Chapter 22 - My Girl

It was getting dark.

One side of the street lamp has not yet been lit, which made the eye color of Jacob even deeper. He looked steadily at Ashley, his lips slightly straightened without moving. She was unable to see how his mood was.

Such a quiet, like the calm before the storm.

Ashley added nervously and anxiously, "My parents never hit me."

His eyelids moved and suddenly noticed a particularly conspicuous mark on Ashley's clean school uniform. Located next to the neckline, it was obviously burned out by cigarettes.

Jacob looked at her and thought he was wrong, so he slowly drew closer.

But Ashley thought he was really going to teach her a lesson, clenched her lips, looked afraid, and resigned to flatten her hidden hands behind her and put them timidly in front of him.

Jacob's Adam's apple rolled down and pointed to her collar. "How did you get it?"

Ashley was stunned and looked in the direction he pointed out.

Only then did she find that there was a mark on the clothes. She subconsciously rubbed it.

"Kiddo."

Jacob asked in a low voice, "Are you bullied?"

Ashley nodded hesitantly.

Jacob's face suddenly changed. He subconsciously checked her body for wounds, frowned, and said, "Why didn't you tell brother?"

"I don't want to bother you. My brother also told me to be honest and not to get you into trouble. "

Ashley said, "I'm not going to keep it a secret. I'll tell my parents when I get back."

Jacob asked patiently, "Did them hit you?"

Ashley thought for a moment and shook her head. "One girl patted me on the face, took twenty bucks from me, and asked me to give them the money tomorrow."

"Why did you go over there?"

"My friend asked me to go."

Thinking of Bella, Ashley's mood deteriorated again, and her volume went down. "She was afraid, so she asked me to go with her."

There was something absurd in Jacob's words, "Why didn't she tell her parents?"

"Because those people said that if we tell our parents, they will come to our school to visit us every day." Ashley answered honestly, "So she dared not tell her parents."

Hearing her words, Jacob half squatted down and looked at her.

And he then suddenly said, "Give me your hand."

It was obvious that he was not going to give her anything.

Ashley looked at him suspiciously, did not move, and held out her hand after a while.

Jacob raised her hand and hit her palm unexpectedly.

Gently, as if he were giving her a high-five.

Ashley immediately withdrew her hand. "What are you doing?"

Jacob said lazily, "Beat you."

"Listen, kiddo. In the future, if someone tricks you into going to an unsafe place, even if it is your friend, you can't go. "

Jacob stood up and rubbed the top of her hair. "Are we good?"

Ashley held back and said, "You can’t beat me."

"Well, why?" Jacob chuckled. "If you don't listen,"

Ashley looked vigilant.

He lengthened the tail tone in a somewhat playful tone, "Brother will see you once and hit you once."

"...”

Seeing that it was getting late, the two did not continue to stay in the same place.

"You are quite brave this time," Jacob held her arm and walked slowly out of the alley. "You didn't cry even when you were bullied."

Ashley doesn't care. "She didn't hurt me anyway."

"Where's your friend?"

"I don't know."

Jacob, "You are not a baby anymore, you probably know if this friend is not good to you, you should not hang out with her anymore."

Ashley nodded silently.

"Remember to tell your parents when you go back." Jacob said, "Don't hide anything. They will protect you."

"I see."

Seeing that she seemed to hear his words, he stopped talking about it and asked, "How did you two get home when your brother picked you up?"

They always took a taxi home, however, Ashley suddenly remembered something, immediately swallowed the words back to her stomach, and said, "Take the bus."

Jacob raised his eyebrows, "Your foot would be accidentally stepped on."

"It’s OK."

When they got out of the alley, they walked to the bus station, while they would pass through the gate of South Star University on the way there.

The flow of people has obviously increased, probably all of them were college students who went out for dinner.

Jacob didn't seem to listen to her and planned to take a taxi by the side of the road.

Soon, a boy whom Jacob knew passed by on his bike and said, "Hello, Jacob," with a hippy smile.

Jacob suddenly stopped him, "Luke."

The boy stopped. "Yeap?”

"Lend me your bike. I'll return it to you later."

"All right." Luke agreed briskly, caught a glimpse of Ashley next to him, and said curiously, "Is this your sister?"

“Yes.”

"Hello, little sister."

Luke waved to her and ran in the direction of the school gate. "Then I'll go first. My girlfriend is waiting for me."

"Go ahead."

Jacob carelessly patted the dust on the back seat, tilted his head, and said to Ashley, "Kiddo, brother will ride you home."

Without hesitation, Ashley took a step in his direction.

Jacob slightly bent the corner of his lips and joked, "You are happy."

"...”

"You even chuckle secretly."

Ashley subconsciously touched the corner of her lips.

It didn't go up at all.

When she wanted to refute something, Jacob was already on the bike, urging her to come up with a smile.

"...”

‘Shameless.’

Because of his words, Ashley felt a little uncomfortable and dillydally sat on it, clutching her hands awkwardly on both sides of the back seat.

When she sat straight, Jacob's legs were still on the ground and there was no extra movement.

Ashley warned, "Brother, I'm sitting tight."

Jacob turned, stared at her, and asked, "Kiddo, your hands are gone."

‘What is he talking about?’

Ashley raised her hands, wondering, "They are still here."

"Then why didn’t you hold me?" Jacob grabbed her by the wrists and put them at his waist. "What did you hide them?"

Ashley's breathing stagnated.

The strength in her hands immediately loosened and changed to grabbing his clothes.

Jacob stepped on the pedal.

The bike moved slowly forward and speeded up gradually.

The temperature at night was much cooler than that during the day, and the wind was so loud that it blew to the ears.

The night was filled with the sweet scent of flowers in the breath, mixed with the smell of orange soda emitted by Jacob.

It was like bewitching.

Ashley was a little confused.

‘Is that the wind in the ear?

Or, it's the sound of her heartbeat.’

There was a long silence.

Ashley gradually calmed down her heartbeat. Feeling bored, she took the initiative to talk to Jacob, "Brother, where is my brother?"

Jacob seemed to accompany someone to the interview. "

"Ah," Ashley thought for a moment, "Is it the interview for the job?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Isn't my brother a junior now? "

"Internship." Jacob said, "If it doesn't affect the course, we can do an internship whenever we want,"

Ashley nodded, stared at Jacob's black t-shirt, which was bulged by the wind, and whispered, "Brother, aren't you going to go to the internship?"

"Well, I have classes this semester."

"So when are you going to do your internship?"

"Next semester, or senior year."

"Right near the school?"

"No."

Jacob turned a corner and said casually, "Go home and look over there."

“...”

The wind was permeated by the cool air and patted her face. Ashley was stupefied for a while, and her heart was a little empty, then asked, "Brother, aren't you going to stay here in the future?"

"Mm-hmm."

Jacob smiled faintly, "Brother has to go home."

Ashley, "Oh."

After a while, Ashley asked again, "Brother, when are you going home?"

"Well, why do you have so many questions today?" but he didn't seem impatient and replied slowly, "it depends. I don't know. "

For fear of making him unhappy, Ashley carefully asked the last question, "Will you go back before New Year’s eve?"

Jacob, "Nope."

‘Why doesn't he go home for the Spring Festival?’

Ashley was a little puzzled, but she dared not ask again.

Unwittingly, they arrived downstairs at Ashley's house.

Jacob stopped the bike, looked away at her, and asked, "Can you go up by yourself?"

Ashley nodded and said, "Thank you, brother," and then walked in the direction of the gate.

After a few steps, Ashley stopped her and said, "Wait a minute."

Ashley stopped and turned.

She saw Jacob walk up to her and bend over.

The street lamp next to them was obscured by the luxuriant leaves, and the field of vision became a little dark.

Ashley could feel that he seemed to have stuffed something into her pocket.

When she was about to turn it out, Jacob raised his hand and pinched her face, diverted her attention, and then reminded her again, "Remember to tell your parents what happened when you go back."

"Oh."

When she got home, it happened to be dinnertime.

Ashley mentioned the matter to her parents at the dinner table, which startled them.

Grace contacted the teacher at once.

Tim asked her some details and gently calmed her, telling her that she didn't have to be afraid.

Ashley was really not afraid and nodded frequently.

After dinner, she went back to her room to do her homework.

As soon as she dug up her homework, she suddenly remembered what happened, and then she subconsciously touched her pocket.

It was like a piece of paper.

Ashley took it out.

It was twenty bucks.

It looked a little old, the corners were wrinkled, and it was obviously not hers. But with this piece of money in her pocket, it was as if she had not been blackmailed or robbed today.

It was like nothing bad happened.

As if he was trying to comfort her in this way.

Ashley stared at it for a while, then jumped onto the bed, rolled herself into the quilt.

She didn't stick her head out until her face flushed.

Staring at the ceiling, she laughed inexplicably.

Then she got up, spread out the banknote, and pressed it into her drawing board.

Then she took out his cell phone from her schoolbag and found out the number of Jacob.

She noticed that his number was located in Silver River City.

Ashley has heard of this place, but she has never been there.

She thought for a moment and searched for the distance from South Star City to that city.

It would take three hours to get there by plane.

It seemed a little far away.

Ashley hesitated for a moment, then searched the university in Silver River City, tossing and turning for a long time before lying restlessly on the desk.

Noticing the star paper next to her, she drew one, sat up straight, and wrote absent-mindedly on the white side.

"I won't play with Bella anymore. 20091105. "

She quickly folded a star and threw it into the milk bottle.

Then, another one was drawn out, and this time the speed of writing slowed down, and the writing was extremely slow.

A long time later.

The bottle that recorded her life was filled with the biggest secret of her adolescence.

"I don't really want to admit it, but I seem to fall in love with someone. 20091105. "

In love with her brother's friend, a man seven years older than her.

At the age of the beginning of her love affair.

The next day after school.

Ashley did her homework in class as usual, waiting for Liam to come up and take her home.

This time, however, she didn't have to wait until five o'clock. Just after 4:30, Ashley saw Liam's figure.

And he brought two of his roommates.

One was Jacob, and the other was John.

Ashley quickly packed up her things, leaned over to Liam, secretly looked at Jacob, quickly withdrew her sight, and whispered, "Brother, why did you bring them here today?"

Ashley glanced at her. "The people who blackmailed you yesterday asked you to come over today, right?"

Ashley nodded, "What's wrong?"

"Lead the way."

"...”

Thinking of the three girls yesterday and looking at the three tall men in front of her, Ashley was speechless and said, "We’d better not..."

"Kid."

Liam tugged at her face. "I won’t allow anyone to bully my sister, OK? "

John, “Yes!”

Jacob just smiled.

Ashley glanced at the three of them, "Oh. "

She silently led them to the alley.

Liam, "Kid, what do those people look like? You don't go in there."

Ashley, "Three girls."

Liam paused, "Girls. "

"Well, The leader is half a head taller than me and her hair is burgundy. "

Ashley thought for a moment. "Her face looks like a palette."

John's arrogance has dissipated more than half of it hearing they were girls.

Liam sneered, "Let’s go."

John felt that three big men going in to make trouble for three girls was a bit shameful.

Liam simply let him stay here and watch Ashley, and then went into the alley with Jacob.

The dirty alley smelled of sewers.

In the middle, there was a stained sign with the words "Internet Cafe" written on it.

Maybe the three girls heard something, before long, they came out of it.

Jacob dug out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, pulled out one, and lit it.

He held the cigarette between his lips, half-squinted, and saw clearly the appearance of the girl standing in front of him through the faint smoke.

It was her.

Half a head taller than Ashley, burgundy hair, dished face.

Perhaps seeing the arrival was different from what she had imagined, the girl waved her hand in disappointment, but she couldn't help looking at Jacob because he was good-looking, and then signaled the other two girls to go back inside with her.

Liam played with his lighter and stopped them in a slightly cool tone. "Hey."

The red-haired girl stopped, turned, and said, "Me?"

Jacob took the initiative to speak out.

"I heard that, " His eyes bent, with a soft and vague smile.. "you asked my girl to give you money."