"Ouch, that hurts."
"I know, I'll be gentle." Mason carefully poured the rubbing alcohol into his palm and then rubbed it on Daniel's injured area.
Daniel grimaced in pain, but he didn't dare to bare his teeth because it would pull at the wound on his mouth corner.
After Mason finished applying the medicine, he let out a sigh of relief.
"Lie face down, Mason."
"What for?" Mason looked up at him.
"To put medicine on you, I didn't get hit much today, you took all the hits."
"How can you bear it if they all hit your small frame?"
"Get out of here, Mason, looking down on your dad. Ptooey, your dad is so brave and mighty."
Mason watched him gesture with the medicine and said, "Are you still applying medicine?"
"Don't rush, your dad is coming."
...
"Little Teacher, why didn't you give up on me?" William thought they would never meet again like parallel lines from then on.
He was almost ready to give up on himself, but she didn't.
Ellie looked at him and said, "Because the William I know is not like this."
"What is he like then?"
Ellie looked at his suddenly close face and felt her ears getting hot. She said, "Very good, very, very good."
Unrestrained and dazzling.
Excellent and resilient.
William listened to her say "very good" three times in a row and chuckled, "So Little Teacher thinks so highly of me?"
Ellie didn't take his words but just looked at him and said, "Was it cold outside on the first day of the Lunar New Year?"
She didn't want to ask why he didn't tell her.
If it were her, she might not be able to do the same.
She recalled William's attire that day, plus what the aunt said, and Ellie finally understood why William wore a scarf when he saw her that day.
Because he had injuries on his neck and face.
"It was cold, the dumplings Little Teacher gave me were all cold, and several got dirty." William saw her eyes with some tears and said, "Not cold, not cold at all, I was dressed very warmly that day."
Others might feel pitiful, but Ellie would truly feel heartache for him.
"I'll cook for you another day, and you can eat them hot."
"Okay." William looked at her and couldn't help but smile again. He looked at Ellie and said, "It wasn't cold that day, just felt a bit unhappy."
They all said Happy New Year, but he wasn't happy.
Ellie looked at him; the only place that could be considered a home during the New Year had gone back, how could he be happy?
While others were enjoying the happiness of the New Year, he only had loneliness and struggle.
Would he have complained about the unfairness of God for a moment, wondering why others could enjoy the New Year while he couldn't?
She suddenly felt reluctant to leave, but how could these things be up to her?
She didn't know if she could make it to the next New Year, but if she could, she definitely wanted to wish him a Happy New Year.
"More happened that day than what I know, right?" Ellie looked at him, coaxing him to speak about his unhappiness that day.
William didn't want to lie to her and nodded, "Yes."
"What else did he say?"
William paused, choosing the nicer words to say, "He said I am trash, not affiliated with him, a nobody trash."
Before he finished speaking, a pair of soft hands rubbed his head, her voice was gentle and warm, each word tapping on his heart: "You are you, you don't need to rely on anyone, and you are certainly not the trash he calls you. Don't belittle yourself, okay?"
"Okay." William said, then added, "Thank you, Little Teacher, for not giving up on me."
"It's you who didn't give up."
Still on the same little bridge, the two were blowing the evening breeze, watching the bustling city.
"My dad wants to train me, and then later assist the brother with no blood relation, but that so-called brother is overly innocent and really likes to come and play with me."
"Can I say something?"
William looked at her, "Go ahead."
"For your first few sentences, I want to say it's not only absurd but also ridiculous." Ellie looked at William's profile and said, "Do you hate him?"
"Who?"
"Your brother."
"I can't say I hate him, nor can I say I like him, after all, he's done nothing wrong."
"But you've done nothing wrong either, William. It's not you who's wrong, it's them." Ellie looked at him and said.
William had thought this sentence many times, but it felt very different when it came out of Ellie's mouth.
"Still, Little Teacher cares about me, unconditionally biased towards me."
Seeing him starting to be improper again, Ellie just gave him a look.
William said, "I'm asking you a serious question, don't you think me tutoring you is a disturbance?"
"Doing something that makes me happy and seeing you get better, why would that be a disturbance to me?"
The last tight string in William's heart snapped.
Previously, he thought he was disturbing her.
But she didn't think it was a disturbance.
Now he suddenly understood.
Why couldn't he catch up with her pace?
"That's good."
Ellie thought for a moment and said, "Getting to know you during this time, I've done a lot of things I've never done before and felt a lot of happiness I've never felt before. I enjoy it and really like this feeling."
Before, the most frequent thing she did was read books or do exercises in her room.
It's undeniable that she learned a lot and was very fulfilled, but she hadn't played many fun things and hadn't tried them.
She also hadn't felt the kind of joy that touches people's hearts.
The relaxed feeling when being with him made her feel very comfortable.
The two looked at each other and smiled.
William's eyes reflected her, and her smiling eyes were curved, extremely well-behaved.
"Forgot to say, Little Teacher on the stage was really beautiful."
"I knew it was you that day."
William was somewhat astonished, "You saw me?" He had wrapped himself up tightly and left early before it ended.
How could he?
How could she have seen him?
"I recognized you at a glance, but I was a bit unsure."
"Sure enough, I can't escape Little Teacher's eyes."
...
"You should go back, your injuries haven't been treated yet."
William got up from the bridge and then "hissed" in pain.
"Where does it hurt?"
"Everywhere."
Ellie brushed the hair from his forehead and saw the wound on his hand again, "You have a lot of injuries on your body, don't you?"
She only heard the doctor say there were multiple bruises on the body.
"Go back and let Little Teacher take a look, and you'll know, right?"
Ellie realized that he meant to video call and look, and her ears turned red immediately, she said, "I won't look."
William looked at her red ear tips and said, "I won't tease you anymore."
Ellie looked up at him and said, "William, if you keep fighting like this, you will eventually get disfigured one day."
"Would Little Teacher despise me then?"
"I don't know, probably."
"Then I'll have to trouble Little Teacher to look after me in the future."