Chapter 212: The Locked Past [1]
BRRRIINNG! BRRRIINNG! BRRRIINNG!
An old alarm clock kept ringing beside a small bed. A slender female hand reached out, trying to turn it off while still half asleep. The hand tried to silence the clock a few times, but when it touched the clock, it fell and kept ringing louder and louder.
Muttering a low curse in annoyance, the girl rose from the bed with half-closed eyes, crawled out, and pressed a button on the alarm clock. She was still exhausted, having studied almost until midnight. She had barely got any sleep, managing only 3-4 hours at most.
She took a look at the time, then went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and get ready. The exam was waiting for her, and she had to ace it as well. As she prepared, wearing her school uniform, and looked into the mirror, she saw pink hair, jade-white skin, and slightly reddish eyes. She was too beautiful —a beauty she would always hate, but now she smiled, satisfied with it.
She went down the staircase. Her steps were graceful, filled with elegance. In the large dining room, a long table stood. At the head of it, her father was reading a newspaper. As he flipped through the pages, he glanced towards her and said, “Waking up so late, despite having exams? What a good student you are!”
She did not respond and sat down in the opposite corner of the table. Her mother, after a moment, brought her breakfast: tomato soup, bread and an egg. She said to her in annoyance, “You’re becoming more and more ill-mannered by the day, not even greeting your father in the morning, or responding to what he said.”
“You’d better have the top marks on each subject, otherwise you’ll have to do, as we say, remember that.”
She again did not respond and started eating, her mother seems to want to say something more but in the end choose not to, after finishing the food, just as she was about to went out, her father added in a serious tone, “I have told you again and again, not to hang around with that orphan boy, I’m not sure how long I will tolerate your…defiant behavior.”
She, who had remained emotionless all this time, clenched her fist unknowingly, contemplating something perilous, but in the end, stormed off hurriedly. As she walked out of their enormous mansion, a large and beautiful garden appeared before her, but she was in no mood to appreciate it.
She could not help but think that some things really didn’t change, whether in her real life or here; her parents were rich conglomerates, and they both viewed their daughter, who had unmatched beauty, as a tool that could be used to elevate their status.
From a young age, they would show her off to other kids her own age from more affluent families or heirs to prominent companies. Even as kids, every other boy who laid eyes on her would become infatuated with her beauty. Let alone now, when she was a high school girl, her body was well-matured, far beyond that of her peers.
All the girls in the school would gossip behind her back out of jealousy. All the boys would look at her with lust. However, those didn’t bother her as much. In her original life, she was constantly filled with tension about when she would be married off prematurely to some other wealthy family, or even to a man older than her.
The only reason they didn’t do that was because she was extremely smart and very good at studies, the best in one of the country’s renowned schools.
She could never fit in with her classmates. They all sucked up to her, on the face. But talked shit behind her back. She even had to worry about kidnapping, which did happen initially multiple times. But in this life, she skillfully dodged those events. Apart from that, she made sure to keep most things the same, after all, that’s what she wanted, at least in this life.
As she walked out of her large mansion’s gate, just in front of the house next to hers, a boy was standing there, absorbed in his phone. She went closer in silent steps, and unceremoniously slapped him on the back, hardly and said with a sweet smile, “Morning, Tyler.”
The boy, cursed, “Damn it, you bitch, the phone almost fell.”
The boy was quite handsome in his own right, with slightly long black hair and blue ocean-like eyes. But his unhinged way of speaking did not match his elegant appearance. When his eyes landed on her as she was smiling sweetly, he showed an annoyed expression. He stated to her blandly, “What is it?”
Despite his spiteful tone, she could hear his heart racing, his gaze fixed on her, which internally pleased her greatly. He was her childhood friend, her only true friend, who had never made any advances to her, never tried to change their friendship into a romantic relationship. The only person in the world who truly cared for her, disregarding even his own feelings, just for her sake.
Even if she was the one who made subtle advances, he proceeded to ignore those clues or refuse to acknowledge them. She didn’t know why that was the case, though she had some guesses.
She let out a tired sigh and started walking, dragging him by the hand. Tyler, as if noticing something, asked her, “What happened?”
She gave him a sidelong glance. “What do you mean?”
Tyler snorted, “You know very well what I mean. Let me guess, they said something to you again.”
She shrugged, “As if that’s anything new.”
Tyler almost knew everything about her; she shared almost everything with him. It was weird how he would always understand if she was in a bad mood, even if she didn’t show any signs of it. As if there was an invisible connection between them, she would also notice his mood, even if he didn’t express it.
They reached the school together, and the two of them instantly became the centre of attention. But ignoring everyone else, they went in different directions, and both were in different classes. Sophia took her seat, and not long after, the exam started.
Finishing the exam, as she went out, ready to walk back to their homes alongside Tyler, someone suddenly grabbed her hand from behind. Her instincts instantly revolted in disgust as she swung her hand, and the stranger was forced to let go. She looked back and saw a familiar face, a student from her own class whom she knew.
A child of a rich conglomerate, similar to her own, but much higher in status, and one of her future potential fiancés, according to her parents. The boy said to her in annoyance, for rudely flicking his hand away like that, “Sophia, I need to talk to you.”
Hearing that, Sophia gazed deep into the boy’s eyes and said with chilling malice directed at the boy, “DO NOT EVER… EVER, TOUCH ME AGAIN.”
Everyone around them stopped, waiting to see a drama unfold. Her words only felt like an angry hiss from any bystander, but the boy who touched her felt a cold chill run down his spine and backed off with some unwillingness and shame.
Sophia instantly went to the washroom and washed her hands in disgust at being touched by another male.
Sorry for the late update.