Chapter 103 Cutting Bond

During the course of our conversation regarding the project, Vera's phone began to ring for no apparent reason. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, then immediately turned her attention to Kianna.

“Go! Answer it." Kianna said, smiling.

Vera nodded and stood up, but as she was walking away, her phone was facing Kianna's direction, so Kianna could see who was calling Vera. This allowed Kianna to answer Vera's call. Indeed, it was Asteria all along!

The question is, why is she calling her? Kianna wondered.

Vera walked out of the room to answer the phone call that was coming in. Kianna had the urge to follow her and inquire as to the nature of the conversation that was taking place between her and Asteria, but she restrained herself and instead took a few deep breaths.

Is she faking it throughout this entire conversation? Is the purpose of all of this to merely exert influence over me? Coming up to me and trying to enlist my help in their upcoming endeavor as one of her friends? Kianna was at a loss for words and couldn't determine her next course of action. She wanted to get rid of the negative thoughts that were going through her head, but she couldn't stop herself from becoming anxious when she saw Vera talking very seriously on her phone.

Vera came back after a few minutes, and because she was so anxious, it appeared as though she was dealing with some kind of issue.

Should we go ahead with this? Kianna asked.

Vera halted her forward momentum and forced a smile across her face. "Uhm… Kianna, I am thinking that it would be best if I left... Is it possible for us to carry on with our brainstorming later, or if you are not available later, perhaps the following day?"

"Yeah, sure! Wait—" Kianna reached into her pocket and pulled out an object, which turned out to be a pen. She then got to her feet, went to her desk, and grabbed a scrap of paper, on which she promptly began writing her phone number. "Please dial this number if you need to get in touch with me. You are welcome to give me a call whenever you feel ready to get started on the project." Vera received the paper from Kianna who had just handed it to her.

"Thank you… That is something that I will unquestionably carry out "she said with a cheerful expression on her face. "I am sorry that I had to leave so quickly..."

"It works out just fine. If there was an urgent situation there in which you needed to complete that task right away, then that would be fine with me. Then I suppose it is time for me to go back to the lecture hall at this point. Make sure you don't forget to get in touch with me regarding the project, all right?" Kianna was about to leave the room when Vera intervened and stopped her. After she finished her sentence, Kianna continued.

"Kianna, wait!"

Kianna halted what she was doing and turned around to look at her. "Mhmm?"

"I— I am meeting Asteria later… It was she who called me a while ago, and she expressed interest in having a conversation with me... My guess is that it has something to do with the fact that I admitted to the dean that I was to blame for everything and claimed full responsibility for it. I really hope that you wouldn't get the wrong idea if you ever saw me out and about with her in the future... I will simply go meet up with her to discuss these matters with her, and that is all..." Vera added.

The unexpected happened to Kianna, which took her by surprise. I was taken aback when she confirmed my suspicions by telling me the whole truth. I had the impression that she was going to try to keep it a secret from me. If this is the case, then I can safely assume that she was totally forthright regarding her goals. Kianna smiled.

"That's the case, isn't it? I really hope that meeting Asteria won't convince you to change your mind about anything. She has a sinister tone to her voice!" Kianna murmured something, which ultimately led to the group erupting into fits of laughter.

"If that's the case, I'll make sure not to let myself be led astray by her manipulations. Will I hear from you again soon?" Vera asked.

"Sure! I'll be in the room, but if you can't find me there, you can most likely find me in the cafeteria. I'll see you there! See ya!" Kianna indicated her departure from the room with a wave of her hand.

Vera watched her walk away from the house. Then, just before she leaves the office, she gives the surrounding area one last glance while crossing her arms. After she had finished getting ready to leave, she double-checked that the door was locked and proceeded to the top of their school. As she entered the building, she noticed Asteria staring at the students who were jogging around the quadrangle. She paused for a moment to take a few deep breaths before beginning to move in Asteria's direction.

"You have come to this place!" Joyfully, Asteria shared her thoughts, but she kept her gaze fixed on the pupils on the ground below. "After what you did to me, I thought it was for the best that we would never see each other again..." The ingredient Asteria was added.

"What do you want?" Vera asked. She had caught up to Asteria and was now following her.

Vera's gaze was met by Asteria's as she turned around and looked back. She appeared to be smiling despite her serious expression. "What exactly do you want from me? What if I told you that because of your betrayal of me, I wanted your life to be taken?"

Vera responded with a blank look on her face, "Then kill me now," indicating that she did not understand the question.

"What were you thinking? — I don't understand why you did that. Vera, I had the impression that everything was organized beforehand. We have put a lot of time and effort into planning this, and you are just going to mess it up? Why did you admit it to the dean of students?! Why did you shoulder the entire burden of responsibility?!" Asteria let out a piercing shriek and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Asteria, when I woke up this morning, the first thing that came to my mind was that I no longer wanted to engage in those activities. Every single thing that we did just served to make my life more difficult. You were obviously unaware of that, weren't you? It doesn't matter how many times you've proven to your sister that you care more about yourself than she does by acting in a malicious manner. It made you a loser—"

Vera was struck on the cheek by a blow that came out of nowhere. "What?! Did you just call me a loser?! You're familiar with me, aren't you, Vera? You were the only person around me who could really get inside my head and comprehend what I was going through. Why does it seem like you don't understand me anymore? Have you neglected to remember our agreement that we made together? Huh?"

Vera reached out with her hand and touched her face. attempting to alleviate the discomfort caused by Asteria's slap on the face. "You and I will stand by each other and support one another no matter what happens, right? That's right, I do recall reading about that. This is the reason why I claimed ownership over everything. I carried out those actions on your behalf. I took the blame on myself so that you wouldn't have to be a part of it any longer..."

"Why? I had the impression that you would lend me a hand in forcing Kianna to be expelled from this university. Vera, that was the very last thing that either of us would ever consider doing! I thought you wanted Nathan to look at you the way he looks at that b*tch, but it seems like you're trying to accomplish the opposite. Why has that suddenly turned into something completely different?"

"Asteria, there has been absolutely no change. I still have the hope that Nathan will look at me the way that she looks at Kianna, but not in that context. I yearned for someone to love me in such a fashion. You have to understand that whenever we behave in a deplorable manner, the rest of the world will turn their backs on us. In addition to that, she holds the card with the highest value. We can't keep treating her as an adversary because it would be counterproductive. It will only make the rest of our lives miserable." As a result of what Vera said, Asteria decided to abandon her previous position.

"What makes you think you can get away with saying such things?! It makes no difference to me if she's the best, because she's still that b*tch that we all know—"

"She is not guilty of that at all! She now has the ability to completely derail our lives in a single fraction of a second. Asteria, if you could just refrain from doing that please... Please reconsider doing that; I don't want you to throw away your life like that. Do you intend to spend the entirety of your time at this establishment functioning at the lowest possible level?" Vera jumped in with an intervention.

"If you hadn't thwarted our efforts, she would never have been able to amass such a level of power. You should see it through and make her life as miserable as possible, but you effing ruin it, Vera! You are responsible for everything that went wrong!"

Asteria was incapable of refraining from criticizing Vera with derogatory language. However, Vera remained impassively still, giving the impression that she was well prepared for anything that Asteria might do to her. She received multiple slaps from Asteria, but she didn't even flinch in response to them.

Asteria wailed out in agony as tears ran down her face and she screamed in pain. "You are someone I despise! I was under the impression that you were the only friend I had!"

"Asteria, I'm sorry for the inconvenience... I really hope that you will give it some more thought and decide to take a different approach. Don't be so careless with your life; that won't solve anything. Don't let jealousy eat you. Claiming that I was to blame for everything is the very last thing I will do if you want me to remain your best friend... Thank you for everything, Asteria..." Vera said this while fighting back the urge to burst into tears. However, as soon as she started walking, she was betrayed by her own eyes, and tears quickly started streaming down her cheeks, which caused her vision to become blurry.