“Just a mask?” Eric Foster thought for a moment and asked very seriously, “You’re not covering anything else? Like wearing sunglasses, or maybe a hat or something?”

“Just like this.”

Eric Foster said matter-of-factly, “Of course that’ll work!”

“……”

“Evan jie. Honestly, I’ve never seen anyone as good-looking as you.” Eric Foster scratched his head, a little embarrassed. “On my first day at work, when I saw you, I thought you were some big celebrity who got lost.”

From the passenger seat, Henry Parker laughed and said, “Little Evan really is good-looking.”

“That’s obvious,” William Harris, much more easygoing during downtime than usual, teased, “Little Evan, do you have a boyfriend? Maybe one day I’ll introduce my son to you.”

Henry Parker laughed and scolded, “Oh, come on, your son hasn’t even graduated elementary school yet.”

Eric Foster grinned cheekily, “Then how about considering me?”

Not at all annoyed by their teasing, Evan Carter smiled and replied, “Let’s talk about it after your New Year’s wish comes true.”

Eric Foster shouted, “Evan jie, how could you say that!”

After saying this, Eric Foster leaned in again and whispered, “But.”

Evan Carter: “Hm?”

“Jie, because you gave me a hand warmer today, I was so touched.” Eric Foster’s eyes were wide, looking like he was hoping for praise. “So when I made my wish, I made one for you too.”

“What did you wish for?”

“I hope you can find a super nice boyfriend as soon as possible.” Eric Foster made a fist, “Someone who’s great in every way, and as handsome as the guy we saw today!”

“……”

-

When Evan Carter got home, it was already close to two in the morning.

Staying up late was routine for her, so she didn’t feel sleepy, just too tired to move. She changed into slippers and sat straight down on the carpet by her bed, lazily scrolling through her phone.

Because of the earlier group messages, there were quite a few missed calls and unread messages.

Replying to them one by one, Evan Carter kept scrolling down.

Until she reached the lower part of her message list, where Ryan Grant still hadn’t responded at all.

She tapped in.

Catching sight of the message “It’s okay to be unhappy,” Evan Carter felt her scalp tighten.

“……”

She hadn’t thought much about it at the time, just wanted to make a joke to lighten the mood, so it hadn’t seemed off.

But now, looking at it again, it felt different.

Almost provocative.

The other person clearly didn’t want to talk to her, so Evan Carter didn’t say anything else to embarrass herself. Absentmindedly, she started to zone out, and for some reason thought of Ryan Grant’s conversation with his sister Olivia Grant today.

Then, she remembered back to their first year of high school.

Back then, both of their grades were terrible, and even in the worst class in the grade, they were still in the lower middle.

Evan Carter had gotten into Nanwu No.1 High School as a dance talent student, so her academic grades weren’t great. As for Ryan Grant, he was extremely lopsided—apart from math, physics, and chemistry, he didn’t study any other subjects at all. His report card always looked like it had been chewed up by a dog.

He’d get almost perfect scores in math, physics, and chemistry, but most of the other subjects were in the thirties or forties.

Every time the exam results came out, Ryan Grant would take her science test papers to look at, raising his eyebrows and smiling as he read.

After it happened enough times, even with her good temper, Evan Carter couldn’t help but say, “Ryan Grant, there’s no point in looking at my test papers. You need to find the problems in the questions you got wrong.”

“Hm? What kind of misunderstanding is that?” Ryan Grant looked up at her, his fingertips spinning on a red X on her test paper, looking lazy and a bit infuriating. “There’s no such thing on my papers.”

……

Evan Carter snapped out of her thoughts, grabbed her change of clothes, and went to shower.

As for Ryan Grant pretending not to know her, she could actually understand.

He probably saw her and, in that instant, remembered the stupid things he’d done for someone unworthy in his reckless youth, remembered the only black mark in his life. Because of that, he didn’t want to have anything to do with her anymore.

Pretending not to know her was the best choice.

Thinking of this.

Evan Carter sorted through the events from Ryan Grant’s perspective.

The person he’d once had a crush on, long forgotten, suddenly showed up at his bar and even said something that sounded like she wanted to pay for his company;

Deliberately left her bracelet behind to get a second meeting;

Sent a message on purpose to get closer;

And finally pretended to be bumped into, making physical contact with him.

“……”

Who knows what kind of story he’s cooked up in his head this time.

-

The new year went on as usual.

On New Year’s Day, Samuel Clark sent Evan Carter the WeChat contact of her classmate who worked as a real estate agent.

But based on the price range Evan Carter gave, all the places this person recommended were the same kind of shared apartments as before, or single rooms out in the suburbs.

In the end, it was Samuel Clark who gave her a suggestion.

She told her to look for a roommate.

Because splitting a two-bedroom or three-bedroom apartment would be much cheaper.

Evan Carter took the suggestion, but had no idea where to find a roommate. The psychological shadow left by her neighbor next door was too much, making her afraid to live with a stranger.

She just wanted to find a female friend she knew.