He looked at the head that popped out and pointed to his phone.
Ellie looked down at her phone.
[William]: I'm leaving.
He waved to Ellie, and the motorcycle quickly disappeared into the night.
...
Ellie looked at the message from William.
[William]: Can we video call? You can teach me the problems I don't understand, little teacher.
As soon as William sent the message, Ellie quickly replied.
[Little Teacher]: Sure.
A video call invitation popped up, and William tapped to accept.
Ellie placed her phone on the table and said, "You write first, ask me if you don't understand."
"Okay."
William wrote the problems, and after a few questions, he sneaked a peek. Ellie was looking down at a book, her expression very serious. She was wearing a cream-colored pajamas, her long hair obediently spread over her shoulders, her eyelashes long and curled.
William glanced a few times and then refocused on his work.
Coco jumped onto William's shoulder, a big face close to the screen, and then "meowed" a few times.
Ellie, who was reading, looked up and saw a cat face. She laughed and said, "Coco, do you remember me?"
Coco stretched out her paw and patted the screen, then a big face approached the screen.
William picked her up and said, "Why are you getting so close?"
Coco struggled a few times, seemingly wanting to get closer to the camera.
Ellie couldn't help but laugh and said, "You continue writing, I'll video with it for a while."
"Okay." William watched the cat and Ellie video chat, feeling a bit jealous. He had brought back a little rival for himself.
It had been quite a while since he finished writing.
William looked at Ellie in the camera and said, "I'm done, little teacher, check it for me."
Ellie said, "Turn the camera around so I can see."
William's handwriting was as unrestrained as he was, not the font teachers liked, but it wasn't ugly either.
"The second question, the fifth question, and the last one, check them again."
William obediently reviewed the questions again.
Ellie said, "See anything?"
William said, "The second question, I misread the question stem."
"Do it again."
William did it again and then looked up at Ellie, noticing she was watching him, seemingly supervising him to correct the mistakes. He smiled at Ellie and said, "Done."
Ellie checked again and said, "Not bad, you got it right this time." She continued, "Redo the other two questions."
"Okay."
William looked at them several times, not knowing where he went wrong.
So Ellie explained again.
After the problem was solved, William was reluctant to hang up the video call. He looked at Ellie and said, "Can you video call me to explain the problems in the future? I won't disturb you doing your homework."
Ellie thought he was thirsty for knowledge and smiled, "Sure." She paused and added, "On weekends when I'm free, I can also explain problems to you."
William couldn't help but smile, and he said, "Good."
"Go to bed early, good night, William, and Coco."
"Good night, little teacher."
...
I thought William's studying was just a novelty.
I didn't expect William to study obediently for a week, not sleeping in class, and not playing games when he got home.
He was almost unreachable on his phone.
Although sometimes William would fall asleep in class, he would always be poked awake by Ellie.
...
October 19th, Thursday afternoon.
Ellie packed up her things and said to William, "I have to tutor this week, it might be very late, so I can't video call you to explain problems for the next few days, I'll check your homework on Monday."
William said, "Okay."
Ellie always previews alone, learning the content ahead and doing the problems behind.
William didn't know what else she needed to tutor.
Maybe little prude was doing more difficult problems.
Back home in the evening.
William took out his English materials, and as soon as he opened them, he subconsciously placed his phone on the table, then put the phone away again.
He forgot, no problem-solving or video calls for the next few days.
William wrote for a while.
Subconsciously, he looked up.
There was no Ellie on the phone screen.
He suddenly realized he was not used to this feeling.
These days he thought he had fallen in love with studying, but it turned out he just liked little prude teaching him.
Just liked seeing her.
Coco jumped onto his shoulder, and William rubbed its head, saying, "Don't look, there's no her today."
Coco "meowed" a sound, seemingly puzzled.
"Little prude went to tutor, no problem-solving today, no video calls."
I don't know if it was said to Coco or to himself.
...
Although she had been through chemotherapy many times, every time Ellie entered the hospital and smelled the disinfectant, she still felt terribly uncomfortable, her body instinctively resisting.
She didn't like hospitals.
This time, she directly fell asleep.
She slept until noon on Friday before waking up.
SuSan saw Ellie wake up and said, "Ellie, the lady is out for something, I made soup, it's still in the thermos, would you like some? Pigeon soup, it's been simmering for a long time, it's very fresh."
Ellie shook her head: "Okay."
She went to wash up, drank some soup, and fell asleep again.
In the afternoon, she was woken up by pain.
She was curled up on the hospital bed, her face pale from the pain, her lips almost bitten through, the whole-body pain made her forehead sweat a lot.
SuSan saw her uncomfortable appearance, her eyes red with worry, and she ran out to call the doctor.
The female doctor glanced at Ellie and said, "This is a reaction that will occur after surgery, I can only prescribe some painkillers for her, she is already thin and weak, she needs to supplement more nutrition, eat more vegetables rich in fiber, and meat rich in fat and protein."
SuSan said, "Thank you, doctor."
Ellie took the medicine, drank half a cup of warm water, her face was pale, thin and pitiful.
SuSan asked the doctor about her current health, the doctor glanced at the girl in the ward and said, "The body is better than before, but she is already in the late stage, the chance of cure is very small, as for the later stage, it's hard to say, but your family should be mentally prepared..."
The rest of the words SuSan almost couldn't bear to listen to, she said "Thank you," then couldn't help but secretly wipe away tears outside.
She pushed the door open, tucked Ellie's quilt corner, and then went out.
Ellie saw SuSan's slightly red eyes, she didn't know what to do.
...
William didn't receive Ellie's message until late.
[Little Teacher]: I'm done with my tutoring today, remember to do your homework, I'll check it on Monday.
[William]: So late.
[Little Teacher]: Yeah.
[William]: Get some rest early, good night.
[Little Teacher]: Good night.
Ellie put the phone aside, the pain on her body had eased, she got up and got out of bed.
She opened the curtains.
Unfortunately, there were no stars today.