Autumn Goodbye

8

I didn't care what others thought of me, and he didn't post them anyway.

Nevertheless, he was not going to give up.

Gradually, rumor had it that Percy and I were dating.

Then one morning, our names were written on the blackboard, with a heart in the middle.

...

Many laughed.

"They can be together?"

"What? Are you kidding me?"

"They're dating!"

People started to make fun of us.

When teachers asked me to answer questions during class, some would mischievously call out Percy's name.

On the playground, I was pushed to the side of Percy.

"Do you know? He seems to have fallen in love with you."

Loren walked into my room at night and squatted in front of my bed.

"When I saw him looking at you today, his ears were all red.

"But he probably doesn't know..."

He clasped his palm around my neck and gradually tightened his grip.

"The girl he likes behaves like this in front of me."

I stared at him.

After a while, his knuckles brushed past my neck.

Loren always gave me a gentle smile.

That being said, he never talked gently to me.

"Primrose, do you know?

"You look so fucking good in a collar."

…

He was stepping on my dignity and crushing it through a guy who had absolutely nothing to do with me.

Initially, I was thinking that if I had already been in hell, I would not drag down an irrelevant guy.

However, it was too late.

…

The next day, when they pushed me into the corner and poured all the books in my schoolbag on me, Percy rushed in and dragged me out.

...

In fact, that was usually how they bullied me.

They would say I stole their money and then pour everything into my bag.

Who would have thought that a timid Percy would come to rescue me?

Soon, whistles rang behind us.

He dragged me along as if he didn't know where to hide me.

I stared at the back of his head. His hair seemed to grow a little longer. In the end, he stumbled, and I almost fell.

His glasses fell to the ground. I went over to help pick them up and accidentally met his eyes.

…

He always hid his face under his thick bangs, so that was the first time I had seen his whole face.

How should I put it?

I had never seen such a pair of beautiful eyes.

They had a light ash-grey color penetrated by the light, but there was nothing inside them.

They were so beautiful that I forgot to breathe for a moment.

"You..."

I was stunned for a moment before I spoke softly.

"You shouldn't have come."

I didn't know if he understood what I meant, but he pursed his lips silently.

When we returned to the classroom, the whole class started to kick up a fuss.

Nevertheless, then, Percy became even nicer to me.

He bought me breakfast and secretly stuffed candy into my bag as if he didn't notice the malicious mockery from our classmates.

Whenever he treated me like that and looked at me with those innocent eyes, I would die a little.

Loren had achieved his goal again.

No matter how I struggled, he had a way to succeed.

At that time, he felt amused to create a beautiful fantasy and then destroy it himself.

9

Mom and Dad were going on a business trip for a week.

Therefore, I had to stay at home alone with Loren for seven days.

When I learned that news, I shivered subconsciously.

Loren sat next to me, looking down with a smile.

On the first night after my parents left, he blocked me at the door of my room.

The house was so quiet that I felt a little scared.

He leaned against the doorframe and tilted his head to look at me.

"Do you know why those people left you alone these days? Because Percy helped you."

If the devil in my world had a face, it must be that of Loren Albertine.

"What a pity. You didn't see how he was kicked to the door with your own eyes."

"Just come to me! Leave him alone!"

I grabbed him by the collar, but he only extended his palm and slowly covered my fingers.

Probably because he noticed that my hand was shaking, he chuckled.

"Don't tell me you've fallen in love with him too."

I stared at him, gnashing my teeth.

"Loren, why do you have to do this to me?"

Every time he took a step closer to me, I would step back until he pressed me against the wall.

"Then, why don't you resist?"

He clutched my wrists like a demon haunting me.

Why didn't I resist? I always knew because I...

I felt I was about to recall something, but he raised his hand and stroked my head at that moment.

He lowered his body and looked at me seriously, smiling like an angel.

"Sleep with me, and I'll leave him alone."

Loren had been testing me step by step, but in the end, he was surprised to find that I had no bottom line at all.

...

…

Loren's bed was slightly larger than mine.

Therefore, I didn't feel cramped when he held me in his arms.

He was really just sleeping by my side.

"Don't go back on your word. Don't make trouble for him."

I stared at the empty floor as I spoke. The moonlight flowed in from the window, looking shattered.

He was behind me. That was definitely the closest I had been to him.

I felt his knuckles pressing against my shoulder blade. In the end, he chuckled.

He pulled me even closer.

"Why do you care about him so much?"

He waited for a long time, but I didn't respond.

As if he knew that I wouldn't answer, he reached out and tucked my hair. Then, he buried his head in my neck and sighed.

His voice was so soft that I could only hear his shallow breathing.

"To be honest, I'm a little jealous of him."

…

10

At least he kept his word.

No matter how perverted he was by holding his sister during sleep, he no longer hurt Percy.

He even left me alone at school too.

Late at night, I listened to his gentle breathing and slowly removed his arm.

I tiptoed out of bed and slowly opened the cabinet beside the desk.

I needed to make sure of one thing, so I'd been looking for something those nights after he fell asleep.

I believed that he must have put that thing somewhere in his room.

I found a locked small box at the back of the third shelf of the bookcase.

The wooden box seemed a little worn.

I tried several numbers, but none of them worked.

I furrowed my brows and pondered the feasibility of sneaking it away and tearing it open.

At that moment, a clear voice rang behind me.

"It's her birthday, 0604."

... Loren stood behind me and looked at me indifferently.

When he didn't smile, he actually looked quite cold and severe.

Moonlight poured into his delicate and emotionless pupils.

I lowered my head and opened the box. There were a lot of trivial gadgets inside, but I didn't go out of my way to study them.

Until I found a photo.

As expected...

Back then, Loren's younger sister...

I was the one who killed her.