Chapter 13 - madam Ella

Ella sat in the courtyard of the school, drinking iced tea like a madam; this is probably why Lerato calls her "Madam Ella." Holding her phone in her right hand, she read the comments, laughed out loud, and admired Tristin's plan. She was unaware that Thomas was looking for her.

As Thomas headed toward Ella, students kept looking at him, and he shouted at them to mind their own business. He saw Ella, who was busy laughing without a care in the world, and his anger rose to a higher degree. Soon he arrived at Ella.

Seeing Thomas going to Ella, the students were eager to see the clash of two titans, but they didn't dare get close; after all, when two bulls fight, the grass suffers the most.

"Ella, what's the meaning of this?" Thomas roared as he stared at Ella with burning eyes.

Ella took a sip from her homemade iced tea before she asked, looking cool as the drink she was having, "What's the meaning of what, Thomas?"

"Our families had agreed that we wouldn't interfere with each other's business, but you have attacked me twice now in two days. Are you trying to break the agreement?" Thomas asked with a cold voice.

"Thomas, where did I interfere with you, and how did I break the agreement?" Ella answered with a question while looking as calm as ever.

Thomas gritted his teeth; he was annoyed about how calm Ella was. After all, it's not easy to argue with a person who doesn't argue with you.

The students were baffled by Ella's composure; they were expecting a heated battle. These two titans had never confronted each other before, but now the two had faced each other twice, and the stakes were high today compared to yesterday. Thomas was already in the mud dug by Ella's post, so why didn't she fight back?

Thomas, angry and annoyed by Ella's cool demeanor, took out his phone and roared again, "Ella, that bullsh!t post of yours has damaged my name, and my name is associated with the Ngoben Group!"

Ella took another sip that boiled Thomas's blood to a new degree. The anger made Thomas dizzy; he grasped the branch of the tree for support.

"Thomas, did you read the post clearly? I never mentioned your name even once. The person I mentioned is Lerato, and what I said about Lerato is all true."

That's Tristin's brilliance at work. He had told Ella not to mention Thomas at all. He also predicted that Thomas might come to find her, so she was prepared. What made her look so composed was not the iced tea but preparations in advance.

As Thomas didn't know how to respond, Ella took another sip of iced tea. When the students saw Ella sipping iced tea, they began to speculate. Some even said, "I heard that iced tea has the ability to calm the nerves. I guess it's true. I also need to start drinking iced tea."

"Don't bullshit me. Your post acted as the stage for the comments!" Thomas roared a bit louder.

"Did I comment on the post?" Ella asked with poise.

"How would I know? Everyone commented anonymously!" Thomas said with a cold voice.

"Well, go to the dean's office, ask for the accounts that commented, or just hack the page; you do have the means. But if you don't find my name in the comment section, and when I go to Mr. Ngobeni to look for answers, you better prepare well to answer." Ella said with a hint of warning in her voice.

Thomas thought for a bit. "Ella is a smart girl; she wouldn't just break the agreement made by the two families. If I don't calm down, I might bring trouble for myself. Ella and Lerato are known to be rivals, but why did she help her now?" As he was thinking, the handsome look of Tristin appeared in his mind, and he figured it out. But there's no way he could act against Ella without enough proof.

"Yesterday, when I was about to deal with that Tristin guy, you interfered with me, and that is proof enough that you have broken the agreement." With no way to push Ella into a corner, he decided to bring up yesterday's encounter to justify himself.

Ella took another sip, seeing that Thomas couldn't stand it when she drank her iced tea. Now she was doing it just to annoy the hell out of him.

"Thomas, yesterday I didn't break the agreement; I stopped you from breaking the agreement. Tristin is my man, and my man also falls under Sirmon's people. Do you think the Sirmon people can be attacked by anyone? What would that make of the Sirmon name? Wouldn't that make people think the name Sirmon is as fragile as an egg?" Ella asked. Her voice was low, but Thomas heard every word.

Thomas didn't know how to respond at this moment. He had heard that Tristin was driving Ella's car yesterday, and there was a chance they went to Ella's house, meaning that Ella's parents already knew about Tristin. Now he felt like he had dodged a bullet yesterday.

"I didn't know that Tristin was your man at that time," Thomas said with a defeated voice.

"Relax, Thomas. You didn't attack Tristin, meaning you didn't break the agreement." She paused to finish the iced tea in her glass, then continued, "I also didn't mention you in the post, and I didn't comment. I also didn't break the agreement. We didn't interfere with each other. Now, if there is nothing else, I'm going back to class. Classes will start in about ten minutes."

With that, she packed her things and left, leaving Thomas looking defeated. He didn't have a reason to keep or attack Ella.

"Huh…" Thomas sighed. "Today I lost two of my fights. Lerato outsmarted me, and Ella also defeated me." He shook his head in disbelief. "After school, I might also lose my presidency and possibly my captain status on the team."

"How did I end up here? Where did I go wrong?" Thomas asked himself as he also went to his class.

As Thomas was asking himself questions, the one who had all the answers was strolling and laughing with his new buddies on the way back to class. Thinking if Thomas thought his troubles were over, he must wait till after school. The show is not over yet.

The students who were waiting to see some heated exchange also left the scene, following Ella. They were impressed by how she handled herself. When they looked at Ella's shadow, some were nodding and thinking, "She is Madam Ella, the vice president of the student committee, for a reason."