‘If I knew that my father’s affair was actually planned by my mother…….’
“……let.”
‘If you knew that your father’s affair was actually planned by your mother…… planned……’
“Scarlett!”
Scarlett gasped as she heard the voice calling her.
Noah was watching her anxiously. Scarlett squeezed her eyes shut and shake her head.
“I was just thinking about something else.”
Noah casually picked up Scarlett’s book. Scarlett’s gaze locked on him.
Maybe, just maybe, Noah Esford was innocent. But that’s just an assumption.
Scarlett didn’t want to point the arrow at her mother. She couldn’t, and she shouldn’t. Noah Esper is guilty. At least to me.
But if the affair was planned by his mother, what happened to the premature birth and…… how can you plan an affair?
Scarlett fought down the sudden rage to go to John and ask him a dozen questions.
“Are you tired?”
“No, no. I’m not tired.”
Scarlett shake her head. Then Noah demanded.
“I need to turn in an assignment. Give it to me.”
“Why do you think I have an assignment? You know damn well I don’t even go to class.”
“I do. It’s club sign-up day. Do you have any ideas?”
“No. Do you?”
“Um…….”
“Tell me. do I look like I’m eating you?”
Scarlett frowned, and Noah glared at her, then burst out.
“Why don’t you join the history study club or the maths club…….”
“You’re crazy.”
Scarlett seemed to believe that he was indeed insane, and she even covered her mouth as her eyes widened to reveal the whites.
It was the kind of look that suggested a bond or connection between them, and Noah found himself unnecessarily tickled by it.
If the kidnapping had made anything clear, it was that they’d grown closer, and Scarlett had become a little sister to him.
“No. It’ll be fun.”
“It’s ……your problem. I’m not going in there.”
Scarlett shakes her head, and they move through the building, discussing the club.
Scarlett was still cold with every word she spoke, but there was an ease in her tone towards Noah.
“I don’t understand why they have a rule that first years have to be in a club, what about people like me who don’t want anything, it’s such a relic of the past.”
“If you can’t decide, why don’t you join the one your brothers were in?”
“Aaron was in the riding club. What if he slipped off the horse?”
Scarlett took a quick glance at the recruitment notice on the bulletin board. She played with her fingertips, unable to hide her annoyance.
She had no affection for Iodes, and she didn’t think she could look forward to the next term.
“If I don’t sign up, you won’t either, will you?”
She asked, as if testing him. Noah looked lost in thought for a moment, then smiled weakly.
“I’ll do it, everyone has to.”
“Boring.”
Scarlett swallowed a sigh and scanned the announcement carefully once more.
I didn’t want to be in Noah’s debt. She couldn’t tell what state of mind I was in.
It was a mixture of love and hate, relaxation and tension, hard to recognise the shape.
All she knew was that she needed to watch him for a while.
Scarlett’s gaze lingered on the recruitment notice, barely hanging from the corner of her ear.
Noah’s eyes fluttered slightly as he studied her. A faint smile curved the corners of her mouth.
“This is it.”
Noah felt his mouth go dry. For the first time, he saw Scarlett’s eyes sparkle. She looked around curiously.
It was all so unfamiliar to Noah. The sound of crackling paper and the smell of paint was something he’d never been exposed to before.
“If I’d known there was an art club, I would have heard about it.”
Scarlett pulled out a pen and quickly filled out an application. Noah watched her flick the pen around and felt a sense of impatience.
“You go where you want to go.”
“No.”
He couldn’t leave Scarlett alone. She was sick, and it had only been a few days since she’d been in trouble. She needed a lot of help.
“I like it here.”
Scarlett finished her application and looked up at Noah. Hazel eyes studied him intently, as if trying to see through his lies, but Scarlett looked away, knowing it was his choice.
“You do it.”
Noah took the pen from Scarlett and filled out my application as well.
There were only five new students, including the two of them.
The newcomers took turns saying hello and then had to do a quick drawing to check their skills.
Noah, pencil in hand, froze in front of his paper and stole a glance at Scarlett, who was drawing an apple in front of him with great abandon.
Noah tried to mimic the way she held the pencil, but something about the way she held it made it uncomfortable.
He clumsily mimicked the shape of the apple, but the lines were jagged.
Noah swallowed a sigh. If he’d learnt anything from his days of drawing in the dirt with branches, it was that he was a terrible drawer.
“Here we go. Four minutes.”
With time running out, he started the drawing in a rush.
He wondered how the hell he was going to shade it and why he was being asked to draw something as difficult as an apple in the first place. He was a terrible drawer of even simple shapes.
“Time’s up,” I said, “I’m going to take it away.”
“Oh, my God.
Noah looked around at the others’ drawings and was stunned.
Scarlett was quite the artist. It looked to him like she’d been trained professionally.
“You…….”
Scarlett looked at Noah’s drawing and switched between the paper and his face.
Noah’s face made him look like a fairy-tale prince on a white horse who could do anything.
In fact, Noah had always been good at everything. In fact, Noah has always excelled at everything, especially in his studies, where he has become a favourite of his professors.
His childlike skills at such a young age were quite unexpected.
“It’s…….”
Noah trailed off, realising that whatever he said would be an excuse. Scarlett choked back a laugh.
Noah couldn’t lift his gaze from her peachy blush. For the first time, Scarlett’s face came alive.
For a moment, she looked like a normal woman, blushing and holding back her laughter.
A normal woman, laughing and talking like a normal woman, not sick and not trying to hide her weakness.
Noah was sorry he couldn’t be, and it hurt.
“Yeah. Smile.”
Noah sighed heavily and pretended not to notice, and Scarlett let out a small giggle.
Just then, the door opened and a familiar voice said.
“Sorry I’m late.”
The smile on Scarlett’s lips tightened. It was Wilhelm’s voice.
Wilhelem dropped his luggage on a seat and held out his pre-filled application form.
“Hoffmann. I thought you’d run away when you didn’t show up.”
“I mistook your room and waited in the sculpture club.”
Wilhelm chatted casually with the club’s director, as if he knew him. The director introduced him to everyone.
“This is Wilhelm Hoffmann. He was one of the first to come in during the first round of recruitment. Let’s get to know each other, class of ’34.”
Wilhelm checked out the classmates one by one and stoped on Scarlett, her arms crossed with an emotional expression on her face.
They hadn’t sat together in class, talked, or made eye contact since their last argument in the canteen.
“Grisham. You’re still stuck with him.”
“Don’t say that.”
Noah warned Wilhelm. Wilhelm shrugged and exchanged a greeting with another student.
Scarlett bit the inside of her mouth tightly. Noah whispered in her ear in a voice no one else would hear.
“Do you want to go out?”
“No. Why would I.”
“Because I’m uncomfortable.”
Noah shrugged. He knew Scarlett would think he was losing if he left, so he made the excuse for her.
Scarlett turned her head to look at him, her eyes wavering subtly. Noah read the confusion in them.
“Let’s get out. I want to go out. You saw my performance, I’m just a little embarrassed.”
“Then let’s just get some fresh air for thirty minutes.”
“Okay.”
They stepped out onto the grounds and breathed in the autumn air, which had already cooled considerably. Scarlett sat down on a bench and closed her eyes in exhaustion.
Noah pulled a blanket out of his bag and wrapped it around her. She asked cautiously.
“Do you hate me?”
“Again, no.”
“Even if you didn’t do anything wrong?”
If her father’s affair wasn’t true, then maybe Noah hadn’t caused her to be born prematurely.
Scarlett looked at Noah, more than a little disturbed that she might have been misunderstood.
“Do you want us to be brother and sister?”
“It’s not a wish, it’s a fact.”
“Well, you can like and dislike facts, for example, I hated that Andrew was my brother, because he was so mischievous and there were times when I wished I was his sister and I would have pinched him.”
“……I don’t know, I never thought about it. I don’t know about your other siblings, but I just feel like you’re my brother.”
If that was true, it was so naive.
If he didn’t hate them, why did he kill them, what did he do it for?
I spoke in a slow tone, too scared to say it out loud.
“Have ……you…… ever hated someone…….”
But Scarlett’s words were cut off by Wilhelm’s appearance.
“Grisham. May I see you for a moment?”
Wilhelm approached them, his face cold. Scarlett said.
“You two talk. I’m going inside.”
Scarlett wrapped herself in a blanket and went inside. Noah watched her walk away and then turned to Wilhelm.
“What’s going on? I thought I told you to stay away from us”.
“Oh, yes. You were willing to accept Scarlett’s insolent behaviour, even if it meant being treated like a slave.”
“Don’t be silly. You don’t understand.”
“Her anger is justified, but what she did to you is not.”
“If that’s what you’re here for, I’m going to go inside.”
“Okay. Just wait.”
Wilhelm sighed and ran a hand through his hair, which resembled a field of wheat.
“Last week, the day you were last in attendance, Scarlett must have poured milk on the head of a girl in the history department. The girl’s fiancé is threatening to kick Scarlett’s arse, and it sounds like he wants to humiliate her big time, so be careful.”
“Where and who?”
“She’s Jane Poldi, History, and her boyfriend is Archer Davidson, Politics and Diplomacy. If it were your nature, you’d apologise on her behalf, but if you really care about Scarlett, you’d better teach her how to apologise and ask for forgiveness yourself.”
Noah’s blond hair gleamed in the sunlight, and his eyes, which resembled the ocean, were filled with innocence and good sense.
But his face was even stiffer than Scarlett’s. It was set as if he would not allow her to argue.
“If she’s angry, I’m the one who’s angry; if she’s accusing, I’m the one who’s accusing; and don’t provoke her by making any kind of presumptuous remarks. His health is my number one priority, and I will not tolerate anything that compromises it.”
Wilhelm didn’t know Noah very well, but he had a feeling that the man in front of him wasn’t the Noah Esperd he’d ever seen.
Noah had changed. You can’t really put your finger on it, but he’s changed.
And Wilhelm’s guess was that it was a matter of his heart for Scarlett.
