"Take your hand away."
Liam originally didn't want to get medicine for Maya. It was only after his sister's repeated requests over the phone that he reluctantly tossed the medicine to her.
Even her real sister Elia, who's their mother's daughter, couldn't meet her expectations, let alone Maya, the illegitimate child, whom she completely ignored.
"Apologize to me, apologize for what happened last night."
"I told you to take your hand away." Liam raised his right hand, which she had grabbed, and looked at it disdainfully, as if he saw her as a virus to avoid.
"Why did you treat me like that last night?"
"Whoosh!" Maya's questioning was met only with his violence, as he roughly tossed her away.
Liam's shove was quite strong, and Maya couldn't keep her balance, stumbled back two steps, and fell onto the lawn. Though she fell on the soft grass, her buttocks, still sore from a previous caning, throbbed with pain, almost bringing tears to her eyes.
This was the first time she experienced such a large emotional upheaval in the year since coming to the Spencer Family, even more intense than when Aunt Hannah first hit her.
Maya's impression on outsiders is much like her mother's; lazy, seductive, driving men crazy and making women jealous. Even her slightest expression can captivate people, and so most times, she remains expressionless.
Liam looked at the girl's angry yet aggrieved expression and coldly said, "Do you want me to announce to the world that you sneaked into dad's study?"
"Go ahead! After all, you were also in dad's study."
Confronted with Liam's threat, Maya retaliated immediately. Since Liam was indeed in dad's study last night, he must have had an agenda, or they wouldn't have run into each other. Maya was not afraid; both of them had dirt on each other.
"I went in because I heard something, and I'll say I saw you stealing and that you... seduced me. Who do you think will believe you?"
Liam's counterattack made Maya's face go red with anger. She had never been provoked like this before, prompting her to grab the trauma medicine on the ground and hurl it at Liam. She cursed angrily, "Spencers are all no good!"
She'd rather suffer pain than use the trauma medicine he brought.
After getting hit with the trauma medicine, Liam stopped, looked down briefly at the medicine box at his feet, then stepped on it without hesitation. The box made a cracking sound as it broke.
Watching Liam's departing figure, Maya was furious, thinking he's worse than Aunt Hannah and recalling the awful things he did to her last night.
Helplessly, she was the punching bag now, and could only bottle up her grievances.
"Liam, what are you doing on the playground?" Approaching Liam was the Reid family's young master, Henry Reid.
"Nothing, why are you here?"
"You're the principal, of course I came to see you."
As Henry spoke, his gaze drifted toward Maya behind Liam. Seeing his wandering eyes, Liam realized he was pretending to see him, but in truth, wanted to see some clueless illegitimate girl.
Thus, he smirked coldly and said, "Henry, it's better to keep a distance from some people, getting too close will bring bad luck."
Henry knew well whom Liam referred to, and Maya also heard his words.
She had heard such words too many times, but it was the first time they felt uncomfortable in her heart. Perhaps it was because when she saw him this morning, she thought he was good-looking and guessed he might be like Sister Jane, only to realize she misjudged, which infuriated her.
"Haha, Liam, you overstate it! Maya has her reasons."
"I'm leaving now."
"I'll come find you later." Henry bid farewell to Liam and ran toward Maya.
Seeing Henry coming, Maya hurriedly withdrew her angered expression and reverted to her usual calm, detached demeanor, but her reddened eyes she couldn't conceal.
"Oh! Maya feeling wronged? Rare indeed." It was the first time Henry had seen Maya with reddened eyes, making him more surprised than anything.
Then he reached out his right hand to touch her flushed eyes, feeling pity for her.
Maya pushed away Henry's warm hand and walked toward the classroom on her own.
"Liam is always like this, don't bother with him."
"Maya, did Aunt Hannah hit you again today? I brought you trauma medicine."
"Maya, your butt hurts, why walk so fast? Be careful it might bruise."
Henry chattered as he trailed behind Maya, who walked silently as if she didn't know him, but was eventually pulled by Henry into the piano room.
In the piano room, Henry locked the door and drew the heavy curtains, holding Maya's hand with concern, asking, "Maya, how many times do I have to tell you to move out of the Spencer Family? Why won't you listen! You saw Uncle Spencer left and Aunt Hannah hit you, why are you still mindless and sticking around?"
"Henry, don't you have to work?"
"Liam came to school to sign in today, so I came to see him."
"Sign in?"
"You two are siblings after all, Grandpa has Liam stand in as acting principal, so he returned to the Spencer Family last night."
Listening to Henry's report, Maya felt a little awkward. Liam disliked her, and she was the worst student at school. The coming days would only be harder and there might even be mixed gender attacks.
"Aunt Hannah, that bastard, hit you so hard your skin's about to break."
As Henry spoke, he pressed Maya onto the piano, opened her casual trousers, and checked her injuries. It wasn't the first time he cared for Maya like this, and Maya was used to it, not coyly pushing him away.
When Henry rubbed the ointment on his palm gently against her wound, Maya felt cool and comforted. If it weren't for Henry's good medicine, her bottom would have been ruined long ago, unable to recover to its pristine white condition each time.
Despite Henry's kindness, Maya always remained indifferent, rarely giving him a proper look, yet Henry liked her indomitable spirit, loved her unparalleled pride.
After applying the medicine, Maya pulled up her pants, nonchalantly opened the door, and walked toward the classroom.
She didn't tell Henry that Aunt Hannah had kicked her out because she didn't want him to help her again. Every time after a beating, he could bring medicine over, and she was already grateful, though the thanks remained buried deep in her heart, unspoken.
"Maya, did you steal my watch? My watch is missing." As soon as Maya returned to the classroom, a group of female students blocked her, asking if she stole something.
"I didn't." Maya raised her head, glanced at the girl questioning her, and answered slowly, thinking this was another act directed by Elia.
"Is there another thief besides you in this school? That was a new birthday gift from my dad worth over two hundred thousand. You've got some guts! Hand it over immediately."