Brian Brooks was even more speechless. His hair was still wet, a black towel draped around his neck. He slumped lazily onto the sofa, turned on the TV to a sports channel without even looking at her, and said even more bluntly and lazily, “I have no feelings for you.”

He had always been frighteningly direct.

Olivia Lane was probably stunned by the rejection, rambling incoherently about how she got up at five in the morning to practice just to become an actress, how her whole body was covered in injuries and not a single joint was in good shape, that she was a person with dreams, and that all the teachers thought highly of her, believing she could win awards for the country. Brian Brooks was a smart guy; even from this pile of pointless words, he more or less understood what she meant—could you just keep quiet and not go online to expose me?

The basketball game broadcast on TV was intense and heated, and most of Brian Brooks’s attention was already elsewhere. He didn’t even listen to what Olivia Lane said after that, just lazily replied with four words, “Depends on my mood.”

He was mostly too lazy to bother with this. But having such a mess dumped on him for no reason definitely put him in a bad mood.

……

“None of your damn business. Since you sold me out, stop pretending to care.”

Henry Clark gritted his teeth, knowing that Brian Brooks had been at the police station last night and was harassed by Olivia Lane again today, probably hadn’t slept much, and was likely in a foul mood. So he bent down directly, “Still playing? If not, I’m ending this round.”

“Make the shot first, then talk.”

With a “bang,” the cue ball shot straight out, almost no strength held back.

It was a corner shot. Instead of going for the straight middle pocket, he took a tricky angle for the corner.

Brian Brooks applauded him generously.

Henry Clark wasn’t buying it, probably a bit embarrassed too. “Get lost, stop mocking me. Playing dumb is what you’re best at! Do you know, people outside are saying you skipped the exam for Olivia Lane, saying you’re love-struck.”

Brian Brooks went to pay the bill, glancing at him indifferently, “Then why did you sell me out?”

Henry Clark trotted after him, looking innocent, “When I found out about this, I honestly thought you two were really dating, just having a spat. I even thought you were so good at keeping secrets you didn’t even tell me.”

Brian Brooks opened the freezer, took out two bottles of Coke, tossed one to Henry Clark, and said, amused and exasperated, “I wrote love letters for people back in elementary school. If I were really dating, do you think I’d hide it?” While Henry Clark was still stunned, the troublemaker had already walked to the counter, looking all heartbroken as he scanned the QR code, sighing as he entered the password, “Henry Clark, Henry Clark, your brother is so disappointed in you.”

Henry Clark caught the Coke clumsily, pressed it to his chest, and only then slowly reacted, “So, you really overslept because the night before, your precious little brother accidentally put two sleeping pills in your milk?”

“Yeah.”

……

This really wasn’t easy to explain. After all, the little brother was his parents’ biological child, and Brian Brooks was literally picked up from a trash can. His mom would never allow him to talk about it outside.

Henry Clark felt that Brian Brooks had really been unlucky lately. It was like bad luck not only possessed him but even built a mansion on him. If missing the elective module exam was retribution for bullying his brother too much, then the Olivia Lane incident was truly a disaster out of nowhere.

“But, given your relationship with your precious little brother, are you sure it was an accident?”

Henry Clark was skeptical.

“That’s a bold angle,” Brian Brooks leaned lazily against the convenience store’s freezer, sipping his Coke, “But I can’t wrong him for this. He knows I’ve always had trouble sleeping, and he really saw how exhausted I was from studying for the college entrance exam, so out of kindness, he took two damn sleeping pills to help me get a good night’s sleep. He had no idea we still had the elective module exam on the third morning—he thought it was all over after two days.”

“The kid’s still too naive, still treats you like a real brother.” Henry Clark sighed.

Brian Brooks chuckled, self-aware, “Come on, if he treated you like a real brother, he’d never treat me like one.”

This little convenience store had a retro vibe. There was a faded Maggie Cheung poster at the entrance, not only a pool hall and claw machines, but the snacks and drinks were all classic brands like Weilong spicy strips and Langweixian. Even the Coke was in those old glass bottles. Henry Clark bit one open with his teeth and said, “But seriously, if I were a girl, I’d want to date you.”

At this point, Brian Brooks was leaning against the claw machine at the store entrance, joking around with the old man next door who sold turtles. The old man was trying to talk him into buying a tough turtle to raise, and he quipped back, “Why, what makes it tough? Is this the turtle from the tortoise and the hare race?” The old man immediately swatted him with a palm fan, and Brian Brooks dodged with a laugh. In the midst of this, he heard Henry Clark’s words and turned to glance at him, baffled.

Brian Brooks: ?

Henry Clark: “Look, you’re romantic and rich—”

He laughed, “It’s not like we couldn’t date.”

Henry Clark: “Get lost.”