Someone who doesn't hold back

Layla opened the door loudly and dashed inside. Zou Haoran was behind her.

Her eyes landed on Lani. "Your club is sure, something." She spoke sharply.

Lani was bewildered by this. She had no idea what Layla was talking about but her angered face was telling her that something serious happened. Questions on questions were popping in her head but before she could ask something, someone else did.

"What happened? Say it clearly." Ryan frowned.

She took a deep breath shoving her anger aside. If not, she might end up saying something she shouldn't. "I found out that Olivia is being bullied not only by her peers but by unrelated people too. There is a rumor going around. And guess what I found it came from a member of your club.

It's only been three days and things are so bad that even juniors were badmouthing her. Tell me whether you had any idea about it or not."

"Umm… not really. She-she's avoiding me. And, I didn't hear anything from anyone."

Layla squinted her eyes.

"Well… somebody asked me whether something was stolen from the music club or not. Nobody told me anything more than that. I swear." She was flabbergasted and nervous too. The wheels in her mind were turning faster to search for any other memory. She wanted to assure her and to herself that she was deceived, not that she participated in it.

"How did you find out?" Ryan asked, interrupting the scary predator and pitiful prey scene playing right in front of him. His thought was simple: if Lani doesn't know then the initiator is smart and could think of ways to deceive them, the student council.

After that Layla proceeded to tell them what transpired when they were coming back.

…...

-Flashback-

"If you are done staring then answer my questions," Layla said.

Hearing this, the faces of both the girls were flushed. They were staring at him blatantly but that doesn't mean that they also want someone to point it out blatantly too. It was embarrassing to be caught and scolded this bluntly. 'What she wants? Does she want to keep him hidden from them?' Their dislike towards Layla increased.

When these three girls were engaged in fierce gaze battle Zou Haoran was simply standing with no expression on his face like a mere bystander who has nothing to do with them.

Seeing his lazy attitude towards their actions they were not sure whether they should feel happy that he didn't mind it or they should be sad that they do not concern him even a little bit.

"Ahem… Good morning, Vice president."

"Good morning, senior." They said it bashfully Only to receive a warning gaze from him. It was better for him to warn them beforehand than to let their half-fried brain think nonsense.

'They seem to be… quite shameless.'

"Whom were you talking about?" Layla asked without wasting time. "And, what were you talking about?"

"No-no one" they were shaking their heads rapidly in denial. "Nothing. We were talking about nothing."

Layla snorted. "They think we are deaf." She said to her secretary.

He looked at them casually yet was giving an oppressing feeling. "You are shuttering, completely opposite how you were gossiping loudly just moments ago. And, you both are panicked. Your pitch is higher than usual." He was counting their signs of lying. There was not an ounce of emotion on his face. "And, now your anxiety response is kicking in." He said seeing them moving them shaking their hands without a reason or rhyme. "In short, these are your signs of lying and you are clearly lying."

"Skipping your class and gossiping loudly in the empty hallway." She eyed the girls' washroom which wasn't very far from them. Tsk, they couldn't even wait to go there. "Either you both tell me the truth or I'll drag you to your teacher." Layla threatened.

"Vice-prez w-we know nothing."

"You know nothing. But you sure know how to gossip about something you know nothing of." Her sarcastic remark turned their expression sour.

They were not guilty of talking bad about someone behind their backs since according to them that girl deserved this having such a brother. But they were unhappy about the fact that they had been caught in the act. They simply had no idea how scary their thoughts could be.

'Teac-teacher, she will tell the teacher. This bitch!!' They clench their fists in anger, digging their fingernails deep in the palms. "It-its… we heard it from our friend." They gave up soon and decided to be honest with her. It was better to let their culprit friend bear the anger than to be dragged to their teacher for misconduct.

Layla raised her eyebrows in response. "Which friend?"

They looked at each other's faces before replying. "Heath… Heath Miller."

'Heath Miller. Hmm…?' she thought. "Who is he?"

"He-he is part of the music club." They answered timidly.

"What the hell did he tell you that you both felt the urge to curse someone?"

"He-he told us tha-that senior Olivia's brother stole something important from the music club and it was she who asked him to do so. So that she can improve her score. She was trying to plagiarize." After finishing they lowered their heads waiting for her judgment.

Layla squinted her eyes while Zou Haoran was standing there, silent as if he was never a part of this conversation. " It's false news. You both better stop spreading bad rumors about anybody or else I'll have to take action against you. You believed some baseless rumors without any evidence and bad-mouthing your senior.

You should be more aware of why your parents have sent you to school. And you still don't know then ask them. I'm pretty sure it's definitely not to let you gossip behind others' back in the corridor."

In their eyes, she was harsh with them for no reason. They didn't hurt senior Olivia. They just talked about her. It wasn't their fault that they didn't know the truth, rather it was Heath's fault for not telling the truth from the beginning.

Because of Layla, the evil vice-president, they had completely lost faces in front of the handsome senior standing there. The only thing they could do was to disappear from there without making a sound.

For now, Layla had reprimanded those two girls but what she never thought was that she would meet them again and in an unexpected situation.

-End of flashback-

...

Right now, Layla and Zou Haoran were in the room arranging the stuff as their president and his secretary left for somewhere.

"You never suspected her, right?" Zou Haoran asked. He suspected that she didn't blame Lani in reality. But why? Was it because she's her friend?

She paused. "You are right."

"Then why?"

"Because she is someone who doesn't hold back." She answered instantly as if she was waiting for him to ask. She was confident that it wasn't the work of her friend but she acted that way to kill a tiny bit of possibility before anything else.

"Hmm…?"

"Though they told us false information but it wasn't hard to see that the target was Olivia, not the thief Oliver. Also, there was no mention of Mr. & Mrs. Park when the couple created a big drama which Lani also knows.

By now you might have realized that she loves to talk too much. So much that she explains incidents in detail. So how could she didn't tell such explosive news?" He nodded in understanding. He agreed with her.

She continued. "Furthermore, a few students saw them visiting that day." She recalled how Lani was aware of their visit even before she told her. "And, lastly, there is another person who is a suspect: the leader of the music club. She saw the CCTV footage with me. Thus, making her the only suspect who is well aware of the half-truth."

'Impressive.' He never realized that she could be this clear-minded and, of course, smart. Right now, he was happy that he became her secretary. He was more eager to spend time with her.

...

After reaching the hostel in the light rain, Layla opened the door of her room and entered. She saw that no one reached before her.

'I hope she's done crying.' She thought about how she left her friend and decided not to go and look for her. After all, she herself was in a bad mood and won't be able to console someone with her sharp tongue. Well, she was also hoping that her clumsy brother would've gone to her. 'Ahh. This frustrates me.'

*creak*

The door was opened.