Keith did not bring Rhianne back to their house. He first brought her to the park near their school. Rhianne's eyes were still red and swollen. She also let out small hiccups sometimes.
Keith pulled Rhianne to sit on a bench. He also bought a bottle of water from a vending machine nearby and gave it to Rhianne. She received the bottle and thanked him quietly. After that, Keith also sits beside Rhianne and gently rub her back to calm her down.
Keith did not ask Rhianne what happened inside the room. That is because he already knows what happened inside that room. He clearly heard the story Andrew had said to Rhianne outside the room while waiting for Rhianne. Though he does not really like Andrew, Keith still feels sorry for him.
Keith does not like Andrew because he always looks at Rhianne in a different way. Andrew was always staring at Rhianne with admiration in his eyes. He was looking at her as if she was the most precious person in his life. And Keith does not like it.
After Andrew told his story, Keith heard Rhianne's sobs outside the room. Keith knew that she will definitely cry. Rhianne tends to cry every time she got too emotional. And because Andrew's story touched her heart, of course, she will really cry for him.
Rhianne, on the other hand, was trying to analyze the situation. The Andrew Gartin in the book is a cruel and manipulative villain who mercilessly stole Rhianne's fortunes. But how come he became such a bad guy in the story? So it was all because of his past.
Because of his mother, Andrew Gartin tried to capture Rhianne Cartel's heart and he succeeded. After that, he slowly stole everything that belonged to her. Afterward, Andrew Gartin killed Rhianne Cartel to remove her permanently in his life. And it all started with his mother's wishes.
Rhianne is not trying to justify Andrew Gartin's actions in the book. Andrew was a victim at first since he was only following his mother's orders. But after doing his future decisions and actions, he cannot be considered as a victim anymore. Rhianne knows that Andrew is a smart and manipulative type of person. In the end, Andrew Gartin chose to be a villain and destroyed someone else's life.
But everything is not following the original plot of the story. The villain did not managed to capture her heart. She also had an encounter with the female lead in the Welfare Agency. The most important part of it, she even became friends with the male lead.
So what happened?
Simple.
There is a variable in this situation. And that variable is definitely her. She is now the 'Rhianne Cartel' in this world.
"Rhianne?" Keith suddenly called her.
"...Yes?"
"Can I ask you a question?"
"You are already asking me a question now though."
"Tch. You are still cheeky." Rhianne heard Keith murmured under his breath.
"What is it, Mr. Protagonist?"
"Well... What do you feel about Andrew?" Keith asked.
Rhianne pursed her lips and tried to think of the right answer for that question. Before she becomes as Rhianne Cartel, she always viewed Andrew Gartin as a villain who will everything just to get whatever he desires. But after she became as Rhianne Cartel, she suddenly had mixed feelings about him.
At first, she became wary and scared of him. That is because she knew what happened to the original Rhianne Cartel after being close with Andrew Gartin. Then later, Rhianne tried to befriend him hoping that she can change his original path. Afterward, she distances herself away from him thinking that he was trying to get close with her again because he had bad intentions towards him.
But after she heard the true story behind all of it...
All of a sudden, Rhianne cried once again. Fat tears rolled down from her eyes continuously. Her tears slide down to her cheeks and dripped on her shirt.
Rhianne's crying scared Keith so much. Due to his panic state, he jumped from his seat and hastily get his handkerchief from his pocket. Though his hands were shaking, Keith still gently wiped her tears.
He just asked her a question. So why does Rhianne cried again?
"Keith, am I a bad person?" Rhianne asked in a shaking voice.
"Huh?"
"I am a bad person, right? Of course, I am!" Rhianne said before she cried again.
"Wait! Of course, you are not a bad person!"
"But I have a lot of negative qualities as a person."
"..."
What's with this situation? Keith just wanted to how Rhianne's thoughts about Andrew. Because of her dense personality, it was really impossible for Rhianne to discover Andrew's feelings towards her. But he still asked her just to be sure. So why was she asking him if she was a bad person?
Aside from being too dense with someone's feelings and too kind with any people around her, everything about her is really good. Keith was just frustrated with her sometimes for being dense sometimes. But he was more frustrated because Rhianne was being too kind to everyone. He does not want her to be hurt because someone might take advantage of her kindness.
"Well... Why do you say so?" Keith asked.
"You see, my attitude towards Andrew is very bad. Sometimes I am treating him well. But most of the time, I always tried to avoid him because I am scared of him. Andrew was always treating me with kindness, but I always doubt him. You see, I am not a good person towards him."
"..."
Keith really did notice that Rhianne was intentionally avoiding Andrew sometimes. Keith never asked the reason behind it.
As for Rhianne, she really feels bad for Andrew. While he was suffering from his mother's influence, here she was, treating and branding him as a villain all the time. If she tried to see everything from Andrew's perspective, she will definitely become hurt and sad. Not only that but having someone who was avoiding you as if you are a snake will definitely give you a bad feeling.
"Rhianne, you see... First of all, you are not a bad person." Keith started. "There is no bad person who will cry for someone else's miseries and problems. Second, a bad person can never be a crybaby like you— Hey!"
Rhianne suddenly slapped Keith's arm when he called her crybaby again.
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. But seriously, you are not a bad person. I'm sure Andrew knows that too."
"..."
"You can still see him tomorrow. He promised you, right?"
"Yes."
"You cannot think straight if you are being muddleheaded because of your crying. So stop crying now, okay?"
Rhianne nods her head.
"You should stop worrying for now. If your brother saw you crying again, he will surely blame me again."
"But my eyes sting a little."
"We still have two more hours before the party ends. Let's cool down your swollen eyes first." Keith said. "If your eyes are still swelling later, well..."
When Rhianne saw her Mr. Protagonist thinking of some excuses on my did she cried, she can't help but to tease him.
"Then I will tell them that you hit me on my arm."
"Hey!"
Seeing that Rhianne was starting to feel better, Keith silently let out a sigh of relief. He wanted to pat himself for doing a good job in stopping Rhianne to cry more. Keith suddenly thought that he getting good at taking good care of this girl every day.
Thinking about Andrew again, Keith suddenly has mixed feelings towards him. He did not hate Andrew at all. He was just being wary of his potential rival. But after knowing his situation, Keith's dislike towards Andrew lessen a bit.