Chapter 4
As I was about to enter the operating room, the anesthesia began to take effect. I fell into a dream of memories.
That Christmas when I was sixteen, I earned my way into the nation’s top high school.
Rachel, Xavier, and the boy I deeply loved all became my schoolmates. However, this also marked the beginning of my nightmare.
I never understood why Rachel always bullied me.
She and her friends would stick their chewed gum in my hair and stuff used tampons into my backpack.
Whenever I walked by, they would deliberately trip me.
They would even pour dirty water on my head while I was in the bathroom.
I tried to fight back, and the teachers knew about these incidents, but they did nothing.
Once, I was having terrible period pain and had just taken out some painkillers when Rachel snatched them away.
With a smug smile on her face, she demanded that I kneel and beg her.
I gritted my teeth and endured, but the waves of pain kept coming, almost breaking me.
I was afraid I couldn’t hold on and would surrender to Rachel.
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Chapter 4
The students around us even started placing bets on how long I could last.
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Looking at the hundred–dollar bills on the desk, I finally broke down in tears.
Just then, someone leaned against my desk, his shadow looming over me. He counted the money with a mischievous grin. “Not bad, quite a sum. Consider it a gift to me.”
Those people watched him pocket the money but didn’t dare say a word.
He beckoned to Rachel with his finger, his smile ice–cold. “Give me the medicine. This poor girl is under my protection now. From now on, she’s under my care. Anyone who touches her will have to deal with me.
Understood?”
He was Caleb Warren, Xavier’s rebellious brother who was always causing
trouble.
Before, I didn’t like Caleb. But that Christmas, he stepped in to help me.
I later realized it might have been because he had been injured in fights before, and his family elders never asked why, only scolded him. Only my mother would secretly tend to his wounds.
Perhaps he was returning the favor, I thought.
From then on, I finally had my own protector.
*****
When I woke up from the anesthesia, Daisy was holding my hand tightly. Her eyes were red–rimmed from crying, and her face was streaked with tears.
Chapter 4
I asked her why she was crying.
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She choked up and said I had been talking in my sleep during the anesthesia.
Then, she softly asked, “That boy you loved, where did he go?”
I looked out toward the high rooftops and slowly closed my eyes, with a distant look in my eyes. I whispered, “Him… he flew
away with the wind.”
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