Jack Harris couldn't bear to watch anymore; the scene was just too suffocating. He turned his head and looked down from the third floor, and to his surprise, he saw a familiar figure—tall, wearing a white shirt.

Isn't that Ryan Cooper? Jack Harris squinted his eyes and looked carefully.

It really is!

Ryan Cooper was pushing his bike in this direction. He stopped under a camphor tree, looked down at his watch, then looked up, glancing right at Jack Harris.

The aura was so strong that even from several meters away, Jack Harris was stunned by that cold gaze. He immediately turned his head back, pretending nothing had happened.

Chapter 4 White Peach Oolong

When the gift box appeared in front of her, the girl was stunned.

"Thank you," Ethan Clark said solemnly, "but ever since I was little, my family told me not to accept gifts from others casually, especially as a girl. Doing so would be taking someone else's kindness for granted. So I have to return this to you. I'm sorry."

Ethan Clark's eyes had obvious Caucasian features, with softer contours, and his hair was a warm brown, shining golden in the sunlight. The whole person seemed transparent and gentle. His appearance gave people the illusion that he was easy to approach, easy to win over, and could be accepted by him, but that wasn't the case.

Most of the time, the childish Ethan Clark was overly serious.

The girl's expression was a bit sad, but she had expected this. She just hesitated about whether to take her gift back. "But, I..."

She started to speak, then stopped.

"This must have been expensive. You probably spent a long time picking it out," Ethan Clark insisted, holding the gift box out to her, right by her hand so she could take it. "Your handwriting is beautiful—much better suited for this pen than mine."

Hearing this, the girl looked up. Using praise instead of rejection made it impossible to even feel sad.

But she was still a little unwilling to give up. "Then do you have someone you like?"

Ethan Clark was taken aback.

Like.

There were many people he liked, like Aunt Rong and Uncle Song, or the owner of the noodle shop, who always gave him two extra pieces of beef when he ordered vegetarian noodles, or Mr. Zhang from art class, who gave him comic books and art supplies... There were too many; Ethan Clark could think of endless examples.

But if you added a qualifier, the highest level, the range shrank drastically.

But it didn't seem to be the kind of "like" the girl in front of him meant.

"You don't?" the girl pressed.

Ethan Clark adjusted his backpack and bounced it on his shoulders. "I don't think so. I don't want to date right now. The high school entrance exam is coming up, and if my grades drop, my parents will be called in."

Seeing the girl's expression fall, Ethan Clark added, "We can still be friends."

"Really?"

"I don't lie," Ethan Clark bounced his backpack again. "It's so hot. Isn't there a vending machine downstairs? I'll buy you guys some drinks."

"I want a Coke!" Jack Harris never missed a chance for a freebie. He glanced downstairs and saw that Ryan Cooper was still there, arms crossed, leaning against the tree trunk, wearing headphones, looking up at them.

Jack Harris couldn't help but shiver and nudged Ethan Clark with his elbow.

"Le, look downstairs."

Ethan Clark turned his head at the sound and immediately spotted Ryan Cooper's figure through the railing.

It was like getting a shot of adrenaline. Ethan Clark spun around, gripping the railing with both hands, half his body leaning out. But when he called out "brother," his voice was just a breath, very soft.

Like a little dog, so excited it wanted to pounce but still hesitated and tested the waters.

The girl watched Ethan Clark's excited back and felt like he was a completely different person from the one who had just rejected her confession.

Leaning against the camphor tree, Ryan Cooper lowered his arms and walked to the bike parked under the tree. He kicked up the double stand, swung his long leg over, and seemed ready to ride off.

Ethan Clark panicked. "Hey, hey, hey." He grabbed his backpack and was about to run downstairs, but then remembered he had promised to buy drinks, so he hurriedly said, "I'll go down and get your drinks first!"

He dashed downstairs. Luckily, Ryan Cooper hadn't left yet. Ethan Clark rushed to the vending machine, first selecting three cans of cold Coke, but hesitated for a second at checkout, changed it to two cans, and bought an extra bottle of white peach soda water. Just then, Jack Harris and the others came down too. Ethan Clark quickly placed the two cans of Coke on the vending machine, gestured frantically at Jack Harris, pointed at the machine, and then turned to run toward Ryan Cooper.

The dappled sunlight flickered across his flushed, panting face, making it look beautiful. After catching his breath a little, Ethan Clark smiled and called out "Brother Ryan Cooper," brushing his hair back.

"Why are you running?" Ryan Cooper just glanced at him, still wearing his headphones.

Because I was afraid you'd leave.

Allergies aside, he had exposed their relationship in front of so many people and messed up Ryan Cooper's opening speech—everything was a mess. He was afraid Ryan Cooper would ignore him.

Ethan Clark shoved the cold soda water into Ryan Cooper's hand. As he did, he noticed the watch on Ryan Cooper's left wrist—the one he had given him.

When he was ten, Lin Rong's photographer friend needed a model at the last minute because the original one was sick, so Ethan Clark was brought in as a substitute and got paid for it. Lin Rong's educational philosophy was very free, so she encouraged Ethan Clark to manage the money himself.