Chapter 90

Everyone liked Lucy, including Emily. Back in high school. Emily was dirt poor,always stuck in her school uniform. She didn't have any pretty dresses, shoes, bags. or even a decorative hairpin with diamonds. So. when it came to looks. Emily felt she couldn't hold a candle to Lucy.

Then there was Patrick, who was like Lucy's shadow, always around her.He was already 6'4" back then, tall and straight like a pine tree. with a presence that turned heads wherever he went.

Emily felt like a thief, always sneaking glances atthe shared moments between Lucy and Patrick from their school days.

"Lucy, about that last question on the math test...? Is the auxiliary line supposed to go here?”

Lucy smoothly sketched a curve on her scratch paper, the blue ribbon in her hair swaying gently. "See? Connecting these two points gives us similar triangles."

Outside, the cicadas fell silent. Emily stared at the two heads in front of her, closely huddled together, her pencil tip poking tiny holes into the eraser.

Patrick's school uniform collar was always crisp, but now it tilted slightly toward Lucy. like a compass drawn to a magnet.

“Wrong.” Patrick's voice sliced through the chatter, his long fingers pressing down on Lucy's paper. "This needs to be a perpendicular line here...” As he pulled the pencil from his grip, a gentle breeze stirred Lucy's hair.

"Patrick!" Lucy puffed up her cheeks. pressing her palm against the draft paper. “I'm about to solve it!"

“By the time you figure it out, the steak in the cafeteria will probably be sold out." His voice held a rare warmth, his knuckles tapping lightly on the desk.

“Remember to bring your jacket for PE next period." As he stood, the hem of his uniform brushed against Emily's desk, leaving behind a faint scent of laundry detergent.

Emily quickly pulled back her fingers, almost brushing against him. The thud of a basketball hitting the pavement echoed from the playground as she caught snippets of Lucy's voice discussing, "borrowing your chemistry notes for the duty today." It was then that she noticed Patrick's chair,still tilted slightly backward, reminiscent of every time Lucy spoke, he would unconsciously lean in her direction.

“Emily,are you coming with us?" Lucy turned her head, sunlight catching on her eyelashes like shards of gold.

Emily tightened her grip on the frayed cuffs of her uniform, her throat feeling like it was stuffed with damp cotton. She could feel Patrick's gaze skimming over her head, finally landing on the blue bow bouncing in Lucy's hair.

"You guys go ahead." She lowered her head, pretending to organize her backpack, listening as their footsteps faded away.

Muffled voices echoed in the hallway, "I told you not to run in the corridor..."

"Got it. Mr. Rivera!" The last note carried a swveet, sticky laughter, like

melting cotton candy drifting on a spring breeze.

As Emily crossed the courtyard with her homework in hand. raindrops slanted through the shadows of the camphor trees. She saw Patrick's blue checkered umbrella leaning toward Lucy, exposing his wet right shoulder.Water droplets slid down his sharp jawline, leaving dark stains on the ground.

“Didn't I tell you to bring an umbrella?" His deep voice mingled with the sound of rain.

"The weather forecast said scattered showers..." Lucy's voice suddenly rose.“Patrick. your shoulder is soaked!"

As the umbrella swayed. Emily saw the boy pull the girl closer to the center of the umbrella with his left hand, while his right hand maintained a polite distance behind her.

Suddenly, thunder cracked through the rain. Lucy instinctively inched closer to Patrick, the blue ribbon brushing against his school badge.

Emily counted the raindrops on the second button of his uniform until her eyes began to sting. The unopened, transparent raincoat in her arms suddenly felt scalding, curling silently into a ball amidst the patter of rain.

“Patrick, look!” Lucy exclaimed, pointing at the sky,“It's a double rainbow!”

At that moment, Patrick tilted his head back, and Emily finally saw the light flicker in his eyes.

That glow was familiar-she had seen it countless times at dusk-when Lucy spoke on the podium; when she fell on the playground and laughed while getting back up; when she held out a milk tea, saying, “This one's

for you." Like the North Star always pointing in a fixed direction, like migratory birds never losing their way home.

The classroom was empty after class. Emily gently brushed over the open exercise book on Patrick's desk, the penmanship penetrating the paper,with an ink blot blooming at the end of the character.

She suddenly noticed the edge of the draft paper had a crooked sunflower drawn on it, identical to the stickers on Lucy's pencil case.