Hiding Behind Her Superficiality by Kyla Olson

Damian knew his actions might have seemed intimidating earlier, but he only acted that way because his temper had been triggered. “Alright. I promise never to act like that in front of you again,” he offered. Alice simply nodded with a dumbfounded look on her face. She still saw him as her precious elder brother regardless of how Damian was.

“What a good girl. I’ll bring you home for a meal tonight,” Damian offered. “You can come over to mine,” he added. Even though this was just a tiny incident, the effects of it had yet to die down. Caleb Smith, the kid who got beaten up, told his parents about the entire incident after he got home. When his parents heard about how their child had been bullied at school, they were furious. They rushed over to the school and demanded justice for their son.

After multiple questions and searches for evidence, the school concluded that Damian was the one who had beaten Caleb up. Damian was summoned to the principal’s office, but he stood there with an indifferent and nonchalant look on his face.

The principal felt a headache coming as he thought, On one hand, the victim and their parents have every reason to demand justice, but on the other hand, the perpetrator is the son of one of the school’s investors. Either way, this isn’t going to turn out well.

So, the principal suggested that they reconcile with one another. The parents were open to this idea, but Damian looked as if he had no intention of apologizing. “What did I do wrong? Why should I apologize? He wrote my sister a love letter containing nasty, perverted words.

Caleb’s face turned pale upon hearing Damian’s words. Caleb’s parents hadn’t expected their son to engage in such behavior. All that they knew was how their son was beaten up—they didn’t know that he was beaten up for such reasons. So, Eliza Craker turned around to glare at her own son. “Is he telling the truth? Did you send a love letter to some other girl?”

Caleb nodded bashfully. Eliza sighed when she realized that her son had been the first to spark conflict in this situation. “Well, since Caleb was the one who started this, then… How about this? Since you were the one who injured my son, why don’t you just apologize to him, and we call it quits, okay? You don’t need to pay for any medical bills, either. We have the money,” Eliza offered.

Damian scoffed. “Not a chance.” He didn’t say much after that—he simply fiddled around with the badge that was pinned on his uniform. Eliza had intended to settle things peacefully, yet Damian seemed too stubborn to go along with her. Eliza felt her heart thumping against her chest as she stuck a shaky finger out to point directly at Damian’s nose. “I hadn’t expected a child like you to be so disobedient. In that case, let’s take this to the court! You injured my son really badly, so I’m sure you’ll be the one losing!”

felt cold sweat forming on his forehead. He hadn’t expected a simple school brawl to become a court case. “I don’t think there’s a need for that, Mrs. Scotch.” The principal wasn’t worried about Damian’s safety. Instead,

wouldn’t have to enter the police station even if he committed some other

help Alice out. So, the Damazios would be beyond grateful for his actions. Eliza was certainly going

to learn who Damian was. All she knew was that he was a stubborn and ill-tempered teenager. “What do you mean there’s no need?!” Eliza wanted to make a huge fuss out of this thing so that she would at least manage to ruin the

apologies, Madam. I heard a brief summary of the matter.

shut as she was too stunned to talk. Callum was a man whose face had been on the magazine front page countless times, and he often took up a huge spot in the finance section of the weekly

We had no intention of doing that…” Eliza hadn’t expected her son to provoke such an influential target. Benedict Scotch glanced at the meek and helpless look on his son’s face before turning to face Callum with

scoffing to himself. “How embarrassing.” Both husband and wife’s smiles froze when they heard Damian’s words. Since they were all experienced people in the industry, they were quick to process and react to the situation. “You’re right, Damian. We were too rash earlier

simply kept his head low without saying anything. “I heard that you’re working in one of the Winthrop Group’s subsidiary companies, right, Mr. Scotch?” Benedict felt like someone was choking him upon hearing the man’s words—he couldn’t speak at all. For a regular blue-collar worker like him, it

six digits, and he only had to work for five days each week. Such job offers were rare to come. Benedict refused to lose his job, so he responded meekly as beads of sweat forming on his forehead,

give you a promotion as compensation.” Callum didn’t seem like he

accountable, and he hadn’t expected Callum even to offer him more benefits. Benedict’s expression lit up for a

to seize this opportunity. If I wrong his son again, I’ll have to lose