Henry’s expression stiffened rigidly as he read down through the comments.
Henry’s finger scrolled down until the screen showed the end. After reading through all the comments without missing any, he pressed back and then opened the post again repeatedly. It was to check the newly posted comments.
Though he had shown it thinking Henry should know about it, after actually delivering the post, Joseph was engulfed in doubt about whether this was the right choice, given Henry’s reaction.
Because the reaction he was showing was somehow ominous.
He had to stop him from continuously going in and out of the post. First, Joseph reached out to take his phone from Henry’s hand.
“Henry. You don’t need to read the comments, do you? As it’s written in the comments there, Grady…”
“Have I done so many things to be hated this much?”
Cutting off Joseph’s words that were full of worry, Henry muttered.
Ah, I shouldn’t have shown him.
Joseph realized that showing him the post had been a mistake from the start.
The very fact that Henry needed to know about this post was a misjudgment.
But Joseph had a plausible reason why he had to show him that post.
First of all, he agreed with the content written in the comments that “it seems like a post written by Grady William.”
From the parts where internal circumstances were deliberately and cunningly changed, to even criticizing that students belonging to the club supported Henry.
Whether in content or timing, it would be more surprising if it wasn’t Grady.
Because it was a post that blatantly revealed the intention to bring down Henry’s reputation and establish “Grady William” as captain.
Secondly, the public opinion in the comments was okay. If there had only been negative reactions, he would have chosen not to tell him.
Was it thanks to his usually good conduct? Comments disguised as truth were being buried by replies correcting the facts as soon as they were posted.
“Henry. You know best yourself. All of this is truth mixed with strange lies to cunningly change the story, so why are you reading it one by one? They’re all lies trying to make you look bad anyway. You’ll find out when you go to school tomorrow, but really, it’ll be nothing at all, right?”
Joseph tried to comfort him by using the bare facts, seeing Henry showing a side far from his expectations.
That this wasn’t a big deal, and that even if you go to school tomorrow, nothing will happen.
While chattering like that to persuade Henry, Joseph realized what he had missed.
There was a part he had overlooked.
Henry Lowell had a reason to show this kind of reaction.
Henry hardly uses anonymous communities. Thanks to that, he had never been exposed to situations where he was criticized by an unspecified number of people.
Even becoming known nationwide as a “quarterback” was relatively recent.
It meant that Henry Lowell wasn’t used to situations where his name was being brought up by an unspecified number of people.
Whether in virtual space or in reality.
He hadn’t thought of that.
Because even in the days when Henry didn’t have the halo of being a “quarterback,” he was a kid who captured people’s attention.
There are various people in the world, and as long as Henry was more conspicuously loved than others, it was natural that somewhere there would be those who particularly hated Henry.
Though Henry seemed to have passed by without knowing well, in reality, not everyone Henry had met liked him.
It just didn’t show because people of all ages and genders were constantly around him without interruption.
He didn’t think Henry wouldn’t know this. Because he was someone who had always lived in an environment surrounded by many people.
Because Joseph had observed this most closely, he had thought wrongly.
That this post wouldn’t be something that would affect Henry. That Henry, who had always grown up receiving attention from many people, would pass over seeing something like this as if it were nothing.
“Hey, hey. Stop looking.”
Even until Joseph realized where his actions had gone wrong, Henry was still going in and out of that post’s page.
Unable to watch him any longer, Joseph forcibly snatched his phone from his hand.
It would have been better if he had questioned why he showed it, or asked why he took it away.
Henry seemed unable to even think of making such a judgment.
Instead of getting angry at Joseph, he quietly picked up his own phone.
As he peeked at the screen to see what he was trying to do, he saw a screen accessing the anonymous community site he had shown him.
“Hey! Stop, don’t look!”
Joseph, who had even snatched away Henry’s phone, let out a sigh.
I know it can bother you. You’d be curious about what others are babbling about you.
However, Henry’s current reaction felt obsessive.
Why was he so determined to check the post’s reactions? They’re all just curses riddled with lies anyway.
“I was wrong to show you. I’m sorry. But why are you caring about this kind of post one by one? There are more people who know you’re not this kind of person. You can tell from the comments. I think this is a post Grady uploaded. He cunningly wove in internal club matters that others wouldn’t know about.”
Joseph patted the back of Henry, who still had a dazed face, to comfort him.
“It’s not like you didn’t know that bastard hates you. Don’t think about it and just sleep. If I knew you’d be like this, I wouldn’t have shown you, but I made a mistake thinking you should know.”
Joseph turned around only after forcibly making Henry lie down on the bed.
Lest Henry pick up his phone again, he didn’t forget to place the phone on the desk instead of returning it to him.
***
Joseph knew Henry well, but he was also someone who didn’t know him. The Henry he knew was the Henry Lowell that everyone knew.
In fact, what affected Henry wasn’t the part about “someone posted a slanderous post about him, and the person who wrote that post might be Grady William.”
Whether it was comments saying he was cold from the start or that his act of being nice was disgusting to watch—it wasn’t that such comments had no effect, but above all, what made Henry anxious was the content that Henry Lowell seemed to like men.
Everyone was dismissing that comment as false and ignoring it, but it was actually the only truth among numerous lies.
He couldn’t just laugh it off peacefully, believing only that no one believed it.
Thinking that there might be someone with plausible evidence made him feel chilled to the bone. Even though he had never shown any behavior worth recording.
Even knowing it was excessive worry, he couldn’t stop. When he came to his senses, Henry had come to suspect everyone around him.
It was as Joseph said. No one brought up the post’s topic directly in front of him.
But Henry wasn’t foolish enough to believe the silence at face value.
Even though he didn’t use it directly, he knew. How many school kids used the community where that post was uploaded.
The fact that there was no way to know who left comments on that post made Henry even more troubled. The person eating in front of me right now might have written it, mightn’t they?
That fact consumed Henry. Eventually, even the suspicion came to him that Declan might have left the comment saying he seemed gay.
Affection and trust are different domains.
Though he had received help from him for a not-short time, there wasn’t the solid trust built up nicely.
He could feel it even more when looking at the current state that crumbled down the moment it was touched. That I still don’t trust him.
Henry spent the entire day on edge.
Thanks to that, by the time the day was ending, though he was much more exhausted than usual, he went out for a night run as always.
It was an action to show Joseph, who didn’t know what to do with guilt, a Henry Lowell-like appearance.
His body was much heavier than usual. Half running, half walking.
Then, feeling it wouldn’t work, he chose to stand powerlessly and kill time. Anyway, he had to spend time exercising similar to usual so Joseph wouldn’t have unnecessary thoughts.
On the way back to the dormitory after finishing the run like that, running into Declan Russell was a terrible coincidence.
He spoke to Henry, who had stiffened rigidly as the comments in the post came to mind.
“…Coming back from exercising?”
Henry, extremely tense, nodded his head to answer him, then asked.
“What about you? What business do you have on the 3rd floor?”
“Ran out of water.”
Declan said, lifting up the water bottle in his hand to show it. Only then did Henry realize that this was in front of Aiden’s room.
“…Ah.”
Henry let out a small exclamation. The conversation cut off. Unlike his thought that they would pass by each other like this, he held Henry back and asked.
“Are you struggling?”
Though it was unexpected that he continued the conversation, Henry wasn’t as surprised as before. Because during the break, he had often seen him acting outside his expectations.
Henry was able to answer his question safely.
“No.”
“Then let’s go out for a bit.”
Even Henry, who had gotten used to such Declan as much as possible, couldn’t help but be flustered by the words that followed.
“…At this hour?”
At the face that seemed to ask what the problem was, Henry hastily explained.
“No, tomorrow’s Friday and…”
“Just for a moment is fine.”
Before he could finish speaking, Declan said.
It can’t be, but Henry got the feeling that he was quite earnest and urgent.
Henry reluctantly nodded.
The funny thing was that a gap had formed in a corner of his mind that had been tightly bound up suspecting everyone.
Even though just moments ago he had been suspecting him.
That emotions and mind could diverge this much—it was absurd even to think about it himself.
Henry obediently followed behind Declan Russell.
