Lucas' Memories (II)

The afternoon dappled light shone on the fair little girl, her eyes glistening.

He heard his brother Ford response, "You're too young. You should focus on your studies. Don't think too much about other things." Taking Julia's hand off his clothes. Ford refused her coldly without a second thought and then went away.

He saw Julia's bright eyes dimmed. She squatted down slowly, hugging herself. Looking at her fragile figure, Lucas felt awful, as if a steel wire was wringing his heart.

He would have given the whole world just to stop her from crying.

Only then did he understand the meaning of the saying, 'The person you don't care about could be the one others are dreaming of.'

And he was the one who's dreaming of her...

While Ford doesn't even give a damn care.

Why? He had met her first!

Why couldn't he be the one?

Ford was outstanding, but he was not bad either.

And most importantly, he liked her. From the first time he met her until now, even though he had never admitted it and only kept picking on her.

Because only when he played tricks on her would she get annoyed and glance at him lazily.

No one knew that simple glance from her, would fill him with joy.

Afterwards, he loved to bully her even more, but it was only limited, like throwing caterpillars to scare her.

Every time he met her, he would ridicule her with malicious words, trying to remind her of his existence.

Everyone had thought that he did all of those for Ana, but only he knew that he had done all of those things for her to look at him. Even if she look at him with disgust.

This secret pleasure brought him satisfaction. Of course, there had been some wise people who saw through his intention, asking him if he liked Julia. It happened that Julia came in from outside and heard this question. Then he saw a hint of mockery in her eyes.

Being too proud, he denied flatly and concealed his thoughts with a harsh words.

Although he had been mocking her, only he knew about his hidden inferiority complex, which caused him to feel inadequate towards before the one he loved.

Later on, when he saw Julia's love letter lying in the trash can of the Ainsworth's, he could no longer deceive himself, he lost his courage.

He was mad at Ford for neglecting her feelings.

He was mad at Julia for being stupid and blind.

He was mad at himself for having feelings towards her.

He was blinded with jealousy. He took the love letter and brought it to the classroom and read it aloud. But after listening to his own ridicule words, he felt no pleasure.

He just wanted her to wake up, to understand that Ford could not possibly fall in love with her.

And would never fall in love with her.

But he found he was completely wrong when he saw her stared at him with a pale face, like a lifeless broken doll.

There was no disgust in her eyes or devoid of any emotions. Her intelligent eyes lost colors when she heard him say he got the love letter from Ford's trash can. Her face was blank with desperation.

His chest tightened. He got flustered, trying to explain, but words had failed him. He watched her pick up her school bag and walk past him without any expressions.

After a long while, he hurried out of the classroom, catching up with the girl who was walking slowly and steadily. He called out, "Julia...."

The girl did not seem to hear him, her head was hanging down slightly. Her straight back looked exceptionally thin.

He took a step forward and grabbed the girl's wrist. Walking to face her, he stammered, "They didn't know it was you..."

"Let go." Julia looked at him calmly.

Lucas withdrew his hand and explained awkwardly, "Really, they don't know it's you..."

"Is there any difference?" Julia interrupted him.

The simple words seemed to have convicted him.

That's right. Was there any difference?

Was he any different from the executioner who stabbed a person in the heart with a sharp knife?

At the end, he was the only one at fault. Whereas, Ford still won her heart.

After a few days of silence, rumor was spreading, saying that Julia had written the love letter.

He came back to school and found the person who started the rumor. That person claimed that he knew nothing. A secret person paid him for spreading the rumor. Lucas beat up that person, getting a major demerit from the school.

And this had once become a skeleton in his closet.

Afterwards, he stopped playing tricks on Julia, burying all his thoughts deep in his heart.

When they met occasionally, he would ridicule her lightly, maintaining his impression on everyone.

He thought that was it, but after knowing she got divorced, his perfectly hidden thoughts started to surface. Since she did not love Ford anymore, why couldn't he try?

He don't want to miss out on this chance, nor did he want to give up easily. Even though he knew that it would not be easy, he wanted to give it a try.

"I'm sorry!" Lucas said slowly and seriously, "I apologize for my childish behaviour before. Can you forgive me... and give me another chance?"

As he spoke, a hint of fear flashed across his eyes, but very soon it was replaced by resolution.

Julia was stunned.

She felt there was something in Lucas' eyes, something that she could not define.

Was she thinking too much....

Lucas had been the one among the boys who liked best to play tricks on her.

Or maybe the only one.....

Everyone else just ignored her like Ford.

Beside Mark who she treated like her own brother, there was only Lucas, who tried to tease and mock her all the time, reminding her of his existence.

And at the same time, reminding her of her own existence.

She didn't know since when, but Lucas suddenly stopped picking at her, and even stopped talking to her.

He seemed to stay out of her way since the incident, and he behaved like a stranger when they occasionally met.

She had thought that, he detested her so much that he didn't even want to talk to her anymore...

In actual fact, Lucas didn't annoyed her at all. They sure had always been at odds with each other.

But in some ways, she was grateful to him, even up until now.

Thingking about the past, Only did she realized that it was only Lucas who had been trying different ways to drag her out of the dead end all these years, but she was too persistent to free herself from reality.

And what happened to her after...

Sighed.

She couldn't help but praised her level of stupidity.

"Don't mention it." She replied lightly after a while, "I'm glad that you have senses now." She added half joking with a grin on her face.

Lucas was lost for words. Her words discouraged him from saying anything.

Looking at her grinning yet adorable face, he chuckled bitterly. As a man sows, so let him reap.

It was eleven o'clock in the evening when they arrived in County D. Lucas drove straight to the underground parking lot, where there were elevators going up to her Apartment. She did not ask him to walk her up.

Getting off the car, Lucas stopped her. He took a scarf from the back seat, and said awkwardly, "You wear this."

There was a temperature difference between indoors and outdoors, and Julia was wearing thin clothes, so her snow—white arms started to have goose bumps.

She glanced at the scarf, and it was a designer brand. Lily had briefed her on the several well—known designer brands. She was told that an out—of—season scarf of this brand could cost hundreds of thousands. This scarf looked like a new arrival and should be costly.

She waved her hand refusing, "It's fine. I don't feel cold."

Lucas looked impatient, walking over and wrapped the scarf around her neck annoyed , "I bought it for my Mom, but she doesn't like it."