“Cassie! Daniel’s bullying me! Aren’t you going to do something?”
y crooked. He immediately
I just smirked. Feeling Anna’s supportive presence behind me, I met Cassandra’s gaze without flinching. She frowned, hesitating for a long moment after helping Scott up. Finally, she looked at me, her voice soft and pleading.
“Daniel, you know I was just angry. I didn’t mean it. There’s no need to blow this out of proportion. If you feel wronged, I apologize. Let’s just go back inside and talk about this. We don’t need to air our dirty laundry in front of outsiders.”
She emphasized the word “outsiders,” her eyes darting to Anna, who was standing steadfastly behind me.
In the past, those words might have been enough to make me turn back without a second thought. But I saw through her now. saw through both of them. One constantly threatening and manipulating her into divorces, the other endlessly indulging his every selfish whim. The pattern was crystal clear.
ng about outsiders,” I said, my voice flat, “right now,
I took a deep breath “If you have something to say, say it now. And if we’re talking
Cassandra, that’s you.”
Her body trembled. In the dim light of the hallway, her eyes filled with a raw panic. The smile on her face froze, then crumbled.
6
“Daniel, you don’t mean that,” she stammered. “We’re husband and wife. How can we be outsiders?”
I knew she was panicking. So panicked she couldn’t even remember what she’d done today.
A cold sneer crossed my face. “Cassandra, we got divorced today. We are definitely not husband and wife.”
The words hung in the air, and the cloud of anxiety around her seemed to thicken.
I was done wasting my breath. I turned to leave. “Anna, Jet’s go.”
Anna nodded and opened the passenger door for me.
As I got into the car, Cassandra made a desperate move to rush toward me, but she was held back by the sobbing Scott.
“Cassie, my face hurts so much! Look, is my nose broken? Take me to the hospital, please?”
Cassandra’s forward momentum halted. She clearly wanted to refuse, but her body Instinctively moved to support him. In the end, all she could do was shout after me as the car pulled away.
“Daniel, wait for me! I just have to take Scott to the hospital! I swear I’ll give you an explanation!”
The car disappeared around the corner.
Anna, who was driving, suddenly shook her head and laughed. “Danny, I never knew you had it in you. You’ve really changed. Starti- ng fights now, are we?”
I couldn’t help but laugh too. For a moment, it felt like we were back in our student days at the research institute. I was never qulet kid; in fact, I was a hyperactive troublemaker, Back then, my favorite pastime was teasing my senior, Anna. And Anna, with her gentle nature, always had my back, even when I messed up badly.
We were laughing and reminiscing when the car pulled up to our destination. Seeing the familiar faculty apartments, I instinctively paused.
Anna noticed. “Scared now, are you?” she teased. “After all you went through, why didn’t you call the Professor or me for help soon-
17:09
Chapter 2
er?”
I looked down and kicked at a small pebble on the sidewalk. The Professor never approved of me and Cassandra in the first place. If she knew what was going on, she would have killed me. You know how scary she is when she’s angry.”
The words had barely left my mouth when a familiar voice, full of both affection and reprimand, cut through the quiet night.
“Oh, so there are still things that can scare you, boy? You get married and can’t even spare a single phone call for this old woman, and now you say you’re scared of me?”
Hooked up sharply. Not far away, leaning on a cane, was my professor. My eyes immediately reddened, my heart a mix of nervous- ness and overwhelming emotion.
“What, you see this old lady and you don’t even know how to say hello anymore?”
I took a deep breath and walked quickly toward her, my voice trembling. The tears I’d been holding back streamed down my face.”
Professor… I’ve missed you so much.”
Her gaze lingered on my face for a few seconds. Her own eyes grew misty as she gripped my hand tightly. “Stop crying, Danny. The
Professor’s here now. You’re safe.”
Anna parked the car and returned to find us like that. She quickly wiped her own eyes and smiled. “Alright, let’s get inside. We can talk about everything at home. It’s getting cold out here.”
I helped the professor inside. Seeing the familiar apartment, I was flooded with emotion. After all these years, it was as if nothing had changed.
That night, the professor and I talked for hours. I only persuaded her to get some rest when I realized how late it was and rememb- ered her age.
The next morning, I picked up my phone to check the time and saw a flood of missed calls and messages from Cassandra. She had called and texted relentlessly. Id put my phone on silent the night before.