Until You

Chapter 2

"The test sucked!"

"Why is everyone bent upon making medical college so hard!"

Jennie packed her bag while the conversation continued around her. She was satisfied with her test and knew she hadn't made any mistakes. She couldn't afford to.

"And who the hell gives a test on a Monday? Don't our professors know that we party all weekend!"

"We'll probably have to suck up to the professors like her, or we are going to flunk the test."

Jennie felt the group's eyes directed at her, but she ignored it as always.

Having heard enough, Jennie picked up her bag. Keeping her eyes lowered, she walked out from the classroom to meet with the dean who had asked her to meet him at his office.

While she walked, she felt a presence next to her. The familiar, cloying musky perfume indicated who it was.

"It's not too late, you know," the guy walking along with her said. "Accept my proposal, and I can make your life go easy. You are being unnecessarily stubborn."

When she ignored him and continued to walk, he held her hand, stopping her.

Her skin crawled, and she was overwhelmed with the instinct to wrench away her hand from his grip, but she controlled herself and looked at him.

Kris Wu was a good-looking, popular guy in college who many girls had a crush on. But for some reason, he was fixated on her. She didn't know why, since she deliberately maintained a low-key appearance by dressing in loose, ill-fitting clothes, wore her hair in a tight ponytail and didn't socialize with anyone. And yet, right from the beginning, he hounded her in college and even began stalking her near her home.

"I'm not interested," she replied in an expressionless tone.

His eyes narrowed in anger. "You should be more than interested. You live with your drunkard father in a place that is well-known to be a whorehouse. You dance almost naked in front of men for money. You should feel extremely lucky that I'm proposing marriage to someone like you when I could have just about anyone."

"I'm not interested in any sort of relationship with anyone. I only want to focus on my studies."

An ugly glint lit up his eyes. "Suit yourself. I know just the way to bring you in line. Keep watching, you'll come begging me in no time."

She took a slow, deep breath again to control herself from tugging her hand hard or from saying that she would rather be a whore than be with someone selfish, entitled and mean-minded like him. But she didn't want to challenge him in any way.

"Please leave my hand. I'm going to be late for my appointment with the dean," she said in a listless tone.

Surprisingly, he let her hand go. "Two days. I'm giving you two days' time to come crawling to me and beg me to help you."

She ignored his words and walked away, her mind on the conversation she would have with the dean. She knew the meeting was about her scholarship for next year. And since she has been topping her exams consistently, the dean would congratulate her and offer her encouraging words.

Soon, she arrived at the administration office. "Go in," said the dean's assistant. "Sir is waiting for you."

Thanking the man, Jennie knocked on the familiar door.

"Come in."

When she stepped in, the first thing she noticed was that the usually smiling face of the dean now looked tensed.

"Good afternoon, sir," she greeted.

"Hello, Jennie. Please sit."

She sat in the chair opposite to him, feeling unusually nervous due to the continued tense look on the dean's face.

"This is not going to be easy for me to tell you, Jennie... but you won't be receiving any scholarship for this semester."

Jennie was shocked. "What do you mean, sir? I've been performing well in all of my exams. You can ask any of the professors. I—"

"Sorry, Jennie. It's not just the scholarship. I'm going to have to suspend you from college too."

"What? Why?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"There are allegations of prostitution against you. We can't risk our college's reputation because of that." He put an envelope in front of her and didn't meet her eyes.

She opened the envelope and shook her head in shock. They were pictures from one of the events where she had performed.

"Sir, I dance during events. It's entirely legal. I can have the agency that hires me vouch for my character. I haven't done anything wrong!"

The dean shook his head, looking regretful. "I'm sorry, Jennie. It's beyond me to do anything. This matter has gone too far. I got the order from one of the board members in the committee."

Jennie then realized who was behind all of this. Kris.

Everyone knew Kris's father was one of the board members in the committee and an influential man. He was also the kind to cater to his son's demands. Destroying someone's future mustn't be one of the things that would bother him.

"Sir. Please tell me what I can do to fix this."

"Sorry, Jennie. I told you it's beyond me. The only thing I can say at this point is if you somehow pay your final semester fee, you might be allowed to appear for the exam. But there is no way you will be allowed back into college."

Before she could say anything, the dean's assistant came in to announce the arrival of the next appointment.

"Sorry, Jennie. I have another meeting now. I know it's unfortunate what has happened, but I hope you understand."

Jennie stood up and nodded numbly even though she wanted to scream and yell that it was unfair. But her shouts would only get her thrown out without even the possibility of letting her appear for the final exams.

As she headed back home, she racked her brain, trying to figure out what she could do. It wasn't going to be easy to pass the exams without attending the classes. But she had no other choice. Her savings might be just enough to cover the fee if she were to take up more events.

Yes. She would somehow make it work. She had to. Failure wasn't a choice she could afford.