235 :

It was only after Nathaniel left the office that the Dean sat back down, breathing heavily because of his anger. Joshua on his side was looking at the news broadcast with an apprehensive expression etch on his face. It didn't last long however as his face contorted due to what he was hearing from the news anchor and the 'expert' they had called to speak about what Nathaniel explained on the video which frankly didn't need much to be understandable. He did a good job all on his own and used questions at the beginning to make the whole thing easy to understand.

"He was right you know." Joshua said, turning to his friend.

"I know that for fuck sake! That still doesn't give him the right to do what he did!" The Dean explode once again.

"He just wanted accountability and especially considering that his semester is on the line because of Professor Miles actions."

"You are still thinking that everything he said was true, why?" The Dean asked.

"I believe among all the teaching staff here, I'm the one who interacts the more with him and I have a pretty good understanding of his character. You heard as well as me what the other teachers said about him. Respectful, brilliant, serious and he is always ready to go beyond the scope of his assignment to give back a work up to his own standard. He's not one to do things halfway, more so when speaking about such a serious subject. He's also not the type to bluff on this kind of data, I know for a fact that what he is going to send tonight will check out."

"You believe a little too much on him. Even if I agree that he's brilliant, he is still young and can make mistakes."

"I agree but that's not all. Even if he never talked about it clearly, I could read between the lines on some things that he hinted at. That's not the first time something like that happened to him."

"What do you mean?" Richard lifts an eyebrow.

"Despite coming from a very wealthy family, when he was younger he had a very modest upbringing and I confirm this fact as he studied in a little Catholic School in the Bronx. I don't have much in the way of evidence beside my gut but I'm pretty sure he was bullied and discriminated on by both teacher and school kids."

"That's not the kind of thing that you should say out loud, Joshua." The Dean says prudently.

"Fuck this, Richard, we are friends."

"Yeah." The Dean sighed before making a coming motion. "Go on."

"First, there is the way that he works. When Professor Miles claimed that Nathaniel never gave one of his assignments on time, he sent me hard evidence proving that he in fact did. You don't take those kinds of precautions unless you encounter this kind of situation before and often enough that you develop these kinds of habits. There is also the problem with his grade in middle school. Based on what he showed us since he became one of our students, he should have been able to crush every test at that time but he didn't. He had a good grade but not good enough compared to his level right now. It means only two things, maybe he's a late boomer and got smarter after his accident, or his teachers voluntarily lowered his grades to stifle his growth. Considering that Nathaniel has two lesbians mothers, I would be leaning on the second case being the most likely."

"I see." The Dean nodded, deep in thought. "You believe it could have been the reason why Professor Miles made a move on him too?"

"I'm not sure but I believe this is a probability that we should keep in mind." Joshua answered. Anyway, this is not the most urgent at the moment, what should we do about our PR problem? Do you want to take down the video from our network?"

"What is it going to accomplish? The video is already out there, deleting it would just make us appear like we are trying to hide the whole affair and it's going to make us look guilty. No, we need to stop the bleeding for now. Let's just issue a statement saying that the administration is shocked by the accusation and is going to put Professor Miles on leave pending an investigation. That should suffice to calm everyone for the time being. Think about phrasing it better and then publish it." The Dean said.

It was when his secretary knocked on the door and opened it slightly to pass her head.

"Sir, Professor Miles is there." She announced.

"Good! Get the mother fucker in there!" The Dean shouted.

*****

Walking to the archery range on the Campus, Nathaniel took a seat on the bleachers on the side of the field. There were few people sitting with him at this hour as it was starting to get dark and he could see the twenty something archer, firing their arrows on targets ranging from fifty yards to two hundred yards away from them. Na-Yung was easily findable among them for many reasons, one of them being that she was the only one using a recurve bow.

She was also the best archer among the other twelve womens et seven mens on the field. He could not help to smile each time that she was missing the bullseye by a couple of inches, her jaw locked in place in anger. He was way too familiar with the time they trained together to recognize her expression. Even if she was the best on the field, she wanted to better herself to the point that it was becoming a fault. Nathaniel recognized that he was not the best person to judge her for that.

Once they had all fired their arrows, the coach blew into his whistle before telling them to follow him in his office. Only Na-Yung shook her head ruefully and walked to her target practice and started retrieving her arrows. Nathaniel smiles at her antics and jumps back to his feet before walking in her direction. Na-Yung had just retrieved her arrows and was walking to her previous position when she saw Nathaniel walking to her.

"Na-Yung what are you doing? Your coach is going to shout at you again for not following his directives." Nathaniel remarks with humor.

"I missed two shots on five Nathaniel! If it happens at a competition, I will not go beyond quarterfinals. I need to get better." She said coldly.

Knowing that her coldness was directed at herself, Nathaniel just ignored her tone of voice.

"I still don't understand why you keep doing that, it's not like we are plenty busy as we are now."

"I got in Columbia on the premise that I will compete on the archery team of the university. Contrary to you, us, ordinary students, did not have the privilege of being movie stars." She answers, sarcastically.

"Nothing about you is ordinary, Na-Yung." Nathaniel smiled.

"Don't even try to sweet talk me to change the subject! I know you better than that. You have the level to enter the track team and win every race in the country, why don't you? And don't even dare to give me that excuse about the NCAA contract, I know that if it was only that, you would have found a solution already." She demanded.

"Na-Yung." Nathaniel sighed. "I don't have any interest in joining a club and I don't have the time to even consider it. I barely get four hours of sleep every night and I'm still running out of time most of the days. Between my studies here, my company, the official and unofficial side of it, writing and composing songs, my movie career and to top all of it off, TV interviews to make sure that no one start to think something is off in my life, I don't have any time in left."

That wasn't the whole story of course. Nathaniel had abandoned any possibility to do sports competitively once he realized the effect that his soul had on his body. That wouldn't be fair for him to compete against ordinary humans even without using his power to go all out. Even against people using drugs to enhance their performances, he wasn't sure he could be beaten and in this case, he wasn't sure he could hold out and let himself be beaten. He was as competitive as Na-Yung and even more so in certains areas, he wasn't confident in cheating himself by using his powers to win. That was one of the things that he learn about himself while he was trapped in this void, some of the ugly truth about himself that some people would never be forced to learned or contemplate.

It was at this moment that Na-Yung's coach came back from his office looking angry. He directed a frown in Nathaniel's direction and was going to say something when he thought better of it and clamp his mouth shut. Instead, he chose to shout in Na-Yung's direction.

"Kim! Get yourself in there right now!"

Sighing, she shook her head and turned to Nathaniel.

"It will not take long, look after my bow, you have no idea how much it cost."

"Got it." Nathaniel nodded, taking it in his left hand with precaution.

Once she followed him in the building, Nathaniel started looking at the bow in his hand with curiosity. He had never held one in his entire life but there was something almost soothing in the way it fit into his left hand. There was a feeling of familiarity and calmness in his mind as he held it, moving his hand left to right to see the curving of the bow. Taking one of the arrows that Na-Yung got back earlier with his right hand, that's when something happened. Knowledge that he never had started pouring inside his brain and his body moved on his own accord.

He rearranged his feets, changing the posture of his entire body to face the target's direction. His grip on the bow also changed, his body swift and nimble, like he did that thousands of times before. He nocked the arrow on the bow, aimed at the target that was barely visible anymore because of the dark and let loose. The arrow flew true, looming well over the fifty yards targets, passing the one hundred yard target and keeping her trajectory. Nathaniel saw more with his mind than with his eyes the arrow hitting the two hundred yards target dead it's in center.

Not understanding what was happening, his mind under a huge pressure, his arms start to tremble violently, Na-Yung bow falling on the ground. A memory forced his way into his mind in the form of the face of a woman too beautiful to be true before disappearing abruptly. It lasted for barely a quarter of a second but Nathaniel's saw white spots in front his eyes and his ears started buzzing.

He was unconscious before his body lifelessly crumple to the ground.