Tender Violence

Bang!

A muffled sound echoed throughout the halls of the abandoned school building.

In the farthest room from the stairs of the third floor, a student gasped in pain, whimpering while sitting on the floor. A female student stood in front of the gasping student; her expression darkened while remembering what happened in school earlier. Two others stood by the door to watch, both to watch out for patrolling guards and to stop the female student if she gets too violent.

"Who gave you the courage to hit her?" The standing female student coldly asked, holding a volleyball while looking at the sitting student in disgust.

With a violent throw, the volleyball hit the calf of the whimpering student accurately.

The student gritted her teeth to stop her sobs from coming out.

"I didn't even dare touch her," once again, after fetching the ball, the female student once again threw the ball with force towards the target.

This continued for a few more throws.

The two students guarding the door can't help but mock the whimpering student in their hearts.

This Tyra is really an idiot. She actually dares to target the goddess of Lucie.

Everyone in their circle knew just how protective and doting Lucie can be with her goddess, to the extent that the goddess won't even need to ask, and Lucie will come running. After all, that's the goddess that Lucie had been guarding for almost a year!

"Lucie, that's enough. Your Portia will be looking for you," Claire reminded after looking at her watch. It's almost time for the afternoon classes. They can't be gone for too long.

"Let's go," Lucie took one final look at the whimpering student while frowning.

The three rebellious students left, leaving Tyra behind. A few minutes later, she also left while limping, regretting targeting Portia earlier during volleyball class. If only she did it discreetly, she would not have been targeted by Lucie.

Gritting her teeth, Tyra can only swallow this grievance.

She knew Lucie first! She fell for Lucie first! How can that Portia steal Lucie's attention?! This is so unfair! That b*tch! Pretending to be fair and fragile just to arouse Lucie's protective instincts, that Portia is really a fake white lotus!

No, this can't be. She has to lay low for a while. Lucie got so angry with her now, she first has to lower her sense of presence.

Frowning, Tyra looked at her bruised thigh, where Lucie repeatedly hit with a volleyball. She also hit that Portia with a volleyball in the thigh earlier, but Lucie hit her five times. So unfair!

Lucie is famous in their school as a social butterfly, not even sparing the useless kids and befriending them. Everywhere Lucie went would be the center of attention. In short, Lucie's reputation as the school tyrant without using fists has spread even to other nearby schools.

But if one would think that Lucie can't fight, they're wrong. Lucie knew martial arts and different sports while growing up in their family as the eldest daughter. She can knock down five adult men if there's a fight out without a scratch. No one would want to mess with her. Student gangs disappeared around the school when she entered high school.

With her sunny personality, pretty face and strong family background, Lucie is favored by many as a dream lover. It's just a pity that this one is bent and already has her eyes set on another beautiful girl, Portia, who is their year's top ranker.

"Lu! Where have you been?" Portia, the goddess of Lucie asked with her clear eyes. She had been talking to Lucie's circle of friends for a while, which is why she did not realize that Lucie had disappeared for some time.

But now that the person returned, she does not need to worry.

"I went to the comfort room for a while and bought some snacks for you by the way," Lucie is no longer the fierce gangster student who beat people up in the abandoned school building a few minutes ago. She returned to be the sweet, sunny Lucie of Portia.

Lucie took out the prepared snacks for Portia. While she went to take revenge for her goddess, she ordered some people to buy Portia's preferred snacks as an alibi.

Staring at Portia's red lips, Lucie's eyes darkened, and unconsciously licked her own lips. But remembering the place and time, she hid her dark intentions and smiled sweetly.

She swiftly urged the student sitting beside Portia to move, and snugly sat down by Portia's side.

Feeling the warmth of Portia's presence, Lucie fought the urge to sigh heavily. She hugged Portia from the side without hindering Portia's conversation with others. At times like this, feelings of contentment rose, and she wished that time could be extended indefinitely.

Being by her goddess's side is really a double-edged sword.

She can't bear to be away for a long time, but she also has to endure her dark thoughts of hiding away her goddess from the eyes of others. She also has to take care not to frighten her goddess away. She can't bear to be hated by Portia. Otherwise, she'll really regret it to death.

Patience. She has to be patient. Can't show her thoughts. She has to be Portia's sweet dog. This way, Portia would lower down all her guards and would let her be daring.

She has to first promote her status from Portia's sweet friend to be Portia's intimate friend. That way, she can conquer Portia's body and wear down her heart's defenses later when Portia can't live without her touch anymore.

Lucie knew just how innocent Portia can be, especially since she had been staring at her goddess for almost a year already since they reached high school at their local private high school. Portia almost had no knowledge about intimate relationships, raised by conservative and overprotective parents. Lucie found out about Portia's family background when she coaxed her mother into it.

Portia had been a gentle and behaved girl while growing up, which is why she'd been favored by their family elders and never had a rebellious streak. When other children had their phones and other gadgets, Portia remained pure and innocent, away from the messy articles on the internet.

She's too pure, like a blank sheet of canvas that would be stained by ink at a touch.

For the whole year that Lucie knew Portia, there had been more than ten cases of confessions and love letters sent to Portia's way. Lucie got irked by their daring ways and had her little brothers and sisters block those suitors on their way home, and they got so scared that they would run at the sight of Portia.

So, she resorted to openly claiming Portia to drive away the flies. Of course, Portia had no way of knowing the deeds of Lucie and claims. She only sighed in relief upon realizing that there're no annoying boys around her recently. She only attributed it to them focusing on their studies as she recommended.

When they had a break in the afternoon, Lucie remembered Portia's 'injury'.

"Speaking of which, we had to change the dressing of your bruise later," Lucie mentioned, and she secretly gritted her teeth upon remembering what Tyra did earlier to her Portia.

Should she have hit more?

"I should not have urged you to play. If I did that, you would not have been hit by the stray ball," Lucie really regretted asking Portia to play earlier. Otherwise, Portia would not have a blue bruise if not for playing.

Lucie did not mention Portia being targeted. She had to keep Portia pure, away from the darkness of society. All Portia had to know is the beautiful world, away from the dark world. Lucie can handle the darkness on her own without involving her goddess.

Portia is frail, easily panting when running even a hundred meters. Lucie had been using all her efforts to slowly train Portia's body and endurance. However, even with all these activities, Lucie's circle of friends would always be around in alert. When playing, they would consciously avoid hitting Portia by the ball or by any sports equipment. They consciously positioned themselves in a protective circle around Portia to avoid any accidents.

But who would have thought that someone would actually dare to accurately hit Portia in Lucie's presence? Everyone around earlier who had contact with Lucie for a few years knew just how she holds her grudges.

Lucie immediately panicked upon hearing Portia's pained scream, almost teleporting from one side of the court to Portia's side. With a worried face and almost crying expression, Lucie swiftly carried Portia to the school's infirmary.

Before she ran, she gave Claire a stare, which the girl understood immediately, and nodded.

After she rushed to the infirmary to give Portia first aid and returned to class, Claire immediately informed Lucie about the culprit of Portia's bruise. With enthusiastic bystanders and witnesses, Claire managed to pinpoint Tyra as the offender.

Lucie then went to get revenge for Portia's bruise by lunch.

Now, Lucie can't help but have a tearful expression upon seeing the bruise on Portia's pale thigh.

Portia looked at Lucie in horror.

"Are you going to cry again?" she asked, holding Lucie's face with both hands in order to look at the tears pooling by the corners of Lucie's eyes.

"I'm fine, really. It hurts a bit, but it won't affect my daily life. And besides, the doctor already told us that it'll heal within half a month. No need to worry anymore," Portia hastily wiped Lucie's tears.

With Lucie's expression, its as if she felt more pain than the one who got hit. Portia almost can't resist but chuckle. She really got a very cute friend.

At the thought of finally having a friend, Portia smiled sweetly, blinding Lucie's eyes for a second.

This further cemented Lucie's idea of tricking Portia into marriage with her. Her goddess is really so considerate. Being hit by a ball must hurt a lot. At this thought, tears pooled around her eyes once more.

Claire, who happened to be passing by the comfort room's cubicle where Lucie is flirting with her goddess, can only pretend to not see this.

Different from Tyra who never managed to enter Lucie's circle of close friends since middle school and Portia who can only see all the good in Lucie, Claire knew just how dark the heart of this sunny dog is. She knew that Lucie might be famous as a social butterfly with a wide range of network, but she never truly let anyone in her heart. Lucie's heart has walls that can rival a highly guarded prison. It's hard to break in.

It was until a year ago when Portia transferred to their high school that Claire found Lucie opening her heart to someone aside from her immediate family. She witnessed just how her fox friend slowly got obsessed and possessive of their top ranker.

Claire's family worked for Lucie's family for generations, and she also grew to be a competitive little assistant to this rich heir. She's a first-hand witness of how Lucie dealt with all the aspiring suitors of Portia and those that has malicious intentions towards this innocent little flower.

She witnessed how Portia tamed and disciplined this sunny devil, who has to coax an angry Portia whenever she did not pass her assignments on time. She observed how Lucie would remember all of Portia's preferences and habits, catering to this fragile soul. She watched as Lucie worried for Portia's health whenever the girl missed her breakfast. She noticed how Lucie seem to break whenever Portia is not around, becoming as feeble as a piece of glass. And she also knew just how happy and contented she can be whenever she's snuggling Portia.

On the other hand, Claire also knew the dark thoughts that seem to brew in Lucie's mind whenever she licked her lips. She noted that the family psychiatrist had to be informed about this. Or at least, Lucie had to endure her urges of being greedy for Portia's body.

In the end, this is a healthy direction for Lucie's growth. Her grades are improving, she's found a person to cherish, and is learning how to use the people around her to achieve her goals, albeit in a crooked way. Lucie's family would still accept this result as long as she does not violate the law blatantly.

Claire just wish that no daredevil would provoke this fox who's obsessed with her goddess. If her attention is shifted in a bad way, like how that Tyra did it, it would end badly.

As a childhood friend of Lucie, she wishes the best for her and Portia. It's best if Portia can be tricked by Lucie into marriage to further stabilize Lucie's emotional and mental health. Her influence can be both medicine and poison to the obsessed Lucie.

The newly arrived presence managed to sneak in easily.

It managed to tame the violent flames of her personality.

With a net of enclosure, it remains to exist delicately.

May it continue to touch the tenderness of the tyrant silently. 

~ Fin ~