Lillian was about to enter the proctor's office, followed by Sebastian when a voice halted her in her steps.
"You dared to show up here? With your audacity, I thought you would be dropping out," came the snarky comment made by Alex.
Lillian turned her head and frowned at him.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
In her previous life, everyone was too ashamed to come to the campus to accompany her. This was a huge mark left on the Chen's.
Only after incessantly begging Alex, she managed to convince him.
However, in this life, she never mentioned to him the day she got lifted of her suspension. Noticing Eva beside him gave her a clear idea.
As expected, even if she stepped out of their life, Eva will never let go of her.
Alex scoffed. "What else? To see your joke! You were brave enough to run away from home. What? You're hanging around with this lowlife now?"
His dirty gaze fell on Sebastian, looking at him in disapproval and disgust.
"You're the one to talk when your nudes got leaked online the other day," Lillian retorted, "are you sure it will be fine for you to show up in public?"
The mention of his naked photos ignited rage within Alex. All the connections of the Chen Family had to be pulled to delete the photos, and even after that, some of those photos secretly remained online, surfacing every now and then.
His father was mad and disappointed at him, punishing him by confiscating his card.
Alex grabbed on to Lillian's collar harshly, raising her and causing her to stand on her toes. Red tinted his eyes as he glowered at her.
"I thought you wouldn't dare to bring it up! How dare you bring it up! I will make you suffer from ten times worse consequences. You, Bitch, do you know what I had to go through because of you?" He raised his voice.
This harsh attitude from him in her last life would have broken her heart. She truly treasured him, minding every single change of his emotions. Knowing how Alex was short-tempered, from her childhood, she always gave in to him.
It made her feel truly pathetic how she found joy in seeing him happy and satisfied.
And now, his anger brought her excitement.
Eva sighed and shook her head in disapproval.
"Lily, stop irritating Alex. He was worried about you. How could you do this to him? He is your brother after all."
Then, her eyes shifted towards Sebastian, and she slowly added, "Is that your boyfriend? I know, I am in no place to speak up, but running away from home and staying with your boyfriend these days— Lily, I am afraid it's not safe.
You know how worried everyone was for you. And now, you bring him here? Lily, Alex came here as your brother, but now, you are acting this way. Just imagine how disappointed he feels."
A chuckle from Sebastian cut in. As they looked at him, he shook his head in amusement and said, "Carry on."
Alex's grip on Lillian tightened.
"You're with him? Lillian, don't you have any shame? Running out of the house to be this lowlife's plaything— is this what we taught you? Although—"
Before he could continue to run his mouth, Lillian couldn't hold herself back. She lowered her head and bit into his hand. With all the vindictiveness inside her, her teeth dug deep.
The sudden pain made Alex jolt his hand away, thrashing her back as an impact. Before she could fall back, Sebastian's hand rested on her shoulder, stabilizing her.
"You!" Alex shouted, "Are you a rabid dog!?"
Lillian's sharp eyes fell on him.
"Don't mess with me or else I don't know what I will go if I get mad. Exposing your nudes online will seem like the kindest thing then," Lillian coldly uttered.
Alex was baffled for a second.
"Are you threatening me!? You have grown a backbone, right? Let me take you home! I will see if you still have that mouth once dad beats some sense into you."
Lillian closed her eyes for a second. The memory from her last life flashed before her eyes.
Although Alex agreed come along with her in her previous life, he still hated how he missed a schedule for this. Lillian still tried to convince the proctor how she was being framed, but Alex pushed her down, causing her to kneel on the ground.
He forced her to say the words of forgiveness, shouldering the blame of cheating. Later, when she went home, Alex brought up how she made a fuss in the office.
Henry Chen became furious, and with Eva's extra embellishments, he brought out his stick. Although Henry didn't exercise physical punishments often, that day he beat her up until she had to be admitted to the hospital.
Lillian clenched her hand into a tight fist.
Sebastian noticed her shifting emotions with faint interest. He then pulled her closer to him and whispered, "Little Rose, you need to get better at ignoring irrelevant people. Just because dogs bark doesn't mean we as humans need to respond."
As Lillian's eyes fell on him in slight surprise, Sebastian pushed the door open to the office and entered with her. Before Alex could follow, Sebastian shut the door on his face.