Everyone in the car was frowning.
It wasn’t because she was leaning against Miles Sherman, but because her exhaustion was completely apparent.
Seeming to sense everyone’s eyes on her, Zoe Pierce opened hers. She t their tense, somber faces one by one and gave a helpless laugh. "Why are you all making that face again?"
It was a bit like the expressions they had when she woke up on the warship.
Aaron Xavier’s brow was furrowed. "Next ti, no matter what anyone says, you’re not going."
This was just the first ti, and look what it did to her.
Zoe Pierce raised her water bottle, took a sip to wet her throat, and replied, "Alright, next ti I’ll hide behind you, and you can block them for ."
Though everyone knew she was joking, Aaron Xavier just said, "Okay."
"You’re just too nice, you know? It makes you an easy target." It was always people like her who got pushed around. Aaron understood that perfectly; he’d been bullied himself before he learned better.
It wasn’t until he made himself soone not to be ssed with that people stopped daring to bully him.
She was so easy to tease that even they sotis couldn’t resist.
Zoe Pierce laughed, leaning to one side. The unpleasantness of the entire day was smoothed away by their simple exchange.
"You’ll be living at the academy, and we’ll be right around you. Don’t worry."
This ti, their dorms weren’t assigned far apart like before. At the group’s strong insistence, Director Quinn finally gave them an entire empty dormitory building to themselves.
Zoe Pierce was in Room 03, while the others took rooms 01 through 05.
That way, if anything happened, they could react imdiately.
As they were speaking, Aaron Xavier’s Intelligent Brain suddenly rang.
Zoe watched as Aaron glanced at the incoming call and rejected it without hesitation.
But the caller was persistent and kept calling back. Seeing this, Aaron simply muted his device.
His movents were so fluid that they inadvertently drew everyone’s attention.
"The old man is trying to contact . I don’t want to deal with him."
Thinking back, Aaron realized he couldn’t even rember the last ti he’d gone ho.
"There’s nothing to talk about. He just wants to play the ’caring father, devoted son’ act." It was laughable, really. ’At his age, what’s the point of pretending?’ "I’m grown now; I’m not falling for that act."
In front of Zoe and the others, Aaron never hid the discord with his father.
If Gordon Xavier wanted to be a good father, he was free to be one.
But there was no point if he wanted to have his cake and eat it too.
Miles was more rational. "Are you going to ignore your uncle’s side of the family?"
At the ntion of this, even Aaron leaned back against the car seat in frustration, knitting his brow. "How can they not stand on their own two feet? They’re grown n, yet they’re still being manipulated by my dad."
"By sticking to you, they can get benefits from both sides. Of course they can’t stand on their own," Nathan Lockwood said cynically.
If Aaron just gave in to his father, his uncle stood to gain much more than he would by just siding with Aaron.
Aaron pressed his lips together, silent for a long mont before saying, "The only ti in his life he ever stood his ground was because of my mom."
It wasn’t that he didn’t know his uncle was using him to gain advantages.
"People change. It’s your call." Nathan respected Aaron’s choice. No one in their group was a fool.
The good they shared in the past was real, but so was the bad blood now.
It all depended on whether a person could draw a blade and cut ties.
When the topic ca up, Aaron deflated like a defeated rooster. "I know. Just let think about it so more."
As if on cue, just as they entered the Federal Military Academy campus, Miles Sherman’s Intelligent Brain started ringing too.
Aaron imdiately sat up straight, his eyes fixed on the screen of Miles’s Intelligent Brain.
The call was from Miles’s mother.
Aaron imdiately tilted his head, gesturing for him to quickly answer the call.
Miles shot him a look and tapped to accept the call.
"Brother, brother, brother!" The mont the call connected, two overlapping children’s voices shouted incessantly. "When are you coming ho, brother?"
"Can you bring Zoe back with you?"
Before Miles could say a word, the two children were already chiming in one after another.
Hearing her na, Zoe Pierce couldn’t help but look over.
Miles glanced at the ti. "It’s too late today. Tomorrow is the weekend, so I’ll be back then. Why aren’t you in bed yet?"
Ten o’clock was clearly past their usual bedti.
"We want Zoe! You promised, brother!" Knowing she couldn’t answer the question about being up late, Hope Sherman changed the subject. "You said I could take a picture with her."
"You broke your promise, brother." She played the victim, getting her accusation in first.
Her tone was a little hurt.
Miles had indeed promised Hope, but after the friendly tournant ended, Zoe Pierce’s pheromones had beco uncontrollable.
Under those circumstances, they naturally couldn’t et.
Then the vacation ca up, so he figured he would bring it up with Zoe after they got back.
But now, a new situation had arisen.
For the foreseeable future, Zoe definitely wouldn’t be able to go out.
His eyes t Zoe’s. He suddenly muted his mic and asked, "Zoe, could you say a few words to Hope?"
Hope’s current Oga idol was Zoe Pierce.
Zoe was also the idol for most of the Ogas in the little girl’s class.
Miles had a helpless look on his face. It was rare for Zoe to see him like this, and she couldn’t help but smile. She leaned over and, while the pouting was still audible from the other end, suddenly spoke into the device, "Hello, is this Hope?"
The whining girl’s voice was instantly cut short, as if her throat had been seized.
A few seconds passed before she spoke again, her voice now small and soft. "Is that... Zoe?"
The contrast was quite stark.
Zoe’s lips curled up. "Yes, it is. I heard you wanted to see , Hope, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to for a little while. I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry."
Hope imdiately shook her head as if it were a pellet drum, regardless of whether Zoe could see her. "You go do what you need to do, Zoe! I can wait for you."
Another boy’s voice chid in from the side. "Hope, why are you suddenly being so well-behaved?"
The voice by the receiver imdiately dropped to a furious whisper. "You’re not allowed to talk! Don’t interrupt and Zoe."
But the sound was amplified by the microphone, and not only could Zoe hear it, but so could Chase Shaw, Nathan Lockwood, and the others.
"Brother, I want to see Nathan and Chase!!!" Ewan Sherman stated his own demand bluntly.
The two children seed to have completely forgotten the original reason for their call, derailing the conversation in an instant.
"See Nathan and Chase!"
"See Zoe!"
The two of them went back and forth, their voices gradually getting louder.
Then Aaron Xavier suddenly cut in, "How co no one’s asking to see ?"
The arguing on the other end stopped instantly.
"Because we see you all the ti, Aaron. And you’re always teasing us..." Hope said, sounding a little guilty.
Aaron let out a cold laugh. "You two ungrateful little brats. One of you asks to bully your sister, the other asks to bully your brother. I’m the bad guy either way."
Hope giggled sweetly, having thought of a perfect solution. "Then you should co too, Aaron! Everyone can co over and play at our house."
"Can we? Mom?" Her voice suddenly beca distant as she sought soone else’s opinion.
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