She was probably also looking at the river outside, so she didn’t notice how close they were when talking, and her breath landed right on Chris Brooks’s ear.

It tickled, and felt quite nice.

“Here’s my chance!”

Chris Brooks suddenly turned his head quickly, saying, “You weren’t surprised either.”

Unexpectedly, Julia Bennett was even faster. Just as Chris Brooks moved, she quickly pulled back and looked at him warily.

Chris Brooks felt a bit regretful that he didn’t manage to kiss her. As Julia Bennett scrutinized him, she said, “I’ve been to Jianye as a tourist before. Not just the Yangtze River Bridge, but also the Presidential Palace, Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, and the Confucius Temple—I’ve been to them all.”

Julia Bennett couldn’t tell if Chris Brooks was doing it on purpose, so she just let it go in the end.

After crossing the Yangtze River Bridge, they arrived at the Jianye Bus Terminal. The three of them got off the bus, and only then did Julia Bennett notice that Chris Brooks had the least luggage.

He only had a backpack, and because the sun was so bright, Chris Brooks somehow pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on in a flashy way. At first glance, he really looked like a tourist in Jianye.

“Why didn’t you bring bedding?”

Julia Bennett looked at her own pile of bags and asked.

“The school provides all that. It’s written in the registration instructions,” Chris Brooks replied.

“What about clothes? It’ll be autumn in Jianye after October.”

“I’ll just have my mom mail them to me when the time comes.”

Julia Bennett nodded with an “Oh,” realizing there was such a way to handle things.

But Chris Brooks had even more unconventional moves. Julia Bennett thought they would go to school together since their campuses were right next to each other, but Chris Brooks shook his head: “In a bit, you take a taxi to the train station, just the starting fare. From there, take bus 137, and your school is the fifth-to-last stop.”

Julia Bennett was stunned: “What about you?”

“I’m going to visit Changshou Lake Park nearby with Little Brian.”

Chris Brooks didn’t seem to be joking, since he only had a backpack and could leave at any time.

Julia Bennett started to get anxious. She was a girl with a lot of luggage, and now she had to carry it all herself in the sweltering heat, especially with such a complicated route—wasn’t this torture?

“Chris Brooks!”

Julia Bennett suddenly shouted, her voice tinged with tears: “You jerk, you promised my dad you’d take good care of me!”

……

Chapter 10: Hah, Men!

You have to know, today wasn’t just the registration day for Donghai University and the University of Finance and Economics—almost all universities in Sudong Province were registering today. There were tons of students at the bus terminal, all moving their luggage under the sun, queuing up to leave the station, already feeling extremely irritable.

But when Julia Bennett cried out, these seemingly innocent but inwardly mischievous soon-to-be college students suddenly perked up, as if they’d discovered some juicy gossip.

Julia Bennett, beautiful and lovely, looked so pitiful and aggrieved;

Chris Brooks, wearing sunglasses so you couldn’t see his face clearly, but he was tall and looked decent—not ugly at least;

Brian Foster, dark-skinned and standing awkwardly to the side, was clearly not the main character and could be ignored.

So everyone’s attention focused on Chris Brooks and Julia Bennett. These teenagers, fresh from the college entrance exam and in the throes of adolescence, let their imaginations run wild. Just from the line “You promised my dad you’d take care of me,” they instantly pictured a scene of a scumbag abandoning a devoted girl.

Chris Brooks panicked as soon as he heard this. He was just teasing her, but she took it seriously. He quickly whispered, “Don’t cry, there are so many people here.”

Actually, Julia Bennett hadn’t shed many tears; she was just anxious and angry. But she didn’t want to forgive Chris Brooks so easily—not even if it was just a joke.

Julia Bennett wiped the corner of her eye with the back of her hand, turned away, and said nothing.

Jianye is known as one of the four great “furnaces” of China, and September 1st was still blazing hot. Julia Bennett was sulking and didn’t want to leave, but Chris Brooks didn’t want to stand in the sun any longer. He touched his sunburned scalp, sighed, and said, “Let’s hurry up and go. If someone misunderstands that there’s something between us because of your outburst, it might affect my chances of finding a girlfriend in the future.”

“What?!”

Julia Bennett suddenly looked up at Chris Brooks in disbelief. Was this really the classmate who’d had a crush on her for three years in high school?

Seriously, is that something a person would say?

She was crying, and Chris Brooks was worried about not being able to find a girlfriend in the future.

Chris Brooks was startled when Julia Bennett glared at him, but then thought it wasn’t a big deal—after all, she had rejected him before.

“How about this: I’ll take you to the train station and watch you get on the bus. That should be enough, right?”

Chris Brooks added fuel to the fire, clearly intent on teasing Julia Bennett further.

“Still planning to ditch me?!”

Julia Bennett was about to explode, her breathing noticeably quickening.

“If you don’t say anything, I’ll take that as agreement. I’ll help you carry your luggage to the train station.”

Chris Brooks reached out to grab Julia Bennett’s bag, but before he could, Julia Bennett suddenly grabbed his wrist and, without a word, bit down hard.

“Damn!”

Chris Brooks couldn’t help but cry out.

Julia Bennett didn’t hold back at all, her face flushed red. Chris Brooks felt waves of pain in his arm, but he couldn’t hit her, and was afraid to push her for fear of hurting Julia Bennett.