"Didn't the exam go well?"
"Yeah. It's not bad, just didn't get the score I expected, so I didn't get the full prize when I applied for the school."
From memory, if the exam was not good, Jialin would refuse to go home immediately. First he'd sit in Pipi home, calming down, gathering his courage and preparing to face his mother's wrath.
"Then you'll apply for a few more."
"I only saw a few schools, and the other ones that gave me the full scholarship weren't ones I wanted to go to."
Pipi smiled.
Jia Lin had always been first in his class. He had developed a perfectionist personality, and second-best would never be good enough.
"Then you... you'll take the GRE again?"
"Well, I have to. There is still one last school that didn't answer me, so I will wait."
Pipi remembered that every time he prepared for the GRE, Jia Lin seemed to have lost a few pounds. When he came back he'd be dark and thin, and it made her worry.
"I have potato chips here, want some?" Feeling that the topic was getting a bit heavy, Pipi changed the subject.
"Your feet are swollen, I will take you to the hospital."
"No need, I have some medicine."
Jia Lin gave her a cup of tea and looked at her watch and said, "It's too late, I've gotta go back."
"Oh... um..." Pipi wanted to say that since it was so late, he could stay on the couch for the night, but she swallowed her words.
Seeing him go to the door, Pipi suddenly thought of something and asked: "Have you seen Tian Xin recently?"
Jia Lin hesitated but did not look back: "No."
"If you see her, please let her know that the NK concert's six-fold ticket has not been paid for. I've left a few messages but she hasn't gotten back to me."
"Ok."
Jia Lin looked back at her and looked very troubled. "Good night."
Pipi smiled: "Good night."
The door clicked shut. Pipi ignored the pain that was stabbing into her feet like a knife.
Her period was coming.