Raise Love-11-"Isn't it pretty, little classmate"

Aria's heart was still pounding in her chest as she scurried away with her bag in a flash after that, not waiting for his reaction at all.

Ryder watched her steps change from small steps to ones that were like those of a chased rabbit later. He frowned and his gaze lingered on the corner where there was no one left for a long time.

Was he some kind of fierce monster?

Could he eat her up or something?

After a while, Ryder pushed his tongue against his cheek, sneered, and lowered his head to bite on the cigarette.

He pressed his left hand on his abdomen. He hadn't eaten anything tonight and had drunk alcohol, so his stomach was feeling a bit uncomfortable, and now the discomfort was all coming up.

In fact, Aria didn't leave. She stopped after walking to a blind spot of vision. She stood at the corner and quietly watched him.

He hadn't changed much. He looked a lot more steady than he did a year ago. His temperament seemed even more decadent than that time, always so casual.

Her gaze moved down and landed on the boy's casual movement of pressing his abdomen. Her eyes paused for a moment. At a certain instant, she would feel that he was rather pitiful.

It wasn't the kind of pity out of sympathy.

It was a kind of pitifulness that made people want to feel tender and affectionate towards him.

Every time she saw him alone, she would have this inexplicable emotion.

Just like now, he seemed uncomfortable, but he didn't care about it himself.

Aria stood there for quite a while. Seeing that he lit another cigarette with an unchanged expression and leaned against the window, showing no intention of leaving at all, she finally frowned. She tightened her grip on the backpack strap and hesitated for a few seconds.

She let out a soft sigh.

Ten minutes later, Aria was carrying something in her hand and came back here.

This time, without the entanglement and hesitation from before, she walked straight back towards Ryder with a blank expression, and stopped beside him.

The noise around was getting even louder. All kinds of out-of-tune singing and wailing sounds came out of the private room, covering up the sound of footsteps.

The person leaning against the window to look at the scenery was a bit absent-minded, not caring at all about the commotion around, with his gaze fixed lazily on a certain point, not knowing what he was thinking.

Aria paused for a moment and poked his arm.

Ryder's action of biting the cigarette paused, and he slightly turned his face.

Seeing that it was her, he was a bit surprised. He turned his body to face her directly, raised his eyebrows, and mumbled a question, "Why are you back again? Didn't you cry enough?"

Aria: "..."

Aria handed the porridge she had just bought from outside to him.

"For me?"

Surprise flashed in Ryder's eyes, but he didn't say anything. He leaned back casually and took the cup of rather hot porridge.

Then he just looked at her.

Aria ignored his gaze and lowered her head to open her bag. She took out a small, white plastic bottle from it, pursed her lips, and then explained in a low voice.

"This is stomach medicine."

Ryder didn't say anything.

Aria added, "I just saw you pressing your stomach with your hand. It seemed you were uncomfortable. Coincidentally, I had it in my bag." She pointed at the porridge, her voice gentle, which sounded magically soft in Ryder's eyes.

She gave a very serious reminder. Her tone was like that when dealing with a disobedient patient.

"Take the medicine after finishing the porridge, or it might backfire."

When she said these words, she had her head down. Ryder couldn't see her expression clearly. He could only see a section of her slender and fair neck in front of him, which looked rather fragile.

Not getting a response for a long time, Aria finally raised her head and looked at him.

Ryder's eyes were dim and unclear. After a while, he chuckled softly, the low and hoarse ending tone rising slightly, like a hook, and he said lazily, "You observed so carefully."

Aria was instantly at a loss.

She knew that given their relationship where they hardly had anything to do with each other and hardly even talked to each other, she had overstepped the boundaries.

But she really couldn't just pretend not to notice and leave like that.

However, Ryder didn't seem to care whether she replied or not.

The small white medicine bottle was in his hand. He casually played with it with his fingers, spinning it around and around.

Beside his ear, he casually teased, "Little classmate, is your bag a treasure chest? It has everything in it?"

First there were candies, and now there was medicine.

Didn't girls usually only put cosmetics in their bags?

Aria looked at her small shoulder bag, paused for two seconds, and said gently, "Well, I had low blood sugar for a while and my stomach wasn't good either, so I got used to it. It's for emergencies."

It was during the year when she repeated a grade.

Because her score was really far from the admission line of Harvard University, it wasn't an easy thing to get admitted.

So during the whole year when she repeated the grade, she tried her best to cut down on time, so much so that she always ignored having proper meals. Sometimes she just ate bread to fill her stomach, or she would rush to the cafeteria and gobble up food. Sometimes she didn't even have time to get hot water from the water room.

As time passed, she got these little health problems.

"Oh." Ryder slightly raised his eyebrows and replied indifferently. He casually put the medicine bottle on the table, stuck the straw into the cup, and took a sip of the porridge while biting on the straw.

Aria didn't know his preferences, but she knew that he liked candies. So she bought milk and oatmeal porridge.

The warm and soft porridge slid down his throat into his stomach, and soon dispelled some of the discomfort caused by the alcohol. Ryder narrowed his eyes, and the frown that had unconsciously formed was smoothed out.

He really was like a cat. Aria watched quietly and thought to herself.

Sometimes he was unrestrained, and sometimes he was gentle.

"If your stomach isn't good, don't drink alcohol. If you really want to drink, eat something to fill your stomach first. If you don't pay attention to it now, it will turn into chronic stomachaches after a long time, and it'll be really painful when it hurts."

Ryder didn't seem to listen or not, just quietly leaned against the wall and drank the porridge. Aria then shut up too. Neither of them spoke again. For a while, there were only the chaotic sounds of singing and playing around them.

The lights were flickering, falling on his sharp and handsome side face. His long eyelashes were lowered, making him look like a delicate little prince.

Aria was a bit reluctant to look away. She looked at him carefully and greedily.

Ryder suddenly chuckled, "Isn't it pretty, little classmate?"

...Had she been caught?

Aria's eyelashes trembled in shock, she blinked, and her fair face suddenly turned red.

Ryder's shoulders shook as he laughed even more heartily.

By the time the gathering ended, it was already quite late. The two of them walked back to the private room one after another, and didn't attract anyone's attention. When Lila Torres saw Ryder, she immediately clung to him.

Ryder shifted his body slightly.

He casually avoided her touch.

Lila Torres' attempt to hold his arm failed. Her smile froze for a moment, and then she said reproachfully, "Darling Rye, where did you go? I sent you messages and you didn't even reply."

"Didn't look at my phone." Ryder replied in a flat tone, picked up his coat and walked out. Lila Torres followed him, and they walked side by side.

When they reached the door, he remembered something, suddenly stopped in his tracks, turned his head, and looked at Aria with his dark eyes: "Let's go together."

The girl didn't react. Ryder called her: "Aria."

"Hmm?" Aria came back to her senses and saw Lila Torres getting close and sticking to Ryder affectionately. Her gloomy mood hadn't really adjusted yet. Suddenly being called, she slowly raised her head.

She asked in a low voice, "What's the matter?"

In her impression, she had never called her by her name before. It seemed this was the first time.

So he did know her name.