novelraw Chapter 136 - 134: Kissing in Public
Chapter 136 - 134: Kissing in Public
As a realization dawned on Ian Sinclair, his drooping eyes snapped wide open.
Her first heart-pounding moment in high school...
Was...
...him?!!!
He was floored.
’This can’t be a dream.’
Under the table, Ian gave Dixon’s thigh a hard pinch.
"OW!" Dixon suddenly shot to his feet, startling everyone. Dozens of eyes snapped toward him.
Dixon was about to curse, but seeing all the eyes on him, he swallowed his words and forced a smile. "My bad, my bad. Just bumped my leg, hahaha. I’m fine, nothing’s wrong."
He waved his hands dismissively and sat back down, looking perfectly calm. In reality, the pain shooting up his thigh forced him to grit his teeth.
Ian blinked, his narrowed eyes instantly widening into star-struck saucers.
’That looked like it hurt. Wow, so this isn’t a dream!’
The first thing Dixon did upon sitting back down was plot his revenge.
A vengeful hand snaked out under the table, only to be blocked by Ian before it could land.
Dixon looked at Ian’s hand, then back up at his face.
Ian was staring across the table, his eyes and his whole being completely fixated on Mia Grant.
"Weren’t you staring over there? How’d you know I was about to pinch you?"
Without even sparing him a glance, Ian said coolly, "Because I know what kind of person you are."
"..." Dixon looked like he was about to explode. Pointing to his own nose, he demanded, "What about the kind of person I am?! If I were a bad person, I would’ve just..."
His voice died in his throat.
Wait a minute.
Dixon followed Ian’s gaze across the table and frowned.
’The more I look, the more something feels off.’
At first, Ian hadn’t been so blatant, so there was nothing to see.
But now...
How to describe that unwavering stare?
It was like a dog that had just spotted a bone and was wagging its tail frantically.
He was practically drooling.
He was sitting right next to Ian, and as a friend of many years, he could easily sense the shifts in Ian’s mood.
One thing was for sure: Ian was happy right now. Incredibly happy.
And as for the reason for this happiness...
Dixon stroked his chin and looked across the table again.
Felix Sinclair picked up his glass and downed several gulps of... something. It was hard to tell if it was alcohol or just a drink.
Other than that, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. His expression was still the same old half-dead, lifeless mask.
Mia Grant, for her part, was already absorbed in the next round of the game. She didn’t seem to notice anything either.
But Dixon was sure of it—Ian had only become this happy after hearing Mia’s answer for "Truth."
’Could it be...?’
Based on past experience, a wild idea suddenly struck Dixon.
But the idea was so wild, he didn’t dare voice it.
—
The game had already moved on to the next round. The jeers and catcalls had long since faded, but a buzzing still lingered in his ears.
The cool liquid slid down his throat, but it did nothing to stop the wildfire inside him from burning. The flames only leaped higher, burning ever brighter.
He was lying on the ground, watching as person-high weeds buckled under the heat. Crimson embers spattered from the sharp-edged leaves, landing on his cheeks, his arms, and at his feet. They seared his skin, leaving behind the acrid smell of scorched earth.
Pillowing his head on his arm, he stared silently at the oppressive black clouds gathering on the horizon.
It felt just like the sky from that day in his memory—the day of the downpour.
Lightning tore through the clouds, followed by a deafening clap of thunder.
It startled him, and his gaze snapped back to the classroom.
The teacher had just dismissed class early, and everyone was packing up.
He came to his senses, checked the time, and hastily stuffed his test paper into his bag. Grabbing his umbrella, he hurried out the door.
Normally, he was the last one to leave the classroom.
Today was an exception.
But he was still too late.
Only a few scattered students remained in the classroom next door.
The seat by the window—the one he had peeked at so many times through the glass of the classroom door—was empty.
"Oh, Felix? Are you looking for your brother?" a teacher asked, spotting him. "He left a while ago."
"Alright. Thank you."
He didn’t bother to explain, simply turning and leaving with his umbrella.
He walked out under his umbrella alone. His driver met him at the entrance, taking the umbrella and opening the back door of the car for him.
After he got in, the driver turned to him and asked, "Should we head home now, Young Master?"
At first, he was confused. "Where’s Ian?"
The driver just scratched his head and smiled.
So, Felix followed the driver’s gaze out the window.
The car window was blurred by the curtain of rain, but he could still make out two figures huddled together for shelter at the bus stop across the street.
Their umbrella had been blown askew, forcing them to take shelter under the boy’s oversized school jacket.
They looked disheveled, yet there was a strange sort of beauty to the scene.
Even from across the road, he could see Ian smiling.
As for the girl’s expression...
He didn’t get a clear look before they boarded the bus.
The rain began to fall even harder.
He couldn’t help but lower the window a crack, letting the slanted raindrops hit him.
He craned his neck, trying desperately to find her silhouette through the square windows of the bus.
Finally, there she was. She sat down in a two-person seat by a window in the back, clutching her schoolbag and a jacket.
A moment later, Ian sat down beside her.
From his angle, all he could see was the back of her head. Her attention was fixed entirely on Ian.
Just before the bus pulled away, the girl seemed to sense something and cast a glance out the window.
She must have seen him.
She must have seen him, sitting in his car, looking even more pathetic than they did in the rain.
But she paid him no mind.
Her gaze lingered for only a second before she turned away and said something to Ian.
The bus pulled away.
The driver glanced at him in the rearview mirror. "Young Master, you should close the window. You’ll catch a cold."
It was strange.
That day, Ian was the one who came home drenched, got an earful for it, and still couldn’t stop grinning.
Yet he was the one who ended up with a high fever.
Perhaps it was because of that lingering fever that this rainy day was the first thing that came to mind when he heard Mia’s answer.
Sometimes, having a good memory isn’t a blessing.
Mia Grant was completely oblivious to all of this.
She saw Ian Sinclair’s Corruption Value suddenly drop, but before she could celebrate, she turned and saw the throbbing Corruption Value above Felix Sinclair’s head.
She quickly patted Felix’s hand and whispered, "I was just making that up."
The moment the words left her mouth, his Corruption Value shot up by 5.
"???"
She didn’t know what was happening. Taking a deep breath, she continued to coax him, "Y-You need to calm down first. Really, I’m just messing around with them. With you, it’s for real."
"I was lying to them."
She squeezed his fingers, trying to placate him.
Felix was the type to overthink everything.
He kept everything bottled up inside, swallowing his pain and suffering in silence.
If it weren’t for the Corruption Value, Mia would have a hard time sensing his true feelings.
Just as she was trying to calm him down...
The bottle on the table stopped spinning, its neck pointing right at Mia again.
Learning from her last turn, Mia chose "Dare" this time.
She drew a slip of paper and handed it over. Sutton glanced at it and started hooting, "Kiss a member of the opposite sex here for three seconds with a piece of paper in between!"