He imagined seven or eight interesting reactions a top student might have—flustered, red-faced, trying to cover up, or something else?

Unexpectedly, the other person actually looked him up and down quite seriously, seeming to think it over carefully.

Then calmly asked, “In what way are we a good match?”

As Frank Yeats recalled, Sean Sherman also remembered that incident. She couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Actually, after I got put in my place, I started paying more attention to you. Back then, I was just pretending to be mature, pretending to be a bad boy, but I was really pretty childish. It wasn’t until later that I realized, I must have been…” He paused, scratched his head, “I was…

Into you. Later, I didn’t even know where you ended up after the exams. I figured you’d be fine, you must have gone to 振华, so I never even asked about your scores. Honestly, I guess I was just insecure, I didn’t want to ask, the gap was too big. Once, when I was riding along to the train station for a delivery, we passed 振华, and I circled around the area twice, thinking maybe I’d run into you.”

“I’m really sorry, I only found out later.”

“So when I saw you at the class reunion this time, I thought you weren’t happy. But actually, I was really glad. After all these years, with all the ups and downs, you haven’t changed, you’re still… you still have that stubborn, persistent drive in everything you do. That makes me really happy.”

“You’re saying all this just to encourage me?” Sean Sherman laughed. She took off her glasses and gently rubbed her eyes.

“Honestly, I don’t even know why, I really don’t know.”

Sean Sherman shook her head. “I don’t care. Hearing it makes me happy.”

Sean Sherman’s car slowly drove back into the city. When Sean Sherman jumped out, her fingers brushed the cold handle, and suddenly her heart was pounding wildly.

From childhood until now, not even when waiting for her exam results, had she ever felt this way.

It wasn’t because she was suddenly infatuated with Frank Yeats, nor was it shyness.

She couldn’t explain it herself. She just suddenly turned around and shouted to Frank Yeats, who was about to say goodbye in the car, “I still chose to take the grad school entrance exam, a school in Beijing. I don’t know how it’ll turn out. In this area, I’ve had nothing but bad luck all my life.

But if I fail again this time, I’ll give up on this path.

“They always ask me if I regret it. I always thought only people like you, who are successful now, have the right to say with pride that hardship is an experience, and that you never regret your choices back then—You dropped out, I went to a regular high school, you drive a car and will have your own company, and I still have no future, nothing at all. But I really gave it my all, I have a clear conscience, and I don’t regret it either. They don’t believe me, they all—Frank Yeats, do you believe me?”

The boy in the car looked her up and down, just like Sean Sherman had done years ago, thought for a few seconds, and solemnly said, “I believe you.”

Before Sean Sherman could smile, moved, he grinned mischievously and added,

“Didn’t I already say, I think we’re a great match.”

Sean Sherman was stunned for a moment, tilted her head and said seriously, “You’ll have to let me think about it carefully. I still haven’t figured out in what way we match.”

Frank Yeats lit another cigarette. “There’s plenty of time, take your time. Study hard.”

She was about to turn and leave when she was suddenly called back.

“Hey dummy, are you serious? You still haven’t told me your phone number!”

At that moment, Sean Sherman had her back to him, smiling like an ordinary eighth-grade girl.

Just like back then, just like being 14, only 8 points away from perfect.

And yet Thomas Chase, who looked like a prince—handsome, smart, polite, gentle. No matter where he stood, he stood out, so outstanding it was impossible for him to blend in.

He had nothing, and he had everything.

------------

Thomas Chase Extra: Twilight Falls

Fastest update of the latest chapter of Hello, Old Times!

Thomas Chase Extra: Thomas Chase withdrew his gaze from the window and saw Zoe Young at the end of the hallway.

In the small northern city, March was cold enough to freeze people but not water. Technically, it was already spring, but outside, the snow was just starting to melt and the wind was still biting. Bare branches swayed bleakly, nothing much to look at.

Thomas Chase had been standing by the window for over ten minutes, his pants pressed against the radiator, toasting him warm. He just wanted to get away from the classroom, which was filled with the oppressive atmosphere brought on by the first citywide mock exam.

The students all looked like walking corpses. Even in Class One, full of top students, many had failed the test of mental strength.

The mock exam. Using modeling clay to carefully sketch out what the watershed of fate might look like in a few months—anyone would feel a bit anxious.

And one way to deal with that anxiety was to look at Thomas Chase, who had already secured a guaranteed spot, and say with a mix of envy and sarcasm, “Sigh, you’re so lucky.”

Thomas Chase gave a wry smile. Hearing that, he didn’t know whether to feel proud or sad. His happiness was something he’d fought for himself, and it didn’t hurt anyone.

But he wouldn’t play humble either. He knew he could now look at this single-plank bridge battle with a mindset and perspective he’d never had before. In the end, he was lucky.

Just then, Zoe Young came slowly over from a distance, holding a few test papers, frowning as she stared at the corrections, walking more and more off-balance, until she walked straight into the windowsill with an “ow,” clutching her waist and squatting down.

Thomas Chase laughed and walked over to gently pat her back. “Are you okay?”

She looked up, her eyes clear, but brimming with tears.

“I’m okay, just hurts a bit, thank you.”

He hadn’t had time to say anything else when he heard a flurry of footsteps nearby.

“Seriously, what’s wrong with you? I saw you from way over there, walking more and more crooked until you ran right into it. Is your cerebellum atrophied or something?”

It was Andrew Lane, rushing over, bent over and panting heavily, giving Thomas Chase a perfunctory greeting.

Just a nod. Andrew Lane used to be on pretty good terms with him, but ever since the Charlotte Lee incident, Thomas Chase could keenly sense the change in their relationship.

Andrew Lane had made it clear: “This has nothing to do with Thomas Chase. Charlotte Lee is emotionally unstable, she has a one-sided crush on Thomas Chase, it’s all her own choice, Thomas Chase isn’t obligated to solve her issues. As for the guaranteed admission exam that day, he had even less reason to skip the test to look for Charlotte Lee…”

Yet at the end of these logical statements, he curled his lips slightly, with a hint of hostility, and said, “Thomas Chase, I really don’t blame you. It was right for me, Zoe, and Charles Johnson to go look for her, because the four of us, we have feelings.”

Have feelings.

The last sentence was ambiguous, making Thomas Chase’s smile freeze. For once, he kept silent, and kept that awkward smile.

No matter how unpretentious or friendly he was, at critical moments, Andrew Lane still revealed his own Thomas Chase Extra: lofty moral standards, above the fray.

The thing Thomas Chase hated most, yet was powerless against.

“Zoe, I just happen to have something I want to talk to you about. Do you have a minute?”

He said it openly, smiling at her. Zoe Young looked up in confusion, blinked, and agreed.

Andrew Lane moved his lips on the side, as if wanting to ask “What is it?”, but even he felt that would be inappropriate, so his expression was a bit awkward.

Thomas Chase laughed to himself.

He didn’t know if it was out of relief, or envy.

Envy of Andrew Lane’s ability to wear his emotions on his sleeve, that ability to remain pure and genuine even at eighteen.

Zoe Young glanced at Andrew Lane too, her eyes carrying a hint of a smile, not sure if it was to comfort or tease.

The laughter in Thomas Chase’s heart suddenly turned into a sigh.

So it wasn’t relief, just envy.

He remembered again how those two had run out of the exam room, sleeves in hand, footsteps clattering, all stomping on his heart.

Andrew Lane’s silly way of looking back every few steps made Zoe Young burst out laughing.

Thomas Chase, however, watched her test papers out of the corner of his eye.

It seemed she hadn’t done very well.

Suddenly, he wanted to ask: If you fail the college entrance exam, miss out on a top university, will you think back countless times to that morning, when you gave up an important opportunity for a girl you didn’t even know that well?

Would you really not regret it?

At that moment, Zoe Young spread the test papers out on the windowsill, looked them over openly, and finally sighed, half-joking, half-serious: “It’s so hard.”

That kind of calmness easily shattered a corner of his heart.

“You and Summer Carter, you were desk mates in our class in the first year, remember?”