Autumn Goodbye

6

The next day, the person who put bugs in my pen box apologized to me in front of everyone.

As he spoke, I found the scars on him still fresh.

I lowered my eyes and kept writing, not looking at them again.

My desk had long been filled with nasty words that could not be removed, but even worse, they had left the worst table in the class for me.

The desk was always shaking when I wrote. When I got irritably forceful, it would creak and groan.

Nevertheless, someone pressed down on my desk.

Loren squatted in front of it, folded some paper, and placed it under the desk leg.

…

He was acting a little strange those days.

Of course, I didn't think he was simply being nice to me, merciful enough to let me go. I had always felt that he was cooking up something sinister.

He rested his hands in his pockets and looked down at me.

After a while, he smiled at me charmingly.

…

That day was my birthday.

In the past, I could at least look forward to my own birthdays, but that year, we welcomed Loren into our family.

In the evening, we went out for dinner.

I couldn't quite ignore the person next to me even though the whole table was lively.

Under the table, his leg was frivolous.

Finally, in the middle of my blowing out the candles, he tapped on my waist when no one could see.

…

Jack's gift was an e-reader.

My mom gave me a necklace.

As for Loren, he gave me a bottle of perfume.

The gift box seemed to weigh a little too heavily. I didn't pay much attention to it at first.

I never wanted to check what he gave me again, so I threw the box directly into the corner when I got home.

That being said, at midnight, he pushed open my door.

He sneaked into my room with such familiarity.

I frowned and looked at his smiling face.

"Don't you want me to check out my gift for you?"

He leaned against the door and asked me casually.

I had already opened it when I was at the restaurant.

Seeming to have seen through my doubts, he added with a smile.

"There's another layer underneath."

…

Loren had always known how to insult me.

My dear brother gave me birthday presents.

On the first layer was a bottle of perfume.

On the second was a collar.

It was for dogs.

…

I glared at him, but he smiled amiably.

"I ordered it three months ago. Don't you like it?"

He walked up to me, took out the collar from the gift box, and measured it around my neck.

I felt the fabric of leather.

He tilted his head and smiled with satisfaction.

"Matches you well, indeed."

I pushed him away.

I knew he liked to see me look like that.

I was humiliated and furious, unable to do anything to him.

The more embarrassed I was, the more excited he became.

7

When the last exam results came out, I stared at my miserable scores.

I seemed to be born insensitive to numbers.

Mathematics and physics were challenging for me.

My paper had been passed around among the class, finally crumpled in my hands.

After class, the teacher called me to her office.

There was another student in the office too.

If I was second to last, then he was the last one.

I seldom saw him during a semester because he always hid in the corner of the classroom.

"You two are the worst at mathematics in our class."

The teacher's sharp gaze was fixed on us through her lenses.

"I've arranged a tutor for you guys. Study hard.

"You three are now in a study group. If you have any questions, just ask Loren, understand?"

…

Loren Albertine.

Since when did the culprit of all the bullying become a TA?

I saw him entering the office and the teacher patting him on the shoulder, looking smug.

He smiled and looked at me.

I could even imagine what kind of bullshit study group it would be.

It was the beginning of my new nightmare.

…

The sunset flowed into the classroom through the window, and Loren was sitting at the desk before me.

"What the hell? You're really tutoring the two retards?"

His friends teased behind him.

Percy Zach was the boy who always shrank into the back of the classroom in the study group.

At that time, he was curled up in a corner and trembling.

He seemed to have been bullied by the bad boys in the class for a long time, and he didn't seem intelligent.

"Let's look at the first problem."

Loren pretentiously picked up my paper, but my attention was all on the boy beside me.

He kept shaking, causing the table to shake as well.

"Hey."

Loren had already kicked on my desk when I came to my senses.

He was tall, so he looked down at me, his hands in his pockets.

"Do you want to focus on him or me?"

…

I looked at him for a while, and he smiled first.

"You scored 21, and he scored 12.

"You're a perfect match."

…

It was probably because Loren had aced all his tests.

When Jack returned home and saw my paper, he trashed me hard.

"You won several competitions in primary school and junior high school. Don't you remember? How did you end up like this?"

... There were indeed still trophies standing in the cabinet of my room.

However, whenever I saw numbers, I could only feel a headache.

I stared at that day's math paper. In fact, I could feel that it was more difficult for me to learn math than other students. I couldn't even get the formulas right.

Because Jack wanted Loren to tutor me, he came to my room openly at that time.

He leaned against my table.

Just as I thought he would mock me, he said softly, "Feel free to ask me any questions."

…

I couldn't believe my ears.

Nevertheless, it turned out that his mother followed him in with a plate of fruit.

"I'm relieved to see you two get along so well."

His mother was a typical dignified and virtuous woman and had always been pleasant to me.

She had mentioned to me before that Loren used to have a younger sister.

Then... something terrible happened, and she seemed to have passed away.

Therefore, his mother had always been worried that I wouldn't get along well with Loren.

"You should go back to your studies. Loren, take good care of your sister."

As soon as Loren's mother left, his expression changed.

He bent down slightly behind me, slowly tugging at my earlobe.

"Percy Zach."

He read out the name of the boy who kept shaking that afternoon.

"How about you seduce him, huh?"

…

I couldn't understand what he was thinking. What was he doing every day?

"I..."

Before I could say no, he clasped my chin.

He narrowed his eyes and even scratched my chin with his knuckle.

"If you refuse, I'll post the photos I took for you that day on the school forum."

He was referring to those of me with my cut-off bra straps.

I pushed him.

"Suit yourself."