Chapter 1 - Have You Had Plastic Surgery?

The scorching sun and the sound of cicadas broke the sky.

A classroom on the second floor of Rising Sun Middle School.

Mr. Smith stood on the podium, giving a lecture with a triangular ruler. His coat was mostly wet with sweat.

It was so hot that it seemed to bubble. The fan on the ceiling was running and making a lot of noise. In this high temperature, the wind seemed to be boiling.

The students below also looked sleepy.

He couldn't help being a little grumpy.

"Look at the blackboard." Noticing the state of the girls sitting in the third row, Mr. Smith frowned slightly and slapped the blackboard harder with the ruler.

"Do you hear me? Look at the blackboard! "

Several students who were about to fall asleep suddenly woke up, opened their eyes wide, and forced themselves to look at the blackboard.

One girl did not seem to hear, still bowed her head and painted on the paper with a pencil.

She had a beautiful and innocent face, which was more lovely because she was still young and childish.

Sitting in a good posture, quiet and gentle, she seemed to be the kind of obedient student that the teacher liked best.

At this time, she treated the teacher on the podium as air.

Mr. Smith frowned deeper and continued to work out the math problem for the students. Seeing that the problem was almost finished, she had no sign of raising her head, Mr. Smith couldn’t hold his anger anymore and slapped the triangular ruler on the desk.

The plastic ruler collided with the wooden desk and made a loud noise.

The sound frightened the whole class at the same time, and the atmosphere was stiffened by a roar that followed.

"Ashley!"

Ashley, who was named, looked up and looked at Mr. Smith for two seconds.

Then she put down her pen and stood up consciously.

Mr. Smith held his temper and said, "what did I just say?"

Ashley looked at the draft on the blackboard and looked calm, “four corners equals 72 degrees."

Accustomed to her being such a good student all the time, Mr. Smith was not deceived this time. He patted the desk with a ruler and sneered, "I haven't talked about that yet!"

"…"

Ashley began to feel a little nervous, "then you call me to ... "

Mr. Smith asked, "Why do you think I called you?"

Ashley thought for a few seconds and guessed, "couldn’t you work it out?"

Mr. Smith, “…"

Ashley, "do you want me to teach you?"

Mr. Smith, "?"

"I see."

Ashley looked at the blackboard and said, "because angle one equals angle two, AB is parallel to CD, and the two lines are parallel to each other and complement each other's inner angles…"

Mr. Smith could not bear it, "wow, you are so amazing, you can even take my place!"

Being interrupted, Ashley looked a little more at a loss. Her lips opened, and only after a few seconds did she hesitate to say, "but I can't take your job."

"…"

The whole class was quiet for three seconds and roared with laughter.

Mr. Smith was furious, "Shut up! Be quiet! "

The children were still laughing, the classroom became as noisy as a market, and several teenagers in the back row were even booing--.

"Mr. Smith, I agree! Let Ashley lead our class! "

"Does that mean we don't have to do our homework?"

"Can I just skip school?"

Mr. Smith shouted, "shut up!"

"Ashley." Mr. Smith looked at Ashley again, breathing more heavily, trying not to be too misbehaved, but he finally roared with anger and said, "tell your parents to come here tomorrow!"

The bell rang.

Mr. Smith left the classroom with a poker face without looking back.

It happened to be the last class, and most of the students packed up ahead of time and left.

"Why did you piss Mr. Smith Bold off again?" As soon as the bell rang, Ashley’s friend Bella leaned over to her position. "Don't you know that he likes to call parents? It's only halfway through this month, and your mother has been here twice. "

Ashley stuffed the books on her desk into her schoolbag and zipped it hard, “I don't know what I did to him."

Bella stared, "You don't know?"

Ashley looked irritable and muttered, "didn't I answer?"

"Didn't you deliberately ask for a beating in that answer?"

Bella laughed out loud, "Why, I can't take your job. Don't talk about him. I want to hit you, too. "

Ashley murmured, "Then you are as unreasonable as he is."

"Oh, seriously." Bella said, "Why don't you listen to the lecture and get caught all the time? "

"Don't you think Mr. Bold sounds like hypnosis?" Ashley put on her schoolbag and yawned. "If I listened carefully and didn't find something to do, I must have fallen asleep."

"…"

‘That makes sense.’

Bella noticed several boys standing at the school gate. She turned around and mentioned another thing, “Oh, right, are you going to the bookstore?"

Ashley glanced at her and said, "Why?"

Bella explained, “Ethan asked you out, and there are several boys from Class 6. Let's go together."

Ashley, “No."

"Why?" Bella gently bumped her shoulder and said vaguely, "Ethan is quite handsome."

The two girls left the classroom side by side.

Hearing this, Ashley looked a little indescribable, "Go to the hospital and have a check on your eyes."

Bella was unconvinced, "What happened to my eyes? I'm not the only one who thinks he's handsome! A lot of people think so. "

Ashley nodded and suggested again, “Then you can go in a group."

"…"

Ashley then took out her cell phone from her schoolbag.

Opening the message editing window, she hesitated and sent a text message to her brother, Liam, “Brother, you haven't been home for a long time. When are you going home? Can you come back tomorrow? I miss you so much, TAT.”

Bella did not pay attention to her behavior, said disappointedly, “Are you really not going?"

"No."

"They are all waiting at the school gate."

"Go if you want."

Ashley said absent-mindedly, "I'm not in the mood today."

Bella, “Ah, because of the matter of calling parents? So what are you gonna do? Why don't you tell your father this time? "

Ashley shook her head. "They're not coming."

"What? Why? "

Ashley was still staring at her mobile phone, waiting for Liam's reply, “I won't tell them."

Bella reminded her, "But if your parents don't come, Mr. Bold will call them, too."

"It's all right." The latter sentence "I'll tell my brother" hasn't been said yet.

The text message just came in.

Liam: [? ]

Liam: [Nope. ]

"…"

Arriving at the school gate, Bella said goodbye to her and then went to Ethan's group of people.

Ethan's expression faded, stared at Ashley's back, and asked, "Ashely won't go?"

Bella shook her head, “She was scolded by the teacher and was in a bad mood."

Ethan lifted his eyebrow, “Has she been called a parent again?"

Bella, “Yeah."

"…"

Ethan stayed in place for two seconds, then suddenly raised his foot and walked in the direction of the school.

Another boy, John, hurriedly shouted to him, “Hey! What are you doing?! "

Ashley continued to text Liam, angrily denouncing him for being heartless and ignoring his 13-year-old sister, who was still unable to take care of herself and abandoned her in order to go to college and let her fend for herself.

She waited for a while.

Liam didn't reply to her.

She waited a little longer.

The heartless Liam still did not reply to her.

Completely disillusioned, Ashley got on the bus home and began to think about how to tell her parents the situation for the third time this month.

‘What should I say?

What about she was envied by the teacher because she was too excellent?

Or, what she said in class caused the teacher's misunderstanding and gave him a sense of crisis in his career?

Or, it is too hot, the teacher is too bored, and wants to invite parents to drink tea …...’

Ashley scratched her head impatiently.

‘It doesn't seem to work.’

As soon as she looked up, she found that she had arrived at the station.

Ashley got out of the bus and walked slowly towards home.

After entering the house and seeing the familiar environment, Ashley's scalp was numb and she felt even more unable to say it.

Just at this time, her mother Grace’s voice came from the kitchen, “Is that you, Ash?"

Ashley responded and slowly took off her shoes.

Because of this full of worries, she didn't notice that there was an extra pair of sneakers on the shoe rack that she had never seen before.

Grace called her again, "Ash, come here for a minute. Do mom a favor. "

Ashley was still thinking about how to confess, vaguely said, “What?"

"Take this plate of fruit to your brother's room."

Grace came out of the kitchen and said, "Your brother is back."

"Ok…Huh? "

Ashley suddenly regained her spirits and raised her tone by a little bit. "Brother is back?"

"Yes."

This unexpected development made Ashley unbelievable.

An overwhelming sense of surprise sprang up in the blink of an eye.

At this moment, the ruthless annoying elder brother has become the perfect elder brother image of cold on the outside and hot on the inside in Ashley's heart.

Grace was still talking, “Be careful when you go in. Your brother brought a…"

"All right, all right!"

Impatient to listen, Ashley took the fruit and ran to Liam's room. "I see!"

Looking at Ashley's extraordinarily enthusiastic figure today, she wondered, "What's going on with this kid today? "

Thinking that there was no need to be reprimanded by her parents, Ashley could not help bending her lips and pushing open the door of Liam's room.

The room was spacious and bright, and a lot of sunlight came in.

The breath was filled with a warm smell for a moment.

In an instant, the strong smell of cigarettes came in the face, a little choking, Ashley could not help coughing.

She wrinkled her face and swept around the room.

Where the light was weak, a thin man sat on the sofa next to the computer desk and looked down at his cell phone.

He looked dark with his back to the light. One hand on the side of the sofa, slender fingers holding a cigarette, but also burning scarlet light.

The figure was similar to that of Liam but unexpectedly strange.

Ashley stopped and blinked hesitantly, but the word "brother" in her mouth had not yet been called out.

The man raised his head.

She also saw what he looked like at this moment and held her breath for no reason.

The man's expression was light, the facial features were sharp, with a smile that can not reach the fundus on his face, he looked gentle but difficult to approach.

His light brown pupils were folded up with a touch of seduction.

They were completely different from her brother's dark eyes.

She thought she would see her brother, but she saw someone she didn't know, and her brother was still out of sight.

For a moment, Ashley's brain didn’t work and she didn't know how to react.

The scene seemed to freeze.

Both of them stayed where they were, and there was no extra movement.

It didn't take long.

The man lowered his eyes again and slowly suppressed the cigarette, looking lazy. He did not seem to have the desire to speak and got up silently to open the window for ventilation.

Looking at his behavior, Ashley shouted at a loss.

"Brother? "

Hearing this, the man moved and picked his eyebrows. He stared fixedly at Ashley. His beautiful eyes were covered with a gentle color, but also a little more playful.

Then he bent the corners of his lips and dragged his voice in tune.

"Yes?"

"…"

The response was like a bolt of lightning on Ashley's head.

Those uncertain things were clearly traced by the thoughts of her mind at this moment.

The brother she hasn’t seen in months should become like this.

She couldn't believe it at all, as if she was petrified, and it took her a long time to hold back a word, “You, you …"

Pausing for a few seconds, she swallowed hard and finished her words carefully, “Have you had plastic surgery?"

"...."