CHAPTER 128: CHAPTER 128: MEMORIES (28)

"Are you going back? Let me take you." He reached for Florence Fuller’s hand, but this time, Florence avoided him.

"No need, I’m staying at school."

"Your school is over there, but you just walked this way, the direction is the opposite," Ethan Harper said.

Florence didn’t speak.

The two stood in silent opposition, Florence kept her head down, "Anyway... I don’t need you to take me."

Her voice was stiff.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed; it had only been a month since they’d last met, but what had happened?

"Are you tired?" He reached out, wanting to touch her hair, but before he could, the girl in front of him dodged away.

Ethan froze.

"I can go back by myself." Florence couldn’t explain her current feelings; she felt gray and disheveled, while Ethan was polished and bright.

Why did she feel this way now, when things were fine before?

"It’s very late now." Ethan noticed she never looked at him, and his gaze intensified slightly, "I’m worried, I’ll take you."

Florence bypassed him and walked forward.

Ethan followed her.

"Don’t follow me." She tugged at her single-strap cloth bag, awkwardly said.

Ethan: "I said, I’m worried, and it’s so late, how will you get back?"

Florence took out her phone, "I’ll get a taxi."

Ethan snatched her phone, his expression had turned grave, "So you’re still not telling me anything? Is this how you say you’re doing well on your phone, participating in many interest classes and clubs, and are very busy?"

"What else? What should I say?" Florence didn’t look at him, trying to retrieve her snatched away phone, "Give it back to me."

Ethan wouldn’t return it, his tone turned a few degrees more stern, "Florence."

Florence couldn’t retrieve it; she took a deep breath and simply buried her head and walked forward.

She might as well not care about the phone anymore.

Ethan pulled her hand, drawing her to face him, Florence was caught off guard and met his gaze directly, and Ethan saw the mist of tears in her eyes.

"Let me go." Florence shook her hand free, the tears uncontrollably falling, "Go away."

"What’s wrong? You can tell me if something happened..."

"Tell you what!" Florence wiped her tears, looked at him, "Tell you what, what relationship do we have? Am I obligated to tell you everything! I said I could walk back by myself, yet you insist on taking me, follow me, block my path, snatch my phone, what exactly do you want!"

Ethan’s breath missed two beats, his eyes showed disbelief, as if he couldn’t comprehend Florence’s words.

His heart twisted.

He paused, but couldn’t utter a single word.

Florence snatched her phone back from his hand, her eyes red as she glared at him, "Don’t follow me anymore."

But Ethan still followed her.

"I told you not to follow me!"

This shout nearly tore through the quiet night, she gritted her teeth, enduring the tears, looking at Ethan who was now a step away, "I don’t want to see you."

Ethan’s eyes were filled with hurt, his upright body trembled almost imperceptibly.

Yet his heart trembled more violently, both trembling and feeling miserable.

Just a month ago, they were still so close, even though they hadn’t met, their chats were frequent and intimate, but how did it come to this upon meeting...

He could sense there was something weighing on Florence’s mind, and wondered why he didn’t come looking for her sooner.

She said she wanted to integrate into her new class and new classmates, and she was busy, didn’t have time, don’t come, and when she had free time she’d look for him, he listened and waited for her to come.

Why didn’t he come sooner?

Florence walked all the way back to her apartment complex. It was an old complex without an elevator, she rented a bedroom in a shared three-bedroom apartment, the space wasn’t big but it was much cheaper.

When she tried to unlock the door, she couldn’t aim the key at the keyhole, tears continuously fell onto her hand, she bit her lip and whimpered.

She regretted saying those words earlier, she didn’t want to say them at all.

She actually missed him a lot too, wanted to throw herself into his arms and hug him, tell him how tired she’s been lately.

Eating little, dressing frugally, working herself to exhaustion.

Florence wiped away the tears, opened the door again.

The door opened smoothly; she entered the house and closed the door, an indescribable smell invaded her nostrils.

She turned on her phone’s flashlight, held her breath and went back to her room, avoided the lingerie on the floor, stepped onto two torn packaging bags, and beside them lay something oily illuminated by the flashlight.

Florence restrained herself from gagging, quickly returned to her room.

Currently, only she and the occupant of the master bedroom lived in the shared apartment, except for the first move-in, she hadn’t seen the girl in the master bedroom since.

She left early in the morning and returned late at night, but this was the third time she came home at night and encountered this smell.

She even accidentally overheard sounds of passion outside the bathroom door a couple of days ago.

Luckily, she didn’t go in.

But if you’re going to do that, do it in your room, and clean up after you’re done outside.

Florence was irked and miserable.

Ethan returned home around midnight, and Abigail Monrose hadn’t gone to sleep yet. She looked at him and said, "Did you see Florence? How is she doing lately."

After asking, she noticed her son’s face wasn’t right.

It was ashen.

"I saw her." His voice was very low; it was apparent his mood wasn’t high.

"What happened?" Abigail became anxious, "Did something happen to Florence? She called me earlier; everything seemed fine."

"She’s... fine." Ethan replied, "I’m just a bit tired, Mom."

Abigail stopped asking, "Then go to your room and rest early."

Ethan nodded, not turning back as he went to his room.

——

Florence was obviously not in a good state today; in the three classes she attended, she was called out twice, and one time she couldn’t answer the question, clearly absent-minded and not paying attention.

In the afternoon, she made three wrong drinks in a row; the manager suspected she was being affected by the boy staring at her at the counter, after all, the boy had been coming for several days and showed with blatant intention that he was there for Florence.

"Go take a break at the back." The manager knew Florence was a capable and hardworking person, even with the new semester just starting, she was diligent and efficient at work, not just a pretty face, plus she was quiet.

Florence nodded, went to the back room to sort out her emotions.

She had to pull herself together; she couldn’t let this continue.

Ten minutes later, she sorted out her emotions and went back to work without making further mistakes.

"Let’s close the shop early tonight; I have to leave, and there aren’t many customers anyway." The manager circled around the shop and said.

"Yay!"

Everyone cheered.

Florence was finishing her closing tasks when she heard the door being pushed open.

Isabelle Moore patted her.

Florence looked up and saw a boy carrying flowers walk in, with a shy smile on his face, followed by a group of people, both men and women.