Chapter 9: First Punch

Ethan's POV:

> “Oh my! Look the newbie is picking a fight with Zeus!” 

> “What is wrong with him? Does he think he can stand against Zeus’s robust strength?”

The moment I rushed up to Zeus and grabbed him by his collar I could hear those intense whispers among the crowd which was watching us eagerly. While I was furious by his insulting remark, that jerk appeared strangely calm while facing me, without showing any sign of discontent as I had lowkey expected him to throw his hands first at me since I had dared to grab the ‘Dark Prince’ by his collar in front of all his admirers.

But as if to add gasoline to my rage, I saw the smug widen on his lips when he snorted, “You’re the one who forcibly sat on my desk when I had told you to go away, remember? Besides, this is the kind of reaction you should’ve shown to that man, but instead when I pointed out the truth, you’re getting angry with me?” 

“Truth? Do you really think I enjoyed him groping me? Are you really fuckin’ crazy!?” His humiliating words made me grit my teeth, as I clenched my grip tight around his collar. 

“And what about you? Would you let anyone grope you however they want without showing a protest?” He retorted back to me in a stiff grumble, while his serious dark gaze was solely focused on me, making me uneasy. 

Moving a few inches closer, Zeus intently whispered in my ears by leaning his face closer, “Be honest with me, is this your true perverted nature to act so damn easy around everyone? Does this make you feel better?” 

THWACK!

Unable to stand his humiliating taunts anymore, I threw a punch on his right cheek, making the whole crowd gasp around us. 

I was very surprised at my own reaction as well. Being a cool-tempered man…it was the very first time in my life I had been so affected by someone’s words…especially coming from him. 

However, with such a great masculine physique, Zeus was much stronger than I had expected. He didn’t even flinch from the hit and was only pushed a few steps away from me. His dazzling white porcelain skin had a small red bruise resulting from the punch, but he calmly touched his cheek first with his broad fingers to ensure that he wasn’t bleeding. 

But riled with the agony rising inside my heart, I gritted at him with tears shimmering in my rolled ocean eyes, “I fuckin’ hated it! I hated that bastard’s touch more than anything in my life…to the point that I wanted to break his arm and beat the crap out of him right here! But you know what, I don’t have the fuckin’ privileged life like you guys. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon, and that’s why I knew, I wouldn’t have any money to defend myself when that bastard would’ve sued me later on! 

“That’s why…I had to grit my teeth for enduring that damn humiliation! And you know what’s even more strange? I was a fool enough to think of you as my savior when you showed up at the right time to protect me, Zeus. I was truly grateful to you…but…your words just proved to me that you’re even worse as a human being than that pervert!” 

“Oh my goodness! What’s happening here!?” Invading through the big audience of students watching us, Hermes ran towards us.

But before checking on me, I saw him rolling his gaze towards Zeus’s bruised face. With a look of disbelief, he tried to approach Zeus slowly, sounding baffled, “Oh no, Zeus…I hope you’re not very injured. Please don’t press any charges against Ethan, he doesn’t know what he’s doing now—”

“I am perfectly aware of what I did!” But interrupting his words, I grumbled aloud at Zeus whose intense gaze was only locked on me, among thousands of people watching us. Hermes finally turned around, making a displeased face at me but it didn’t stop me from venting, “Zeus, you might’ve your pool of admirers here, but I can’t stand people like you who enjoy trampling over someone to satisfy their toxic ego. 

“To be honest, I was repulsed earlier to see the way how you behaved with Emma…so…before I start detesting the sight of yours, let’s stay away from each other’s path, shall we? Besides, I won’t apologize for hitting you as well. If you wanna press charges, go ahead because you fuckin’ deserved that punch, jerk!” 

“Ethan, please stop it! You come with me, right now!” Hermes deliberately grabbed me by my hands and started dragging me away from the sight of chaos, where I could still feel Zeus’s piercing gaze following me as I went away. 

After Hermes had brought me to the other end of that giant hall, he grumbled at me, “Ethan, have you really gone insane? Among all the people in the campus, you picked a fight with Zeus? Why did you have to get yourself in trouble just because I took my eyes off you? Seriously, do you know—”

“Now, I don’t want any lecture from you, Hermes. As my friend, you should’ve taken my side over there, instead of pleading to that jerk! You should've been worried for me!" Interrupting his sentence, my loud grunt paused him for a brief moment as I could see him intensely gawking at me. 

Angry, frustrated, and exhausted by the chaotic events happening in my life one after another, my voice broke as I whined to him, “I just wanted to have one peaceful drink, for heaven’s sake! And then…I ran into a pervert and following that, the shitty jerk riled me up! You know what, I think I should just leave the party… I am just so damn tired of everything---” 

…

“Excuse me, would you mind if I sit with you for a moment?” 

But a sudden soft feminine voice from behind flinched me hard while I venting out to Hermes. Turning around, my eyes rolled in shock to see it was that same beautiful girl with a round petite face and brown long hair, whom I was intrigued by the first sight. 

While gawking at this beauty I remember mistakenly bumping into that bastard, Zeus from where my jinx of the day began. But now watching her approach me first, I was left quite stunned. 

Hermes slowly walked close and stood in between me and that beauty as he addressed in a cordial tone, “She’s Lena, and she’s also a freshman from the Economics department. Leaving you for a while, I went to talk to her because she was asking me to introduce you to her, Ethan. 

“But in that short time, you went ahead and got yourself into a commotion with Zeus. Look, I wasn’t taking his side there, but Ethan you need to realize you’re a scholarship student here…and if you get indulged into any serious chaos, especially with someone as influential as Zeus, your scholarship might get canceled and you’ll be expelled from the campus. I was just worried about you because you’re my friend, Ethan.”  

As my temper started to cool down, I was able to realize Hermes’s words and felt a little guilty for lashing out at him earlier. Indeed he was right, he was just being considerate about my situation, but I behaved with him like a brat when he was always being concerned for me.

“I am sorry, Hermes…for doubting you earlier…” 

As I uttered with a guilt-stricken look on my face, he tapped on my shoulder and even handed me a chilled beer can to help me calm down a little. 

When the tense atmosphere in between us finally cooled down a little, he nudged me with his elbow and whispered to me, “Now, forget about those bad events and escort her like a true gentleman because Lena seems really interested in you. Who knows, you might get lucky tonight to leave the party with her together?”