The full scholarship that Kansas University promised him was his most important source of financial support for college.
Without it, he might not even be able to continue his education.
Soren frowned but didn't say anything.
He just turning his head back and in a quieter voice, he said, "Even if that's true, it still doesn't give him the right to bully you, Clark. You might forgive him, but I won't... Btw, do you think his mom will be okay? Should we go help?"
Clark thought for a moment, "I don't think we need to. Her symptoms come and go. She should calm down after a while."
Soren nodded obediently, "Alright, let's wait here for now. If Whitney really can't handle it, we'll step in to help."
Clark agreed.
So, the two of them—one dressed in black armor, the other in white—sat quietly in the bushes behind Whitney's house, waiting for the argument inside to die down.
Maybe it was the peaceful breeze or the gentle twinkle of the stars, but after a while, Soren slowly leaned his head to the side, closed his eyes, and fell asleep against Clark's shoulder.
He had stayed up late the night before, binge-watching an entire season of Battlestar Galactica.
Clark felt the weight of Soren's head on his shoulder and immediately froze.
He was too afraid to move, worried he might accidentally wake Soren up.
He carefully, inch by inch, turned his head and looked down at Soren's sleeping face.
With his cheek pressed against Clark's shoulder, Soren's baby fat was slightly squished, making his face look round, soft, and incredibly cute.
It was so adorable that Clark felt an overwhelming urge to poke it, just to see if it was as soft and squishy as it looked.
Clark's heart raced, and he couldn't help but smile.
He subtly leaned back, trying to keep his chest from being too close to Soren.
He was genuinely worried his heartbeat was so loud it might wake Soren up.
Clark kept looking at Soren, over and over, as if he could never get enough.
In that quiet moment, a feeling grew inside him, as if he wanted to burn this image into his memory, to never forget it.
This was one of those rare, silent, and gentle moments that Clark wouldn't experience again for a long, long time.
...
As deep autumn set in, Clark became busy helping Jonathan harvest soybeans on their farm.
They had a soybean harvester in their barn, but it had broken down the year before, and Jonathan couldn't find the right parts to fix it in town.
This year, they had to hire a big agricultural company with a large combine harvester to do the job.
As for Clark, after the soybean harvest, he had to focus on threshing, cleaning, drying, and storing the beans.
While these tasks were easy for him due to his strength, they still required a lot of patience and attention to detail to be done properly.
Soren would come by now and then to help out.
Despite looking delicate, Soren worked surprisingly hard.
He'd roll up his sleeves and using the strength that doesn't match with his body to move large bundles of straw to dry in the field, or help Clark carry soybeans to the barn.
However, Clark could never bring himself to let Soren do any of the heavy lifting.
Clark could easily handle all the work by himself, so most of the time, he would "shoo" Soren away and hand him a delicious, sweet boiled corn to munch on while watching.
Soren, on the other hand, was a bit of a chatterbox around Clark.
He'd ask, "Clark, did you watch the latest Doctor Who episode last night?" or "Have you sent off your college applications yet?"
Then, "Clark, how about we check out that new comic book store in town this weekend?"
He'd even throw in a few opinions about Earth's farming methods, comparing them to his knowledge of alien technology.
Any regular Kansas farmer might have been overwhelmed and sent Soren off to work in the fields.
But Clark?
He loved it.
He loved hearing Soren talk non-stop by his side.
The more excited Soren's voice became, the happier Clark felt, and the harder he worked.
He'd even wish he could haul soybeans all day long just to stay in Soren's company.
In fact, Clark actually did that once.
One day, after finishing his work early, Clark kept bringing the same bags of soybeans in and out of the barn just to stretch out the time Soren spent at the farm.
Soren, of course, had no idea that Clark was just moving the same bags over and over until sunset.
After the fall harvest season ended, Christmas break quickly approached in late December.
The Hargreaves family planned to take Soren back to New York City for Christmas.
Since all their friends and family were in New York City, and they had been in Kansas for half a year, it was time for them to visit old friends.
Because of this, Soren had to say goodbye to Clark for a little while.
On the day they left for New York City, Soren handed Clark a thick book filled with sci-fi movie DVDs he had collected over the semester.
He told Clark seriously that he must use the break to study these classic films and fully appreciate the magic of science fiction.
It's not scary to be behind on knowledge.
what's scary is not wanting to learn.
How else can he be a good Superman in the future?
"And don't forget to write a letter to me! I'll send you a Christmas gift!" he added while leaning out of the car window before leaving.
Clark stood on the country road, waving his hands to say goodbye as their car drove off.
He kept waving, even standing on his tiptoes to get a better view, until the car disappeared beyond the horizon.
After Soren returned to New York City, his first priority was to continue using Tony Stark's lab to finish creating his gene suppressor.