Grace Bennett saw me agree, and her eyes curved into crescent moons as she smiled.

Although I knew perfectly well that there was no way anything could ever happen between me and Grace Bennett, when such a beautiful girl takes the initiative to get close, no boy with even a shred of vanity could possibly refuse.

At noon after school, I was the first to walk out the school gate. I turned a corner and waited for Grace Bennett at our usual spot. A guy wearing glasses, dressed in clean sportswear, looking very sunny and handsome, walked over.

He grinned at me mischievously, clearly up to no good.

If you ask me, in this whole school, the person I fear most isn’t any teacher. I’m not even that afraid of the principal or the dean. But I am especially wary of this cousin of mine who’s a year older than me.

My cousin’s name is Henry Clark. This guy is a natural-born genius—he’s never ranked below the top three in any exam, and in all kinds of school tests, he’s first eight or nine times out of ten.

Don’t think my cousin is some bookworm. This bastard is incredibly smart, with a freakishly high IQ. Almost every time I run into him, he manages to talk me into a great mood with just a few words, and only ten days later do I realize... damn, I’ve been tricked by that bastard Henry Clark again.

Although Henry Clark often messes with me, he’s still my cousin. Because he’s a top student and extremely cunning, he’s got a lot of clout with the teachers. There have been plenty of times when I got into trouble serious enough to get expelled, and even after my parents came to school multiple times, nothing worked. But as soon as cousin Henry Clark stepped in, he’d settle it in minutes. If it weren’t for all the times he’s taken the fall for me and covered my ass, I probably wouldn’t be so afraid of him just because he bullies me with his intelligence.

Even so, sometimes I think the real reason I’m so scared of him, even a bit intimidated, is not just because he’s too smart and willing to protect me, but also because of the psychological shadow left from being bullied by him when we were kids.

Chapter Two: A Grudge as Deep as the Sea

“Waiting for your girlfriend again?”

“What do you want? I’m warning you! Don’t mess up my plans, or even family ties won’t save you.”

I shot him a wary look. Cousin Henry Clark chuckled and said, “I don’t care about your puppy love. I’ve got something else to talk to you about! Do you remember sending those mass texts from my phone not long ago?”

“What are you up to?”

A few days ago, I took cousin Henry Clark’s phone and sent confession texts to all the girls in his class, including the prettiest English teacher. He hadn’t come after me for days, but I knew he wouldn’t let it go. With his nasty personality, the longer he waited, the more vicious his revenge would be.

I eyed my cousin warily, but he didn’t seem the least bit angry. In fact, he looked rather pleased.

That could only mean one thing: he’d already come up with some diabolical plan beyond my wildest imagination, ready to make me regret for life ever using his phone for that stupid prank.

While I was facing off with cousin Henry Clark, suddenly there was a dull, thunderous boom. The ground shook violently, and the entire school building trembled.

“Something big just happened!”

“That was loud—was it an explosion?”

“It sounded like it came from the direction of the Central Mall…”

“Could it be an earthquake?”

Cousin Henry Clark and I both froze. I reacted a bit faster and immediately shouted, “That sounded like it came from my neighborhood! I’m heading out—cousin Henry Clark, tell Grace Bennett I’m not waiting for her…”

Before I even finished, I’d already sprinted a dozen meters away. I’d rather stand Grace Bennett up than stay another second with this devilish cousin. Cousin Henry Clark called after me several times, but I didn’t dare look back.

By now, the school building was in chaos, with students and teachers all rushing out of the classrooms as fast as they could.

Earthquake! Explosion! Help… All kinds of cries for help filled the air.

“It really does seem like it’s coming from my neighborhood!”

I don’t know why, but suddenly my heart was pounding with anxiety.

My home is very close to the school—at a leisurely pace, it’s only about ten minutes away. Sprinting at full speed, I reached our old five-story building in just two or three minutes.

Our family doesn’t even live in a real residential complex, just an old building over twenty-five years old. The plot is too small, surrounded by several high-end properties and not facing the street, so there’s no commercial value and no developer ever took an interest.

“The building’s gone?”

When I saw our old building, my eyes went bloodshot and my whole body started to tremble. All the high-end properties around us were untouched, but our old building… half of it was gone, and my home was in that half.

Even though the whole building wasn’t destroyed, what difference did it make to me? No matter how much I stared in disbelief, nothing changed—the building had collapsed!

Today… is Saturday. My parents should both be at home.