Samuel Clark glanced over unintentionally—they were from the same department, but he was reading a junior-year textbook.

Samuel Clark was just about to leave when the other person happened to reach out his right hand to grab something. As he pulled back, he accidentally knocked over his water bottle. The lid hadn’t been screwed on tightly, and with a “bang,” the bottle toppled onto the desk, hot water spreading and soaking Samuel Clark’s notes until they were completely ruined.

Samuel Clark immediately picked up her notebook and shook off the water. Jack Stewart quickly apologized and handed her a tissue. Samuel Clark took the tissue and wiped her notes casually, making as if to leave with her things.

“Hey, I’m really sorry. How about you give me your notes and I’ll help you dry them?” Jack Stewart called out to her, his voice full of apology.

“It’s fine.”

Her voice was unexpectedly calm and light. Jack Stewart looked up and caught a glimpse of a fair-skinned, rosy-lipped face. Samuel Clark hurriedly said something while holding her books and left.

The commotion just now hadn’t gone unnoticed. A guy nearby asked, “Senior, are you okay?”

Jack Stewart shook his head and smiled. “I’m fine.”

It started to drizzle on the way. Samuel Clark held her book over her head and jogged along. Halfway there, a guy with a long-handled umbrella walked up to her and asked, “Are you Samuel Clark?”

Samuel Clark nodded. Without another word, he handed her a red umbrella and left. Soon after, Samuel Clark’s phone rang—Sophie Hill was calling: “Did you get the umbrella?”

“I did. Was the person who gave it to me your friend?” Samuel Clark laughed.

“Of course not. I paid someone to deliver it to you,” Sophie Hill said, lying on her bed and kicking her legs up. “This queen can’t bear to let her beloved get even a drop of rain.”

“Thank you, King Hill!”

The rain grew heavier, drumming down and splashing little flowers in the uneven puddles. By the time Samuel Clark was almost at the dorm, her pant legs were already wet.

Samuel Clark was holding the umbrella handle, about to move forward, when suddenly, that familiar orange cat darted out from the bushes. It meowed at Samuel Clark a couple of times and naturally slipped under her umbrella.

So, one person and one cat walked together into the first-floor dorm hallway. Samuel Clark put away her umbrella, squatted down, and took out a piece of bread from her bag—the breakfast she hadn’t eaten yet—to feed the cat.

The kitten nuzzled into her palm and started eating the bread, finally licking every last crumb from Samuel Clark’s hand. Samuel Clark stroked its fur, and as she stood up to leave, the kitten bit her pant leg, refusing to let her go.

Samuel Clark pried it off, but wherever she went, the kitten followed. Its pupils were clear as it meowed at her again and again. Samuel Clark responded, “I really can’t keep you. Pets aren’t allowed in the dorm. If the dorm auntie finds out, I’ll be in big trouble.”

But the kitten just looked at her innocently.

Samuel Clark glanced at the torrential rain outside the hallway—it showed no sign of stopping. The kitten was soaked, its whiskers dirty and drooping.

Samuel Clark had been feeding this stray cat for a while and noticed it was getting thinner and thinner, clearly not getting enough to eat.

In the end, Samuel Clark couldn’t help herself. She squatted down and picked it up.

Samuel Clark took out her phone and asked the girls in the dorm group chat: [There’s a stray cat downstairs that’s pretty pitiful. Can I bring it back and keep it for a couple of days? I’ll find it a new home soon.]

Sophie Hill: [Sure!]

Evelyn Baker replied with just two words: [Whatever.]

She wasn’t in the dorm much anyway.

Samuel Clark took that as tacit approval. When she brought the cat back, Sophie Hill sat up straight in bed: “What a cute kitty! Are you really going to keep it?”

“Yeah, just for now. I plan to find it an owner. I probably can’t keep it long-term,” Samuel Clark explained.

The kitten was filthy, so Samuel Clark gave it a bath herself and even used her own little blanket to make it a bed. Grace Lee saw Samuel Clark bustling around, sweating from her forehead, and sighed, “Sui, you’re like a living Bodhisattva.”

Samuel Clark opened a box of goat milk, squatted down, and poured it into a small container to feed the cat, smiling as she said, “Not really, I just think it’s a bit pitiful.”

“And animals are more grateful than people,” Samuel Clark muttered to herself.

Everyone in the dorm was nice and didn’t mind Samuel Clark keeping the cat.

Evelyn Baker had already tacitly agreed in the group chat that Samuel Clark could keep it for a couple of days, but when she came back—maybe after a bad time with her ex—she looked really upset. Seeing a new cat in the dorm, she slammed her book on the desk and started venting:

“You really brought back this dirty thing? What if it has some infectious disease?” Evelyn Baker sneered, just looking for a reason to pick on Samuel Clark.

“I had it checked by a vet student before bringing it back. No infectious diseases. Besides, it won’t be here long,” Samuel Clark replied calmly, her eyelashes curling upward as she spoke. “And, to each their own.”

She didn’t say the rest, but Evelyn Baker should know what she meant.

“You—” Evelyn Baker furrowed her pretty brows, unable to say a word.

Sophie Hill burst out laughing. Everyone said Samuel Clark was gentle and easygoing, but apparently, that wasn’t always the case—at least she had her own boundaries.

The skills exam competition came up soon. Samuel Clark arrived at the exam room early, and as luck would have it, Evelyn Baker was in the same room. Evelyn Baker was in the last seat of the first row, and Samuel Clark was third from the end in the second row.