Susan glanced at the departing boy, then refocused her attention on Ellie, saying, "I've stewed some corn and pork rib soup today. Hurry up and get in the car."
Ellie smiled and said, "Thank you, Susan."
Susan turned on the air conditioner, ladled a bowl of rib soup for Ellie, and then laid out the dishes, somewhat guiltily saying, "This morning, I meant to have you take the umbrella; I even brought it to the car, but then I forgot to ask you to bring it along."
"It's okay," Ellie smiled at her and said, "The rib soup is really delicious."
Hearing Ellie say it was delicious, Susan's smile widened, her crow's feet easing: "If it's good, have more." She recalled the boy just now and said, "The boy who came with you, is he a classmate of yours?"
Ellie replied, "He's my current deskmate."
Susan smiled, "Your new deskmate seems quite nice, even seeing you to the door." Moreover, she had just noticed that the boy had tilted the umbrella towards Ellie's direction, getting his own arm wet.
"Yep, he's indeed a good person," Ellie thought to herself, a bit fierce, though.
...
When Ellie returned to the class with the umbrella, she was suddenly stopped.
"Ellie."
Ellie turned around and saw a tall, slender boy with delicate features and black, silver-rimmed glasses standing at the door. He smiled at Ellie and said, "Was the milk this morning good to drink?"
Previously, when he heard others say that a new girl had transferred to Class 17 who was particularly beautiful, he was somewhat disdainful—how beautiful could she be? Until the day Ellie passed by him.
Even though it was the same school uniform, on some people it felt different. The girl had a very clean look, with a pair of clear, apricot eyes as limpid and clear as autumn waters, very fair skin, a small nose, and rosy lips. Her figure was slender, her exposed arms fair, and she wore the simplest ponytail, yet she was stunningly beautiful.
Just one glance, and one couldn't look away.
Ellie tried to recall and was sure she had no impression of this boy. She remembered the sudden appearance of milk on her desk in the morning and said, "The milk on my desk this morning, did you put it there?"
Ryan replied, "Yes." He handed the snacks in his hand to Ellie and said, "These are for you."
Ellie said to the person in front of her, "Wait a moment."
Many boys in Class 7 were eyeing the boy at the door covetously. A pretty girl had just arrived in their class, and already someone was trying to steal her away.
Ellie took the bottle of milk and went back out, then politely said to the boy in front of her, "I didn't know who put the milk on my desk, and I haven't touched it. Here, take it back. Thank you for your kindness."
Ryan wasn't embarrassed and didn't take the milk from her hand. Instead, he said, "I didn't mean anything by it, Ellie. I just think you're quite special and would like to get to know you, make a friend."
Daniel saw Ellie at the door talking to a boy from afar and immediately felt like his sister-in-law was being targeted.
Ellie took out twenty dollars from her pocket and said, "Alright, consider the milk bought from you." She stuffed the money into the boy's hand and turned to enter Class 17.
She left Ryan a bit bewildered, holding the twenty dollars in his hand.
"Excuse me."
Ryan heard the boy's cold voice and then snapped out of it, stepping aside. His gaze turned towards Ellie inside, but she seemed really different from the girls he knew before, quite interesting.
Daniel's understanding of "excuse me" was: if you're trying to steal my girl, get lost.
He witnessed the whole process and couldn't help but gossip with Hao Ming back in class: "Hahaha, Ellie is so funny, such a unique way of rejecting someone, I've never seen it before.
If I understood correctly, the boy gave Ellie milk, Ellie refused it, but the boy insisted she take it, so Ellie just stuffed twenty dollars into the boy's hand and said, 'Take my money and get lost,' hahahahahaha, I'm dying of laughter."
Hao Ming said, "But I've never seen Ellie reject someone like this before."
The most absurd thing he had seen was with William. A girl confessed to William before, but his expression was so fierce that it scared the girl into silence.
Aria waved at Ellie, watched her walk up, and whispered, "That boy was quite handsome. Did he want to chase you?"
Ellie thought for a moment and said, "Not really. He said he thought I was special and wanted to be friends with me, so I returned the milk he gave me this morning. He said it was a gift, so I gave him twenty dollars, considering it as bought from him."
"Pffft."
Aria couldn't help but laugh. She thought Ellie said something else, but it turned out to be this. No wonder the boy at the door looked a bit dazed just now.
"You should not casually accept things from others," especially from boys, that's what Chloe told her.
Aria couldn't help but say, "You're so well-behaved." She looked at Ellie and said, "You're not very wet."
Ellie replied, "I shared an umbrella with someone."
"That's good," Aria said, then suddenly remembered something and said, "I don't have your contact information yet."
Ellie asked, "WeChat or QQ?"
Aria chuckled and said, "Both, please." She handed her notebook and pen to Ellie.
Ellie finished writing and returned the notebook, then said, "I'll go back now."
"Okay, I'll add you when I get back tonight."
Ellie returned to her seat and started working on her problems. Her desk was gently knocked, and she looked up to meet Daniel's gaze, asking, "What's up?"
Daniel asked, "What did you say to that boy at the door today?"
"Huh?"
"What did he want when he came to find you? What did you say to him?"
Ellie repeated what she had just told Aria.
Daniel noticed William lift his head, then said, "Saying you're special and wanting to be friends, that sounds like a player. Ellie, stay away from such boys."
"Player?"
"Yeah, listen to his tone. It's so smooth, definitely a player. He doesn't clearly express his feelings for a girl, just says he wants to be friends. You can tell he's an old hand at chasing girls." Daniel felt very logical in his reasoning.
Ellie nodded as if understanding, then smiled at him and said, "I know, thank you."
A girl who is both well-behaved and pretty, who wouldn't like that?
No wonder William gave her his umbrella to use today.
William's corner, it seems, has been well guarded.