All of a sudden, she felt like his gaze had frozen her in place, unable to move.
"I..." She opened her mouth, but for a moment, she didn’t know what to say.
"Do you know? Your gaze, it’s so compassionate, filled with a kind of sympathy." He chuckled lightly, his eyes flickering, "But Mabel Quinn, what are you sympathizing with me for?"
"No... No." She hurriedly lowered her head and continued to eat her meal.
Was the way she looked at him really sympathetic? Was it because she thought of his mother, thought of how he might have been abused when he was young, and felt sympathetic for his plight? Mabel wondered to herself, but God knew all of this was just her own wild guess.
As she was criticizing her own wild imagination, her phone suddenly rang. Mabel Quinn picked up the phone and saw that it was a call from Alice Conley.
As soon as she answered, she heard Alice Conley’s anxious voice, "Mabel, quickly check our class group chat, there’s a huge uproar!"
"What’s going on? What’s all the fuss about?" Mabel Quinn asked in confusion.
"It’s about you, it’s gone viral. Early this morning, someone posted photos of you being picked up by a luxury car on the school’s bulletin board, and now it’s escalating. Hey, you should check the chat group, I’ve heard some classmates say that even the school authorities know about it now," Alice Conley said.
"Alright, I’ll take a look." Mabel Quinn hung up the phone and opened the university class group chat to check.
The group chat was bustling with activity, huge chunks of messages were constantly flooding the screen.
"I told you, it’s no surprise that Mabel Quinn could get into Morningstar. She has no real connections with Lyra Grant, and so many people in our department want to intern at Morningstar, why was she the chosen one? It’s not like she doesn’t have an old man backing her up!"
"But Mabel Quinn always seemed quite modest, never bought any branded stuff. She doesn’t seem like the type who would sell herself for money."
"People change, especially when they are about to graduate. The pressure from society is huge, of course she wants to find some support."
"The car in the photo isn’t cheap, it’s a Bentley, easily worth several million."
"Hey, why don’t we guess what kind of person this old man Mabel Quinn is seeing is like? How old is he? Isn’t it disgusting to be with such an old man?"
"Yeah, and is Mabel Quinn being kept long-term... or is it on a pay-per-session basis?"
Some were adding fuel to the fire; Mabel Quinn usually wasn’t close with these classmates, but in times like these, they seemed quite skilled at kicking someone when they’re down.
"Isn’t what you’re saying despicable? Just because of those few photos? Just because of an anonymous letter pinned to the bulletin board? You’ve already decided Mabel is being kept by an old man? What if one of you guys goes to a high-end restaurant someday and orders an expensive meal, can I also take a few photos, write an anonymous letter, and say you’re being kept? Aren’t you grown-ups, but still only listening to one side of the story?" Alice Conley lashed out in the chat, unable to listen to the slander against her friend any longer.
"Alice, you’re Mabel’s roommate and her good friend, of course, you’d defend her. But in this day and age, there’s no smoke without fire. Why aren’t those luxury cars picking up anyone else but Mabel Quinn?" someone retorted.