Chapter 371: Fat and short

Aria saw Moonstone and asked, "Senior Xin?"

Xoan breathed a sigh of relief, his goal was completed. But he was also sad about missing the little girl and missing the 'Little bunny' of Xin.

Xin was surprised but he just nodded.

Just then the butler announced, "Young miss, breakfast is ready including for the guests."

Aria nodded and turned to the other two, Alan carried her up swiftly, "Let's have breakfast first." Aria obliged and peeked behind him where Xoan was speechless and Xin was sitting blankly.

"Senior Xin, let's have breakfast. And you! help yourself however you want."

Xoan: "..."

The butler controlled laughing and asked them for breakfast while Alan asked, "How do you know him? My junior or senior?"

Aria demanded, "If you feed me, I will tell the story."

Alan pitied two men who were joining for breakfast by agreeing to Aria, "Alright."

Feeding dog food to the other two men, Aria narrated whatever she remembered.

-- Twelve years ago --

Aria was just twelve years then. Her dad was late to pick her from school so she was waiting for him and the school was almost empty as it was late. 

While waiting, she heard a few boys cussing somebody so failing to control herself she quickly went to the school garden and saw three boys kicking and hitting a boy to the ground.

Even though she was surprised why he wasn't crying, Little Aria thought about how to save the boy. She ran back a few steps away and shouted, "Miss, Miss, here are the boys. They are hitting a boy. Miss, this way..."

That panicked the three boys and ran away from the other side hiding in the bushes. Aria reached to see the boy having a lot of wounds on his face, hands. since it was a garden which was watered a few minutes back, his clothes and face were all smeared with wet soil.

The boy ignored her and got up to leave.

He suddenly heard the soft voice, "I'm sorry." Then the little fluffy girl held the water pipe bathing him in the middle of the garden to remove the soil leaving the boy in the cold during autumn.

"Dad says, wounds must be cleaned quickly." She said and tried to check the wound on his back knuckles but he backed off and left leaving her alone.

Conflicted, she heard her father calling her, she sprinted towards him and told the whole thing. Then he searched the boy and found in the bathroom removing excess water from his uniform with a deadpan face.

Peeking inside, "Dad, shall I give him my jacket?"

The boy instantly alerted and growled, "This is the boys' water closet."

Aria knew that "I know hence I am standing outside."

The boy: "..."

Oliver spoke, "Little bunny, I will give my jacket. you shouldn't peek inside the boys' WC."

She knew that but she was worried about him. she nodded at her father and apologized to the boy, "I'm sorry. You will get cold so you should take my dad's jacket."

She went away after it. Her father coaxed him to wear his jacket and even dropped him to his home. The whole time Aria had tried to talk to him in the backseat but he only spoke when he gave directions to his home.

Aria didn't see him the next day. On Monday, she went with Eva to every class and found him sleeping on the table. Poking him to wake up, "Hello Senior. Did you catch a cold on Friday?"

The boy: "..."

"Were you really unwell?" Then she pointed at marks on his face and asked, "Are they paining? Shall I take you to the infirmary?"

The boy yawned, turned aside, and slept.

Aria and Eva: "..."

Eva grimly said, "Where are your manners?"

The boy, "Get out."

Eva was about to punch him Aria pulled her out and randomly guessed, "He must be bullied every day. What should we do?"

"Let him die. Who cares!"

Aria: "..."

Eva gave in seeing her pouting and went to the home teacher and pointed out the pictures identifying who bullied whom. A word quickly spread saying 5th-year class girl saved 7th-year class boy leaving him embarrassed.

Then he searched her and scolded her nonstop but to see Aria and Eva giggling. 

Flushed in embarrassment, he was leaving when Aria spoke, "Take this." She handed snacks to him and said, "Eat more and become strong. Nobody will beat you. Or...become smart like me, you can escape without hitting anybody." She giggled again.

He ignored the first part and asked, "Smart? You are dumb."

Eva countered, "She is first in the class."

A lazy voice sounded behind the girls, "She is best at beating me."

Another voice sounded, "She is a class representative with me."

The boy was astonished seeing so many supporting her. "Come here."

He quickly wrote a mathematics question on the board and handed her chalk, "Solve." It was the question he learned that day.

Aria pointed at the question and said, "We don't have this question..."

That boy cut in, "So you are dumb."

Aria continued, "... But I know." Then she started writing in her chubby hands holding the chalk raising her head high.

To be the fact, that boy was really surprised. He had thought rich people were all trash but didn't expect the little girl to be smart to solve his class problem.

Aria who answered a question, wrote another geometry question on the board, "Will you help me teach the solution for this?"

She didn't know how to solve that and the boy thought she purposefully gave him tough questions to laugh at him. He accepted the unsaid challenge to study hard to beat her in smartness, he snorted and left.

Aria had no choice but to clean the board and go back to her friends who thought she fooled senior writing a b c d on the board without knowing it as algebra.

After that, both didn't meet again till she was in high school and he was in matriculation. She was in the staffroom to drop the homework books when she heard teachers talking about a boy and his mother.

"Xin has only his mother but she has cancer. How is he going to handle it? He might drop out of the school..."

Anything related to blood or heart always reminds her about her mother so she had peeked at the boy who was passing a letter with the reason behind his absence.

She identified the boy immediately and met him outside the teachers' room. She didn't know that boy had seen her every day growing up in the school and introduced herself, "I'm Aria... Once I bathed you in cold water. I was fat and short. Do you remember me?"

Even though he knew her, "No." He didn't want anybody's fake sympathy then he strode away.

Aria: "..."