"William."
William lay on the ground, not daring to look up at her, wishing he could just bury himself in the dirt.
Ellie squatted in front of him, extended her fair fingers, brushed aside his hair, saw the wound on his forehead, and her gaze fell on the injuries on William's face and neck. Her eyes welled up with tears, and she called out again, "William."
William heard something off in her voice, a trace of crying in her inflection. As soon as he looked up, he met her somewhat red almond-shaped eyes.
Everything else can go to hell at this moment.
Her crying is simply killing him.
"I'm sorry." William didn't know why he was apologizing, but at this moment, he just wanted to say he was sorry. He struggled to get up from the ground and said, "I'm fine, I'm really fine."
He was in a miserable state now, his hands were dirty, and he didn't even dare to reach out to touch her.
Ellie reached out her hand to him and said, "Let's go home, William, let's go home."
William looked at her, his heart trembled, and he said, "Where to?"
"Home."
"Okay, home." In fact, he no longer had a home in the true sense, but if she said home, then there was still a home.
William knew she might already know, he forced a smile and said, "I'll go with Little Teacher, is Little Teacher still willing to keep me as a student?"
As he spoke, it was as if he was asking, Ellie, do you still want me?
"William, has anyone ever told you that you look ugly when you smile like this?"
"Is Little Teacher disgusted by me?"
"Disgusted."
Daniel watched the two reconcile and felt like crying while smiling.
The crying was because his mouth was injured, and it hurt when he tried to cry.
It really hurt.
He said to Mason, "William and Ellie are finally going to make up, my eyes want to urinate."
"Get out of here," Mason was speechless.
Ellie looked at Daniel and Mason on the other side and said, "Do you two need to go to the hospital?"
Daniel said, "Ellie, we can go by ourselves." After that, he pulled Mason and left.
"How did you suddenly come here?"
"I went to the building where you used to live and found out you no longer lived there."
...
"Young lady, who are you looking for?"
Ellie pointed to William's door and said, "Auntie, has the tenant here moved away?"
"They moved out. They moved out some time ago. It seemed they were forced to leave, so pitiful. It was still the first day of the Lunar New Year when many people suddenly came and changed the lock on this tenant's door. I was taking out the trash and saw the boy fighting with those men. They wanted him to go home, but he refused.
In the end, the boy left with injuries all over his body, holding a cat and a lunch box. I remember this kid from when he was young. It's normal that he wasn't close to his parents, but I don't know why his father forced him to go back, especially on the first day of the Lunar New Year, making everyone unhappy. I don't know where he could have gone in such cold weather..."
Ellie couldn't bear to listen to the rest.
No wonder he had no contact since the first day of the Lunar New Year.
It was so cold that day.
Where on earth did he go alone?
Where could he go?
Thinking of this, Ellie couldn't help but tear up. She just wanted to call William out and ask him face to face.
...
William stared at Ellie's red eyes, aching with heartache, wanting to hold her in his arms. He looked at Ellie and said, "Is Little Teacher feeling sorry for me?"
He could guess what Ellie was about to say.
But Ellie said, "I do."
Ellie directly reached out her arms and hugged him, her soft arms wrapped around his waist, and buried her face in his chest.
William stood there, speechless for a while.
His heart was about to flutter out.
It was like countless fireworks exploding in his heart, crackling, and his heart was pounding out of control.
His mind was also excitedly dazed.
He felt that even if he took a few more kicks today, getting a hug from her was worth it.
He suddenly realized that he was too dirty and pushed Ellie away, saying, "I'm too dirty."
Ellie looked up at him, not speaking, her almond-shaped eyes glistening with watery mist, her eyelashes fluttering.
William was somewhat tempted to kiss her under her gaze.
"Why is Little Teacher hugging me?"
"Feeling sorry, so I hug you." Ellie couldn't help but feel suffocated thinking about what the aunt said.
"Can Little Teacher feel sorry for me all the time?"
Seeing her mouth not serious, Ellie said, "No, I won't feel sorry for you anymore in the future."
"It seems I have to make myself more miserable." Seeing the expression Ellie gave, William changed his words, "I won't in the future."
"Go to the hospital first."
"Little Teacher, I'm in so much pain I can't walk. Can you help me?" William said, leaning on Ellie, looking rather pitiful.
Ellie believed his words and put his arm on her shoulder, saying, "I'll help you."
"Okay." William felt as if he was floating, and the pain from his injuries was gone.
Ellie hailed a car, then helped William get in first and said to the driver, "Go to the nearest hospital."
"I hurt all over."
Ellie peeled a candy and put it in his mouth, pressed his head on her shoulder, and said, "Sleep for a while, it won't hurt if you sleep."
William really fell asleep, either because he was too relieved or for some other reason, and Ellie had to wake him up when they got out of the car.
Ellie got out of the car first, then helped him out.
The doctor suggested that William should take a picture and have a full body check.
William said, "My bones don't hurt, just apply some medicine to the injuries."
He looked at Ellie, who was expressionless, and said, "What tests do I need? Doctor, give me a list."
Ellie accompanied him through one check after another.
The doctor looked at his test results and said, "Abdominal wall soft tissue swelling and contusion, I'll prescribe some ointment for you, your stomach is congested, but fortunately, your stomach is not seriously injured, you have multiple bruises and injuries, take this list and get the medicine outside."
"Thank you, doctor."