Alora was shocked to hear that and she couldn't bring herself to make that call.

But then, she didn't want to have anything to do with Caden anymore.

So what was her business if he was fighting?

"It has nothing."

Before she could complete that, Fiona interrupted her.

"I heard Caden traced the source of those pictures of you and discovered that they were released by Jacob. He got into a fight because of you."

That got Alora so confused.

She then headed towards the location of the fight.

Why was he fighting because of her?

Was this another plan of his to get her under his control?

Did he truly know nothing about how the pictures that has been released?

What exactly was he playing at?

This behavior of Caden got Alora so confused.

There was a crowd gathered outside the building. When they saw Alora approaching, the murmuring grew louder.

They parted to let her through. She could feel the stares, the side-talks.

Oh, she should have known that things were never going to end well with Caden.

She used to be a normal student free from scandal but now, Caden was messing up with her life!

She saw him, Caden was on top another guy. The guy's face was bloodied, yet, Caden kept punching him over and over.

For a brief moment, Alora actually felt that Caden's feelings for her were genuine.

She felt that he really loved her.

Maybe he had just said all those things to seem manly and tough for his friends.

But did she really want to be with someone who couldn't defend her against his friends?

Alora shook her head, bringing herself back to reality.

"I'm sorry. Please have mercy on me. I've always had a crush on Alora and I got jealous that she was with you! I just wanted to punish her. I shouldn't have photoshopped those pictures, please forgive me."The boy begged.

But Caden paid deaf ears to his pleas and continued to rain punches on his face.

The boy seemed to be losing consciousness and Caden kept beating him up.

Alora had never seen him so violent before!

What had gotten into him?

She refused to see this as a protection. He was probably just doing all he could to impress her so he could keep getting into her pants.

But she didn't want him to get into trouble using her name.

She ran towards him and yelled.

"Caden, stop!"

He didn't listen. She grabbed hold of his hand.

"You're going to kill him at this rate!"

Only then did Caden finally stop.

But such an issue was hard to blew over. The incident blew up with the boy's family wanting to press charges. But when they discovered what their son had done coupled with the fact that Caden was from a powerful family, they reluctantly agreed to settle the matter, privately.

It wasn't surprising that the school's administrators were lenient with Caden. He was a top student and the best athlete, coupled with the fact that his father had made so many donations to the school.

They left him alone to be disciplined by his father at home.

Caden had minor injuries so Alora had to follow him to the infirmary to get himself treated.

Staring at his bruised knuckles, Alora didn't know how to feel at this moment.

"Why did you do that?"She asked him, curiously.

Their relationship wasn't real to him.

It never was.

So why would he put on such a show today?

It was too extreme.

"We're in a relationship. You're important to me and news like that could be a stain on your career, I couldn't let anyone taint your name like that."

His tone was so sincere that she almost believed him.

Stain on her career?

The same career he wanted to ruin?

Why was he still lying?

Why was he still leading her on?

Did he want more sex from her?!

She had class in an hour so she left the infirmary, and also needed to clear her head.

As she sat down in class, her mind was somewhere else.

She kept recalling the scene of Caden beating that boy up.

The anger in his eyes and face.

She had never seen him that angry?

Was it possible that he truly liked her?

As a drama major, she had watched and seen a lot of dramas where the main leads started off on a rough patch, sometimes, starting off on a relationship based on lies.

But at the end, it turned out to be something beautiful.

Was that her story then?

Alora shook her head.

She was lying to herself again.

Wasn't it enough that he had lied to her?

Why was she lying to herself as well?

A relationship built on lies was pointless and should never work.

She was going far away and she had to forget all about him!

After her class ended, she was still worried about him. He was someone who didn't take his medication seriously whenever he was sick.

She decided to just get him some soup, check on him briefly and then leave.

This act of kindness felt both stupid and unnecessary but she wanted to take this as a final gesture and end to whatever existed between them before, whether real or fake.

Holding the warm container of food, Alora headed for the private room that Caden was in.

Just as she was about to open the door, she heard the voices of his friends.

"My God, you're taking this too far, Caden. I mean, you almost killed that guy because of Alora. There's no way she'd ever doubt you now."

Alora froze in front of the door.

Even if she knew that the fight was just an act to win her over, there was still a tiny glimpse of hope deep down that he might have genuine feelings for her.

But that hope got dashed again!

"The competition's deadline is coming up fast. I understand why Caden did that. He needs Alora to be very distracted so Brielle can win."

"Granted, but that was no reason to beat Jacob up like that. Given that we were the ones who posted the photoshopped pictures. We paid him to take the fall and you were only meant to give him a few punches."

Alora's heart stopped.

Even the photoshopped image was planned by Caden too!

"You could have killed him for nothing! Mason scolded.

A heavy silence filled the room.

Caden finally spoke.

"He said some words that were triggering to me. He had it coming."

"C'mon, I was there, he didn't exactly say anything that was out of line from what we rehearsed. Also, I even feel this scandal won't do much damage to Alora. You should have allowed us continue with the original plan, we should have taken pictures of you two at the prop room. It would have been more effective."

Caden's voice turned cold.

"I would have been in it too! Do you think I want a sex scandal on my name?"

Hearing the fury in his tone, his friends didn't say anything more.

Outside the door, Alora retreated, her face turning pale.

The container in her hands felt so heavy.

How could he do this to her so heartlessly?

They had originally planned to take real naked pictures of her?

The only reason he didn't allowed that was because he'd been in the pictures too!

How could he hurt her like this?

Alora dumped the container into a trash can, the pain she felt was turning into anger.

How could he treat her like this?!

Even if he loved Brielle so much, was that enough to destroy Alora's life?!

***********

The following day, Alora headed for the shop outside the school.

She had to buy some essentials for her trip to London. As she pushed her cart, she dropped some items into it. And just as she rounded up an aisle, she saw Brielle.

Immediately, she backed up and hid behind some tall rack of products. She wasn't exactly hiding because she was scared.

She just didn't want to have an altercation with Brielle. She had just a few days left, she wanted to leave, peacefully and start her life all over again.

Just as she was about to turned her cart and go the opposite direction, she heard her name.

"Didn't you say that girl, Alora wouldn't be a problem?"

Alora frowned.

She had noticed that Brielle was with an older woman.

Why was Alora's name being mentioned?

"She won't be a problem, mom. I already told you, I'm using Caden to make her unable to get the spot. That's all."

"I don't know, my dear. I have a bad feeling about this. You know how hard it was for you to secure a relationship with Caden, we should be focusing on making sure you two get married. We need his family's wealth. So sending him to go play with another girl's heart seems quite tricky."

"Mom, he doesn't give a fuck about her. Actually, he enjoys playing with her. Let's just say I'm killing two birds with one stone. He'd get rid of Alora from the audition and by doing so, he has proven how much he loves me. He'd never leave me."

Alora's lips parted. She was aware that Brielle was from a low background but she never knew that had made her so money-hungry.

Brielle didn't genuinely care about Caden, she was just using him.

Alora scoffed.

Caden and Brielle truly deserve each other. Two liars and deceitful creatures!

*************

When Alora got back to campus, her phone was ringing nonstop.

Caden had been calling all day. She had been ignoring his calls but he won't stop calling.

Alora didn't want to talk to him. She didn't want to see him anymore.

She headed for the dean's office to get her transfer letter.

As she was leaving the office, a black BMW stopped in front of her.

The door swung open.

"Alora! What the hell!"Caden began.

She made to ignore him, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her into his car, shutting the door.

"Let me out!"She thundered, angrily.

"I knew it, you're mad at me. Why have you been ignoring my calls?"

"We have nothing to talk about."

"Is this about the pictures. I already punished him for you. I got in so much trouble because of it and you're mad at me?"

Alora huffed.

He really does know how to pretend.

He spotted the transfer document in her hands.

"Are you.are you leaving this school?"

Alora got nervous.

Her plan was to leave without telling him, to outsmart him and leave him wondering what went wrong in that fucking plan of his!

"It's none of your business."

He seemed to be in total disbelief.

"What about.what about the Tisch spot? Aren't you preparing for that anymore?"

She looked at him, straight in the eye and announced.

"I actually had no zeal to compete for that spot."

His eyes dilated.

There, she said it.

She stared at the reaction on his face.

What would he do now knowing that he no longer had to pretend to like her?

Caden was clearly shocked by that news and his momentary distraction gave Alora the time to pull away from him.

As she made to open the door and get out of the car, he grabbed hold of her hand.

"Rara."He called.

"Alora."She corrected, firmly.

"I thought you liked me calling you that."

When he started chasing after her, he called her Rara.

Everyone called her Alora.

But overtime, she grown to loved hearing him call her that.

Like a person nickname that only the boy she loved calls her.

But now, after seeing that the feelings were one-sided.

She was the only one who loved him while he was manipulating and playing with her heart.

She hated that name.

She hated his presence.

She wanted to hate him too.

She didn't want to have anything to do with him.

"Don't call me that anymore."

He pulled her back to face him.

"Are you breaking up with me? Did anyone tell you anything?"

Alora looked up at him."Is anyone supposed to tell me anything?"

"Then why are you transferring schools?"

"Did I tell you that this document is for me? It's for my friend." Alora lied.

She still wanted her disappearance to take him by surprise since up until now, he still felt like playing with her.

He looked relieved to hear that.

"Then why don't you want to compete for the Tisch position. With your skills, you're sure to get in."

Alora felt like punching him on the face.

Didn't he say Brielle was more deserving of that spot?

Now he was saying this to her face?

"I just never had any interest in that competition."

He looked taken aback again.

"Caden, I have to go."

Alora wasn't in the mood for his usual confusion game.

"Rara, I want things to return to the way they used to be between us."

Alora stared at him in disbelief.

Hadn't he done enough?

Shouldn't he be happy that she no longer wanted that position?

Shouldn't he jump for joy and go tell Brielle the good news?

Why was he still pretending to like her?

"I should."

Before she could complete that, Caden held her tightly and pressed his lips against hers.

He kissed her, deeply. His tongue traced the seam of her lips until they parted.

Alora tried to fight him but he was intoxicating.

His tongue delved into her mouth, played with hers and she made a small sound in her throat.

He deepened the kiss and slid his free hand over her body.

She moaned into his mouth.

Her mind was almost clouded with a haze of lust and then she suddenly recalled, the words, the humiliation she's had to endure for the past few days.

He didn't love her.

He just wanted to use her body as a cum-dumping site.

He loved Brielle.

She didn't deserved this.

With all her might, Alora pushed him away from her body. She got down from the car and hurried away.

*********

As soon as Alora got to her dorm room, she started to arrange her belongings. She had just finished packing up when her phone rang.

She grabbed a hold of it and saw that it was Caden.

She ignored it. She had to block him. Or better still, she had to get rid of this particular phone number of hers so he'd have no way of contacting her ever again.

She made up her to get rid of it on her way to the airport tomorrow.

Her cellphone beeped, it was a text from him.

Caden: Rara, I know you said I shouldn't call you that but I want to. I feel like I owe you a lot, and at the same time, I do not want things to end between us.

Alora sat on the bed.

What was he up to this time?

He sent another text.

Caden: I really care about you, Alora.

Was he love-bombing her now?

Was having sex with her that good? He was willing to continue this charade even after she had made it clear to him that she wasn't interested in Tisch!

Caden: I've been keeping a lot of things away from you while trying to maintain this image of myself. I realize now that it might not be worth it.

"He just wants to humiliate you even more, Alora." She murmured to herself.

Caden: Please meet me at the lakeside tomorrow, I have something important to say to you. I don't know how you're going to see me after that but you deserve to know everything about me.

Was he going to tell her about the bet?

Alora shook her head.

She didn't want to think about it.

She didn't want to be dragged even deeper into this game of his.

She laid on her bed, trying to sleep and prepare for tomorrow's flight.

Almost an hour later of unsuccessfully getting any sleep, her phone beeped.

She reached for it and stared at the screen.

Surprisingly, it was Brielle.

Brielle and her had each other's number but they rarely communicated on phone.

Curiously, she tapped on the screen and saw that it was a video.

The video captured Brielle, Caden and their friends all having fun at a club.

And then Brielle and Caden started actively making out while the others cheered.

It was the same outfit Caden wore earlier that day when he kissed Alora in his car.

Under the video was a text.

Brielle:I'm back with my boyfriend now, stay away from him, slut.

At this point, Alora wasn't surprised, she had already been disappointed too much by that boy already.

But she couldn't say she wasn't hurt.

She felt hurt and disgusted.

Disgusted with herself for ever getting involved with Caden.

But never again.

They were never going to see each other again!