“Alright, then I’ll talk to you later.” Watching Atilla’s eyes return to the pages of her book once more, I stroll away; people are already coming in, and my twelve minutes are over. As I exit the building, leaving it all behind me, I catch sight of Sonny, in front of the main gate, with a crooked grin on her face. I give her a furious glare, and she blankly stares into my eyes with a face that boasted innocence.

“Happy now?” I use the loudest tone I can possibly conjure without catching much attention. 

“You manipulated her into talking just like how I did back when we first met. I wasn’t ready to see you pull that card, but I was indeed left with sheer satisfaction.” The emotionally-manipulative bastard stated with a joyful manner.  “Oh come on; don’t be so down about it. And guess what; while you were interrogating our new suspect,”

“Chatting up with a person…” I correct her.

“Whatever; when you were busy back there, I talked to some friends, and found someone who knew her from his high school days.”

I raise an eyebrow. "Well, that’s suspiciously convenient."

“And then, he started reminiscing about the rumors surrounding this girl from back then, and the interesting rumors he told me, were very interesting.”

What a sentence.

“So what were the interesting rumors that were so interesting to someone like you?”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m an antagonist.” She protests.

Sonny is not an antagonist. In terms of folklore, she’s not the wolf that ate Snow White alive, she’s the little pig who didn’t let her brothers in, despite how much they begged, and watched from afar while Cinderella’s brutal army murdered them and had them for a snack. Sonny is not an antagonist, she’s just a brutal protagonist. Sometimes, she can be both and neither.

“Anyway; I’ll tell you the rumors. It seems like Atilla’s mother, remarried four years after her husband died.”

“And? Is that the rumor?”

“No. That’s just a fact.” Was her quick reply. This seems to be serious if she’s building it up like this, or in other words, avoiding it like this.

“People used to talk about how she was sexually abused by her new father.”

So, that part is the rumor. It really is something serious.

“I can’t endure this anymore. Goodbye, my dear mother.” I recite, having already forgotten my surroundings. Not that there is anyone, listening in.

Not that there is anyone interested.

Not that there is anyone watching us.

“If the rumors are real,” Sonny suggests to no one; just spilling out her thinking process. “Then there’s a high probability that all of it is happening without the mother knowing.”

“That is a huge if.” But one that would turn this situation upside down.

I freeze right there.

Why would she not tell her mother about this?

I like my mother just fine.

My mother is the most important thing to me.

Goodbye, my dear mother.

Can something as simple as that really justify her actions?

I can’t tell.

“Something on your mind?” Sonny’s curious gaze slowly brings me out of my thoughts.

“Nothing much, just thinking about some things.”

“Well, I can’t really tell you much about this girl, and my friend didn’t have much to say either, you know?”

“I see.” So that’s what’s going on.

How is…

Never mind.

“But I can tell you one thing.” Before leaving me in front of the gate, she spins the other way, glances at the world outside of the campus, and hides her face behind her light brown hair. It makes me realize that her hair can look slightly golden sometimes. 

“If you want to talk to Atilla Nadha, you might as well beat some answers out of her yourself. That’s just the only way she’ll talk. She’ll only talk if you beat her up. No; I’m mistaken. She won’t talk even if you beat her up. She never talks even when she gets raped, so just talking things out won't do."

Sonny slowly spins once more, facing me again, and steps closer to me, and once she passes me, her eyes let go of me, and she skips away into the library where she spent her morning at. I stand there, wondering why she would skip a lecture when she always insisted on attending them until…

“I see.”

So that’s what’s going on.