moreover, you and Laura often go and go to school together. At school, you are also very close to Laura. So, it's no wonder many of my classmates believe the gossip."

Vikram took a deep breath. It turned out that the gossip, that Vikram thought would not cause any trouble, had unexpectedly grown to such an extent that everyone believed it as if it were the truth. Knowing that many believed the gossip and Laura suddenly joining hands with another man in front of Vikram, there was bound to be an unwanted stir.

Vikram looked at Susan with an expression that didn't look good. "Susan, I don't have a good feeling."

"What do you mean something bad will happen?" Susan guessed the bad feeling Vikram meant.