“But Mr. Brooks, as the homeroom teacher, you can’t even handle kids fighting—how are you qualified to be a teacher?”

　　William Brooks: “...?”

　　Didn’t I handle it yesterday?

　　“You—”

　　She had just opened her mouth, the word not fully out yet, when there was a sharp “pa” sound—a pen was lightly tossed onto the desk, and Mrs. Foster in front of her visibly flinched.

　　Ethan Sutton’s voice sounded from behind William Brooks.

　　“So what more do you want?”

Chapter 4

　　The whole office fell silent for three seconds. A security guard passed by outside the window and glanced in.

　　At this moment, William Brooks had no time to worry about whether Ethan Sutton would be recognized; she was only worried he might get physical right then and there.

　　Apparently, Mrs. Foster had the same concern.

　　She pulled David Foster back another step, her eyes darting around, unable to find a chance to argue back.

　　Under Ethan Sutton’s gaze, she held out for a long time but couldn’t find a way to be stubborn, so she stiffened her neck and said, lacking confidence, “What could I do? How could I dare offend a teacher? I was just making a suggestion.”

　　After saying this, she didn’t wait for William Brooks to respond, and pulled David Foster to leave.

　　“Wait a moment.”

　　She had just turned around when Ethan Sutton’s voice sounded again.

　　“Isn’t it time for you to apologize now?”

　　Mrs. Foster froze for a moment, then awkwardly pushed her child forward.

　　David Foster pouted and said, “The teacher already made me apologize yesterday…”

　　So Mrs. Foster immediately raised her eyebrows: “He—”

　　“I wasn’t talking about him.”

　　Ethan Sutton stared at Mrs. Foster, not saying anything further.

　　Under his gaze, Mrs. Foster struggled for a long time, then turned to William Brooks and said, “Sorry, teacher, I spoke too harshly just now.”

　　“It’s fine, it’s fine, in the future we’ll—”

　　Before William Brooks could finish her polite words, Mrs. Foster had already pulled her child and left the office.

　　Once the mother and son had completely disappeared, Ethan Sutton finally straightened up, turned to William Brooks and said, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going too?”

　　William Brooks hadn’t expected today’s parent meeting to end like this; she was still in a daze and nodded blankly.

　　“Oh, okay.”

　　It wasn’t until the two figures left the office that she realized she’d forgotten something, hurriedly grabbed her bag, and chased after them.

　　“Ling—Edward! Wait!”

　　The two stopped and turned back.

　　William Brooks quickly caught up to Ethan Sutton: “Do you not really check the DingTalk group? I’ve never seen you reply to any of the notifications.”

　　“What…”

　　Ethan Sutton looked puzzled. “What’s that?”

　　William Brooks: “...”

　　Well, how could she expect a big star like Ethan Sutton to use DingTalk.

　　“How about this, let’s add each other on WeChat.” William Brooks lowered her head and started pulling out her phone. “If there’s anything about Edward Sutton, I’ll contact you directly on WeChat, so I don’t have to keep calling and not getting through.”

　　Ethan Sutton’s gaze lingered on her phone for two seconds before slowly moving to her face. He didn’t refuse, nor did he agree.

　　But for some reason, he smiled a little.

　　William Brooks felt there was some hidden meaning in his smile, so she quickly added, “It’s just for communicating about Eddie. I absolutely won’t give your WeChat to anyone else, don’t worry.”

　　“Dad! Add her!” Edward Sutton also tugged at Ethan Sutton’s sleeve, gently shaking it, pouting and saying pitifully, “Otherwise I can never find you…”

　　Meeting Edward Sutton’s intense, hinting gaze, Ethan Sutton gave a small laugh and took out his phone.

　　“Alright, fine.”

　　He looked down at his phone, opened his WeChat QR code, and said flatly, “But I can’t guarantee I’ll see or reply to your messages promptly.”

　　“That’s fine, I—eh?”

　　After scanning the QR code, William Brooks looked up in surprise. “You don’t have friend verification set up? I can just add you directly?”

　　Ethan Sutton didn’t say anything, just stared straight at William Brooks, half-smiling.

　　The late autumn was stiflingly hot, even the air felt oppressive.

　　But William Brooks felt that Ethan Sutton’s smile was icy cold.

　　After a moment of eye contact, William Brooks was still confused.

　　Ethan Sutton looked away, turned his wrist, opened his friend list, and scrolled down.

　　He found William Brooks’s WeChat.

　　William Brooks: “...?”

　　Then, he opened the chat window and sent a “1”.

　　[Sorry, you are not friends with this user. Please add them as a friend before you can chat.]

　　William Brooks: “.........”

　　Help.

　　Help!!

　　How did this happen!!

　　At the tail end of this summer, William Brooks’s cheeks were turning red at a speed visible to the naked eye, just like the evening clouds in the sky.

　　She had absolutely no memory of when she’d added Ethan Sutton, nor did she remember ever having him in her WeChat contacts.

　　Maybe, when she was cleaning up her contacts, she’d deleted everyone without notes or conversations…

　　At the time, she’d thought she’d never cross paths with them again—who would have thought she’d get caught by the person in real life?!

　　“Um…”