Emma didn’t do her winter break homework and got called to the principal’s office. I rushed to the school, fuming, only to discover her homeroom teacher was my arch-nemesis from high school. Emma hid behind me, giggling: “I did my research, sis. Our homeroom teacher is single. Don’t miss this chance.” What chance? The chance to get revenge for when he pantsed me in front of everyone back then?! In the office, Adrian glanced at me and quickly lowered his head, seemingly trying to hide a smirk. I never imagined that Emma’s new homeroom teacher would be Adrian. Everyone has a few people from their school days that they’ll never forget. As luck would have it, Adrian was that person for me. I cleared my throat, breaking the awkward silence. “Um, Mr. Huo, about Emma not doing her homework, it’s our fault as parents. We’re sorry about that.” Adrian pushed up his glasses and picked up a report card from his desk. “Emma’s grades are usually very good, and she’s been improving lately. But she suddenly stopped doing her homework these past couple days. I’ve asked her why, but she won’t tell me. That’s why I called you in.” I turned to look at Emma. She stuck out her tongue at me and said mysteriously: “This is all for your sake, you know.” Before I could process what she meant, Adrian asked: “What do you mean, ‘for her sake’?” I shot Emma a warning look, gritting my teeth: “What nonsense are you spouting?” Ignoring me, Emma quickly snatched her unfinished homework from Adrian’s desk and dashed towards the door. “Mr. Huo, I’ll go finish my homework now. You two can chat about the rest!” Emma vanished in a flash, leaving Adrian and me staring at each other awkwardly. What is that little devil up to now? The atmosphere in the office was tense. Despite the freezing temperature outside, I was sweating profusely. As I was about to wipe the beads of sweat from my forehead, I saw Adrian offer me a tissue. The tissue had a faint jasmine scent. Looks like Adrian’s taste hasn’t changed. “Thanks.” Adrian chuckled: “Since when did the Queen of the Moon become so polite?” I nearly choked. How could he still remember that ancient nickname? Well, if that’s how he wants to play it… “Long time no see, General Huo.” Adrian’s face finally showed a hint of embarrassment. “It has been a long time indeed.” I thought Adrian might say something like “long time no see, I’ve missed you,” but instead, he said: “No wonder Emma’s not doing her homework. Looks like you’ve been a bad influence.” I forced a smile, glaring at Adrian: “Maybe it’s just that the teacher isn’t very good?” “If I could teach even you properly, how could it be the teacher’s fault?” Adrian’s expression remained neutral, but I wanted to punch him. What kind of comment was that?! The atmosphere grew quiet again. Adrian sat at his desk flipping through lesson plans while I stood to the side, fidgeting. Come to think of it, it’s been seven years since we last saw each other. We were at a loss for words after so long. On the way home, I stared at the new contact in my phone, my mind drifting back to thirteen years ago. Adrian and I met in middle school when we were assigned as desk mates. Back then, he was the dumb son of a nouveau riche family, and I was a warmhearted tomboy. At first, I was pretty unhappy with my wimpy desk mate, but if anyone dared to bully him, it was like they were slapping me in the face! Maybe it was my influence, but he gradually became more and more sharp-tongued. We’d have small arguments every three days and big fights every five days, yet somehow we remained desk mates throughout. Of course, this wimpy desk mate had his good points too. He was great at studying. I managed to go from being at the bottom of the class to successfully applying for college, and that was largely thanks to his help. For a long time afterward, I suspected our homeroom teacher must have been blind. How could she not see Adrian and me fighting every day, yet still keep us as desk mates? When I got home, I was confused to see Mom had prepared a huge spread of dishes. “Mom, why did you cook so much?” Mom’s voice came from the kitchen: “Your aunt and cousin are coming over later. Oh right, how did it go at the school? Did Emma get in trouble?” “Oh, it was nothing. Just the new homeroom teacher getting to know the situation.” “That’s good. Emma has always been such an easy child, much better than you were in school. I still remember your teachers always telling me at parent-teacher conferences how you argued with your desk mate every day.” Mom said as she brought out a pot of soup from the kitchen. I pouted but didn’t say anything. After all, what Mom said was true. But now I was more worried about another issue – the uninvited guests, my aunt and cousin. Ever since we were kids, my cousin Vanessa always had to compete with me on everything. She’d come brag to me when she got better grades on finals, when she got into a better college than me, when she found a better job after graduation… I wonder what she wants to show off this time.
Soon enough, Vanessa arrived, strutting in with her swan-like neck and sitting on the sofa like some high-society lady. “Oh my, Lily, why is your makeup so cakey? I’ve told you before not to use cheap cosmetics. If you can’t afford good ones, just let me know. I’d be happy to buy some for you.” “Really, sis?” I pretended to be excited and grabbed Vanessa’s arm. “Then can you get me a set from Yves Saint Laurent?” Vanessa clearly wasn’t expecting me to be so thick-skinned. Her expression almost slipped. I’ve grown up over the years too. The old method of fighting fire with fire is outdated. These days, it’s all about sincerity. Sincerity is the ultimate weapon. Seeing the situation, Aunt Linda quickly changed the subject: “Lily, you have no idea how busy your cousin has been since she got promoted to manager. She doesn’t have time to go shopping for things like that anymore.” Aunt Linda emphasized the word “manager” heavily. Looks like this was the purpose of their visit. I pretended not to understand and continued: “Then I’ll just send Vanessa the link. All she has to do is pay.” Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Mom hurriedly called us to eat. I didn’t push it any further and happily sat down at the table to munch on my chicken wings. Mom knew what my aunt and cousin were like, but since she and Aunt Linda were sisters, she could only tune out when Aunt Linda started bragging. At the dinner table, Aunt Linda brought up Vanessa’s promotion to manager again. “Our Vanessa became a manager before she even turned 30. That’s quite an achievement in our family. But there’s even bigger news coming.” Vanessa blushed coyly and nudged Aunt Linda: “Mom, nothing’s confirmed yet. Don’t say anything.” Seeing Vanessa like this, Aunt Linda got even more excited. “I think Adrian is such a nice boy. You two should date seriously. Bring him over sometime to meet your aunt. Lily, you don’t have a boyfriend yet, right? You should start thinking about it. It gets harder to find a good match as you get older. Lily, you’ve always been so loud and boisterous. You can’t be like that after you get married.” Adrian? My heart skipped a beat. Was it the Adrian I was thinking of? Or just someone with the same name? Vanessa quickly answered my unspoken question. “Lily, you must know Adrian, right? He went to the same high school as you. I think you were even in the same grade?” I forced an awkward laugh: “How would I know any Adrian?” But Vanessa wouldn’t let it go: “Really? Adrian was the most popular guy in your high school. You didn’t know that?” I always knew Adrian was popular. In high school, lots of girls would crowd around our classroom door between classes to look at Adrian. They called him the “campus heartthrob” and “dream guy”. Many girls wrote him love letters. Some even gave their letters to me to pass on to him. When other classmates asked those girls why they trusted me to deliver the letters, weren’t they worried I might be a rival, the girls’ responses were quite cutting. They told me, “I can tell from the way you look at him that you’d never like Adrian.” Unfortunately, they were wrong. Mom noticed my strange expression and put a piece of steak on Vanessa’s plate. “Lily was always such a troublemaker in school. How could she remember any classmates? By the way, how did you two meet? What’s that boy’s family background like?” Mom’s questions successfully opened Aunt Linda’s floodgates. I couldn’t hear clearly what they said after that. My mind was filled with thoughts of Adrian. How could he be dating my cousin? That night, I tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. The little moon-shaped night light on my bedside table cast a soft yellow glow. Adrian had given it to me when we graduated high school. I’d kept it all these years – seven years had passed in the blink of an eye. Yeah, we hadn’t been in touch for seven years. It was normal for him to have a girlfriend. But why did it have to be my cousin? I dreamed about Adrian that night too. I dreamed about us spilling ink on each other while fighting over a pen, getting punished to stand in the hallway for arguing during class, him trash-talking me while I was running… Days passed slowly. My parents suddenly had to go on a business trip and asked me to pick up Emma from school on the weekend. From far away, I could see Emma standing next to Adrian, waving at me. Don’t just wave, come over here! Emma showed no signs of walking over, so I had to steel myself and approach them. Adrian’s face was as handsome as ever, but thinking about him dating my cousin made my heart ache. Emma looked very excited. She grabbed my hand and said: “Sis, Mr. Huo is coming to our house for a home visit tomorrow.” Compared to my shocked expression, Adrian seemed quite calm. Adrian smiled at me: “Is Emma’s guardian okay with the home visit?” “Huh? Oh, sure.” “Sis, why don’t you send Mr. Huo our address? Didn’t you two exchange contact info?” “No need.” My mouth moved faster than my brain: “He knows it.” “Knows what?” I realized I’d misspoken and quickly covered: “I mean I know, I know. I’ll send it later.” “Then I’ll trouble Emma’s guardian.” I felt an intense gaze on me. My cheeks burned as I dragged Emma away, practically fleeing. On the way home, Emma asked if I’d been chatting with Adrian. The answer was of course no. Emma sighed in exasperation: “Oh Lily, what am I going to do with you? Mr. Huo is young, handsome, and rich. I worked so hard to set you two up. If you don’t make a move, someone else will snatch him up!” So this was Emma’s true motive for getting called to the principal’s office. I felt like such an idiot. I suddenly remembered my cousin’s situation. “Emma, are you sure your Mr. Huo really doesn’t have a girlfriend?” “Of course I’m sure. I investigated for ages.” Then what was going on with my cousin and him? I turned to glare at Emma: “Can’t you focus on your studies? Why are you always thinking about useless things?” “Studying is so simple, how much of my brain power could it possibly take? Look, I got first in the school again.” Now it was my turn to break out in a cold sweat. I wanted to say more, but Emma cut me off. “Sis, you’re not getting any younger. It’s time for you to start dating. Stop thinking about that night light guy.” “What night light guy?” “The guy who gave you that moon night light.” Are kids these days all so precocious? I feel like I’ve been left behind by the times. “Don’t be ridiculous. The one who gave me the night light was just a friend.” Emma looked at me like I was an idiot: “If he was just a normal friend, why do you treasure that night light so much? There’s even a love letter hidden under it.” “Emma! You actually read my love letter?!” That night, I typed and deleted messages in the chat window over and over. It was past 10 pm when I finally sent Adrian my home address. Adrian replied quickly. “I know.”
🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “294767”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #现实主义Realistic #惊悚Thriller #重生Reborn #魔幻Magic #励志Inspiring #浪漫Romance
Leave a Reply