Chapter 10 - Little Madame Medusa

His tone was plain, with a hint of laughter.

Ashley couldn't tell whether he was joking or stating the facts. She rubbed the milk bottle with her fingertips, posing a clear look, and asked him, “Brother, have you never watched those two movies?"

The corners of Jacob's lips curled slightly, “I have watched "Transformers"."

‘Sure enough.

It was because of ignorance that he could say that.’

Knowing something he didn't know, Ashley was a little proud. She stood up and explained to him gently, “ Madame Medusa is not the name of the movie, but a supporting role in a Disney movie called..."

Speaking of this, she stopped, and she couldn't remember the name of the movie for a while, “called, called—"

Unable to wait for her next words for a long time, Jacob stared at her and couldn't help but laugh out, “The name Madame Medusa sounds pretty good."

Ashley was still thinking about the name and ignored him.

Didn't mind her indifference, Jacob continued, “She must be a pretty girl."

This time, Ashley couldn't take it as she hadn't heard it. She raised her head and just wanted to refute. The next moment, he squeezed her face playfully, and then said, "Like little Ashley?"

Ashley, “..."

Ashley could not believe her ears, nor could she believe what she heard.

‘He should say that she looked like Madame Medusa.

Oh! My! God!’

Soon, Jacob took out his mobile phone from his pocket and looked at the time. He swept around and pointed to a convenience store not far away, “Going there?"

Ashley still froze in place, without saying a word.

Jacob turned his head, and said, “Huh? Why doesn't little Medusa speak?"

"..."

‘Little Medusa?!

Oh! My! Jesus! Christ!’

Ashley couldn't figure out whether he was complimenting her or mocking her. She was a little aggrieved, and her tone was not very happy, “Don't call me like that. Medusa is not beautiful at all."

"Really?" Jacob raised his eyebrows. "It sounds pretty."

Hearing this, Ashley raised her head and stared at him. Seeing his expression, she suddenly noticed something wrong. Reminiscent of how he reacted when he heard the word "Medusa" at the beginning, it was obviously completely different from his current appearance.

Ashley understood in an instant that he was just playing with her.

She stared at him blankly for a few seconds, then straightened her lips, and walked silently towards the convenience store.

‘Small kid with a big temper.’

Jacob laughed twice and followed slowly.

The space of this convenience store was not small. In addition to selling a variety of goods, a machine was also set up next to the cash register to sell instant foods such as grilled sausages and cart noodles. In front of the freezer, there were two empty tables.

Ashley sat in the innermost position.

Jacob sat opposite her and took out her homework from his bag, “Come on."

Ashley took it and opened the weekly diary.

The convenience store was quiet.

The clerk was standing at the cashier and playing with his mobile phone, but there was no big movement. The flavor of the cart noodles was particularly strong, and the smell filled the whole room.

Jacob looked at her with his cheeks supported, “Kiddo, did you have breakfast?"

Ashley nodded silently.

Jacob, “Do you still want to eat?"

Ashley shook her head.

"Then brother is going to buy something."

Ashley nodded.

Jacob got up and walked in the direction of the cash register.

Ashley wrote the date on the weekly diary and quietly looked at Jacob's body.

At this moment, he was standing in front of the merchandise shelf. The shop was full of lights, it seemed that his complexion was white, and the skin under his eyes was blue and gray. It looked like he has stayed up late for a long time, but he had a lot of energy. His eyes would become attentive and gentle when looking at things.

But his smile was always flippant.

Like a gentle scum.

Soon, Jacob came back with a sandwich.

Ashley lowered her eyes, pretending to be thinking about the beginning.

Jacob took a bottle of water and a textbook from his bag. Then he tore open the package and lazily took a bite of the sandwich. He didn't make any noise. But the speed of eating was not slow.

The slap-sized sandwich was quickly finished.

Ashley started writing slowly, but she couldn't put all her thoughts on the homework, and she always drifted on him involuntarily.

Recalling what Liam said before, they moved to the campus after the exam.

‘It should be a holiday now.

Her parents said that Liam didn't go home because there was still an elementary school term.

So is this unified?’

Perceiving Ashley's distraction, Jacob tapped the tabletop with his knuckles, “Attention, please."

Ashley returned to her senses and nodded.

The table was round, the space was not too big, and the books of the two overlapped each other. Jacob glanced at it and simply closed the textbook, leaned back, and gave her all the space.

After a long while.

Jacob saw the unopened milk on the table and asked, “Do you want to drink milk?"

Hearing this, Ashley raised her eyes, glanced at the milk, and then in the direction of Jacob, and then silently stuffed the bottle of milk into her schoolbag.

Seeing her behavior, Jacob said amused, “I won’t rob your milk."

Ashley said nothing.

Jacob was half-joking, “If you don’t drink it, give it to me."

Ashley turned her head and closed the zipper of her schoolbag vigilantly.

"Why are you so moody?" Jacob's sitting posture was sloppy, with a seemingly frivolous face, "Brother was just making a joke with you, and you haven't talked to me."

This time Ashley didn't even move her eyelids.

Jacob didn't care too much, but said softly, “Little brute."

Ashley couldn't help it anymore, and said stiffly, “I want to do my homework."

Ashley glanced at her weekly notebook, finding that she had already written most of it. He said leisurely, “Okay, go ahead."

Ashley no longer unilaterally continued the cold war with him. Seeing that her homework was almost finished, she pretended to ask casually, “Brother, have you not been on vacation yet?"

"Nope."

"Oh, do you live here?"

"No."

Ashley thought for a while and guessed, “Then, are you going home for the summer vacation after the course?"

"No, why are you so curious about me?" Jacob clicked on her homework and said lightly, "Hurry up and then go to school."

"……Oh."

At a quarter past seven, Ashley completed the weekly diary.

She packed her things, put on her schoolbag, and went out of the convenience store with Jacob.

Seeing that it was still early, Jacob simply sent her to the school gate.

Inexplicably not wanting to leave, Ashley was slow in doing anything. She said goodbye to him gently, then slowly turned around and walked to the school.

Soon, as if thinking of something, Jacob suddenly stopped her, took a folded piece of paper from his pocket, and handed it to her, “Right, kiddo, I forgot to tell you."

Ashley took it, “Huh?"

"Brother peeked at your weekly diary." His tone seemed to be apologetic, but Ashley couldn't feel it. Then, Jacob pointed to the little paper ball in her hand and tuned in with his voice, “So, brother wrote a new one to compensate you."

It was early, and most of the classrooms were empty.

There were still twenty minutes to start the morning reading, and the students in the class usually came on time. Ashley walked to her seat and sat down, digging out the contents of her school bag.

She stopped moving until the entire schoolbag was empty and fumbled in her pocket.

She took out the little paper ball that Jacob gave just now.

Sure enough, it was a weekly diary, and it seemed to imitate her handwriting.

Small, graceful, and orderly.

The title was "Helping Brother Move the Dormitory". The content was written with seriousness and earnestness, carefully writing down the affairs of the day. She turned it over, and he added a sentence on the back in big letters: It's No Use.

Ashley couldn't imagine the picture of him writing this weekly diary.

Maybe it was late at that time and the surrounding lights were dimmed. Sitting at the desk, he ran into a difficult problem and racked his brain to write this article.

Maybe this was the picture, which made her breathing and heartbeat start to speed up.

Then, it seemed to taste the taste of sugar from the air.

Ashley's thoughts were a little blank. She looked at it carefully again, and the corners of her mouth curled up, then she folded the paper and carefully stuffed it into her own drawing book.

At this moment, Bella came. She walked in through the back door and greeted Ashley.

After walking a few steps, she turned her head and asked, "Hey, why are you so happy today?"

Hearing this, Ashley was stunned, and narrowly constricted the uncontrollable smile on her face.

"I just recalled a joke."

Bella didn't ask much. She glanced, noticed the milk on Ashley's desk, and wondered, “Aren't you allergic to milk? Why did you buy milk?"

Ashley was silent for a few seconds and put the milk in the drawer, “I accidentally took the wrong one."

After returning home, Ashley put the bottle of milk in the refrigerator.

She was afraid of being seen by her mother.

She hesitated and finally hid it in her treasure box, and when she remembered it, she turned it out and looked at it.

Time passed day by day.

Although the distance between them was close, after Ashley left school, she only had to walk for five minutes to get to where the person was. She could even pretend to be looking for Liam to meet the person she was thinking of.

But she didn't have the guts.

She always felt that nothing was right.

She would worry if she couldn't hide her feelings at all.

The feeling that only she herself cared about.

That was how she spent half a month.

On the first day of summer vacation, when Ashley took out the bottle of milk, Grace happened to see it. Thinking that Ashley wanted to drink milk, Grace spoke a lot to her.

After speaking, she was still worried that Ashley would drink it and wanted to confiscate it.

Ashley could only pour out the milk inside, then wash the bottle and dry it. She occasionally put her folded stars in it, one after another, day after day.

Later, she also put in the weekly diary written by Jacob.

The small bud deep in her heart gradually gave birth to its embryonic form and grew into a big tree in the sky.

She began to have a small hope.

The hope that she looked forward to every day.

She hoped life would pass faster.

She hoped she could grow up sooner.

In early August, because Tim and Grace were going to another city to attend a friend's wedding, only Liam and Ashley were left in the family. Before leaving, Tim and Grace told Liam a lot of things to take good care of his sister.

Coupled with Tim's threats, Liam could only agree irritably.

On the first day, they were still in harmony.

Except when eating, Liam would be mad, and under Ashley's many requests, he would prepare the food for her. For the rest of the time, Liam mostly lay on the bed and played with his mobile phone. Occasionally Ashley came to bother him, and he just dealt with her in a perfunctory manner.

One day just passed.

But the next day, a friend asked him out to play games.

Liam didn't want to refuse, quickly changed his clothes, and left the room.

At this time, Ashley was sitting on the sofa in the living room watching cartoons. Hearing the movement, she looked over, with no expression on her face, quietly.

Liam walked to the hallway and put on shoes, “I'll go out."

Ashley understood, “Playing games?"

Liam answered the wrong question, “Call me if something happens."

Ashley, “No."

Liam stopped and said with a faint smile, "Can you still control me?"

Ashley looked at the TV again, picked up the chips on the coffee table, “If a thief is coming soon, what should I do, I can't beat him."

"Just close the door, no one will come."

"Then if I get hungry, I have nothing to eat."

Liam became impatient and stared at the packet of potato chips in her hand, “The snacks are not enough for you?"

Ashley bit the potato chips, “I don't want to eat snacks."

Staring at the potato chips in her hand, after a few seconds, Liam didn't want to stalemate with her, so he could only give in, "Then what do you want to eat?"

Ashley, “Not snacks anyway."

Liam resisted the anger and took off his shoes, “What do you want to eat, I'll go out and bring it to you."

Ashley glanced at him and said, “I haven't thought about it yet."

"..."

"Little devil." Liam squatted down and pinched her face hard, "When I was your age, mom and dad were not at home. Not only did I have to eat for myself, but I also had to get your share."

Ashley's face was deformed by him, and her speech was vague, “This is different."

"Why?"

"You didn't have an older brother when you were my age." Without blinking, Ashley smiled like a little fox, speaking slowly, "---but I do."

"..."

Liam’s friend called again, so he was quite impatient and said, “Now you have two choices. Either you tell me what you want to eat and I will go out and buy it for you, or you can wait for death at home."

Ashley continued to nibble on potato chips, “The latter."

"..."

After speaking, Ashley pulled out the phone from under her buttocks and found Tim's number. She stared at the screen and muttered, “Okay, I will tell dad—"

Liam snorted, “You can file a complaint as you like."

He didn't bother to care about her anymore and walked back to the hallway.

After a two-second pause, Ashley's voice on the phone came from behind him, “Dad."

Liam put on the first shoe.

Before he had time to put on the second shoe, he heard Ashley say in a very honest tone:

"My brother told me to die."

Liam, “...."