Meeting was in the midst of summer, and parting was also in the midst of summer; his little rose is forever hidden in that summer.

---

The summer in City A is extremely hot and dry.

Jennifer packed milk into Ellie's bag and instructed, "Ellie, the milk is in your school bag, along with hot water and medicine."

"Okay, I'm leaving, Mom." The girl smiled sweetly, wearing a light-colored dress and slender, fair legs.

Jennifer hadn't snapped out of her daze until Ellie disappeared from sight; she was somewhat worried.

In her first year of high school, Ellie was diagnosed with gastric cancer, late-stage, and the doctors said there was no chance of cure, at most she could live for three more years, and she should go do what she wanted to do.

Jennifer and Edward worked outside all year round, leaving Ellie at home alone, and when they came home, it was just endless arguments. The day she fainted, it was Aunt Liu who took her to the hospital and called the two back. They stood at the door and argued for a long time with her diagnosis in hand.

Edward said, "It's all your fault for not being home to take care of the child; you don't even know the child is so sick."

Jennifer retorted sarcastically, "Are you usually home? Have you ever cared or asked about the child?"

Edward snorted coldly.

Ellie, bothered by the noise and feeling weak, spoke softly, "Can you stop talking? I want to rest."

The two fell silent in an instant.

Jennifer tucked the blanket for her, looking at Ellie with closed eyes, and silently shed tears.

In the hospital corridor, there were the low voices of the two arguing. Ellie wasn't asleep; she heard the voices outside the door, clenched and relaxed the bedsheet.

She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling above for a while.

Later, Ellie said she wanted to study in City A, and the two immediately arranged for her to transfer schools.

...

"William, our class is getting a new student." Daniel turned to the boy and said.

The boy behind him was wearing a school uniform, with one button undone at the collar, revealing delicate collarbones, phoenix eyes, cold white skin, thin lips, black hair. Upon hearing this, he raised his eyelids slightly and said indifferently, "Where did you hear this news?"

"Just today, William, I heard that the transfer student is a boy, and it's said that he's a top student."

Boy, top student.

William repeated the words, uninterested, and knocked on Daniel's head, saying, "Eavesdropping again?"

Daniel felt wronged: "Brother, I didn't eavesdrop. Today, Old Fang was chatting with someone in the office, and I overheard it."

By morning, the news spread in the class that a boy, a top student, was transferring to Class 3.

In the afternoon.

"Classmates, we have a new student joining our class today. Let's welcome the new student." The thin man on the platform finished speaking and glanced outside the door.

Many people in the class stretched their heads to see what the top student looked like.

Ellie slowly walked up to the podium, her voice very slow and soft: "Hello everyone, my name is Ellie."

William looked up, was this the male top student Daniel mentioned?

The girl looked very well-behaved and sweet, with a slender figure, wearing a light purple dress, and beautiful, round apricot eyes, clear and bright, with rosy lips.

"Damn, a beauty." Some boys in the class heckled.

William saw the new student's ears turn light pink.

Mr. Johnson looked around, pointed in a direction, and said to Ellie, "There's an empty seat at the back, can you sit there?"

"Okay, thank you, teacher."

Ellie smiled at Mr. Johnson and walked straight towards William, pulled out the chair, and sat next to him.

William was a problem student, fighting, skipping classes, sleeping in class, often ignoring classroom discipline, so Mr. Johnson let him sit at the back and didn't arrange a deskmate for him.

William was about to lower his head to sleep when he felt the person next to him lean over, and in a small voice, she asked, "Classmate, what's your name?"

"William."

After he said it, he saw her smile, very well-behaved, and she quickly turned away.

The first class was English, and the English teacher was a strict middle-aged man, feared by all the students in the class.

He walked into the class, looked around, and then said, "Open your English books to page 130, let's talk about this text."

He walked to the last row, saw William asleep again, and the girl next to him didn't have a book, which made him angry.

He first slammed the table and said, "William, sleep, sleep, sleep, don't you know class has started? I see you're sleeping soundly; do you need me to give you a coat? Don't catch a cold."

"Sure, thank you, teacher."

Everyone in the class wanted to laugh but didn't dare, their faces hurting from holding back.

Mr. Thompson felt he lost face and turned his anger towards the girl next to him, saying, "And you, you didn't even bring a book to class, how do you study? Is this your attitude towards learning? I have to say, what's going on with your class? It's already the second year of high school, and there's no atmosphere of learning at all, some students don't even bring books..."

Before he finished, an English book was thrown on Ellie's desk, and William said indifferently, "She's the new student, I'll stand outside." With that, he walked out, not giving Mr. Thompson a glance.

Mr. Thompson was so angry with William that his chest hurt. He looked at Ellie, who had lowered her head, and said, "The teacher wronged you."

Ellie made a sound of agreement and cast her gaze outside at the boy, who was leaning against the wall, standing upright, seemingly lost in thought.

As soon as class was over, Daniel ran out, and Mr. Thompson scolded from behind, "It's already the second year of high school, and you still don't know how to study. You run out as soon as class is over. It would be strange if you could get into college."

It wasn't until Mr. Thompson left that the class breathed a sigh of relief.

William looked up at Daniel and said, "What?"

"William, I've never seen you stand up for a girl before, are you interested?"

William cursed, "Your grandpa," and then said, "No."

He didn't want to stay in the class anyway, and if she kept getting scolded, a good student like her would probably cry.

Ellie stood behind the two at some point and cautiously called out, "William."

William looked up at her, his eyes as black as pitch: "What's up?"

"Thank you today," the girl's voice was very soft, a bit gentle.

William chuckled, "It's not a big deal, go inside."

Ellie glanced at him, seemed to want to say something but held back, and then slowly went inside.

She looked back at William outside the door, wondering if it was really okay for him to stand outside for a whole class.

When William returned to the class, he saw several girls gathered in front of his desk.

Aria saw William come in, hurriedly stood up, left his seat, and sat in front of Ellie, whispering to her.

According to Aria and the others, William was fierce, often fighting and skipping classes, and he had even hospitalized a thug from a neighboring school, with rumors of a lot of bloodshed. He was cold to girls, and there were even rumors that he liked boys. Today, he actually helped Ellie, a new girl, which surprised everyone.

But Aria teased, "But for such a beautiful girl like Ellie, I'd be willing to help too."

In a few words, they made Ellie blush.

William slowly sat down, reached for his phone in the drawer, but felt a bunch of hard things, wrapped in plastic bags.

He frowned and pulled them out; they were candies, strawberry-flavored. He was about to ask who gave them when he saw his new deskmate hurriedly lower her head.

William looked down and saw a note in the desk, with only three words on it: "Thank you." No need to think, he knew who it was from.

William looked up and saw his new deskmate's ears turn red again.