The thank-you dinner after the college entrance examination.
William did not attend; he couldn't bear to hear any words related to her.
He almost sealed himself in a small circle, isolating himself from everyone.
His hair had grown longer, and he grabbed it in front of the mirror, pulling it into a little bun.
He laughed and then cried.
...
June 24th.
William checked his college entrance examination score.
683 points.
But he felt no joy.
Daniel scored 430 points, and Mason scored 543 points.
...
Philip sat on the sofa, looked up from his computer, and said, "The scores for the college entrance exam came out today?"
"Yes, sir."
"How much did that disobedient son score?"
"683 points."
Philip was somewhat surprised, raised his hand, picked up the coffee on the table, and took a sip.
Brad wanted to take the opportunity to ease the relationship between father and son. He said, "The young man has been working very hard for more than a year, studying until midnight every day."
Upon hearing this, Philip sneered, "Hard work? The most useless thing in the world is these two words. No matter how hard he tries, he's still a nobody."
Brad kept his head down and was silent, not speaking.
He didn't understand why Philip always disliked William so much; after all, he was his own flesh and blood.
As soon as William came down from upstairs, Philip stopped him.
William looked up at him: "What's up?"
"I saw your score. You will attend University A in this city and study in the administrative management major."
Upon hearing this, William looked at him indifferently: "Does Sir Philip really think he is training an assistant?"
"Else? What do you think you are good for?"
William looked down into his eyes and said, "Then I'm afraid I will disappoint Sir Philip."
"William, don't forget about that house."
"Sir Philip really has a short memory. I said that if you still want me to help you in the future, don't force me. I don't mind fighting you to the death."
"Hahahahaha." Philip laughed out loud, looking at William, and said, "You should not delude yourself into thinking you can affect anyone. Fighting to the death? You should have that ability."
William's fists clenched, and he looked at Philip, saying, "Then you can find someone else."
"William, William, you must understand that for me, you only have that little bit of value."
"Thank you, Sir Philip, for reminding me." The young man's voice was filled with sarcasm.
Scarlett just came out and saw the two people on the verge of a confrontation and asked, "What's going on?"
William didn't speak and went upstairs without a word.
...
Early July.
On the day of college application, William applied for Q University, majoring in computer science.
Daniel and Mason both applied for schools in the same city as him.
One studied law, and the other studied medicine.
The two often visited William, but William just sat alone in the corner.
It seemed that since the day the college entrance examination ended, William had changed. His black eyes were unfathomable, and there were no other expressions on his face.
...
Mid-July.
The three successively received their admission notices.
William looked at the admission notice and still subconsciously took out his phone to take a photo and send it to her.
[William]: I received the admission notice from Q University today.
He looked at it for a long time and then put away his phone.
Knowing that there would be no response, he still wanted to share everything with her.
...
In September of the same year.
William dragged his suitcase and came to Q University.
In front of the school gate was a magnificent building with vigorous and elegant calligraphy, inscribed with several large characters.
It is said that it was written by a literati when the school was built a long time ago.
Entering the school, there was a tree-lined avenue. Every time he walked on such a road, he would think of her.
He would carry her share and continue his college education.
Study well.
...
The dormitory was a four-person room.
Foster looked at the young man packing up and said, "Hey, what's your name?"
"William."
Foster was more extroverted and went to talk to the other two people in the dormitory.
The other two, one named Bennett, was more stable in character.
The other one, Garcia, was a gaming addict.
...
William spent a day touring the entire school and took many photos.
He introduced the layout of the school to her one by one.
...
Later, during a long period of getting along, the three found that William was either in the class or in the library.
He seemed to dislike communicating with people.
But when there was a question for him, he would also solve it patiently.
...
Foster often saw two boys coming to find William.
He heard one of them say that they were good friends before.
Foster envied the relationship between the three and was also curious about why such an indifferent person had a friend with a completely opposite character.
...
June 30, 2018.
William took a leave and bought a ticket back to City A.
In Foster's eyes, William was a person who didn't care about anything except for studying and projects; he didn't even go home for the New Year, staying alone in the laboratory.
He was curious about why he suddenly took a leave to go back.
"William, why are you taking a leave suddenly?"
Bennett also said, "Why do you suddenly want to take a leave?"
Garcia looked up from the game and said, "Leave?"
William's hand, which was packing, paused for a moment. He concealed the emotions in his eyes and said, "I'm taking a leave to see someone very important."
The three thought it was because a family member had passed away and didn't dare to ask more.
June 31st.
The sparse stars hung in the sky, and the night was so thick that it couldn't be dissolved, as if it had been splashed with ink.
The young man was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt, with black pants, seemingly blending into the night. His eyes carried indecipherable emotions.
He was holding flowers in his arms, and in the other hand, he was carrying a cake, walking step by step.
He placed the pure white roses in front of the tomb and sat directly on the ground.
The girl on the tombstone was smiling brilliantly.
"Little teacher, I did as you said, when can you come back and see me? Even if it's just in a dream."
The wind scattered the young man's voice.
His words were met with a long silence.
William opened the cake box and spoke to himself: "This is your favorite taro cake, happy 19th birthday, little teacher."
He inserted the candles and sang the birthday song.
He cut the cake into two parts, ate half himself, and left the other half in front of the tomb.
"Little teacher, I want to get back that house, I want to start my own company, everyone laughs at me for being presumptuous, but I want to give it a try. If you were here, you would support me, right?"
"I miss you so much."
"Miss you so much."
Chloe was holding flowers; she covered her lips, trying desperately not to make a sound.
The flowers fell to the ground, and she ran away like she was fleeing.
She didn't mean to pry into him; she missed her too.
Missed her very, very much.