Seeing the young n and won coming and going around him, a dull regret washed over him. ’I shouldn’t have co.’
’What does Joanna Kennedy’s situation... have to do with ?’
Simon Lockwood suppressed the strange feeling in his heart and held down the power button. As soon as the phone turned on, a ssage popped up. There was no contact na saved, but the number was one he knew all too well: "When do you get off work?"
A mont later, another one popped up. This ti it was a picture: flurries of falling snow, illuminated by the dim yellow glow of a streetlight, looked like dancing specks of starlight.
"Simon Lockwood, it’s snowing."
Simon Lockwood stared at his phone, pausing for a few seconds. It took Serena Sutton calling his na several tis for him to snap out of it. "What’s wrong?"
"I said, it’s snowing," Serena Sutton said with a light, innocent, and warm laugh. "What are you thinking about? You’re so spaced out."
"Nothing."
Simon Lockwood put his phone away. "What did you want to say?"
He was asking about Joanna Kennedy.
Serena Sutton’s eyelashes trembled. She pulled back the hand she’d been using to catch snowflakes. She didn’t answer Simon Lockwood’s question directly. Instead, she asked, "You’re not really with her because you like her, are you?"
Simon Lockwood’s expression cooled. He didn’t like discussing his private life with others.
Serena Sutton was lost in her own thoughts. To her, his silence was a form of tacit agreent. Taking a deep breath, she made up her mind. "Simon Lockwood, the truth is, I li—"
"Simon Lockwood."
Joanna Kennedy was standing not far from them. Serena Sutton couldn’t get the rest of her words out, frozen on the spot.
As Simon Lockwood frowned, Joanna Kennedy walked up to him with a smile and handed him the kraft paper bag in her hands. "rry Christmas!"
She didn’t question why Simon Lockwood was here. It was as if she’d suddenly developed amnesia.
’I wonder what she’s scheming now.’ Simon Lockwood silently took the bag after a mont’s pause.
Serena Sutton couldn’t bear to stay any longer. Her face burning red, she muttered, "I have sothing to take care of at ho," and hurried away.
"Where’s my present?" Joanna Kennedy asked, holding her palm open to the sky. Snowflakes landed on it, lting almost instantly.
After waiting a mont with no response from him, Joanna Kennedy’s smile vanished, her lips pressing into a thin line.
"Simon Lockwood, we’re dating."
No present, no well wishes. All this relationship had given her was deceit and perfunctory gestures.
Her tone was devoid of emotion, as if she were simply stating a fact. "You’re really no fun."
It’s unclear which word struck a nerve, but Simon Lockwood turned to face Joanna Kennedy. "You can always choose to break up."
The beginning was sordid, the motives were impure. How could she possibly demand a beautiful journey? It was impossible.
The two of them ultimately parted on bad terms.
Of course, this was just a one-sided cold war from Joanna Kennedy’s perspective. For Simon Lockwood, nothing had really changed.
Being without the spoiled and arrogant Joanna Kennedy was a good thing for him.
A villainess has her pride, too. Joanna Kennedy was determined not to be the first to give in this ti. She didn’t contact Simon Lockwood for the entire winter break.
Simon Lockwood went to his part-ti job as usual, returning to his old, rundown house to study after his shifts.
Because the book glossed over this period of "forced love," Joanna Kennedy was free to live as she pleased, aside from hitting a few necessary plot points.
So, Joanna Kennedy spent her days blissfully. She’d occasionally "bully" the female lead verbally, and then she would go on shopping sprees, have fun, and eat good food. Her high school life was as vibrant as could be.
The third year of high school began, ushering in the tense period of exam preparation. In response to a call to focus on adolescent ntal health, the school specially hired a ntal health counselor.
It was none other than the second male lead, whom Joanna Kennedy had briefly t once: Serena Sutton’s neighbor and big-brother figure, Charles Jennings.
Charles Jennings was young, handso, and spoke gently. He gained a large following of fangirls as soon as he arrived.
He made no secret of his concern for Serena Sutton, and soon everyone in the class knew that she had a close relationship with the young, handso teacher.
This improved Serena Sutton’s popularity in class. Even those who had been afraid to talk to her due to the Kennedy family’s influence started approaching her.
For a while, it was Joanna Kennedy who was "left out in the cold."
A few of Joanna Kennedy’s friends, who ca from similar family backgrounds, thought she must be upset. To comfort her, they insisted on dragging her out to a bar to play hooky.
Although Joanna Kennedy didn’t feel upset at all, she had to go along with it to avoid breaking character.
The group of rich kids got a VIP booth and partied hard, showing no sense of urgency about the upcoming college entrance exams.
Anna Yates had broken up with soone again and was wailing into a karaoke mic. Joanna Kennedy found it amusing and recorded a video of her.
After a mont’s thought, she took a few selfies, making sure to capture the bar’s interior and the backs of a few guys in the shot. Then, she posted it to her social dia.
After a few rounds of drinks, the sky darkened. Joanna Kennedy glanced at the ti, took the elevator downstairs, and pretended not to see Simon Lockwood at the front desk.
She walked out, then walked back in. After she’d done this a few tis, Simon Lockwood finally spoke up. "Taking a stroll in a bar?"
Joanna Kennedy was speechless. She walked up to Simon Lockwood and feigned surprise. "You’re still working here?"
"Good money," Simon Lockwood said succinctly.
This was the first normal conversation they’d had since the last ti, when Joanna Kennedy had tried to pay his tuition, claiming she wanted to be his sugar mama, only to be coldly rejected but insisting on paying anyway.
Joanna Kennedy frowned. "I already told you I’m rich. If you just act like a proper boyfriend, I can give you money."
Joanna Kennedy’s cheeks were flushed. Simon Lockwood glanced at her. "How much did you drink?"
"Huh?" Joanna Kennedy didn’t quite process the question. "I didn’t drink."
She tilted her head, thought for a mont, and added, "Oh, just fruit wine."
Simon Lockwood: "..."
His expression turned a little cold. The photos he’d just seen on her social dia flashed through his mind. "Sit over there and wait," he said.
He had an expression that said he found her troubleso and didn’t want to deal with her.
Joanna Kennedy pouted, but she was genuinely tired and didn’t want to go back to the booth to listen to the ear-splitting racket. So, she sat down on a nearby sofa to rest.
She had always been pretty, but she had truly blossod in the past two years. Usually, she was haughty when she spoke, with the spoiled arrogance of soone who didn’t know the ways of the world. But now, sitting there quietly, she gave off a surprisingly demure air.
’She only *looks* demure, though,’ Simon Lockwood thought.
Teenagers forget everything when they’re having fun. By the ti the others in the booth realized soone was missing, Joanna Kennedy had already left with Simon Lockwood.
Anna Yates sent her an angry text, accusing her of being boy-crazy and ditching her friends for a guy.
Joanna Kennedy glanced at the handso profile of the boy beside her and texted back, "And I love it."
It only just dawned on her what Simon Lockwood had ant when he told her to wait. He was going to take her ho.
Joanna Kennedy’s eyes had widened in surprise at the ti, and she felt a sense of relief, as if her years of effort hadn’t been in vain.
She secretly reached out and took Simon Lockwood’s hand. He stiffened for a mont but didn’t pull away, letting her hold it.
A minute later, Simon Lockwood said coolly, "Don’t pinch ."
"Oh, oh, oh." Joanna Kennedy quickly stopped digging her fingers into his palm.
*
That night, she lay on her bed in a daze, talking to 166, who had co online for the first ti in two years. ’Do you think Simon Lockwood might like a little?’
’No,’ 166 said. ’You’re overthinking it.’
’Geez, I was just asking...’
According to the book, the Kennedy family would go bankrupt on the eve of the college entrance exams. Joanna Kennedy did a quick calculation.
There was just under half a year left.
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