Thanks to Ryder, there were still many people in The Bronx Middle School who had played with him when they were juniors after he graduated. They were all nice people.
Aria had a very peaceful year during her repeat senior - high - school year.
But she hadn't had the chance to tell Ryder yet. Now, she told him, "I don't get carsick as easily as before. As long as the journey isn't too long and the driving is steady, it's okay."
"Yeah." Ryder thought of the little girl's pitiful appearance with red - rimmed eyes from vomiting before. While feeling heartfelt, he couldn't help but laugh softly.
He reached out and pinched her face, praising her, "My wife is amazing."
Aria: "..."
"Why do you call me that again?"
"I like it. I'll call you that." He said, "Wife, wife, wife."
"..."
Ryder was very rebellious. "Baby, baby, baby."
"Wife, wife, wife."
"......"
Under the gentle warm air blowing in the SUV, Aria held back for a long time. Her fair and delicate face turned completely red.
She turned her head to look out of the window.
He was so easy to tease.
Ryder laughed softly for a long time before finally stopping. The car became quiet, and he tuned in a piece of music.
Coincidentally, the song that came on was the one he had sung yesterday, "Accompany You Through the Long Years".
Eason Chan's songs were always so affectionate.
Aria quietly looked at the scenery flying by outside the window, with a somewhat dazed expression. After finally waiting for the heat on her face to subside, she couldn't help but turn her face to look at the boy who was concentrating on driving.
"Ryder." Aria called him.
"Yeah."
Aria looked at his profile seriously and asked in a low voice, "Actually, I'm a bit confused. Why do you like me?"
There were so many beautiful and bright girls at Harvard University. m.gΟиЪ.ōΓG
At first, she thought he was just acting on a whim. But he had done so much to prove to her with his actions that he really liked her.
He even showed little emotions like jealousy and lack of confidence.
She really couldn't figure out what about her could make him fall for her. Now, she just wanted to ask him this question that had been bothering her for a long time, without any other intentions.
Ryder just glanced at her casually.
The little girl's eyes were clear and bright, genuinely confused.
She really was something.
He was somehow amused by her, lazily turning the steering wheel while looking straight ahead. "Airy, don't you have any self - awareness?"
The little girl was getting more and more charming as she grew up.
Ryder didn't deny that in terms of appearance, Aria might not be the most beautiful. But he was just drawn to her, perhaps masochistically.
Aria touched her face. Of course she had self - awareness.
That's why she was confused.
"I don't know. It can only be you." The boy said casually, "Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment. The more you avoided me, the itchier I felt. The colder you were to me, the more I wanted to make you cry."
But when she really cried, he felt like an idiot,heartfelt for her.
It could only be her. No one else would do. He would get annoyed just by looking at others.
Aria was silent for a long time. She actually thought his expression was cute and wanted to laugh. "Oh."
After a while, Aria explained, "Ryder, I didn't avoid you before, nor was I deliberately cold to you. I've always thought you were great, excellent in every way."
"Is that so?"
Ryder smiled, not being modest at all. "I know."
Who didn't know he was excellent?
Unless they were blind.
"So, Airy, you were deliberately luring me, right? Hmm?"
"... I wasn't."
Aria had an expression of being wrongly accused.
Who knew that boys at this age had such strange thoughts? She had been too shy and inferior to look at him directly, and was afraid of annoying him, so she always carefully kept a distance.
She had seen so many girls being rejected impatiently by him.
So she thought that's what he wanted.
Ryder snorted with a laugh. "Just admit it. Anyway, I'm yours now. Whether you lured me or not, I've taken the bait."
Aria covered her face.
She once again deeply felt that he could be terrifyingly straightforward sometimes. A casual sentence from him could make her blush and her heart race.
Twenty minutes later.
The two novice young - couple who had never been on a date parked the car by the square in front of the shopping mall in the city center. Their heads were close together as they held their phones, looking up couple - dating strategies.
"So what should we do first?"
"I don't know." The young master said leisurely and with full confidence. "Let's look at the strategies."
After a while.
"But the strategies are so diverse that they're not really useful. Maybe we should go back to school and study in the library..."
"Airy, say that again?"
In the end, the young couple decided to watch a movie first.
Ryder held Aria's hand with one hand, being led by her, while holding the phone in the other hand, lazily flipping through the movie list.
"What do you want to watch?"
"Romance? Animation? Or a horror movie?"
He fiddled with the phone for a few more times.
"There seems to be a war - resistance movie. That won't work. Science - fiction... also not good."
Aria was silent for a while.
During the festival season, there were quite a few newly - released movies. Presumably, many people came to celebrate the festival. The movie floor in the mall was crowded. Aria was afraid he would get bumped into. "Ryder, look at the road. Don't look at your phone for now."
"Oh."
He continued to stare at the phone.
Aria finally couldn't help it. She led him to avoid a few people walking towards them and asked in a small voice, "Ryder, have you never watched a movie?"
He was looking down seriously at the movie tickets, looking like a big cat being very curious about something new.
So cute.
Ryder's fingertips paused slightly. He lazily raised his eyelids and glanced at the little girl. "I've never been on a date. Why would I watch a movie?"
Aria: "... You could watch it with friends."
Ryder sneered. "Hmph."
His disgust was obvious.
He put his arm around the little girl's neck and pulled her into his arms, clicking his tongue softly. "Am I that idle? Movies are only interesting when watched with my wife."
"Ah."
Aria looked at him, feeling inexplicably guilty.
She used to watch movies with Maya Brooks quite often.
Especially on Qixi Festival.
The two of them would definitely pick a tragic romance movie, bring tissues, cry and feel cathartic while watching, and then curse after coming out of the cinema -
"Damn couples. I'll never believe in love again."
Thinking of this, Aria suddenly remembered the news that Maya Brooks had angrily asked her to confess honestly on the phone after her video call with Ryder last night.
She sighed helplessly.
When they were young and impulsive, they had made an agreement that if one of them had someone in their heart, they wouldn't tell each other first. Instead, they would bring their loved ones directly in front of each other when they got together.
Not long after this agreement, Maya Brooks met the little PE monitor, and she, on the other hand, fell head - over - heels for Ryder, determined not to give up until she hit a brick wall.
Now, the only difficult thing was that her loved one was a bit of a problem.
It wasn't easy to confess.
This person, they both knew well.
And Maya Brooks had reminded her many times that Ryder wasn't a good match and told her not to be blinded by his appearance.
Aria pursed her lips. The key was that she had already been so infatuated that she was completely lost.
The reminder came too late.
It seemed that she would have to have a good talk and beg for forgiveness from that girl when she got back.