(Chapter 31) She Followed?

"I would like to sign you up to a competition being held in Milan for an English competition." After a few days of doing the work set by Mr. Dihl, Astrid was finally told why he was testing her so severely.

Astrid took the paper that Mr. Dihl handed over and glanced at it. "I'll ask my parents." Astrid responded lukewarmly, she neither rejected nor accepted going to the competition.

Mr. Dihl inwardly sighed, although he didn't wish to favor any students. Astrid was the best student at English he had ever taught before. She was better at English than those native of the language... It was quite scary.

But maybe it would be a good thing in the end. He didn't know what she would do in her future life, and maybe staying low-key is what she wants.

"Alright, just be sure to tell me if you can go by next week. Other than that I have all of the teachers praising you for your work in your lessons. They all feel that you should move up a grade or two." Mr. Dihl went back to business.

Astrid was surprised. "The school would allow it?" There had never been a student who had moved up a year in the past of the school, mainly since the curriculum was so difficult.

Mr. Dihl smiled in response. "Most likely not... But, you are an exception. You are doing work that even the teachers would struggle with easily, so how could they hold you back?" Mr. Dihl spoke in a way that it made the school had no choice but to move Astrid up a year or two.

Astrid nodded. "I'll think about it." At the end of the day, the decision would be hers, she had no qualms of doing exams early, but...

Mr. Dihl nodded. "Alright, before you go, I heard that you're improving physically. Continue what you are doing, having a healthy mind stems from having a healthy body after all." Mr. Dihl reminded Astrid, before letting her leave.

Astrid left and went to find Winoa and co, she spotted them eating lunch and talking with Leone.

"You're done?" Winoa asked, as she passed over Astrid's lunch.

Astrid nodded. Seeing she wasn't going to say anything else, Winoa continued eating without any fluctuation in her emotions.

Francesca had recently started to eat more and more throughout the day. Her diet was now suggested by Mrs. Tuhs with some leeway, while she was being trained hard every day. So she was hungry often.

"Hey Fran, why are you eating like a pig?" Leone asked with a slight frown, he had always seen Francesca be calmer while eating, but watching her no made him think he was going mad.

Francesca frowned as she chewed on her food. "A pig!? How about you go find some male friends to eat with huh? Why do you always hang around us all the time?" Francesca was vexed, she was hungry okay?

Leone shrugged his shoulders, "Do I have to go eat with male friends huh?" He responded with a natural response.

Winoa just sighed at the sight of them arguing again. While Astrid ate her lunch at an even faster speed than what Francesca was eating at. It was just she looked so elegant eating in comparison...

....

As everyone was leaving school, the three girls were walking with each other as per usual. Ever since Francesca had gone around Astrid's house, she now trained every day after school for an hour or so, then was sent home afterward.

Mr. Di Rui had received a call from Mr. Tuhs about the matter and was stunned. Not only did he learn that the CEO of Hanxi had a wife, but the girls that came around his house were connected to him! Knowing Mr. Tuhs' reputation to be outstanding within the business circles, he was quite happy for Francesca to be trained as a model from his wife.

Of course the minimum was told to Mr. Di Rui, he never found out who Mrs. Tuhs was, and he only could guess whether the two girls were his daughters or related in some other way...

But seeing how happy his daughter was after coming home every day, he was quite relaxed about it. He was happy that his daughter could pursue her own dreams unimpeded.

"Is something wrong?" Winoa asked Astrid, as she had noticed Astrid had stopped walking.

Astrid shook her head. "I'll come back later, I remember I have to do something." Astrid responded offhandedly, as she walked away from the car and the school.

Francesca and Winoa were both confused, but they couldn't do anything. All they could do was tell Mrs. Tuhs later...

Astrid walked for around 50 minutes, in the past she might have passed out doing such a thing, but she had gained the stamina of a normal person now. And she was starting to take her physical education much more seriously.

Astrid ended up walking into the city and ended up walking the streets. Discreetly following someone who had piqued her interest.

....

Within a rarely found poor alleyway, a student was kept up against the wall by others wearing a different uniform.

"You think you can escape us huh? Why don't you shout for your dear family here orphan?" The student holding the person against the wall spoke venomously, as he seemed to be staring at his greatest enemy.

The student being held against the wall started to laugh. "Haha, Escape from you? Why would I need to? Do you think my family has never known what you do to me? Within your tiny mind, do you understand the positions of your family's compared to mine?" The boy spoke with pride, ignoring the fact he was called an orphan, he spoke about his family.

The group of three boys all had their faces darken. As they proceeded to take out their anger on the boy physically instead.

After a few minutes of kicking and punching the boy, they finally stopped with some sweat forming on their foreheads. "Tch, just stay quiet you dirty orphan, what made you better than us to get into the best school around?" The leader of the three spoke venomously, before looking at his two companions to leave.

The boy laughed on the floor, as he watched the bullies leave again. 'Even the bottle barrels of fish dear to threaten a shark. I doubt their families will last long under their control.' He lightly coughed as he rubbed his bruised ribs.

Astrid watched this all occur and currently had a smile on her face. She came out from behind the darker corner and started to walk up to the boy on the floor.

The boy immediately stiffened seeing Astrid. "W-W-What are you doing? Q-Quick go!" He stuttered, he knew her health wasn't good in the past, who knew what would happen if the three boys saw her after they had ruthlessly dealt with him.

Astrid ignored the boy's words and looked down on to the boy. "Leone, they have already left. Do you plan to sit on the floor all day?" Astrid's voice was normal... For her at least, she remained cold. So much so, that Leone wondered why she even followed him in the first place if she didn't seem affected by him being beaten up.

Leone sighed as he gingerly stood up. Astrid didn't offer her help, but instead leaned against the wall beside them. "They are some heirs from my old school. They weren't able to get accepted into our school hence why they aren't in despite being quite rich themselves." Not knowing what to say, Leone decided to explain their identities to Astrid.

He had no idea why, but upon seeing Astrid's deathly calm composure about the situation, he was distinctly reminded of his older brother, someone who he looked up to considerably.

Astrid listened while saying nothing, the identities of those boys were no issue to her...

As Leone was talking about those boys, another pair of footsteps came from the alleyway. As Leone suddenly stopped talking, Astrid's eyes gleamed.

"Brother!? Why are you here?" Leone asked in great confusion and excitement, as his eyes gleamed upon the appearance of his revered older brother.

The Older Brother walked from the dark alley into more of a bright spot. His cold eyes looking over Leone.

He then turned his gaze over to Astrid, who was still leaning against the wall. "Who is this?" He asked with some interest.

He couldn't see her face clearly in the darkness of the alley. But he could tell she would be around the same age as Leone based on her uniform.

Astrid's face was given to her by the god of beauty, there was a reason why her mother was able to become a supermodel easily, mostly she was gifted with amazing looks. Astrid heavily took after her mother in that case.

Astrid had long wavy blonde hair, with a pair of shining blue eyes that were tranquil despite the situation, it was clear to the man that she was someone who was more mature than her age. Hey eyelashed flickered unconsciously as she moved her attention over to the man. While she had an expressionless face.

To many in the world, Astrid would become an untouchable beauty, but the man didn't even spare her a second glance. As he was more focused on the response his brother would give.

"She is a classmate of mine. I guess... you could say a friend?" Leone answered unsure of himself. He was much closer to Francesca than Winoa, then Astrid was there. He knew how amazing she was, but he was a teenage boy and often struggled to talk to such a closed-off girl.