chapter 8
By morning, rumors were everywhere.
Someone had tried to drug the CEO.
Security had camera footage.
A girl in a glittering dress had been seen tampering with a drink near the VIP bar.
The competition committee was furious.
I showed up to the first round in my blazer with my notes organized and my hair pulled back.
Dr. Park looked at me across the table.
Are you okay?
That was the question in his eyes.
“I’m fine,” I said.
And for once, I meant it.
Halfway through the written round, there was a knock on the classroom door.
A staff member stepped inside, spoke quietly to the proctor, then glanced at me.
“Ms. Chen? They need you outside for a moment.”
Alex mouthed, What did you do?
I ignored him and followed the staff member into a small office.
Inside sat two competition officials, a university representative, Elias’s assistant, Liam, and Maya.
Maya was seated with her arms folded tight across her chest. Her eyes were red, but she wasn’t crying.
When she saw me, the hatred in her face was so raw it almost shocked me.
“Ms. Chen,” one of the officials said, motioning for me to sit. “We’ll be direct. An incident occurred last night involving Mr. Ward. We have security footage that raises serious concerns.”
He tapped the tablet.
The assistant turned it so I could see.
The footage was grainy, but clear enough.
Maya took two drinks from the bar, glanced around, then reached into her clutch and emptied a small vial into one of the glasses.
My stomach turned.
Liam made a broken sound beside me.
The official folded his hands.
“The student in question claims she was only trying to play a prank on a friend. She says the drink was intended for Mr. Hale and that Mr. Ward accidentally took the wrong one.”
He looked at me.
“Given your statement last night, and the context surrounding your transfer, we wanted to ask if you had anything else to add.”
Before I could speak, Maya snapped.
“It was supposed to be Liam’s! He’s always so uptight. I just wanted him to relax. It’s not my fault the CEO grabbed the wrong one. I didn’t force him to drink it.”
Liam stared at her like he had never seen her before.
“You were going to drug me?”
“It wasn’t dangerous,” she shot back, desperation rising in her voice. “Everyone does it. It was just to make you less stressed.”
Elias’s assistant looked murderous.
“Mr. Ward was hospitalized for observation,” she said coldly. “You are lucky it was not worse.”
I looked at Liam.
I thought about the day I told him Maya had used my login.
I thought about him saying I was unreasonable. Cruel. Dramatic.
I thought about him telling me to cut her some slack.
Now his face was drained of all color.
For one brief, strange moment, I almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
“Ava,” the official prompted, gentle but firm, “is there anything you’d like to add?”
This was the moment.
I could bury them both.
Or I could do what I had learned to do best lately.
Tell the truth and let consequences arrive on their own.
“I don’t know what was in the vial,” I said calmly. “I only know what I saw. Maya told me last night that she was bringing Liam a drink. She said she knew exactly what she was doing.”
I paused.
“She previously used my login without my consent to submit a transfer application that changed my academic path. When I confronted her, she called it a prank. I believe she has a pattern of crossing serious lines and then hiding behind the word joke when people get hurt.”
I looked directly at Maya.
“Whether she intended to harm Mr. Ward or not, she tampered with someone else’s drink. That is not a prank. It is dangerous.”
Maya glared at me, breathing hard.
“You’re just jealous,” she spat. “You’ve always been jealous. Liam likes me—”
“If you say as a little sister,” I said coolly, “I might actually throw up.”
One of the officials choked on a laugh and turned it into a cough.
Liam dragged a hand over his face.
“I told you it was just a joke,” he said weakly, almost to himself. “I told her you were overreacting, Ava. I didn’t think…”
No.
He hadn’t.
That was the whole problem.
The assistant closed the tablet.
“Thank you, Ms. Chen,” she said. “We won’t keep you any longer. You likely prevented something much worse from happening.”
I stood.
My legs felt slightly unsteady, but my head was clear.
Then Liam said my name.
“Ava, wait.”
I turned.
He looked stripped bare somehow, all the easy arrogance gone.
“I’m sorry,” he said. The words came slowly, like they hurt. “I should have believed you. About her. About everything.”
The apology I had once wanted more than anything.
The apology I had imagined would fix all of this if only he said it.
Now it landed like a pebble on frozen water.
“I’m glad you finally see her clearly,” I said softly. “For your sake.”
His eyes filled.
“Does that mean—”
“It means,” I cut in gently, “I hope you learn from this. I hope you stop calling cruelty a joke because it’s easier than admitting what it is. And I hope you stay far away from me.”
Then I walked out.
And for the first time in months, maybe years, my chest felt light.