"Me? Chasing Hannah Zhou?" Ethan Chen glanced diagonally behind him, his eyes meeting Hannah's.
Hannah quickly lowered her head, pretending she hadn't been looking.
Ethan looked back at Oliver Wu, his face full of confusion. "Why would I be chasing her?"
"Don't ask me," Oliver shook his head. "That's just the rumor going around. I heard Hannah's boyfriend—some punk from outside school—is planning to cause trouble for you after school today."
"Oh." Ethan looked completely unfazed.
"Just be careful," Oliver reminded him before returning to his seat.
Ethan didn't pay it any mind. He bent his head, wrote something on a small card, and placed it inside a gift box he had bought during his lunch break.
When school let out in the afternoon, Ethan saw a group of troublemakers loitering across the street from the school gates.
Then he saw Hannah Zhou position herself near the entrance. The troublemakers started moving towards the school.
Hannah stepped in front of them. Spotting Ethan leaving the school grounds, she shouted for him to run.
While seeing troublemakers outside the school was pretty common, Hannah's shout drew everyone's attention. People stared curiously.
Ethan frowned. He could see right through it; Hannah was clearly stirring up drama, seeming to enjoy the feeling of having guys fight over her.
"You Ethan Chen?" the lead troublemaker, flanked by his lackeys, blocked Ethan's path. He spoke while deliberately rubbing his neck, showcasing a tattoo there.
His lackeys held things like clubs and bats. One of them had the handle of a machete peeking from his sleeve.
The lead guy cracked his knuckles, looking Ethan up and down. "You know Hannah's with me?"
"What's that got to do with me?" As he spoke, Ethan adjusted the straps of his backpack, preparing for a potential fight.
"You got a mouth on you!" The leader stepped forward. "Kids these days all this tough?"
"Let's just drag him to the park and teach him a lesson," one lackey said, trying to intimidate Ethan.
Just then, the roar of a high-performance engine cut through the air. A sports car pulled up right beside Ethan.
The scene felt familiar, reminiscent of an incident two months prior.
The car door swung open. A long, denim-clad leg emerged first, followed by the rest of the woman, dressed in a black designer jacket. She shook her hair out as she stood up, looking effortlessly cool.
Many students' eyes were drawn to her. Hannah stared with naked envy.
Serena He smiled, looking at Ethan surrounded by the wannabe thugs. "What's this? Looking for attention at the school gates?"
"Watch your mouth, bitch," one lackey licked his lips, hefting a wooden bat in his hand while letting his eyes roam brazenly over Serena's body.
Serena ignored him. She walked to the front of the car, bent over, and popped the front trunk (frunk).
"Tsk, tsk. That ass... if it started swaying, it'd be the death of me," the lackey continued his crude commentary, laughing as he spoke.
The other lackeys joined in the laughter.
Their laughter died in their throats the next second.
Serena pulled a machete from the frunk, turned, and swung it directly at the foul-mouthed lackey.
The lackey never expected a beautiful woman to pull a machete from her car, let alone attack without warning. He stumbled backward in panic, but Serena's blade still sliced through his jacket and into the flesh beneath. Blood immediately started flowing.
The shock and pain sent the lackey crumpling to the ground.
The other lackeys recoiled in fear. They wanted to run, but with so many people watching, they felt they couldn't lose face.
They were only brave when ganging up on someone weaker. The machete in the sleeve was just for show. They'd never encountered someone this ruthless!
Hannah's delinquent boyfriend swallowed hard, his words stumbling. "Th-this… this…"
Serena held the machete, its tip dripping blood. She walked slowly up to Hannah's boyfriend and raised the blade, resting the flat side against his neck.
The guy trembled, not daring to move.
Serena used the tip to flick his collar aside, tilting her head to look. "A tattoo? Trying to be a gangster?"
"No! No!" The guy waved his hands frantically. "Just for fun! Just for show!"
"Oh." Serena pulled the machete back slightly, then began tapping his cheek repeatedly with the flat of the blade. "I don't want to see you losers around this school again. Understand?"
"Understood! Understood!" The guy nodded vigorously.
"Get lost!" Serena snapped.
The guy turned and fled. The injured lackey struggled to his feet, clutching his wound, and hobbled away.
Serena turned back to Ethan, a thought striking her as amusing. "Getting cornered by trash like that... if Jack 'Two-Finger' Zhao saw it, he'd die of anger. Come on, let's go eat."
She grabbed Ethan's wrist and pulled him towards the passenger seat of the sports car.
The students watched, stunned, as a cool, beautiful woman arrived in a sports car, chased off the thugs, and drove away with Ethan.
Their envy for Ethan was indescribable.
Someone muttered under their breath, "And Hannah was saying Ethan was chasing her? Is Ethan stupid? Remember that other stunning woman who came for him in a sports car before?"
"Yeah! And that time two women were fighting over him, showed up with a whole convoy of Range Rovers! So badass!"
The chatter continued among the students.
The sports car roared down the street, turning heads. In this relatively small city, such vehicles were a rare sight.
Eventually, it stopped in front of a Western restaurant.
Coincidentally, it was the same restaurant where Ethan had run into Mulan recently.
Serena had reserved a private room in advance—the same one by the window.
The room was intimate, perfect for two.
"I thought you'd have a big birthday party," Ethan said, slightly surprised. "Looking at social media, it seems like most people have huge gatherings for their birthdays."
"I don't have many friends," Serena admitted with a somewhat embarrassed smile. "If you weren't here, I'd be spending it alone again."
A server brought in an exquisitely decorated small cake.
"Happy birthday." Ethan handed Serena the gift box.
"Let's see what it is!" Serena took it without any pretense of politeness and excitedly tore it open.
Inside the elegant box was a fountain pen.
"This…" Serena was momentarily speechless.
She was beautiful and had had many suitors, receiving all kinds of gifts—designer bags, watches, clothes, jewelry—there was nothing she hadn't seen.
But a fountain pen? This was a first.
In fact, it was the first one she had ever received in her life.
"I remember you have very nice handwriting," Ethan said with a gentle smile. "When you signed the documents at the Lansway Club, I thought you should have a proper pen of your own."
Nice handwriting…
Serena remembered back in middle school, a teacher had praised her penmanship. She had even used her allowance to buy practice copybooks, hoping her mother would be proud. But the expected praise never came.
"What's the use of practicing that? You'd be better off spending that time figuring out how to get on your father's good side, get a bigger share of the inheritance for me!"
Serena picked up the pen. It had a satisfying weight.
Underneath it was a small note with a simple birthday wish from Ethan.
Reading those few simple words, Serena felt her eyes grow moist.
"Thank you. I love it."
"Good." Ethan let out a sigh of relief.
They shared a bottle of wine.
When Serena reached for a second, Ethan stopped her.
"Alright, that's enough. One bottle is fine."
Serena raised an eyebrow defiantly. "I'm the birthday girl today! Shouldn't you be listening to me? We could easily handle three or four bottles with our tolerance."
"We could," Ethan smiled, "but any more and we'll be drunk. Come on, we're done eating. Let's go for a walk."
He stood and opened the door to the private room.
Serena hurried after him. When she went to pay, she was told the bill had already been settled.
She turned and saw Ethan waiting for her outside the restaurant entrance.
The air was frigid. With every breath, Ethan exhaled a cloud of white vapor.
When Serena looked his way, Ethan gestured with his chin for her to hurry up, then hunched his shoulders against the cold.
Serena ran over and zipped his jacket all the way up. "It's freezing! Why aren't you wearing a scarf? Aren't you cold? When's your birthday? I'll get you one."
"Probably won't get the chance," Ethan shrugged. "My birthday's in the summer."
"Tch." Serena rolled her eyes, then naturally linked her arm with his. "Where to?"
"Let's just walk."
Ethan started off.
They walked side-by-side down the street. It was Friday night, and the sidewalks were crowded.
"Hey, it's snowing?" Serena held out her palm, catching a snowflake that melted almost instantly.
"Yeah, the forecast said it would," Ethan said, pulling his collar tighter. "Come on, let's get in the car."
"You really have no sense of romance," Serena pinched his arm, then seemed to remember something. "Your life is comfortable now, you can afford to be a little romantic, can't you?"
Ethan looked exasperated. "You really hold a grudge, don't you?"
Serena shot him a beautifully dramatic eye-roll and pulled him along.
They walked through the bustling downtown area, crossing several intersections until they reached a quieter street.
"Ethan, come here! Stand here! The snow looks heavier under the light!" Serena ran to stand under a streetlamp at the crossroad. Looking up, she could clearly see the snowflakes swirling down through the cone of light.
The snow was indeed getting heavier, soon dusting their hair and shoulders white.
Suddenly, a streak of light traced across the sky.
Then another!
Soon, Serena's eyes were filled with密密麻麻 (a dense multitude) of streaking lights, cutting through the heavy snowfall, creating halos in the night sky.
"This is…"
"Last time on the mountain, we didn't get to see many stars. Thought I'd make it up to you. Well... man-made stars."
Ethan stood beside Serena, also looking up.
They were drones, flying at a high altitude, blinking their lights on and off in a programmed sequence, mimicking a starry sky.
Serena looked away from the spectacle and saw Ethan standing there, hands in his pockets, smiling at her.
Tears welled in her eyes. Ethan had said she held a grudge, referring to her remembering his comment from the night market. But he had remembered what she said on South Mountain that night.
This feeling of being remembered, of being cared for... it was something Serena hadn't felt in a very long time.
Serena was a sharp woman. She knew Ethan was different from the other men who pursued her. Those men had ulterior motives. But Ethan? He had no such intentions towards her. He simply wanted to do something nice for his "good brother," the one he shared a life-and-death bond with, to make her happy.
"Ethan! You're smoother than you look!" Under the streetlamp, Serena's smile was radiant. It was a genuine, heartfelt smile.
"Let's go." A Range Rover pulled up slowly beside them. "We still have work."
"No! Sense! Of! Romance!"