Chapter 8: Who Is Being Bullied?
The students listened as the teacher began his mathematics lesson, surprisingly it was easy to understand his explanations—much easier than their previous math teacher's. Perhaps they could really pass the upcoming exam… Rays of hope could be seen in their eyes, and tears in some.
"Alright, the class is almost over, use that time to do some self-study and answer the questions on the whiteboard."
Markus sat down on his chair and looked across the classroom until his eyes fell on a certain person. The person was spinning his pencil as he watched his classmate sitting next to him studying, he wasn't even doing what he was supposed to do.
'Teodore Falco… the younger brother of Mateo Falco. He's known for doing whatever he wants without care, hopefully, he won't interfere. Or, things will go south.' He shifted his gaze to the young man next to him and thought, 'But why is he with someone like that?'
The young man looked like a diligent and honest student, a type of person someone like Teodore Falco wouldn't hang out with. Could it be… he was being bullied by Teodore Falco? Markus slightly narrowed his eyes at the thought. He didn't mind bullying but it would be annoying if it happened in his class.
"If you don't study, you will fail the exam. If you fail, your parents will be greatly disappointed," Elia advised casually.
Teodore, who had been watching him doodling ice cream for the past half class, wanted to spit at him for being shameless. "Doesn't it apply to you too?"
"Me?" Elia stopped doodling and smiled at Teodore. "I'm fine since I'm smart. I can't say the same for you, though."
"Are you looking down on me?"
Elia kept smiling and continued to doodle, pretending to not have heard the words that were said to him. Teodore saw his action and dropped his pencil from his hand. He did his best to hold in the urge to punch him in the head.
Chloe overheard their conversation and let out a giggle, making them look at her questionably. She cleared her throat lightly and said, "You guys seem to be really good friends. But I think both of you shouldn't think too lightly about the exam… You have to study hard and score high."
"Oh, thank you for worrying about us, Chloe. You're right, let's study hard, yes?" Elia smiled at her.
Chloe grinned and nodded in response. She was worried but seeing Elia's attitude eased her, even though Teodore was still ignoring her. However, there wasn't anything she could do about it because that was how Teodore was. Students at the university were afraid of him because of his cold demeanour and his scary eyes, and wouldn't approach him unless it was necessary.
She was no different, but her perspective gradually changed when she kept spotting Elia together with Teodore ever since two months ago. When she saw how carefree Teodore acted around him, she was surprised. He was even smiling… What made him act so differently towards Elia compared to the other people? Chloe was curious.
"You ice cream freak, let's get out of here."
Elia shook his head and rejected, "Class is about to end, anyways. We can wait."
Teodore frowned. "It's not like we are doing anything."
"Leave alone then."
"How cold. Want to leave now then?"
"... No."
Chloe gulped when she saw someone who had appeared next to them, she wanted to tell Elia and Teodore that the teacher was looking at them, waiting for them to notice him, but she didn't have the guts to when she saw the teacher's face. Unfortunately, they didn't notice his presence and Markus had no choice but clear his throat to catch their attention.
Elia looked up and after a brief moment, he pointed at Teodore and said, "It was all him."
Markus' face darkened, he only said, "You two, to my office after class," before he went back to his desk.
Elia scratched his head lightly. "Wow, Teo, it's only been almost three hours and you have already offended the new teacher. I'm appalled."
Teodore immediately gritted his teeth when he heard him. "Ice cream, I swear—"
"Please don't fight…" Chloe whispered nervously.
"It's okay, we are not fighting," Elia whispered back, his voice was breezy.
Chloe let out a relieved but helpless sigh, she hoped the teacher wouldn't be too harsh on them.
Once the class was finished, Chloe told Elia and Teodore that she would wait for them after they were done. Teodore didn't like the idea but Elia agreed cheerfully and dragged Teodore to the office room.
They were now standing in front of their new teacher who sat in his chair.
"Teodore Falco and Isu Kreem, correct?"
"Yes, sir."
Markus looked at the student profile and said, "Isu Kreem… quite a special name you have."
Elia smiled. "Thank you, sir. My parents have a unique sense of naming."
In honesty, if he didn't see the person with the name himself, Markus would have thought someone was using a fake name. So there really were parents who would name their children like that… He was amused.
"Sir?"
He looked at Elia and Teodore, seemingly to be pondering about something.
"Right, about what happened during the class, I hope it won't happen again. It's important to focus on the class and it's not good to disturb your classmates."
Elia looked down and apologised, "I am sorry, sir… It won't happen again, I promise."
Markus nodded and looked at Teodore, waiting for him to respond.
Teodore knitted his eyebrows slightly and said, "Yeah, whatever."
"If there's any problem, please come to me, okay?" Markus said before dismissing them.
However, before Elia walked out of the room, he was stopped by Markus. His eyes sharpened for a second before reverting to normal when he turned around.
"Is there something else, sir?"
"Yes, I want to ask you something." Markus glanced at Teodore and emphasised, "Alone, please."
Teodore coldly looked at Markus before he shrugged. "I'll wait outside."
Elia nodded and closed the door before walking up to Markus with a question mark popping up above his face.
"What is it that you want to ask me?"
Markus opened his mouth to ask, "Isu, are you being bullied?"
His question threw Elia off for a bit, he didn't know what to say for a moment. "I'm not bullied at all. What makes you think that?"
Markus looked into Elia's eyes and inquired, "Are you sure? You can be honest. It's not an easy feat to openly admit it but as your teacher, I want to make sure you're doing okay."
"Sorry, but I'm really not bullied," Elia stated.
"... Is that so? Then that's a relief. I have another question, what's your relationship with Teodore Falco?"
Elia tilted his head and placed his finger on his chin, thinking. "Hm… An acquaintance, a classmate that I hang out with?"
"Oh, I see… Okay, well, that's all, you may leave now," Markus dismissed him.
Elia slightly bowed before exiting the room. Markus watched the door closing and he let out a sigh.
"It looks like I had the wrong idea… He seems normal but then why would… I guess Teodore is still young and even someone like him enjoys hanging out with normal students." Subconsciously, he took out his coin and fiddled it with his fingers as he was deep in thought.
Outside of the office room, Teodore queried Elia as they were walking back.
"Hey, what did that teacher ask you?"
Elia shrugged before exaggerating his response, "Mr. Hess asked if I was bullied by you because you kept staring at me like a predator during the class. He was worried that you were targeting me and wanted to take action against you. I can't blame him, though. You look like a delinquent, very scary and mean. That's why, please stop staring at me in class, okay?"
Hearing this, Teodore snorted, "Yeah, right." But then, the more he looked at Elia's nonchalant face, he began to waver. "... You are being serious?"
Elia stared at Teodore and let out a laugh he had held in, "Pfft. What an idiot." Then, he began to sprint, knowing that Teodore would chase him, ready to beat him up for making a fool out of him.
Just as he predicted, Teodore fumed and immediately chased him down. Teodore hated the fact that he had originally thought Elia was a wimp, a loser with no courage. It was obvious that he was wrong, Elia was clearly an irritating brat.
"Fucking ice cream, stop running and let me fucking hit you!"
Elia didn't listen to Teodore and continued to run. As he was nearing the front entrance, he spotted Chloe who was looking at his direction confused. He waved at her before stopping in front of her.
"Oh, Chloe, an angry dog is chasing me. Meet us at the nearest ice cream store, okay? I'll wait for you. See you," he quickly said before he began to run again.
Chloe didn't know what was going on and only nodded her head as she watched him run out of the university with an angry-looking Teodore on his tail.
"What are they even doing?" Chloe murmured.
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