Watching Maureen in silence

Richard watched in silence as Maureen picked Mayonnaise for Liam.

He'd heard rumors of Maureen bringing desserts to Liam every day from the international class, but he'd not believed it until he saw it with his own eyes.

His hand slowly clenched, a feeling similar to a hot pot of boiling oil brewing in his heart, restless and anxious.

He didn't even know why, but the sight felt like a thorn lodged in his eye, very eye-catching.

He did not believe that Maureen actually had feelings for Liam.

She was probably just acting out of spite, against her family, against him.

Otherwise there was no need for her to deliberately pick vegetables for Liam in front of him.

She was doing this on purpose.

But if she expects him to come looking for her again, it was almost impossible.

Once bitten, twice shy.

His self-esteem could not allow it.

Richard calmly decided to give Maureen some time to cool down.

Once her stubbornness dies down, everything should return back to normal.

He cast his eyes downward, not wanting to see anymore, fearing that it might affect him.

He picked up his school bag, and quickly exited the library.

In the night wind, Richard still held the key points for the Inter-school competition in his right hand.

He walked up to the trash can, about to crumple up the paper and throw it away, but hesitated.

With a furrowed brow, he smoothed out the paper.

He walked up to the librarian's desk at the entrance, folded the paper twice, inserted it into a book, and handed it to the librarian,

"Excuse me, please help me deliver this to a student from the international class."

===========

Liam leaned back in his chair, arms folded, his gaze fixed intently on Richard.

Only when Richard left the library did he finally retract his tense gaze.

Tilting his head, he glanced to the left at the small figure sitting beside him.

Maureen was diligently picking Mayonnaise.

Liam watched her for a moment before he couldn't resist to ask,

"That guy, is he your friend?"

Maureen followed his gaze to the door, finally realizing he was talking about Richard.

She paused before saying,

"Kind of."

"Seems like you have a close relationship," Liam said, forcing himself to maintain a casual demeanor, trying not to give away any hint of jealousy.

"I saw him looking at you.

Does he have something to say?"

"Not really," Maureen replied.

She tried to avoid Richard whenever she saw him, could that be considered as 'average'?

So she added, "Just an acquaintance."

Only after Maureen finished speaking did she realize that something was off.

She'd transferred to the international class nearly two weeks ago, and this second generation rich kid would either give her the cold shoulder or mock her.

Today, he offered a helping hand which could be interpreted as a returned favor, but why would he suddenly start asking about people from the elite class?

The answer was a bit perfunctory.

Liam glanced at Richard's retreat and asked,

"He looks quite distinguished, are his grades good?" Maureen replied,

"Why do you ask?"

Why would he suddenly ask about grades?

Maureen understood, although she believed her grades were decent, they were still a far cry compared to Richard.

Did Liam want to exchange someone else to do his homework?

"Mr. Williams, you'd better drop the idea."

Maureen immediately put down her spoon, trying to advocate for herself,

"Just let me write for you.

I could even copy handwriting.

No one else can write with as much patience as I do. Why should you go to great lengths when I'm right here?"

Liam was taken aback, but then quickly understood.

Jealousy! What else, if not jealousy, could this be?! What had he said?

Why was she starting to get petty about a matter as trivial as doing homework?!

Liam struggled to suppress the corners of his mouth, which were gradually curving upward.

Seeing Maureen still looking at him, he quickly returned his expression to normal and waved his hand impatiently,

"Alright, alright, I won't let anyone else write."

Maureen heaved a sigh of relief.

Liam's cheeks turned red and he felt embarrassed.

Niel looked at Maureen, at a loss for a word, yearning to say something, yet remaining silent.

Maureen always took things seriously, even selecting mayonnaise- something so simple and trivial.

Liam watched her focus on her task, her eyelashes basking in the light.

"Alright."

He only snapped out of it when Maureen handed over the spoon to him.

Liam took the Spoon, feeling secretly pleased and with an increased appetite; he began to eat heartily.

He ate fast, hungrily, and with youthful vigor - but silently so.

Maureen also cheerfully looked at her potted plants, spotting an additional three tender sprouts.

She was getting closer to her goal of five hundred sprouts.

Mr. Williams truly was a good person.

As he ate, his phone, which had been left to the side, suddenly vibrated.

Picking it up casually, he swiped the screen open with one hand and saw that it was a WhatsApp message from Drake.

However, before he could open the message and see what Drake had sent, he remembered something - had Maureen sent him a message today?

Maureen's daily routine was unshakeable: dessert + three WhatsApp messages + homework for him.

Suddenly today, without receiving any Whatsapp messages, he surprisingly felt out of sorts.

"Is your phone broken today?"

Liam casually asked. Maureen was sitting beside me, tackling assignments:

"No." — Why didn't you send me a message? This question Liam could not voice out.

He continued to coldly hum as if nothing was amiss:

"Oh, thank heavens.

Finally, no messages are bothering me."

"You didn't block me, did you?" Maureen asked in surprise.

"Of course, I blocked you." Liam said,

"I completely can't understand what you send me every day, why won't I block you?"

Maureen: "Oh." It's good that he blocked it. These last two days, she had been quite busy and had actually forgotten about this.

Once Liam said it, it reminded her.

She doesn't have much energy to spend on Whatsapp every day, but something is better than nothing.

And besides, Maureen analyzed that she should not stop, what if this thing is like QQ, where you get a big reward for consecutive days of sending messages?

She immediately took out her phone, opened Whatsapp in front of Liam, and sent him three emojis.

Liam glanced from the side: "

"What's with her? She seems so insincere!"

"Has she always been so nonchalant whenever she sends Whatsapp messages daily?"

Liam had always thought that she would ponder for a long time before sending daily Whatsapp messages to someone she likes.

Liam almost suffered a mental malfunction. He really did not understand girls.

His mobile phone vibrated slightly.

Another message from Brown arrived.

Liam opened it: "What the hell have you been buying with my card?

People might get the wrong idea that I have a fetish for crossdressing!"

"Ah." Liam replied with one hand, " Demon Williams is visiting the country.

My mom took him to see my grandpa, and it's a risky period, so I didn't use my card.

When you go back to school, use my card to buy your fishing rod."

Brown seemed satisfied, his tone was much softer:

"So, are you chasing her or is she chasing you? You're practically bankrupting yourself."

"What's there to fear? She's not interested in my money." Liam replied nonchalantly.

After a pause, he proudly typed out a mass of messages:

"Last time, she used all the money I gave her to buy me gifts.

Bet you didn't know that. :)"

"But what if she's casting a long line to catch a big fish?"

"She might not be after your money, but she could be targeting the Williams family's wealth."

"After all, she doesn't know that you have an older brother.

Ever since your brother passed away, your mom has baffled on treating Demon like your elder brother and even encouraged the old man to allocate his shares to Demon.

Outsiders are unaware of the Williams's family situation.

They think you are the only heir and Demon is just your cousin."

"But what if— I mean, just if—"

" Demon is the one who will inherit all the family wealth."

"Will she approach you or approach Demon?"

This time, Drake did not joke, he was very serious.

Though the words were harsh, as the only person who had grown up with Liam, he felt the need to say them.

At their social level, they'd seen too many such situations.

Of course, he had to admit that most people did not have the perseverance of the transfer student Liam had mentioned - not even for a hundred thousand dollars.

"Again, since childhood, I've never seen anyone chase you because of who you are.

Your personality is just too poor."

Liam was upset: "

Are you trying to piss me off?

How many times are you going to say that?"

Drake ignored him and continued:

"So, why is this girl any different?"

Liam stared at the bunch of words sent by Drake on the phone screen.

This time, his mood was significantly different from before.

Last time, he listened to Drake's words with a curious and teasing attitude towards the transfer student.

If the transfer student approached him for other reasons, he would simply wave her goodbye.

But this time, those words became piercing.

A subtle fear began to form in Liam's heart.

After a while.

"Impossible."