'@Ms.Marie was seen at midnight with a guy, eating outside a grill house. Is this her poor era now as her dad kicked her from their mansion? Haha!'
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'OMG! I knew that guy!'
'What a cheapskate!'
'So what? Do you really have to make that an issue? Get a life girl!'
'She's really leeching off from him? He doesn't even half as rich as she is! Shameless!'
'I also saw her seducing that guy last week. She's really out of this world.'
Early in the morning, it was the news that made the forum alive. Both of them haven't wake up yet when it reached half a thousand comments. But now, it has taken every Laurentian's news feed like wildfire.
Pierre was the first one to go out the house to attend his classes. He was totally unaware as it's not his thing to hangout in the platform. And even if he is at the school, he will still be clueless about it. That's how uninterested he is on that forum.
Before leaving the house, he made a simple breakfast of toasted cheese sandwiches and milk enough for two people. Pierre set aside three of it on the table with a note beside for Maricar. She would surely notice it.
He was still walking towards the terminal when his phone vibrated in his slim coffee pants' pocket. His friend, Jude, called.
As he accepted the call and placed the phone on his ear, he received a shout from the other line.
(You said she's just a creditor?! I can't believe you've fallen for a girl like her! It's impossible! Truly impossible!) his friend ranted.
Pierre sighed and brought the phone back near before speaking, " What are you talking about? Are you dreaming again?"
Jude overreacted a little bit as he groaned from the other line, it made Pierre think that it was some random crap topics he would just share, "Let me tell you, I don't have feelings for her. And you're right, it's impossible for me to fall for her. Bye."
He didn't let Jude to speak and ended the call. It was still eight o'clock in the morning. He was still drowsy since he only had five hours of sleep.
The young man continued walking as he put back the phone in his pocket.
After an additional three-minute walk, he finally arrived at the bus stop. He sat on the bench while waiting for the mini-bus to come.
The sun was already strong at this hour, yet the man was not bothered by it. He took his wired earphones and listened to music.
A few moments later, two girls arrived at the stop, looking on the phone of the girl wearing a skirt. They were so interested and immersed on reading the comments, they didn't notice that the person involved in the post was sitting on the bench behind them.
"Look at this! 'He is poor. Isn't it that he was the one leeching off the girl?' This is more true," the girl with a skirt said.
Her friend in jeans tried to look at the other comment and found a good one, "Here, read this. 'Ms. Marie is targeting a poor man and became his sugar mommy. Everyone can do such stuff with money.' Poor guys like him are usually easy to manipulate. Talking about cold cash."
As they ridiculed more about Pierre, they finally noticed that the guy sitting on the bench and the one on the post was just the same person.
"That's the guy. But he's such a handsome one!" the girl in jeans said.
"Sshh! He might hear you!"
When the bus finally arrived, the two girls let Pierre ride first. As he got inside the bus, they snapped a photo of his back without him knowing it.
"I'll send it on the group chat!" the girl who wear a skirt said.
"Okay!" they both went inside and find a seat near him as the bus started again.
Pierre was still unaware about the issue. The students inside the bus seemed to glance at him once in a while yet he cared less.
It's because he was taking a nap. There's no way for a person to feel the stares when he's asleep and using earphones. For the whole duration, he didn't had an idea that something is brewing bad.
***
Maricar woke up at 10 o'clock. She had no idea, like him, that they were photographed on their midnight dinner. Fortunately, they didn't get caught on going to the same direction and living in the same house, or things might be worse than the issue in the forum.
She finished taking her shower and dressed up nicely today. Maricar seemed to be in a good mood. She was smiling from the moment she woke up.
But everything changed when she finally see the ton of missed calls from Bianca and several text messages from her two hours ago.
'You're really dating him?!'
'Girl! He just arrived at the university. My god, it must've felt very uneasy for that nerdy guy... but at least he's handsome!'
'I mean, your choice, he's handsome though, but I heard he's a broke.'
'I know you. You wouldn't date a broke guy.'
'By the way, he finally learned about the issue, haha! I told him. ;P'
'The emoticon is so cute! Ryan just taught me. ;_P ;P ;P'
Maricar furrowed her eyebrows and mumbled, "How come this guy is broke yet he can afford a 14,000 rent? It is too unrealistic to say that."
She replied to her friend with a single word.
'No.'
The woman's excitement to be at the university went down after those messages.
Just by seeing that messages from Bianca made her assume that something's up again in the forum about her. And she wasn't wrong.
The moment she opened the forum, hundreds of notifications exploded on the screen. It was a sore for her seeing another issue in the same forum.
Maricar went outside the house after exiting the forum and turning off her phone. She had no intention of looking at any stuff related to the issue. It would be a waste of time, she would rather prepare for her thesis next semester instead than reading nonsensical posts in the forum.
She went outside then locked the house and the gate before hailing a taxi to fetch her to the campus. It was her father's driver who would do it everyday before. But now she's living independently in the past few days, she adapted on her routine to the university.
As she stepped outside the taxi in the terminal of the campus, many students who were there immediately turned their faces towards Maricar. The issue has spread to almost every student who were active in that forum.
Maricar just put on her perfunctory face as she walked to her department building, however she couldn't help but listen to the murmuring of every student she passed by.
"She's literally a seasoned hunter," one female sophomore said.
The male student on her side even made comments further, "Yeah, she also is a hypocrite. Dating 'poor' guys is not her thing, right?"
Maricar even heard more degrading comments of her. All of them didn't receive a reply, only sighs and rolling eyes.
Stepping inside the classroom was even more awkward for all of them. Maricar's presence made everyone inside frozen. All discussions and laughs became whispers and stares at the young lady's figure.
"Maricar!" her apathetic blockmate, Kyline, called.
Kyline went to her and asked, "Are you really dating Pierre?"
Maricar squinted her eyes, even the most uninterested person when it comes to issues finally made her first time engaging on a controversy.
She grinned and asked, "You like him?"
Kyline quickly declined, shaking her head a few times before replying, "I'm just curious. Also, I met him earlier getting splashed with water when he walked near the building. Then another issue was born..."
Slowly, Maricar's eyebrow rose.
'Are they really that interested on our lives?'
"Tell me. What issue?" she was getting curious why that guy got splashed. Did they got exposed? Someone might have took a photo of them going back to their house?
Kyline sheepishly smiled before saying, "That the girl courted Pierre and he made her hope just to leech her out of her money."
And with that information, Maricar froze. Her heart erratically beat faster.
She was not affected even the slightest of the issues in the forum. But she never thought of how that guy must be new to be in an issue. He must be new to this environment.
Pierre is a very innocent man in her eyes. A gullible and inexperienced one. He might be unable to cope up with everything in the forum.
Maricar came to a decision to visit and check up on him. However it's still in her and the guy's class hours. At least today, she would be able to help him.
The professor suddenly appeared behind her taking Maricar and Kyline's attention.
Mrs. Lisondra furrowed her eyebrows and told Maricar, "My class is starting. You're escaping again like what you did with Mr. Hidalgo's class? I'm giving you two choices, Ms. Geron. Go back to your seat or go back next year?"
Maricar replied, "I don't have the intention to skip your class, prof."
Both of them went to their seats and the class started. The young lady couldn't focus on her professor's lesson. She was too concerned for her housemate.
At the end of the session, Maricar only got half of the marks in their quiz. She was the last one who handed their papers. Mrs. Lisondra gave her words of wisdom.
"Ms. Maricar, stop dating, okay? You seemed to enjoy dating than graduating."
"You too, prof? Oh my God, we're not dating!"
The professor seemed to be unimpressed with her response and gave the student a pursed lips expression.
"Fine, defend what you want. I'm just reminding you, stop giving your father some headaches." Mrs. Lisondra went ahead and left her.
'If it wasn't because of you, he wouldn't have so much headaches. What a snitch!'
Both of them had the best student-professor friendship in the early years because of Mrs. Lisondra's connection with her father as old college acquaintances.
Now she became Maricar's most hated prof and her CCTV camera inside the campus.
She fixed her table and went to Pierre's department building at the next two blocks.
The young man already had his class finished 30 minutes earlier. She will have a hard time finding him.
Maricar took her phone and dialed the guy's number which she saved before when he texted her.
Pierre was at the computer lab, decoding and trying to get the information of the OP of those issues. Post after post, he already have the information of the three persons who started everything. It was the least he could do for both of them.
He was about to send a message to Maricar when her call went through. The screen displayed a name 'Ms. Geron' and vibrated.
The young man hesitated to answer it. Will she scold him? Will that girl would demand him something he can't do? There were lot of questions in his mind. But in the end, he accepted the call and placed the phone in his right ear.
"Hello?"
(Where are you?) Maricar said in a authoritative tone.
He replied, "Here at the computer lab. Why?"
Pierre heard students chatting on the background. Then, she said, (Don't go, I'll come over. Don't read the forum.)
After she ended the call, Pierre was baffled on her words. Why did she care? It was clear that they shouldn't interfere with their lives. But is it bad to care for each other?
He was about to close the forum but looking at the screen, something was on his mind.
The young man suddenly had an idea.