Chapter 11: Chapter 11

The woman looked at her assailant in fear as she struggled to break free, though her efforts were in vain.

He was much too strong for her.

“Lilian, don’t you know how I feel about you?” the man growled. “Why won’t you accept my feelings?”

“Let go of me, Leo!” Lilian yelped, casting a pleading gaze around the gym.

The other people in the gym avoided her gaze. No one dared to come to her aid.

After all, Leo was the most notorious bully in BU.

In his capacity as the vice president of the Taekwondo club, he never shied away from using his fists to settle any disagreements. Rumors of his brother Tyson’s involvement in gangs only fueled the university population’s fear for Leo.

“You sure play hard to get, huh, Lillian. I’ve been pursuing you for ages. It’s fine if you don’t give me an answer, but these days you’re just hiding from me. Well, I’m not leaving today till I get an answer from you!”

His demands roared through the gym. Lillian paled at his words and began shaking in fear. It took a long time for her to muster the courage to stare him in the eye.

“You want an answer? Then I’ll give you an answer! I don’t like you, and I think we don’t suit each other at all. Please leave me alone from now on!” Lillian blurted her honest thoughts in a rush.

She no longer looked as fearful as before. Instead, she straightened to her full height despite Leo towering over her. Her unexpected outburst surprised Leo.

“Let go!”

Moving to shake off his grip, Lillian was stunned when he tightened his hold instead. He took a step forward and pressed her into a wall corner.

“You don’t like me? You b*tch, how can you reject me?” Leo sneered before continuing, “I don’t want to do this, but your ignorance leaves me no choice.”

“W-what are you doing?” Lillian whimpered as her courage disappeared in an instant. She tried to shrink further into the corner.

“What do you think I’m trying to do? You b*tch, did you forget about Wayne’s debt? You should be begging at my knees based on that alone! I gave you so many opportunities to return my feelings, but you let them all go to waste.”

He had whispered this into Lillian’s ear. She shuddered in fright and bit down on her lips nervously. The tears that welled up in her eyes began to stream down her face.

Just then, Leo started pulling Lillian toward the gym exit.

“That’s it! You’re coming with me!”

Felix stood up and blocked Leo’s path, much to the surprise of everyone in the gym.

“Who the h*ll are you? F*ck off!” Leo snapped at the figure who had suddenly appeared before him.

“She already said no. You shouldn’t force her to follow you. Be more of a gentleman, geez.”

Felix did not seem frightened by Leo at all.

“Stay out of my business! Who the h*ll are you anyway?”

Leo had always been used to getting his way. Felix’s advice offended and angered him.

“Haha!”

A few lackeys standing behind Leo burst into mocking laughter at Felix’s words.

“Dude, do you have a death wish or something?”

A tattooed lackey with ear piercings came forward and sneered at Felix as if the latter was missing several brain cells.

The rest of the lackeys followed behind him, rubbing their fists together as they focused on Felix.

“Come on, let’s teach him a lesson!”

Sensing that the situation was about to take an ugly turn, Remy caught Colton’s attention. They rushed to Felix’s side.

There was no hint of fear on their faces despite being outnumbered.

Nothing could stop them from helping a brother in need.

Leo barely glanced at Felix and his friends before dragging Lillian with him toward the door. He believed his lackeys had the situation under control.

Lillian’s expression fell; her only hope of escape was gone. Her eyes blurred from her tears.

“Hold up.”

Just then, a calm voice reached their ears. Looking up, Lillian saw Casper behind Leo. She did not know when he had approached them, but Casper had placed a hand on Leo’s shoulder.

Leo raged as he glanced at Casper. He barked at his lackeys, “What’s wrong with all of you? You can’t even block one person?”

“N-no, Boss.”

His lackeys broke into a cold sweat as they stared at Casper as if he was an apparition.

Not a single one of them had noticed Casper’s approach.

“Damn it, you’re a bunch of d*psh*ts! Watch her carefully!”

With that, Leo shoved Lillian roughly toward his lackeys, who struggled to balance herself from his strong force. Just as she began plotting her escape, she saw Leo’s lackeys smirking as they approached her, cutting off her path.

Meanwhile, Leo cracked his fists loudly as he strode toward Casper menacingly. A malicious grin appeared on his face when he was barely two feet away from Casper.

“You’ve got some guts, eh? Trying to save a damsel in distress? You’ll regret sticking your nose in my business. Which gang are you from?”

Leo’s chest rose and fell as his temper threatened to explode at any moment.

“You’re breaking the law right now, you know. We’re in an educational institution. If word of this goes out, won’t you find yourself in trouble?” Casper retorted as he smiled slyly at Leo. A dangerous aura lurked behind his seemingly innocent gaze.

“Breaking the law? Haha! F*ck you! She owes me this. She needs to pay off her debt,” Leo scoffed.

“Debt?” Casper stared at Lillian curiously as he asked, “Do you owe him money?”

“I-it’s not me, it’s my brother, Wayne’s debt,” Lillian stammered as she lowered her head in shame.

“Her brother’s a gambling addict. He owes Ty a sh*t ton of money. Since he can’t pay it back, he’s already offered his sister to me in return!”

Leo smirked at Casper after interrupting Lillian’s explanation.

“Are you sure you want to get involved in this?”

The life went out of Lillian’s beautiful eyes. If it’s just a matter of bullying, Casper might have helped me. Now that there’s money involved, he’ll probably look at things differently. I’m not sure he’s willing to help a passing acquaintance like me at the expense of inviting trouble to himself. Am I destined to be with this despicable man?

“Of course! I want to get involved!” Casper piqued up without a hint of hesitation.

Lillian’s heart began to fill with hope as she stared at Casper’s back in surprise.

“Oh ya? How do you plan to get involved?”

Leo, on the other hand, recovered from his shock at Casper’s words rather quickly. After all, Casper was nothing but a weak simpleton in his view.

“Don’t tell me you’re actually going to help her pay off the debts! Hahaha!”

His lackeys laughed along with him at Casper. They wondered how Casper was going to get himself out of this mess.

“You’re right,” Casper answered confidently in the face of their mockery.

Stunned by his declaration, Lillian’s eyesight began to blur.

“Damn! Did you all hear that?”

“Haha, I think he’s got a screw loose in his head!”

“Maybe he’s trying to act cool or something; I’m sure he has no idea how big her brother’s debt is.”

“Hey, dude. I’m about to cry at your heroic gesture.”

Leo patted Casper’s shoulder patronizingly without bothering to hide his contempt for the latter.

“So you’re going to pay back the entire sum that her brother owes Ty?”

“Sure!”

“Are you for real?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, you’re a funny one, haha!”

Laughing at Casper, Leo did not seem like he was in a rush to drag Lillian away.

“Alright, since you promised, I’ll let you pay the full sum!”

Leo was almost in tears by the time he finished his sentence. He waved over one of his lackeys after he had regained his composure.

“Do you have the IOU?”

“Yes, Boss. Here it is!”

His lackey took a folded paper out of his pocket. Smoothing it out, he handed it to Leo.

Leo turned to sneer at Casper once the IOU was in his hands.

“You can read, right? I’m not cheating you. You can see for yourself how much he owes me!”

He shoved the paper in Casper’s direction. His body shook from the effort it took to hold in his laughter.

Casper’s gym attire looked cheap. Leo scoffed at the poor quality of his clothes. I bet nothing on him costs more than fifty.

“Not feeling so cool now, are you? You should look in the mirror once in a while, or you might forget how lame you are!”

Before Casper uttered a word, Leo interrupted him with a hefty dose of sarcasm.