She lounged nonchalantly at the entrance of the boys’ restroom, shaking her leg. Her school uniform was worn in a rebellious way, her hair dyed in a complicated mix of colors, and she held a cigarette between her fingers. In the eyes of those two boys—who at most were in middle school—she was the very image of a “street tough.” They were bold when bullying classmates, but when they saw Alice Grant in her No. 16 High School uniform, they were startled.

Maybe it was because they’d all heard of the notorious reputation of the students from the neighboring No. 16 High School. Terrified, they didn’t dare meet Alice Grant’s gaze, dropped the bucket, and ran off, leaving Alice Grant and the drenched, frail boy in the corner of the restroom.

The boy looked much younger than her, wore glasses, and had a silly bowl cut. He shrank there as if he’d been scared witless. His skin was very fair. Alice Grant stood there for a while, looking at the boy’s bare legs, thinking, “He really is just a middle schooler.” At their school, when they humiliated someone, they’d strip them completely—unlike these kids, who only stripped half.

“Aren’t you going to put your pants on first?” Alice Grant lifted her chin and said to the boy.

The boy snapped back to his senses, his whole face flushing red. Covering his underwear, he picked up his pants from the side and put them on, head down, too embarrassed to speak, trembling like a little chick.

Alice Grant figured he was probably afraid she, the “pest from next door,” would hit him. Finding it all rather boring, she turned and left.

The most remarkable thing about this incident was that the pitiful boy she quickly forgot about was actually Brian Carter, who at the time was in the second year at Mingde Middle School. And Alice Grant only learned about this after she married Brian Carter.

If Brian Carter hadn’t told her, she never would have guessed that the bullied boy she’d met just once all those years ago was actually Brian Carter. If he hadn’t mentioned it, she wouldn’t even have remembered it happened.

After all, she couldn’t connect the gentle, shy young man he became with the pitiful, awkward little boy from back then.

“I thought you looked like a fairy back then, so beautiful,” Brian Carter told her about it, looking embarrassed. Meanwhile, Alice Grant, now a proper married woman, was dumbfounded. She thought her young husband must have had terrible eyesight as a teenager—her own “killing-matte” rebellious phase was so cringeworthy she couldn’t bear to recall it herself, let alone associate it with the word “fairy.”

……

Alice Grant was lost in thought when she suddenly heard Jenny Parker sigh and say, “Yaoyao, you’re back. I’m truly happy for Brian Carter.”

Alice Grant snapped out of her memories. “What?”

Chapter 6

Jenny Parker: “Yaoyao, you being able to come back, I really am so happy for Brian Carter.”

Alice Grant raised an eyebrow. “…I don’t think he looks all that happy.”

Jenny Parker was stunned. “What are you talking about? Seeing you appear, he should be the happiest of all.”

Just as Jenny Parker couldn’t understand Alice Grant’s reaction, Alice Grant couldn’t understand Jenny Parker’s words either. As for how happy Brian Carter was about her return, she couldn’t see it at all. These past two days, he hadn’t shown any excitement, nor did he look particularly happy.

So she rubbed her temples, feeling a bit irritable. “I dated him for a year, was married for a year, so at most we spent two years together. But we’ve been apart for forty years. I think he should have forgotten me long ago. Now that I’ve suddenly appeared, he’s probably more shocked than happy. If it were someone else, they’d definitely think I was a burden. But Brian Carter was always a responsible person when he was young, and he hasn’t changed. That’s why he came to pick me up when he got the news. In the end, it’s just his personality.”

Jenny Parker: “What are you saying? Don’t you know how much he likes you?”

Alice Grant leaned back in her chair, uncertain. “He probably liked me before, but after all these years, if he still remembers me, that’s just good memory. Where would the feelings come from?”

Jenny Parker looked at her, then suddenly asked, “Has Brian Carter never told you anything?”

Alice Grant felt a strange jolt in her heart. “Told me what?”

Jenny Parker sighed, opened her terminal, tapped a few times, then handed it to Alice Grant. “Look at this. This is the biggest missing persons website. It was built by the police when the big data network was first established. The missing persons information posted here is updated every year. Since the site was created, your information has been up there, for many years now, and it’s never been taken down. Because posting information here requires an annual fee, many families take down the info after a year or two if they can’t find their loved one and lose hope. But Brian Carter has always insisted on keeping your information up, paying the fee every year. Do you know what that means?”

It meant that even after forty years, Brian Carter had always been waiting for her to come back.

Even after forty years, when everyone else believed she was dead, he still held onto a sliver of hope.

Alice Grant stared at her own photo on the website, completely stunned.

“He… Brian Carter, after all these years, he’s still looking for me?” Alice Grant asked in a daze.

Seeing her like this, Jenny Parker felt a deep ache for this couple separated for so long.

“Of course. You said you waited a bit at the service center and the staff quickly contacted Brian Carter. That’s because your information was on this website, so they were able to find your identity so fast.”