It seemed that only this weekend of hers was entirely his, and he was not sure how long it would be until the next time. When he was in a trance, Elise suddenly stopped and mumbled to herself, “I brought a suitcase with me when we left, right?” Alexander smiled helplessly. When they got out of the car, the two of them only remembered to hold hands, and they really forgot to take the suitcase. He let go of her hand reluctantly and naturally pinched the tip of her nose. “Wait at the door of the dormitory. I’ll go get it.” After saying that, he lifted his foot and walked back. Elise stood there.
After watching Alexander’s figure disappear around the corner, she continued to walk forward. As soon as she stepped into the stone arch of the girls’ dormitory, there was a loud bang, then the sound of confettis sounded from all directions. Ribbons slowly fell from the sky, covering her all over. “Congratulations, Elise!” “Welcome back, Erudite Elise!” “Elise, you are amazing. You are my idol!” “Woohoo!” Elise was a little confused by their enthusiasm and smiled awkwardly. “Thank you!” As she spoke, she removed the confettis hanging from her body. “But, what are you guys congratulating me about?” “You still don’t know?”
Addison said excitedly. “Professor Merlin has applied for the highest-level mathematics award in the country for you, and you’ve passed the preliminary examination—you would be the first female winner of this award!” “Yeah, it’s amazing!” Elise still didn’t understand what was going on. “Y-You must have heard it wrong. Professor Merlin didn’t tell me at all about this. Could it be that someone else has the same name as me, or looks a lot like me, and you’re mistaken?” “Oh, trust me. It can’t be wrong!” Addison stepped forward to take her arm and said firmly. “It was announced on the bulletin board of our department, so who else could it be but you? Besides, how could I have mistaken your face?
Girl, I can recognize you even if you were turned to ashes!” “Gee, now that sounds a little scary…” someone exclaimed. Addison was always a straightforward person. Without putting too much thought into what that person said, she took it seriously. “Why is it scary? How is it scary? I just want everyone to know that I, Addison, don’t make friends based on their appearance. It’s not always about the face, but the actual strength. Some people have the look, but they’re merely like a vase—pretty on the outside but empty on the inside. Some people do look mediocre, but they have the strength within them.” Elise smiled bitterly and reminded her, “I think you meant ‘never judge a book by its cover’!”
Addison was stunned for a moment. Then, she reacted with embarrassed chuckles while scratching the back of her head before she raised her voice and said, “Oh, yes, exactly! One should never judge a book by its cover!” This candid speech instantly made everyone laugh out loud. In the distance, Janice approached with a book in her arms, and she happened to see the scene of people laughing and cheering around Elise. She blushed instantly, and the phrase, never judge a book by its cover, was especially harsh in her ears. Elise looked at Addison’s straightforward and naive appearance and patted her on the shoulder helplessly.
“Addison, Addison. I don’t care if I won an award or not, but right now, I think I should give you an English tutorial first!” Addison released Elise’s hand instantly. Like a frightened bird, she hid behind the crowd. “Oh, please spare me from this torture.” The crowd burst in laughter again. Janice’s brain was filled with the echoing laughter, and she couldn’t bear it any longer. Immediately, she rushed over to the crowd and shouted hysterically, “Enough is enough!” She pushed aside the crowd and stood directly opposite Elise. Her expression was a little grim because she exerted too much force. “Enough, Elise Sinclair. I know you have a boyfriend, and I got drunk and leaned on him accidentally.
Did you have to go out of your way to gossip here? Do you want me to get you a loudspeaker?!” Janice was so worked up that her spit was flying around, and some of them got on Elise accidentally. Elise raised her hand in disgust to wipe the saliva off her cheeks and frowned slightly, feeling nauseated in her heart. Addison couldn’t bear it any longer, so she stepped forward to argue with Janice. “Why are you acting all crazy here, woman?!” Janice was extremely emotional. Her eyes widened, and she stared back at Addison. “This is my grudge with Elise. What does it have to do with you? Mind your own damn business!” “You—” Addison wanted to say something but was blocked by Elise’s hand, so she had to swallow the words that came to her mouth.
Elise took a step forward, squeezed out a smile, and tried her best to remain calm. “Janice, if I may, what did I do to provoke you again this time?” Janice felt guilty all of a sudden and tried to blame it all on Elise again. Immediately, she quibbled, “You really think I didn’t hear it? I heard and saw everything!” As if to prove it to everyone, she patted her chest and walked in a circle while she explained, “Let me tell you: What Elise said is not true at all! Yes, I did go to the bar with a rich man, but I only went because I wanted to give him a chance since he’s pursued me for so long; it’s not like what you imagined!”
Upon saying that, she paused and looked at Elise with fierce eyes. She then pointed at her and said, “She must have told you all that I seduced her boyfriend. In fact, it was her boyfriend who saw me and tried to take advantage of me!” Janice spread her hands and spoke contemptuously. “Well, I’m sure that all of you can distinguish who is the more attractive one between me and her. Needless to say, you all know who is the one that is more likely to be taken advantage of, right?” For a while, the audience was vaguely moved by Janice’s words, and when they looked at Elise again, they couldn’t help cast her a sympathetic gaze. Everyone knew how perfect Elise’s boyfriend was.
The two of them looked like an odd pair when they stood together, but it could be that Elise was lucky. Now that this man actually chose Janice over her, it could only be said that Elise’s luck had finally run out. But what could they do about a society where appearance determined everything? Elise laughed angrily at Janice’s words. This woman is not only ungrateful, but also has an impeccable ability of spewing nonsense.
She was not in a hurry to argue who was right and wrong. Instead, she looked at Janice with kindness and said calmly, “Well, that was a wonderful speech. You are suitable to be a public speaker, but you seem to have made a mistake—no one was gossiping about you just now. It was you, on the other hand, who spilled everything about yourself as soon as you rushed over. Honestly, I don’t really know how to wrap my head around what you just did.”
Addison’s mind turned extremely fast this time, then she interjected, “Aren’t you just trying to blame everything on Elise? I think you’re obviously just feeling guilty over what you did!” “Oh. I get it! You’re just a gold-digger. You went out of your way to go after rich men, and you even tried to seduce Elise’s boyfriend!”
