Chapter 4The Charm

After a calculus class, I was energized, but Liam turned into a wilted puppy.

He switched to his second personality, clingily leaning on me to act cute.

"Babe, I'm so dumb compared to you."

I rubbed his head amusingly to comfort him.

"Not dumb, not dumb. I'll explain whatever you didn't understand."

"No, let's eat first."

He pulled my hand and walked out, then stopped halfway.

"I left my phone on the desk."

"I'll get it, wait for me."

He ran off quickly. I leaned against the wall filling out an application form.

Recently, there was an internship opportunity in the department, and people were fighting over it.

Although I was first in my year, I couldn't slack off.

My temples started throbbing again. My hand reached into my bag.

"Here."

A lighter and cigarettes were placed in my hand.

But I took out a piece of candy instead.

"Quit."

Caleb nodded, an emotion I couldn't read in his eyes.

"Do you have to work yourself so hard?"

He had said this before, and we fought.

Before the college entrance exam, I reached the point of tying my hair to the beam and pricking my thigh with an awl (metaphorically working extremely hard). To stay awake, I learned to smoke.

I was ambitious. I had to go to Tsinghua University. It was the first stop of my dream.

When Kevin came to deliver food on his mom's orders, he was shocked. But he didn't say anything, just threw me a box of supplements.

"Eat, then study."

I nodded and ate silently. My phone rang repeatedly.

It was a message from Caleb.

"Penny, I miss you so much. Come find me, okay?"

Below was the address of a famously expensive bar.

I didn't want to go, but it was his birthday. I softened.

When I entered the private room, Caleb reached out and hugged me.

"You haven't been with me for a long time. Stay with me today."

"No, I have to go back to do practice questions at ten. After the exam..."

Before I could finish, a female voice interrupted.

"Forget it. She's a self-reliant straight-A student. Why are you interfering?"

I knew the speaker. It was Caleb's childhood friend, Vanessa.

She looked me up and down with disdain and sneered.

"Tsk, playing hard to get should have a limit. Don't cry when you overplay your hand."

Laughter erupted as soon as she finished speaking.

Caleb's face went cold. He smashed a glass on the spot.

"Say one more shady thing and see what happens?"

"What my girlfriend does is none of your damn business."

He threw a huge tantrum. Those friends didn't dare say another bad word about me.

He dragged Vanessa over to apologize to me.

Actually, I knew his friends looked down on me, thinking I was with him for money.

But I didn't care about their opinions. I only cared about Caleb's opinion.

As long as Caleb believed in me and supported me, I had nothing to fear.

That night, Caleb ended the celebration early and personally drove me home.

"Don't get too tired. Rest early after finishing the questions."

His eyes were bright. Finally, he spoke shyly.

"Can you say happy birthday to me?"

"Happy birthday. Here's your gift."

It was a pair of boxing gloves. It cost me a month's salary.

Caleb grinned from ear to ear.

"I love it."

I took a deep breath buried in his jacket, feeling all my fatigue disappear.

In the days that followed, he silently took care of my three meals a day.

I studied like crazy. Finally, I found a free day to visit him.

But I heard him complaining to Vanessa.

"Does she have to make herself so tired?"

"Isn't it good to just stay by my side? I'll give her whatever she wants. I don't know why she's being so stubborn."

I didn't hear what he and Vanessa said afterwards.

I just felt a sudden sourness in my heart.

But at that time, I thought he was just concerned about me.

I didn't know this was just the beginning of the explosion of conflicts between us.