Many of the warehouse workers stopped what they were doing and focused on the fight; Sandra ca closer to .
"Ms. Ara, I don’t think this is right," she whispered.
"I know," I answered as I watched Patrick handle the potbellied man.
"I don’t think Cole will like this; neither will the brothers."
"Exactly," I sighed.
"Huh, what do you an?"
"I’m just having fun, Sandra; calm down. And where is Cole?"
"He... I searched everywhere for him but couldn’t find him."
I frowned. "Are you sure that he is all right?"
"He should be; they haven’t attacked him again since the last ti," she responded.
Since the last ti. That ans he got attacked a lot, and he didn’t care to inform . That fool. I’m not sure if he is kind or just plain stupid.
Why is he letting them hurt him?
"Why are you doing this to us? What did we do wrong?" One of the huge n tried to approach , but Charles blocked his path. He was shivering; Patrick was handing the potbellied man his ass, and the man was already bloody.
I’m glad there are no machines or equipnt around this area, or we could have been in huge trouble; Patrick could have ground the man’s head into pieces.
"Tell us why you’re doing this," the second huge man said; he was shorter.
What sort of question is that? Do they have a reason for bullying Cole? I’m sure they don’t; they bullied him because they saw he was weaker. Stronger people tend to hurt weaker people around them. I don’t know why this happens, but it always does.
"Tell us why you’re doing this!" The two n kept demanding, and even so of the workers agreed with them.
"These are working hours; you shouldn’t be doing this at this hour." The spectators murmured and whispered amongst themselves; when I remained quiet, Sandra stepped closer to the audience.
She cleared her throat. "I’ll speak on her behalf. Everyone here knows who I am, right?"
"Yes!"
"But do you know who she is? If you knew who she was, you wouldn’t be asking these questions. I won’t reveal her identity to you right now; I’ll go on to answer your question."
"You want to know why she’s doing this at this hour? She probably wants to teach you all a lesson."
"A lesson? Why would she teach us a lesson?"
"What did we do wrong?"
"Everyone here knows who Cole is. Cole, the new guy, the slim tall one. He beca popular after he began working with us. Everyone knows how these three n are insulting and humiliating him, yet none bothered to stop the abuse."
"Most of you kept silent while your coworker was getting assaulted; if you kept quiet back then, you should also learn how to keep your mouth shut this ti."
"What? You’re just a little girl. How dare you speak to us in that manner?"
"This little brat."
"What is she saying?"
"The point is, let’s treat each other with love and respect. I’ve worked here for a long ti, and I’ve loved the working environnt. But things changed when these n decided it was right to pick on a fellow worker, and the rest of you remained silent."
"I asked them to do that," a very familiar voice said from behind drawing our attention; turning, I saw who it was.
Parker.
He... he asked them to do it?
Everywhere went silent as he drew closer to us; he stopped beside and repeated his previous statent, "I asked them to do it; I asked these n to bully your little boyfriend," he said.
"W...what?" I huffed as my stomach sank.
"Why? Don’t you like it?" He looked at , but when I didn’t say a word, he shifted his attention to the crowd.
"Return to work. Charles, Patrick, return to the house; I’ll take her back."
Within a second, the crowd dispersed, leaving just us two.
Parker turned his whole attention to .
"Do you even know where your little boyfriend is right now? Shouldn’t you be more concerned about his safety?"
"W...why did you hurt him?" I asked, turning to look at him.
"Why did I hurt him?" Parker repeated my words loudly.
"Why did I hurt him?" He repeated to himself.
"Well, there’s no big reason; he disobeyed my orders, so he got punished. Right now, he is in a hospital. I don’t know if he’ll survive or not, but he’s fighting for his life; he’s a fighter."
"What?!" Cole is at the hospital?
"Why? Are you offended? You think it’s unfair?"
"I asked him never to talk to you. I warned him; he was sent here to be punished, and instead of focusing on his punishnt, he got involved with you."
"But..." I tried to speak, but he didn’t let .
"The last ti you ca here, it was for him, right? You ca here to see him, and because of that, you got hurt, not once but twice. You fell sick because you hit your head against the rough concrete floor, not because you bumped into a car while being chased."
"You know the truth, but you refused to tell us. You hid the truth from us on purpose so we wouldn’t bla your little boyfriend, didn’t you?"
"I..." I took my gaze to the floor and stayed quiet, not knowing what to say. My lies have been discovered.
"You fell sick and suffered for days at the hospital. The impact was serious. The doctor told that you had hit your head against sothing harder; he was certain that you didn’t bump into a car. I had to carry out an investigation on my own. I haven’t told the others about it yet. I didn’t tell them because you were sick; I didn’t want to add to their anger and frustration, so I remained quiet."
"Bryce felt guilty because he believed you bumped into a car while being chased; he blad himself for your condition. Imagine what he’d do once he learned that it was all a lie. You landed in that condition because you were so desperate to see your boyfriend and you weren’t careful enough to avoid that situation. Imagine what he’d do."
There was a pause, followed by silence.
"What do you think?" He leaned closer. "Should I tell him about it? Should I reveal this to the others, or should I go ahead and punish him as I see fit? Decide."
But I continued to stay silent; I don’t want him to tell the others, and I also don’t want him to punish Cole. Cole has already been punished enough. Can’t he let him go now?
They should release him. I want them to let the poor boy go.
When I beca too desperate, I moved closer to Parker and grabbed his arm. "What will it take? What must I do for you to release him? Tell . If you want to go all my life without thinking about him or seeing him, I’ll do that. I’ll never speak to him again. I won’t even rember that he exists. Can you please let him go? Please release him. I’ll do anything you want."
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