Chapter 80: A Hard Lesson

On the drive home from school, Emma, Monica, Priya, and Chloe sat inside the car in dead silence. They were still absolutely seething with anger. Heidi and Laura, who were watching their four friends, felt completely lost; they were dying to know what happened but were too hesitant to ask, even though they had already caught wind of the drama at school. Suddenly, Monica broke the silence.

"Damn it... seriously, damn it all! I actually had to shake hands with that miserable bitch," Monica snapped furiously.

"I know, right? We were totally backed into a corner and had zero options left," Emma added, aggressively wiping off the hand she had just used to shake Ruby’s.

"Chloe, how did you lose your cool like that? You never act that way," Priya said, turning around to look at Chloe.

"Sorry... I guess I’m just exhausted... I’ve got way too much on my mind and too much on my plate right now," Chloe muttered, looking down as she wrung her hands. "Monica’s seat wasn’t that far from mine, so I overheard their conversation, and suddenly... I just saw red," Chloe added.

"I get it. You were probably feeling exactly what Eric goes through after hearing everything about him. Honestly, the second I saw that girl, I felt the exact same way, it’s just that I didn’t know she was completely shameless," Monica replied, still seething.

"It’s not just you guys, you know. We all feel the exact same way," Laura chimed in.

"But... I understand. If she sat right next to me, dropped my name like that, and talked to me that way... I’d probably see red and completely lose it too," Heidi added thoughtfully.

"She’s smart... she used the teachers to go against us. We all know our grades have been slipping lately, so the teachers already think we’re troublemakers. If our parents caught wind of this... they’d probably end up at Emma’s house again to vent about it... and then I’d be dead," Priya said, trying to analyze exactly what happened and what could play out in the future.

"Exactly... now we can’t even avoid her since she’s in our class. Moving forward, we’re going to have to be incredibly careful when dealing with her," Emma said thoughtfully.

"The most important thing is not to let her get under our skin. At first, I asked to switch seats with Monica because I could see Monica was taking the bait and was about to blow up... but in the end, I was the one who lost it. I really screwed up," Chloe said regretfully, looking down as she gripped the fabric of her skirt.

"Yeah... you’re right, Chloe. If you hadn’t asked to switch and snapped me out of it, I would’ve completely blacked out and stopped caring about the consequences. I probably would’ve slammed her head right into the desk, and things obviously would’ve been way worse than this," Monica said, looking down too.

"Forget it. The bottom line is we now know exactly what kind of toxic girl she is, so next time we’ll be careful... and we need to actually focus on studying," Emma told her friends, leaving no room for argument.

"Yeah... you’re right," Priya replied, agreeing with Emma.

After that, everyone fell silent. The interior of the car grew quiet, filled only with the steady hum of the engine and the rhythm of the song playing from the dashboard console. Then Laura turned to look at her friends.

"Do we need to tell Eric about this?" Laura asked.

Emma, Chloe, Monica, Priya, and even Heidi turned to look at Laura. They all seemed lost in thought, letting Laura’s question hang heavily in the air for a moment. Then they looked at one another before turning their gaze back to Laura.

"No, don’t. Don’t tell him a thing. Let’s just keep this to ourselves," Emma said.

"Right. Aside from it being embarrassing, I also don’t want Eric to find out that his sister is already starting drama with us on our very first day," Priya added.

"Yeah... let’s just keep everything that happened today to ourselves," Monica agreed.

"Eric is currently helping me run my company, so I don’t want to burden him with his sister’s nonsense," Chloe chimed in.

"Alright, if that’s what you all want, I’ll keep my mouth shut too. And you keep quiet as well, Laura," Heidi said, turning to look at Laura.

"Yeah... that’s exactly why I asked first," Laura replied.

"Alright then, how about we grab some food before heading back? We can pick up something for Eric too," Emma suggested.

"Sounds good, I’m down," the others replied in unison.

They immediately told the driver to make a pit stop at a restaurant to pick up the food before heading home. About an hour later, the six of them were walking across the lobby toward the second elevator, carrying bags of food to share with Eric upstairs.

Not long after, ding, the elevator doors slid open, and they stepped inside. Just as the doors were about to close, they caught sight of a taxi pulling up in front of the lobby before the doors sealed shut. When they reached their floor and the doors opened, they were instantly greeted by the rhythm of a song.

The six of them were completely taken aback because they had never heard this melody before. Without even realizing it, they stood frozen in front of the closed elevator doors, losing themselves in the music until they closed their eyes. Once the melody faded out, a voice spoke up.

"Oh... you guys are home?"

They snapped their eyes open and saw Eric, who had been sitting on the couch, walking toward them. He was still holding the smartphone he had just used to record the melody that had echoed throughout the entire room, along with a few sheets of sheet music.

"Was that a new song?" Emma asked.

"Ah... yeah, it’s not a hundred percent finished yet, but pretty much," Eric replied, looking down at his smartphone.

"Play it again," Chloe said.

Eric played the track one more time, and they lost themselves in the melody once again. This time, the music felt soft yet fast-paced. The rhythm moved like waves, sometimes calm and sometimes crashing, but it sounded beautiful and harmonious thanks to the seamless blend of the guitar, drums, bass, and keyboard.

But beneath the beauty of the melody, there was also a gripping sense of mystery. It felt like the inner thoughts of someone questioning a person they thought they knew, trying to understand what was truly hidden in that person’s heart.

Once the melody ended, Eric stopped the recording and looked at the girls, who were standing in front of him with stunned expressions.

"Wow... I don’t even know how to put it into words... that melody gave me straight-up goosebumps," Priya said, wrapping her arms around herself.

"What’s the title?" Monica asked, reaching for the sheet music.

"Enigma Betrayal," Eric replied.

"Enigma Betrayal? As in trying to uncover the truth behind a betrayal?" Priya asked.

"Pretty much... it’s about someone who feels betrayed by a person they knew and trusted, someone who was there for them when they were in a dark place. And when they finally cross paths with that person again and look at them with complete emotional detachment, they realize there’s a mystery behind the betrayal. At least, that’s what popped into my head, haha," Eric answered.

Eric showed the sheet music to the six girls, and they looked it over right away. The notes were incredibly difficult and complex to master, featuring a tempo that shifted between fast, slow, and extremely rapid, yet still managed to flow like a river. As Monica read through the lyrics, she briefly shuddered from the goosebumps.

"Wow... these lyrics... this track... is it a sad song?" Monica asked, looking up at Eric.

"Hmm... it’s not exactly sad. It’s more like... a point where sadness and happiness just turn completely numb. It’s hard to explain. Just read through it, and let me know if anything feels off," Eric replied, scratching the back of his head.

"Hmm... alright. Let’s eat first," Laura suggested, holding up the bags of food.

"Oh... you guys bought food? Perfect timing. I was just thinking about ordering delivery or heading downstairs to grab something to eat," Eric replied.

But before they could even move, driiing... ding, the intercom speaker next to the elevator buzzed. Eric walked over and pressed the button to speak with the receptionist downstairs.

"Yes?" Eric answered.

"Mr. Eric Reed? The second unit on the 25th floor?" a woman’s voice asked.

"Yes, that’s right. I’m Eric Reed," Eric replied.

"Well, sir, there is a young lady down here who claims to be your sister and wants to see you. Her name is Ruby Reed. Would you like to come downstairs, or should we send her up?" the woman asked.

Hearing those words, Eric’s expression instantly shifted, and he fell completely silent. Meanwhile, the faces of Emma, Chloe, Monica, Priya, Heidi, and Laura suddenly darkened. Their grips tightened around the food bags until their knuckles turned white and started to tremble.