Collateral Damage: Love and Lies

"She's speaking the truth," Peter said.

He towered almost half a foot over Neil. When he leaned in, his commanding presence made Neil instinctively back away.

"You again?" Neil glanced between us suspiciously. "Is this what you've been keeping secret? Every time you disappear for months, telling me that it's for your job and that it's top secret, you're actually with him, aren't you?

"You've already slept with him, right? So, stop pretending to be a victim when it comes to Lorraine. You're disgusting."

Peter raised his hand and punched Neil, sending him sprawling.

Seeing this, Lorraine finally couldn't continue pretending to be a normal stranger. With a cry, she rushed over and helped Neil up. "How can you be so violent in broad daylight? Aren't you afraid that we'll call the police?"

I leaned over and gently brushed my hand against her hair. A few strands stayed in my palm even after I drew away. "You're losing a lot of hair. You should get that checked at a hospital. Then, once the results come out, you probably wouldn't dare to call the police."

Lorraine slapped my hand away. "You're insane. I just have a cold, and here you are making a scene out of it."

My kindness had been taken as ill will.

I didn't bother arguing further and walked away, pulling Peter with me.

It had started snowing outside. The cold wind swept away the anger simmering in my heart.

"Sorry for dragging you into this, Peter," I said.

"Don't worry about it," Peter said calmly. He walked beside me, his hands stuffed into his pockets. "They're already showing signs of radiation sickness. Do you feel sorry for them?"

I stopped. "I might have, before."

Iridium-192 was lethal. I had warned them multiple times before, but they never believed me, thinking that I was just bluffing. They were focused solely on framing me.

The fallen snow beneath my feet was no more than muddy slush, now mixed with dirt.

I stepped right over it.

"I just hope they reap what they sow."

That night, Lorraine started a livestream.

She tearfully addressed her audience through the camera. "I wasn't a homewrecker. I knew my boyfriend long before Sandra did.

"A few days ago, she stole something from her job and accused me of doing it. Luckily, the surveillance footage proved my innocence, and she will be heading to prison soon.

"Can you really believe what a criminal-in-waiting says?"

She cried pitifully, her acting skills on full display in a bid to salvage her reputation.

The audience eagerly joined in the gossip.

"Wait, what? Thesis Lady is the villain after all?"

"She's clearly making this up. They got caught cheating, so now she's resorting to personal attacks."

"Am I the only one curious about what was stolen?" I sipped on my coffee and repeatedly posted the same comment over and over again.

Faced with a barrage of skepticism and attacks, Lorraine chose to respond to my question as it seemed like the safest one. "It's called iridumb-19 or something, some pretentious term.

"She even tried to scare me, saying it was lethal and that it could kill people. She made it sound so dramatic when she was threatening me."

Suddenly, she covered her mouth, overcome with a bout of dry heaving.

Someone in the audience pieced it together. "Iridumb-19 … Iridium? Iridium-192? Holy crap, who would dare to steal that?"

"Can someone explain what that is?"

"You don't have to know what it is. Just know that it can give you acute radiation sickness with just two hours of close contact. Your flesh will literally melt off your bones!"

As soon as that comment was posted, a flood of explosive messages drowned out the entire comment section.

Right in front of the entire audience, Lorraine's eyes rolled back, and she fainted dead away.