As soon as I said that, the crowd exploded. “Benjamin, are you even human? Maya’s already like this, and you still talk about her that way!”
“Yeah! Even if Maya isn’t thinking clearly now, you can’t insult her like that!”
Roman’s face went pale with anger. He rushed forward and slapped me hard across the face. A sting spread across my cheek.
“I’ll kill you today, you heartless man! Maya must’ve been blind to ever fall for you!”
The students around us began shouting too, saying people like me deserved to be beaten to death.
I looked at them and laughed inside. They weren’t standing up for Maya; they had always hated me. Ever since I started dating her, they’d whispered behind my back, saying I wasn’t good enough for her. Now that they had the chance, of course, they wouldn’t miss it.
I took a deep breath and let out a small laugh. “You think I wanted to date Maya?”
“I’d wanted to break up with her long ago.”
“She was nothing but trouble.”
The moment those words came out, the whole place broke into chaos. Roman and Violet both turned pale.
She rushed at me first, grabbing my hair. “Benjamin! You ungrateful brat! What has my daughter ever done to hurt you?”
“When you were sick, she got up in the middle of the night to make you cereal! She knew your family had it hard, yet she’s been helping you for two years!”
Roman then punched me in the face. I lost my balance, stumbling back until I hit the wall. Pain shot up my back.
“I used to think you were a good kid. When Maya was with you, I felt at ease. But now, I see I was blind! You call Maya a curse? You’re nothing but a monster pretending to be human!”
I rubbed my back, about to speak, when Roman suddenly looked at me. His eyes carried something I couldn’t understand, a mix of doubt and despair.
Then he took a deep breath and said quietly, “Benjamin, tell me the truth, was it because Maya wouldn’t give herself to you that you did that to her?”
I froze, completely caught off guard by his accusation. The crowd went silent, every eye fixed on me, waiting for what I’d say next.
“Maya has always been a good girl. Was it because she turned you down that you lost control? That night, she went to see you, you didn’t get what you wanted, so you forced her!”
Violet nodded, tears streaming down her face. “It must be that! Benjamin, how could you do something so heartless? We’d already agreed that after you both graduated, we’d hold a wedding for you. How could you treat her like this now?”
I looked at them, feeling it was both laughable and hopeless. They’d rather believe something so absurd than accept that I truly hadn’t seen the culprit.
I pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and let out a cold laugh. “A wedding? Uncle, Auntie, forget it. A woman like Maya, even if she begged me for free, I’d still find her disgusting.”
The moment those words left my mouth, the whole place went silent as every gaze turned toward me, filled with anger and disbelief. Violet trembled all over, nearly fainting from rage.
Then a soft voice came from behind me. “Benjamin, why are you saying that about me?”
It was Maya, and the sound of her voice made my whole body tense up.
Everyone turned to look as I slowly faced her. Maya stood there surrounded by her relatives and a doctor.
She had grown thin, her cheeks sunken, which made her eyes look larger, but the light in them was gone, and the dark circles beneath them made her look even more fragile.
