Known as a troublemaker, this young man always had his trick to make AiLin’s job as the president of student council for worse. This happened since their third year of middle school where AiLin wasn’t bullied yet. When people still looked up to her and how most people admire her as soone not only amazing but perfect. Due to her stature, people respect her and most of them listened to her words well except this young man.
He seed boorish and she rarely see him studying properly in school. For so reason though, he would always smoke in the sa tree at the sa hour after school, as if knowing that she would walk there and notice him.
"What do you an by I’m contradicting?" She huffed, staring at him. His face in her mory was nothing but a puddle of black shadow. She could feel his emotions by his laugh and the faint snort that left his mouth, but his face was obscure in her head for so reason.
"You told that I cannot smoke in school, but that ans that I can smoke outside school?"
Singing, AiLin stared at him for a couple of seconds before moving forward and grabbing the cigarette from his hands. She then ruffled out a small candy from her hand that was given to her by a teacher after lending them help. She stared at the candy that she had wanted to eat but willingly give it to the young man so he wouldn’t bother her so much, "Your parents will cry seeing you smoke."
"My mother did cry."
"Then you should stop! Making your mother cry is terrible."
"Why? Have you made your mother cry before?" The young man poked and her face imdiately turned stiff at this words. He seed to notice her reaction and chuckled, "Seems like our perfect president isn’t as perfect as she is to her mother."
She clenched her fists and stared at him, her gaze turning into a glare of contempt, "You’re so annoying. Go sowhere else and don’t co back. I’m warning you while I’m still nice."
The young man didn’t reply but he stared at the candy for a long while. He clenched his fists, wrapping his hold tighter on the candy but his expression wasn’t pleased. She thought by then, the young man would stop, but the next day when she had visited the sa place, the young man was there smoking. She would spend her days chasing him out, trying to exchange his cigarette box with sothing new every ti, first candies, then chocolates, but he seed to like mint gums the most.
That day was similar like no others, except... AiLin had just received her report card. Out of seven subjects, her last subject in History which has always been her weakest only received a grade of ninety eight out of a hundred. She dreaded the idea of coming ho ever since she received the mark. Her hands trembled when she held the report card, her heart thump, and throughout the day she was just nauseous. She couldn’t cry in the bathroom as people had been asking for her help as the president of the student council.
So she could only endure and bottle her emotions of anxiety which instead of disappearing by ti only got worse every ti she glanced up to look at the clock. Like that day, she walked up to the spot, finding the young man. Seeing her, he grinned, as if happy seeing her but she wasn’t in the mood. They were still young. He was a troublemaker who seed to be doing this on purpose— and that purpose was unknown to her but now it felt personal, as if he had sothing against her.
AiLin herself had a terrible temperant, sothing that she managed to keep hidden for years at ho or at school. So when she saw him again, her anxiety mixed with fear now turned into a sharp irk. She glared at him, rushed forward and took the cigarette. Then she went to the nearest fish puddle and dropped the cigarette down.
"If you have so much money to buy another pack of cigarettes, why don’t you use it for sothing better?"
The young man noticed her expression that was dark and gloomy.
He then spoke, "I’m not a good perfect child like you, Miss President of the student council. Pray tell, what else can I do with this money on hands?"
"It’s none of my business," she retorted, her anger laced her words like a sharp blade, "But if this is your thod to search for attention, it’s pathetic."
The young man’s eyes seed to darken a little.
They were both still in middle school and thus controlling emotions were as difficult as trying to change the sunlight’s direction.
"Oh yeah?" The young man crossed his arms and moved forward. They were both in a stalemate as his gaze peered down on her, "Then what about you? Being so perfect, trying so hard, and pretending to be soone you’re not. You quietly ask for people’s attention but shy away when it’s given to you. Don’t you think that’s more pathetic? From what I see, you seem desperate for your parents to look at you. As if your parents never really cared for you."
AiLin’s mouth parted in shock. His words had stabbed her heart like an arrow, leaving a bleeding trace on her chest. She had hurt his pride first but he had hurt her even worse and before she knew it, a blur of anger ca forward and the young man’s cheeks had been slapped by her hand, throwing his face aside. He seed shocked, his eyes wide, she couldn’t rember his face in this dream as it was still a puddle but she rembered seeing his utterly raw expression of startle as if he had just realized what he had said.
"Shut up," AiLin yelled at him, her eyes were stinging as her heart was. She didn’t need soone to tell her what’s obvious. How could soone like him who rarely sees her in school would know about this?! Her pride was torn, there was fear in her heart that crawl forward as she didn’t want anyone else to find out what an unlovable child she was to her parents.
"You’re... you’re a piece of shit," she cursed. "You... don’t let see you ever again. Never." She rembered turning away, her tears welling up but it was anger. And angry tears always made her feel more ashad than sad tears. She felt her heart torn apart and she didn’t know why his words were so sharp to her when they didn’t even know each other so well.
Perhaps it’s because of how easy he was in studying her situation which made her fear that soone else would know of her family’s situation.
She didn’t know that the young boy had ran up for her but by the ti he found her, she had entered her family’s car, her face ashen to the point that she seed even faint.
AiLin’s eyes were filled with fear by the ti she had entered the car and the chauffeur drove her back to her house. Mrs Jiang must have been notified about her report card beforehand and the reason why the chauffeur was ordered to pick her up is so that Mrs Jiang could bring her ho as fast as she could and deliver her "punishnt."
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