Chapter 26

Anyway. I noticed something pretty suspicious.

When I went to the bathroom, the door was actually stuck. Right?

When I unstuck it myself, there were some weird-looking guys hanging around. They looked at me as if I had caught them doing something suspicious and suddenly tried acting very innocent.

Not sure if they were doing drugs or something, but I didn't like the way they were eyeing the women's bathroom towards the left either.

I snooped around looking for them but they weren't there anymore. 

My stomach was feeling strange about this whole thing. My gut feeling kept bugging me. It just didn't seem right.

Some dudes doing drugs or whatever shouldn't make me feel so bothered… 

I returned to the bathroom to examine everything again and alleviate the suspicious gut feeling.

After double-checking things and feeling like I had done enough snooping around, I went back outside after washing my hands.

"Look, Andrew. I don't appreciate the things you're saying about Ivan. Also, you're making me very uncomfortable."

"You shouldn't be with a peasant! Alice, you're a very high-class woman. You deserve something way better."

Uh… a peasant? 

Alice paused for a second, also perplexed at Andrew's use of the word 'peasant.'

"Don't tell me what to do."

"It just doesn't make sense. I don't understand why you're with such a guy. What can he give you that makes you like this?"

"What do you mean, 'like this'? It's my business who I want to be with."

"You're wrong. That just isn't how it is. Look, he's a commoner and you deserve someone who can give you everything."

"...Dude. I don't understand you. You're making me very uncomfortable."

"I'm just worried about you. We've known each other since we were kids and I don't want you getting hurt by some dickhead…"

Some dickhead?

"Then who the fuck is better than him?" Her calm countenance immediately spiked upon hearing the insult.

"I'm way better than him. I could give you so much more."

She scoffed. "So that's it? You're jealous of him?" Her tone turned venomous.

"Hah, how would I be jealous of garbage like him? I'm just saving you from misery. Look, yes. I'm being like this because I feel strongly about you, Alice. We've known each other since we were little children and I always used to follow you around. You've grown to be so beautiful and I feel like we'd make a great match."

"Don't fucking call him garbage! You're the one that's garbage. You're a piece of shit that takes advantage of other wom—" 

Seeing how intense the situation was growing, I did not want Alice to be hurt or assaulted. 

I quickly approached them and grabbed Alice's arm.

"—Hey, hey," I interrupted. Alice's infuriated eyes immediately turned to look at me. The disgust and absolute loathing present in her eyes slightly shook me.

Upon recognizing me, her eyes turned softer. "You didn't hear what he said, right?"

I smiled, "I heard plenty."

"So, you heard our conversation right?" Andrew? Or whatever his name was, spread his arms. "How about it? What can I do for you to give her to me?"

The first thing I noticed about his appearance was how punchable his smile looked. Dozens of thousands of dollars had probably been invested into that smile, yet I held no pleasant feeling toward it. 

Finally, his words registered in my brain.

What in the fucking world?

"...What… sort of shitty third-rate villain…" I muttered and Alice poked my rib as she laughed.

"What?" he didn't hear me. 

"Nothing. Look, dude. Alice and I are pretty happy together. You're making her uncomfortable and I don't appreciate that. I understand you've probably liked her for a long while now, but being like this is not helping your case out at all."

"Tch," his smile turned into a disgusting look of disdain, "You're a shitty commoner. You don't deserve Alice. Who are you to talk to your betters like this? Monkey."

So should I punch him?

Alice's hands grabbed mine. 

Right. I'm here to de-escalate the situation and make sure Alice gets out safely and unbothered. 

I hoped my face was relaxed, but judging by how Alice immediately grabbed my hands I am going to assume I looked pretty strained. "Haha... Anyway, don't bother her again."

"Or what?"

Maybe before going back in time, I would've ignored him and left a barking dog as is. 

But, since I've gone back in time and I'm younger and full of hormones…

I turned to my side and looked at Alice with a smile.

Sorry.

"What do you mean or what?" 

Ah, what a shitty face. Looking like you're superior to everyone else.

"I mean what are you going to do if I keep talking to her?"

He was by no means a short guy, but I was in the basketball team for a reason. 

I looked down at him, "The fuck you think I'm going to do?" 

"I don't give a shit what you do. I'll fuck you up and then I'll fuck her."

His vulgar words quickly stoked my anger. An itch in my stomach demanded I escalate the situation. I had decided to let loose as the personality switches that had troubled me on the first day of my return would now be in control.

Having been around Alice's rapid-fire insults for such a long time now, the interactions were not lost on me.

"Big mouth for a piece of garbage. Shut the fuck up. Dumbasses like you only throw around daddy's money while being more useless than the condom your parents used when you were conceived." 

The words rolling off my tongue left a bad taste in my mouth. 

I ignored the strange clashing of opinions in my heart and continued mocking him with phrases I had heard Alice use before.

"Hahaha," his expression twisted and began raging.

Unknowingly, it had worked. I guess Alice knows how to get under rich kids' skins very easily.

"Yeah, what the fuck are you gonna say now? Can't say anything back, can you? Expected it from a stupid piece of shit like you," my smile grew wider and more tantalizing. 

Though my intention was to mock him and make him do something he shouldn't, I noticed I felt particularly trashy having to stoop to his level. 

I slowly got closer to him, enough for others to notice that it wasn't just a verbal conflict anymore.

His patience reached its limit and he shoved me. 

Having expected the situation, I let myself be pushed for the narrative but quickly regained my footing.

"I'll fucking kill you."

"The fuck was that?" I laughed, "You looked like a little bitch. You were pushed back more than me."

His eyes were seeing red. He cocked his fist back and swung widely at my face.

I heard gasps and yells from the people surrounding us. 

His fist missed, but more swings kept coming. 

People jumped in to hold him back. "I'll fucking kill you, bitch!"

I merely frowned. In the end, I got what I wanted but I did not like the situation.

"Don't fucking touch me, I'm gonna tear this trash apart!" his yells grew more piercing and aggressive as I dodged his drunken haymakers.

Of course, I wanted to punch the shit out of him, but a split second of logic filled my mind ad I decided to listen to the gut feeling that had followed me since the bathroom.

If I struck back, wouldn't this look badly upon Alice? What sounds better, 'Alice's boyfriend controlled himself while her drunken suitor harassed them', or 'Trouble at the Sinclair banquet as fight breaks out between Mr. Sinclair's granddaughter's boyfriend and whatever the hell his name is'.

"Hey! Calm the fuck down, dude," the people holding him weren't too amused by him, either.

He struggled and shoved while the others held him.

Finally, he stopped struggling and looked up at me.

"Fucking bitch, you only ran away."

I glanced at him once dismissively and wondered if my actions had been worth it. "Hey, you okay?" the surrounding people approached and asked.

"What happened there?" they looked at him with frowns.

"No clue. He was harassing my girlfriend…" I glanced at Alice, "and asked him to leave her alone because he was making her uncomfortable."

"Yeah. From the beginning, I saw that she was telling him to go away. I even heard him insulting you and he just wouldn't back off," witnesses helped my case.

They patted my back. "So your name's Ivan? You should be careful around that guy," someone suggested. "He's a well-known troublemaker…" his voice turned to a whisper.

"Yeah. He was calling me a peasant and I wasn't too happy about that either, to be honest…"

"Don't worry, I wouldn't have been as patient as you. To be honest, I wanted to punch him the moment he started talking. I'm surprised you didn't."

The hushes turned into a conversation, disregarding the troublemaker's presence whose grimace turned worse by the second. 

I sighed, "Well, I know it's Mr. Sinclair's birthday. I didn't want to ruin such an occasion, to be honest."

"Yeah, what's wrong with him? His family gets along with Mr. Sinclair's as well, so it's surprising that he'd be like that."

"See me outside! I'll fucking kill you!" his scream erupted as the others looked with frowns.

"Goodness."

"How disgraceful."

I shrugged. 

"Are you okay?" I felt a body wrap around my arm.

I smiled down at the cute face looking at me with worry. "Yeah, don't worry about him, but be careful." I poked her nose, "If he gets close to you and I'm not here, yell out and the people here will take care of you."

"Haha," they chuckled, "that's right young lady. He won't do anything if we're here."

"You two are lovely together."

We smiled.

"How long have you been together?"

I turned to look at Alice. "A while now."

"Wonderful," a lady took Alice's hands, "What's your name?"

"Ah… I'm Alice." 

"Alice… what a cute name. Don't worry about your boyfriend. He's very tall and big. Wasn't he cool when he protected you?" 

They mistook her itching hands for anxiety when in reality she probably wanted to punch Andrew. 

Yes. Alice doesn't get angry often, but when she does, she gets a little aggressive. 

"Ah," she smiled shyly, "that's true. Thank you very much." 

She hugged my arm very closely. 

Although at first, it felt like heaven, she began twisting and pinching my arm.

Ah is this retribution?

I whispered to her ear, "I'm sorry."

She smiled, "What are you sorry about? You were very cool."

She said that, but her pinching was not getting any better.

Before I could ask, she explained herself. "Sorry that I'm pinching you. I'm feeling a little weird."

I frowned. "Are you okay?"

I noticed her breathing was erratic and her eyes looked very shaky.

Looking down at her own hands, they had red twisted spots and scratch marks.

"Yes. I don't know what's wrong with me…" She seemed just as confused as I, with her breaths getting more erratic by the second.

The lady's words came back to my mind.

I mistook her anxiety for anger when she was actually anxious. I realized her itching hands were not anger, but actually worry.

I'm an idiot. 

I wrapped my arms around her and brought her face to my chest. Her soft body did not resist my embrace, but it seemed to have no effect.

Worry manifested and pierced through my body like ice.

"I'm fine. We're fine. He's not going to bother us anymore."

I squeezed her. "See? There's nothing wrong. I'm still here. He didn't do anything to me."

Her breathing was still rough and she drilled her face into my chest. 

Her hands were moving uneasily on my stomach as she pinched and twisted both herself and myself.

Her hands paused for a slight second, but she then started scratching her neck desperately.

Red marks quickly appeared the places where her nails left. I immediately grabbed her hands and held them tightly.

A terrible feeling spread from my heart to my arms and fingers.

Her hands struggled.

"I'm itchy," she breathed desperately.

"No, you're not."

She began rubbing her neck against herself roughly. 

"Stop that," her neck was red from the scratching.

"I don't know," she said shakily, "What's going on?" Her eyes were frantically staring into my own.

"Breathe."

"What?"

"Breathe. Breathe. Inhale. Exhale."

She tensely followed my breathing. 

It did not get any better. I was confused. This isn't the Alice that I've known for so many years. Alice never had panic attacks, never had anxiety attacks... Rather she disdained the people that had them.

The others looked in concern. The lady who noticed Alice had been anxious at first signaled me to go somewhere private. Yes, that's a good idea.

I held her hand and quickly rushed her to the room where she had been doing her hair and makeup.

I sat her down on the chair and held her hand as I kneeled beside her.