Brian Brooks leaned his head back lifelessly against the sofa, staring at the ceiling with a sigh. The old saying still holds true—being a hero is really tough. First of all, you can’t have OCD.

  “If your OCD is this bad, you should just move back home,” Henry Clark mocked him, distancing himself at the same time. “Don’t look at me, I can’t do it. My OCD is even worse than yours.”

  “OCD, but you still smoke?”

  “Artists need inspiration, you know? Besides, I only have OCD about other people.”

  Brian Brooks asked him sincerely, “Does David Hayes have OCD?”

  “Get lost.”

  “A real man knows when to bend and when to stand tall,” Brian Brooks actually tried to persuade him seriously. “You can stand as tall as Mount Tai, but also bow for a bowl of rice. You should bend a little, too.”

  “If you were born a hundred years earlier, I’d suspect you were a traitor—one of those people who only know how to pua others. Why should I bow to him?”

  “pua?” Brian Brooks lounged lazily on the sofa, glancing at him sideways.

  Henry Clark said, “He and Edward Price got along pretty well at first, but later Edward Price realized he was a bit of a pua with girls, so they fell out. Anyway, wherever he goes, he always acts like an autistic kid, which easily triggers some girls’ sympathy and protective instincts. This trick never fails, you get it?”

  “So if you just copy Yang Guo and cut off your arm, you can get married?” he joked heartlessly.

  Henry Clark ignored him. “Don’t you think that girl at his door looks really pure and easy to fool?”

  Brian Brooks found it funny. “Easy to fool, I don’t know. Pure—maybe just her looks.”

  Henry Clark clicked his tongue, giving him a look that said “you got what you deserved.” “This is just payback. She used you to comfort her boyfriend, and now you’re upset. Why don’t you just go after her?”

  He grabbed the remote nearby, planning to find a movie to watch, and glanced at him. “Do I look that bored?”

  “Haven’t you been pretty free these past few months before going abroad?”

  “Still not dating.”

  “Are you traumatized by what happened with Olivia Lane?”

  “Not that bad,” he switched to the movie channel. At that moment, “The Shawshank Redemption” was playing. He’d watched this movie at least ten times. When it comes to the theme of freedom and hope, this film expresses it to the extreme. He said offhandedly, “My mom is strict. I promised her I’d get her approval before dating anyone. Besides, I’m about to go abroad. What’s the point of chasing after someone now—video chatting every day? Long-distance isn’t impossible, but I’m broke right now. If my mom unfreezes my card, maybe I’ll consider it. Otherwise, if she wants to see me, I can’t even afford a plane ticket.”

  “I was just saying, why are you thinking so far ahead? You really planned it out? Something’s off with you. You must have thought about this just now, or you wouldn’t be so clear about it.” Henry Clark knew him too well—this guy definitely had some bad ideas.

  “Yeah,” he actually nodded, admitting it openly. “She used me as a negative example to comfort her boyfriend, and I’m not allowed to think about it? Honestly, she feels more right than Olivia Lane.”

  About half an hour later.

  The doorbell rang urgently. Henry Clark thought it was the delivery he ordered. He jumped up excitedly from the sofa and ran to open the door.

  When that girl’s face appeared at the door, Henry Clark felt like things might be heading in an uncontrollable direction. “You—”

  Ethan Turner got straight to the point: “Bro, do me a favor and call your friend.”

  Henry Clark stared straight at Ethan Turner, didn’t even turn his head, and, clutching the doorframe like a vengeful ghost, shouted all of Brian Brooks’s names, his tone growing more and more agitated: “lucy, Brian Brooks. Xiancao! Bastard!! Scumbag!!!!”

  The girl delivered herself to the door!!!!!!

  “Are you an idiot?” Brian Brooks walked over, cursing as he held a bowl of freshly made instant noodles. He had a fork in his mouth, his brows slightly furrowed, and looked coldly at the person at the door, but his words were unusually clear, “What is it?”

  “The baseball bat outside your yard—can I borrow it?” Ethan Turner got straight to the point. “My necklace got stuck in the big tree at your door.”

  Brian Brooks sized her up, his gaze indicating the towering tree outside the door. “You think you can reach it with a baseball bat?”

  Ethan Turner glanced back, then calmly turned around, first looking at the slightly shorter one—quickly passing him over—then at him, and finally at the instant noodles in his hand and the spoon in his mouth. “Are you free? I can wait for you to finish eating.”

  Brian Brooks: “……”

  Henry Clark: “…………”

  There was only one old phoenix tree at the door, with dense, tangled branches and layers of leaves. It was hard to find anything in it, even during the day, let alone at night.

  Brian Brooks went out with her to take a look. He propped one hand on the rough tree stump, looked up and stared in silence for a moment, then looked at her with a troubled expression. “How about this, I’ll just buy you a new one—”

  Ethan Turner was stunned for a moment, but reacted quickly. “That wouldn’t be right.”

  Brian Brooks looked at her, not smiling. Maybe his eyes were naturally a bit seductive, but they were cold. He lazily jerked his chin upward. “Show me again how you got it up there.”

  Ethan Turner: “……”