“I had to borrow money just to pay your tuition, and now you pull this? I swear, I could kill you!”
However, Wayne still looked defiant as he pointed at me, screaming, “Yeah, I broke his phone, so what? He punched me! That makes us even!”
I couldn’t help laughing. “My punch doesn’t even qualify as a minor injury. I’ll pay for your band-aids. Twenty dollars should cover it, but my phone cost three thousand dollars. You’re paying every cent.”
Across the room, Maya’s mother collapsed to her knees in front of the man with the gold chain, sobbing as she asked for mercy.
“Please, sir, I’m begging you not to press charges. It hasn’t been easy for her to make it into college. If she gets a criminal record, her whole future will be ruined.”
Watching her cry like that… honestly, I felt a pang in my chest.
Ever since freshman year, I had known how tough their situation was. Maya’s mother would secretly set up a little street stall near campus at night to make extra money for her tuition. I used to slip her cash more than once. When she got sick, I was the one who dragged her to the hospital, paid for her medicine, and made sure she got treated.
In my previous life, during those twenty-some years of cold, empty marriage with Maya, the only warmth I ever felt came from her mother. However, there was nothing I could do now. Unfortunately, she had raised a daughter like Maya.
What I didn’t expect was that instead of showing even a bit of remorse, Maya suddenly lunged at me when everyone was distracted. She punched and kicked wildly, and her nails raked three bloody scratches across my face.
“You happy now?” she yelled. “Is this what you wanted? Dylan, isn’t this all because you like me? This is you forcing me to be with you, isn’t it? Fine! I agree! From now on, I’m your girlfriend, okay? Are you satisfied? Will you leave us alone now?”
The officers immediately pulled her away.
The gold-chain guy looked down at her and said, “I wasn’t planning on pressing charges, but I never expect such a good mother to end up with a daughter like you. Let the police teach you a lesson.”
I snorted and turned to Wayne. “I want my case taken seriously, too. I expect the compensation within three days.”
After that, the gold-chain guy and I walked out of the station without looking back.
That day, I didn’t return to the dorm. Instead, I headed home and told my parents everything that happened.
My mom already knew I liked Maya. She had bought me nice clothes and bags to gift her, and she had even invited Maya over to our estate for dinner more than once.
After hearing the full story, Mom sighed. “People can hide their true colors. It’s better that you noticed it early.”
The next morning, I went back to campus for class. However, as soon as I walked into the lecture hall, I saw a crowd gathered around Maya, who was crying her eyes out. That was when I learned that the university had bailed her out the night before.
The moment I stepped in, everyone turned to look at me. A split second later, a backpack came flying straight at my head.
“Jeez! Having you in our class is a disgrace! Just because you’re rich, you think you can bully low-income students?”
