Last year, Jason Brooks took a liking to a music teacher from the neighboring middle school. He tried his absolute hardest but still failed to win her over. Instead, he would go on and on every day in William Brooks’s ear about how much that music teacher liked Ethan Sutton, saying that Ethan Sutton was truly one of a kind in the whole world.

William Brooks thought to herself, isn’t that obvious? There are no two identical leaves in the world—if you could find a second Ethan Sutton, that would be something.

But to avoid unnecessary trouble, William Brooks had never told Jason Brooks about her relationship with Ethan Sutton.

“So what do you need me for?”

William Brooks said, “If even your speed can’t get a ticket, do you think mine will be any faster?”

Jason Brooks: “You’re a teacher, why do you talk so dirty?”

William Brooks: “?”

Jason Brooks: “All this talk about hand speed and whatnot.”

William Brooks: “……”

She squinted up at the sky and let out a heavy sigh. “If you could be even half as shameless in front of the music teacher as you are with me, would you still be unable to win her over?”

“Hey, let’s get to the point.”

Jason Brooks said, “Didn’t you say your roommate is a fangirl? Can you ask her if there’s any trick to buying tickets? I heard there are some machines or something, or maybe other channels?”

“I’ll ask her for you later.”

“Don’t wait till later.”

As they spoke, the two of them had already reached the convenience store. Jason Brooks opened the fridge, took out a bottle of Nutritional Express, and handed it to William Brooks. “Just ask her now, you’re not busy anyway.”

William Brooks took the drink and walked over to the shelves, lowering her head to pick out some bread.

“What’s your rush? My roommate isn’t even up yet.”

“Fine, just don’t forget. I’m off to class.”

After Jason Brooks left, William Brooks strolled back to the office at a leisurely pace, her mind still occupied with Jason Brooks’s matter.

Although he didn’t seem very reliable, he was serious about this music teacher. As a friend, if William Brooks could help, she naturally would do her best.

But rather than beating around the bush with her roommate, it would be better to just ask the person in question directly.

No one should know more about Ethan Sutton’s own concert tickets than Ethan Sutton himself.

With that in mind, William Brooks took out her phone and found Ethan Sutton on WeChat.

She opened the chat window, and suddenly felt a bit stuck.

She had actually forgotten to reply to Ethan Sutton’s message.

And their conversation had ended on a rather unfriendly note.

“Sigh…”

William Brooks let out a heavy sigh.

Had she gone too far just now?

After hesitating for a moment, she started typing.

[William Brooks]: Sorry, I said a bit too much.

[William Brooks]: It’s your first time being a dad, you don’t have much experience, it’s understandable.

After sending it, she continued typing: But I still hope that in the future you can—

[c]: It’s okay, Mr. Brooks, it’s your first time being a teacher, you don’t have much experience, it’s understandable.

[William Brooks]: ……

The two of them fell into a long, inexplicable silence.

[c]: Mr. Brooks, is there anything else?

[c]: If not, I’ll get back to work?

William Brooks snapped back to reality, finally remembering the real reason she had contacted him.

[William Brooks]: Oh! Yes!

[c]: ?

[William Brooks]: I just wanted to ask, besides the official platform, are there any other ways to buy tickets for your concert?

[c]: That’s what you wanted to ask?

[William Brooks]: Mm-hmm.

[c]: Since when did Mr. Brooks learn to beat around the bush?

[William Brooks]: ?

[c]: We’re old classmates—do you really think I’d charge you for tickets?

[William Brooks]: No, you misunderstood, I’m asking for a friend.

[c]: This friend of yours wouldn’t happen to have the surname Brooks, would they?

[William Brooks]: …………

Chapter 7

For a moment, William Brooks really regretted agreeing to help Jason Brooks with this favor.

Or rather, she regretted taking the shortcut of contacting Ethan Sutton directly.

Forget it.

William Brooks sighed and simply dropped the subject.

[William Brooks]: Just pretend I never asked.

Ethan Sutton didn’t reply again.

The autumn sun was bright, and delicate rays of light filtered through the window, spilling across the desk. A teacher had gone downstairs to pick some osmanthus, and the whole office was filled with a light, refreshing fragrance.

In such an environment, even the most trivial work didn’t seem so bothersome.

William Brooks hummed softly as she finished grading homework, drawing a checkmark next to the first item on her to-do list.

The next item was to assign National Day holiday Chinese homework through the DingTalk group.

Her previously relaxed mood suddenly became a bit clouded as she prepared to send the homework to the parents.

Holiday homework was always arranged uniformly by the teaching and research group. This time’s National Day Chinese assignment was nothing special—just asking the kids to write a short travelogue.

But just thinking about how other kids’ essays would mention their parents or grandparents, while Edward Sutton would likely only have the nanny supervising him, made William Brooks feel a bit sorry for him.

If she remembered correctly, Ethan Sutton himself was also from a single-parent family.

But back in high school, William Brooks’s understanding of Ethan Sutton only went that far. Most of what she knew came later, from all sorts of dubious rumors after he became famous.