Chapter 18 I Still Think You Haven't Changed
Early in the morning, when it was dawn, Queenie woke up. She had been tossing and turning all night and couldn't fall asleep. At dawn, she no longer forced herself to lie on the bed. She put on the new clothes Timothy had bought her from the mall last time and planned to go out to eat something, and then come back and wait for Timothy to take her to work. She went downstairs and went along the road to the restaurant Timothy had taken her to last time. She ordered a cup of coffee and a sandwich. After she enjoyed a cheap breakfast quietly, she walked out and strolled up the road.
She was a bit sad about Timothy's rejection and distrust yesterday, but she wasn't discouraged. She would make him believe her. She could feel that the bond between her and Timothy was still too deep to break.
Timothy said he had changed a lot. Indeed, Timothy was not quite the same now as he had been when he was younger. Now he was more mature and gentle, elegant and deep, and thoughtful enough to make her feel like a fragile work of art being carefully held in his hand.
Since they dated many years ago, Timothy had been spoiled by her and he had changed from a teenage boy into a sweet young man. In the days when they were just married, he lay on top of her all day long and didn't even want to lift a finger. He just closed his eyes and said, "Senior Quira, I'm thirsty. Pour me a glass of water please."
At that time, the newly married Queenie was shocked by him and felt speechless, "If you want to drink water, go to the living room and help yourself!"
"But I'm so tired. I don't want to get up. Senior Quira, please!" Timothy begged playfully.
"Why are you so tired? How could you be so tired as soon as you woke up this morning?"
"Well, don't you know why? I used up all my strength last night." He lay on top of her and bumped into her with a smirk, "Now I can't even stand up."
"You're shameless!" Queenie snorted with a blush, trying to push him away. But he wrapped his arms around her again and kept calling her nickname in her ear, "Quira, my dear."
In the end, Queenie couldn't stand his teasing, so she got up and went to the living room to pour him a glass of water. But he was unwilling to take the glass and drank the water right from the glass in her hand. Then he lay back on the bed and sighed comfortably, "Oh, I'm so happy. I seem to have strength again. Come on, Senior Quira! Let me show you a good time."
"Go away!" Queenie snorted and glared at him. Just as she was about to go back to the living room with the glass, she was picked up from behind and they laughed together.
Every time he played with her, he always called her Senior Quira, pretending to be cut and sweet himself. She knew that he was deliberately teasing her and taking revenge on her. When she was in high school, she had forced him to call her Senior Quira for three years. He wasn't happy about it then.
When she went to college, she suddenly found that she liked him. She asked him out on a Valentine's Day night. When they walked on the riverside avenue behind the school, she asked him, "Do you know what it means when a girl and a boy come out alone on Valentine's Day?"
Timothy, who had just turned eighteen at the time, said, "I don't know."
Queenie sighed and bit her lips. Then she closed her eyes hard and summoned up her courage, "It means that the boy and the girl are seeing each other!"
"Oh, is it?" A forced smile flickered across Timothy's handsome face, but Queenie, who was very nervous, didn't notice it. She was turning her head and looking into the distance with a flushed face. Although she looked calm, she felt very flustered. She didn't know whether her confession of love would be successful or not. She had wanted to wait. But as the second semester of his junior year started, Timothy was so handsome that all the girls in the nearby universities knew him and there were always beautiful girls around him. He had so many admirers. Besides, she didn't go to the same school as him. Although they still saw each other often and constantly made phone calls and sent text messages every day, she somehow felt that if she didn't catch him as quickly as possible, he would run away with another girl.
"Yes, yes!" Queenie turned her head and glared at him a little domineeringly, "You agreed to come out with me tonight because you've agreed to be my boyfriend, right?"
"Boyfriend?" Timothy raised his eyebrows and took a step forward, approaching her and asking, "Oh, so you like me."
"I... I..." Queenie took a step back, swallowed her habitual denial, and nodded softly, "Well, sort of!"
"Sort of? How much do you like me?" Timothy asked with a smirk.
"Not... not much." Queenie rubbed her nose and murmured.
Timothy chuckled when he heard that, and the smile he had tried to hide couldn't be hidden any longer. He was on the verge of laughing, and said mysteriously, "But I'm not planning to date girls in college."
Did she get rejected? Queenie's heart suddenly sank. She clenched her fists, but she said with a forced smile on her face, "Oh, it's okay. Remember to consider me when you want to have a girlfriend in the future."
After she finished it, she was about to turn and leave when she was suddenly grabbed by Timothy who yanked her back. He lowered his head and said arrogantly, "I'm not planning to have a girlfriend now, but if it's you, I can."
Queenie's eyes widened suddenly. Seeing the big smile on his face, she suddenly realized that she had been tricked!
He liked her too, and he was still pretending to reject her just now. Queenie turned her back and tried to save some face, "Well, you don't have to force yourself."
Timothy leaned closer to her with a smile and burst out laughing, "I'm not forcing myself. Not at all. You're my Senior Quira after all, right?"
Queenie said a little awkwardly, "You still call me Senior Quira."
Timothy smiled brightly, raised his hand, and tapped her nose, "You asked me to call you that, and now you don't let me call you that. So what should I call you?"
Queenie thought for a moment, and then pursed her lips and suggested, "You can call me dear, beauty, baby, little princess or something."
Timothy sneered, "Don't you think it's too mushy?!"
"How could it be mushy? Other girls in my dorm call their boyfriends that." Queenie said coquettishly, "Anyway, don't call me Senior Quira anymore."
"I'm still going to call you that." Timothy bent down suddenly and whispered in her ear, "Senior Quira."
She could feel his warm breath in her ear. She seemed to feel his warm lips against her ear, and the numbness and itchiness made her heart tremble. She had never felt this way before. She was so flustered that she didn't know what to do. So she could only raise her hand and wave him away, pretending to hit him as usual. While he retreated, he watched her and laughed heartily. She felt his bright and happy smile could light up the night.
At that time, Queenie had thought that this big boy might never grow up in his life, and he would play happily and grow old with her, and she would not miss a minute of his life.
But in the blink of an eye, she had lost twenty-three years.
Queenie sat on the edge of a flower bed on the street, watching people come and go. She felt like the young boy Timothy was standing in the crowd and looking at her with a smile like before. His eyes were so soft and affectionate when he was looking at her, and she was almost melting.
Queenie just stared blankly at the imaginary young boy Timothy. After watching him for a long time, she gathered her emotions and walked home slowly. Just when she walked into the community, she heard a loud cry from behind, "Queenie!"
Queenie turned around and saw Timothy approaching in the distance. His face was serious and his eyes were anxious, but he still kept the same pace, walking steadily towards her step by step, unlike in the past. When he saw her in the past, he had always put on a smile and ran up to her as if he couldn't wait, or touched her hair or pinched her face playfully. She had always had to hit him to make him stop.
Queenie looked at the man walking under the sun, and it seemed that he was different from the young boy in her memory. But the moment he walked toward her, it could still make her heart beat faster and put a smile on her face.
"Where have you been?" Timothy's body was tense. The hair on his forehead was soaked with sweat, and his dark blue shirt seemed to be stained with sweat too. His tone was soft but deeply suppressed as if he had suppressed a lot of emotions in his chest. He asked softly, "Didn't you say last night that you would wait for me at home?"
"I went to have breakfast," Queenie replied.
Timothy looked at her deeply. After a while, he took a deep breath and said softly, "Remember to answer my calls next time."
"Huh? Did you call me?" Queenie quickly took out her phone and looked at it. There were indeed more than a dozen missed calls from Timothy. She said, "How strange! Why didn't the phone ring?"
Timothy took Queenie's phone and said, "You muted your phone."
"No, I didn't mute it. Where is the mute button?" Queenie watched Timothy tap on the phone screen and hand it to her. She said apologetically, "I must have touched it by accident. My God, a mobile phone without buttons is not easy to use."
"Just get used to it." Timothy looked at her and said, "Tell me next time you go out."
"I just went downstairs for breakfast..."
Timothy interrupted her seriously and said, "Since you have an appointment with me, don't run around alone. I will be very anxious if I can't find you."
Timothy looked at her and said slowly, "Queenie, I'm too old to take it. Do you understand?"
Queenie turned her head and said softly, "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize. You did nothing wrong." Timothy took the groceries she had bought, turned, and walked in front, "Let's go back!"
"Yeah!" Queenie followed Timothy home and said, "Timothy, can you stop talking about yourself like you're very old all the time?"
"A man in his forties is most charming, you know?"
"In my heart, you're always my sweetest boy."
"I like you a lot."
"Really?" Queenie said and chased after him, trying to pull his arm. But Timothy dodged and said solemnly, "Stop it. Don't play around."
"What are you afraid of? We're legally married and it's legal for us to play around."
Timothy laughed, "Our marriage license was canceled long ago."
"It doesn't matter. Let's go get a new one! I think today is a good day. How about today?" Queenie pestered Timothy and said. Timothy pursed her lips but did not let go. Queenie was not in a hurry. She felt that if she could have won Timothy's heart once, she could win it again. He liked to play hard-to-get, and she knew it.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help reaching out and hooking Timothy's fingers to tease him, and watching him retract them in shock.
Oh, it looked like he was quite sensitive. Queenie looked at Timothy sitting in the car and smiled without saying a word. When his eyes accidentally met hers, she blew him a kiss in the air. Timothy pretended not to see it and continued to look down at the information on the tablet computer in a serious manner, but the pages were turned a little too fast. Queenie couldn't help snickering.
When they arrived downstairs at the company, Queenie said when she got off the car, "Oh, I want to go back to my hometown in a few days. Are you free to go with me?"
"I'll go with you," Timothy said almost immediately. God knows that he had been regretting it all these years, regretting that he hadn't accompanied her back to her hometown because of his busy work that year during the new year's holiday. Over the years, he had always been lying still in bed in the endless night, wishing he had gone home with her back then. In that case, she would not have been lost or disappeared. Even if she were in danger, he would have stayed by her side and protected her. Even if she had died, he could have died with her.
It would certainly have been better than now when he had nothing but a lonely and restless heart.
"But I want to stay there a few more days. Won't it delay your work?" Queenie asked worriedly.
"It's okay. I'm free." Timothy didn't budge.
"Okay!" Queenie smiled. Of course, she was happy that Timothy could accompany her back home. She didn't dare to go far alone at this stage.
"But you..." Timothy looked at her worriedly and asked, "Are you mentally prepared?"
Queenie was stunned for a while. Then she nodded vigorously, looked at Timothy, and smiled, "Yes! I'm fine now. Whenever I think about you and Albert, I'm no longer afraid, and I feel brave all over again. I think I'm ready to go see them now."
Timothy looked at her, smiled, and praised her sincerely, "Quira, you're the best. Kelvin and Ruby will be very happy."
"Of course!" Queenie waved her hand and said, "I am the best! No difficulty can defeat me! Haha!"
"You're so energetic in the early morning. It seems that you don't have enough work to do." Nathanael walked over from the parking lot and saw Queenie who looked so excited and couldn't help but sneer.
"Enough work for me. I went home and worked overtime last night." Queenie couldn't help protesting.
"Working overtime is what you should do." Nathanael glanced at her. Then he immediately changed his expression and strode to Timothy, greeting him very politely and respectfully, "Mr. Carter, good morning."
"Good morning, Nathan." Timothy was also gentle to Nathanael, as if looking at a junior, "I'm going. Please take care of Quira. Thanks."
"Don't worry. I'll take good care of her!" Nathanael assured him, looking at Timothy with more admiration. Standing at the gate of the company with Queenie and watching Timothy's car drive away, Nathanael sighed, "Mr. Carter is graceful! He has good taste in clothes too. What brand is the trench coat he's wearing today? Where did he buy it?"
Queenie turned her head and asked, "Why, do you want to buy the same model?"
Nathanael nodded vigorously. Queenie squinted her eyes in a good mood. With a smirk, she turned around and walked on, "No, only my husband is allowed to be so handsome."
"Queenie, why...why are you so mean?" Nathanael said as he followed her, "Why don't you think about who helped you get your husband back? If it weren't for me, you certainly wouldn't have been so happy!"
"Thanks a lot!" Queenie said.
"Huh." Nathanael sneered. She thanked him so insincerely.
"Oh, right." Nathanael leaned closer and asked curiously in a low voice, "Is that child adopted by Mr. Carter?"
"No." Queenie replied happily, "It's my younger brother."
"What?"
"My biological younger brother, a gift my parents left me." Queenie said emotionally, "He's a family member left by my parents!"
"Huh?" Nathanael said dismissively, "What's so good about a creature like a younger brother?"
"What do you know?" Queenie said unhappily.
"Why don't I know? I also have younger brothers, and there are two of them." Nathanael fiddled with his hair lazily and sneered, "Well, you didn't get along with your younger brother, so you think that a creature like a younger brother is a gift."
"Looks like you don't get along well with your brothers," Queenie said.
"I don't get along well with anyone, except Mr. Carter." Nathanael didn't even want to think about his two half-brothers who were always thinking about how to ask him for money. When he talked about them, he sounded very unhappy.
Queenie said in surprise, "I thought we got along quite well."
"It's just the hallucination of a middle-aged woman." Nathanael squinted at her, "I'm talking to you for Mr. Carter's sake."
With that, he ignored her, walked quickly into the elevator, and closed the elevator door without even waiting for Queenie. Queenie didn't care about his cold face. She chased after him and said, "Then for Mr. Carter's sake, please give me a week off. I'm going back to my hometown."
"You haven't even worked for a month and you want to take a week off?" Nathanael said.
"I have connections after all!" Queenie said shamelessly.
Nathanael thought about it and said, "I'll give you three days off at most for ..."
"For Mr. Carter's sake, I know." Queenie said quickly, "Thank you!"
Nathanael nodded. When the elevator arrived, the two got out elevator and started their day's work.
At the same time, Timothy also drove to the company. His company was located in the city's high-tech zone, a scientific and medical land specially opened up by the municipal government. His laboratory and several other biopharmaceutical companies he cooperated with were located here. Colleagues greeted him along the way, and Timothy responded with a smile. After Timothy walked over, a few girls secretly opened the chat group on their computers.
"Dr. Carter seems to be in a good mood today!"
"Yes, yes, he smiled at me just now. My God, I found he's so handsome."
"Dr. Carter is always so handsome, isn't he? If he had been younger and childless, many girls would have rushed to chase him."
"Age and his son are not obstacles at all, right? No one dares to chase the man Miss Harold likes under her nose!"
"Yes, that's right. No one has the courage."
"I agree."
"I agree."
"I agree."
"I agree too!"
Timothy had no way of knowing the admiration of the young girls in the chat group. But when he knocked on Ursula's office door, he still had to face the woman who had been chasing him all these years.
It would be a lie to say that he had never given up waiting and looking for Queenie for a single moment in the past 23 years. After searching for her with great expectations, he had failed again and again. On the anniversaries related to her and by his mother's hospital bed, he had thought, " Forget it, I'll stop looking for her and waiting. I'll just find a woman to live a normal life."
Ursula was the woman who had been chasing him the most persistently all these years. Ursula was beautiful when she was younger, and she had been considered the prettiest girl in a science and engineering college. She and he had been students of the same professor. Back in college, they had often helped their professor do project experiments together. She had always liked to be around him.
Before Queenie went missing, she had been very guarded against Ursula. She had always complained that Ursula was up to something. She had said that Ursula always called him at night to ask about this and that. The look in her eyes when she looked at him was not right. Ursula wanted to steal him from her. She didn't like Ursula at all.
At that time, Timothy had always looked at Queenie, who was complaining jealously, with a smile on his face. Whenever he smiled like this, Queenie would glare at him and warn him, "Don't go out alone with her. You are not allowed to eat alone with her. You are not allowed to help her with school or work. Anyway, you are not allowed to talk to her! Do you hear me?!"
At that time, Timothy could only nod again and again, "I'll listen to you."
He didn't feel that other women liked him. He had thought it was just normal work contacts, and he was even reluctant to answer her calls in private.
Later, after Quira disappeared, Ursula chased him for several years, and the people around had often tried to set him up with Ursula. But he had refused and made it clear to Ursula that he would not like her.
Ursula had been chasing after him until she was 30 years old. Then she gave up and went abroad. Later she heard that he had an accident and came back, saying that she could not forget him. She had been taking care of him in the hospital and helped him look after Albert for a while. When his parents were still alive, they kept telling him that he should accept Ursula even for Albert's sake and that the two of them should form a normal family and live a happy family life.
At the time, he had considered the suggestion seriously, but finally, he gave up. He remembered that when he rejected Ursula again, Ursula asked him very sadly, "Why? Is it because you don't love me, so you can't marry me? Or is it because you think it's pitiful for me to be so persistent? I said I don't need your love, and you don't need to love me back. Couldn't you just do it for the child? I'll treat Albert well, I swear!"
He remembered how she looked when she was crying, and he didn't feel sorry or moved at all. He even took two steps back in resistance, thought about it, and said, "No, it's not for these reasons."
"I'm just afraid that Quira will get angry." Timothy lowered his head and whispered, "You don't know, but she hates you very much. If I accept you, she will be very angry."
"She's been dead for more than ten years!" Ursula said angrily.
"She's not dead, and she'll be back," Timothy said stubbornly.
Ursula nodded, wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, and sighed, "Okay, you won. Just wait, you fool!"
Since then, Ursula had disappeared from his life again. A few years later, Ursula was transferred from another pharmaceutical research institute for a project and became his partner. Although it seemed she had given up, she still thought about various ways to please Albert secretly. Timothy knew she didn't give up. But she didn't say she liked him anymore. She just said that the child was pitiful and she just wanted to be nice to the child. They had gone to the same college and been taught by the same professor, so they naturally should take care of each other. It was okay for them to be close. Since she said so, he found it hard to fall out with her. So they had gotten on well in the past few years. Many people said that Ursula was his girlfriend or even his fiancée. He had refuted the rumors a few times, but there are still more rumors, so he didn't care about it anymore.
However, Ursula had pretended to be his wife in front of Queenie a few days ago, and he naturally wanted to clear it up with her.
Timothy lowered his eyes and knocked on Ursula's office door. In the sunshine, a woman in her thirties with delicate makeup was sitting in the chair in a dark green silk shirt, looking capable and elegant. She looked up at him and smiled, "Why are you here?"
"Well, I'm going to take my annual leave." Timothy walked in and said. "If you have anything, you can talk to my subordinate Russell."
"Annual leave?" Ursula raised her head and looked at him with a frown, "You didn't hear some fake news and are planning to go look for her again?"
Timothy pursed his lips lightly and put on a nice and gentle smile on his face. Even though he was forty years old, his eyes were still clear and affectionate, and he sounded happy, "No, I don't need to look for her anymore."
"You finally figured it out?" Ursula looked calm yet surprised.
But the next moment, his answer made her freeze. He whispered, "She's back."
Ursula looked up at him in surprise. His eyes were full of excitement and emotion. Ursula couldn't believe it, "How is it possible?"
"It's true." Timothy said honestly, "It's the girl you saw last time."
"How is that possible?" Ursula said in disbelief, "That girl looks only twenty years old!"
"Well, it's her!" Timothy smiled and explained everything in a soft voice. After he showed the news to her, she finally believed the incredible thing.
She raised her hands to cover her face as if she had been exhausted and said, "It's ridiculous that I went to see her and pretended to be your wife."
"You did a good job. She believed it and even wanted to break up with me." Timothy smiled with a tone of tolerance for his age.
"Sorry, I didn't know," Ursula said apologetically.
"It's okay. I'm sorry I had a bad attitude on the phone that day." Timothy glanced at her and said, "In the future, don't make jokes like this again. You know, I'm easy to get anxious when it's about her." Ursula smiled wryly, nodding and looking deeply at Timothy. It took a while before she said, "Congratulations, Timothy!"
"Thank you!" Timothy smiled. His smile was as bright and gentle as the first time she met him, and it was still so intoxicating. Ursula looked at his smile deeply and felt a little sad. She hadn't seen his smile for many years, and it seemed to bring her back to the heart-pounding moment when she fell in love with him at such a young age. But she also knew better than anyone else that he smiled so happily not because of her, but the woman he had been chasing for 23 years.
She heard him say "goodbye". Then he turned and left without hesitation.
She looked at his back and softly said "goodbye". Only this time it was goodbye. She would never get a chance again.
Goodbye, the man she had loved since she was so young. Goodbye, the only person she had ever loved in her life. Goodbye, this man with absolute defense.
Her 20-year-long pursuit had finally come to an end, and this time she lost. Well, at least that gentle and handsome man finally got the beloved girl he had been waiting for.
Ursula had mixed feelings in her heart. She smiled and sighed helplessly with tears in her eyes. She took a deep breath and continued to work.
Timothy took a leave of absence at the company and then handed over his work. He handed the data of several drugs under study and the description of their respective progress stages to a few deputies in the group. Then he went home and packed his luggage. He booked high-speed rail tickets online and went to pick up Queenie.
When he was waiting for Queenie at downstairs Queenie's company, his heart jumped excitedly, as if his heart that had been silent for 23 years started beating again, and his blood was flowing again, and he seemed more than ten years younger. He even couldn't help getting off the car and standing beside the car, looking at the gate of her company expectantly.
Watching Queenie trot towards him with her bag from a distance, he couldn't help but stride over to greet her like a young boy. Looking at her completely unchanged face, he suddenly remembered that when he was younger, he had waited for her with such excitement in the alley downstairs of her house or the woods behind her dormitory. He was eager and passionate, sweet and excited.
Timothy walked over to take the bag in her hand and opened the back seat door for her in a gentlemanly manner. After watching her get in the car, he went around to the other side of the car and sat beside her, asking, "Did you ask for leave?"
"Yes." Queenie said with a smile, "For your sake, Nathanael agreed immediately."
Timothy smiled, "I've booked the tickets and hotel. Let's go!"
"Yeah!" Queenie happily agreed. After a while, she leaned over and asked, "How many rooms have you booked?"
"Two rooms," Timothy said.
"Well, what a waste of money!" Queenie touched his thigh with a smile and Timothy almost jumped up. He glanced at the driver awkwardly. Seeing that the driver didn't notice the back, he snorted with a sigh of relief, "Stop it."
"Oh!" Queenie smiled and sat still. Her greedy eyes were fixed on him.
The two arrived at the high-speed rail lobby. When they entered the station, it was a bit crowded. Queenie was bumped by someone eager to enter the station. Timothy quickly stepped forward and gave her a hand. He was about to let her go when he found his hand was held tightly by her. He struggled a bit but failed. Queenie held his hand even more tightly and looked up at him pitifully and said, "There are a lot of people. I'm so afraid of getting lost. I've never taken a high-speed train."
Timothy hesitated for a long time. He was afraid that he would fall under such gentle intimacy. But he couldn't shake her hand away. So he could only purse his lips tightly and protected her through the crowd without saying a word until they went to the ticket gate.
Queenie smiled and peeked at their hands that were held tightly with their fingers crossed.
She raised her face and put on a sly and contented smile. She knew that Timothy couldn't refuse her at all, and all his resistance was utterly vulnerable in front of her attack!
Soon, they got on the high-speed train and arrived at their hometown Hallyreign amid Queenie's cries of surprise. When she got off the train, Queenie exclaimed in amazement, "My God, it only takes two and a half hours! It used to take eight hours by car!"
"We're working in Buena City now. Can we go back to our hometown on weekends? It's convenient!"
"Well... it's useless to come back..."
"There's no one at home anymore." When Queenie said this, she lowered her head in disappointment and became sad again. Timothy walked over to take her arm and said softly, "Come on, someone is going to pick us up."
"Huh? Someone is picking us up? Who is it?" Queenie asked curiously.
Timothy didn't answer. The two walked out of the station together. Before they reached the exit, they saw seven or eight middle-aged men and women standing outside the exit. All of them were in their forties. Seeing Queenie, they couldn't help shouting, "My God! Queenie! It's Queenie!"
"Quira!"
"Queenie!"
"Quira! My God! Quira, you haven't changed at all!"
Queenie's eyes widened as they carefully looked her up and down, trying to recognize her. God, were they her childhood friends?
How had they become like this? Queenie couldn't help but run over to them quickly. She rushed to them, hugged one of the women, and cried loudly, "Mona, how did you get so fat? I almost didn't recognize you!"
Monica, who had been Queenie's classmate for more than ten years, hugged her back angrily and excitedly, and patted her, "Don't be so mean! Why don't you try having two children without getting fat yourself?"
"Oh, God, you've all changed." Queenie didn't know what to say. She was so excited that she cried. She clearly remembered that she had just had a small party with these childhood friends not long ago, and everyone was young and beautiful then. Now some were fat and some were bald, but they were still her childhood friends she had grown up with.
"Okay, okay, don't cry. I booked a private room at Hoca Restaurant. Let's go to eat something first!" A calm-looking man said to those women who were crying together.
"Okay!" They wiped their tears and walked towards the exit hand in hand. No one was willing to let each other go. Queenie looked at them one by one. Her friends who had traveled, studied, and taken exams together with her had indeed changed a lot.
This feeling was wonderful, but she could feel that their feelings towards her were still the same as before.
"Quira, Timothy, take my car. You guys can drive there yourselves. Private room 207." The man said again.
They had no problem with it. Leon had been like this since he was a child. He had always been the one who called the shots in their group. When he was little, he was very unpopular. Everyone had thought he was domineering and a little pretentious. But after getting along with him, they found that he was a very responsible person. He was also very loyal to his friends. As long as they did not disagree with him, it was quite comfortable to hang out with him, because he could help them arrange everything properly.
Queenie had had a crush on Leon, but Leon knew nothing about it. Queenie had been mocked by Timothy for the whole senior year in high school.
Queenie sat in the back and looked at Leon carefully. The forty-four-year-old man was still strong and tall with handsome features. It could be seen that he was a handsome man when he was younger. He had some gray hair and some wrinkles around his eyes. His deep nasolabial folds and drooping mouth corners made him look more serious. He was wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses, and he looked like the high school head teacher they had been most afraid of in memory.
Queenie couldn't help smiling while looking at him secretly. Just as she was about to turn her head to say something to Timothy, she saw Timothy squinting at her. But when she looked over he turned her head away coldly.
Queenie was so frightened that she sat up straight. She didn't dare to look at Leon anymore.
Well, she forgot that the man beside her was very jealous when he was younger. He had always been very unhappy because the first person she had crushed on wasn't him...
She remembered that when she was a sophomore in high school, Leon came to Buena City from Starland City to visit and called her before he came. This was naturally no problem for Queenie. When her old classmate came to visit her, naturally she should be hospitable.
It was a weekend, and she had an appointment with Timothy to go to the library. She and Timothy weren't together at that time. She already liked Timothy then, but between learning and going out to play, she naturally found it more interesting to hang out with Leon.
So she missed the appointment and called Timothy and said she wasn't going to the library with him.
"Where are you going then?" Timothy asked over the phone.
"Leon came to Buena City and asked me to hang out with him. We're going to the Fragrance Mountain to see the maple leaves, and he's taking me to dinner tonight." Queenie sounded happy.
Timothy sneered on the phone, "Have you passed the National Grad Test of Second Language? The final exam is coming soon. Have you done all the advanced math questions? Are you still thinking of going out to have fun?"
Queenie fell silent, and hesitated, "Oh, I'm just taking a day off today. I've been going to the library for a month. I'll take a day off."
"No!" Timothy disagreed, "No rest. Come right away. I'll be waiting for you in the library."
"No, I'm going out." Queenie was also a willful girl when she was younger.
"Okay, go ahead, but I'll never help you with your homework again." Timothy hung up the phone angrily.
Queenie hesitated in her dorm for quite a while, and finally went to the library after thinking about it. She had no choice. A girl was always so humble in front of the boy she liked after all!
Queenie put the drink she had bought on Timothy's desk from behind him. He looked up at her and pursed his lips tightly, looking unhappy. He glanced at Queenie and said, "Why did you come? ?"
In the quiet library, she could hear a hint of complaint in his suppressed voice.
Queenie hurried over and whispered in his ear, "I was afraid you would be angry!"
Timothy snorted, "Learning is your own business. Why would I be angry?"
"Yes, right." Queenie sat aside, took out a book from her schoolbag, and flipped through the pages with little interest.
Timothy looked up at her and said, "If you want to go to Fragrance Mountain. I'll go with you when the exam is over next week."
"I don't want to go to Fragrance Mountain. It's Leon who wants to go there." Queenie muttered as she flipped through the book.
"I knew. Do you still like Leon?" Timothy's handsome face darkened a little, and his voice was low and anxious.
Queenie didn't hear it. She leaned closer, and asked, "What?"
Timothy was embarrassed to ask such a secret private matter a second time, so he could only turn his head to look at the book in front of him, and lectured her in a serious tone, "I told you to study hard and not always think about boys."
Queenie smiled, rested her chin on her hands, and said, "But what if I like someone? I just want to date him, hold his hands, and hug him every day. I want to hang out with him and talk to him on the phone until midnight every day."
Timothy squeezed the pen in his hand, looked at her deeply, and asked, "Who do you like?"
Queenie tilted her head. Her face was full of yearning for sweet love. She lightly tapped her cheek, looked at him happily, and said, "I'm not going to tell you."
Timothy glared at her, turned his head, and continued to do his homework. After a while, he picked up his water glass, took a sip of water, and put the glass down heavily. It seemed he was trying to suppress some emotions.
After they were officially together, Timothy was still unhappy when he heard Leon's name. He had told her that what he was most afraid of at that time was that one day she went to tell him that she was in love with Leon.
Queenie felt amused at that time and said, "Why didn't you pursue me when you were so afraid of me falling in love with him? You were still waiting for me to confess my love for you."
"I was afraid you didn't like me." Timothy, a young and handsome boy then, bowed his head. He looked so afraid of being disliked by his beloved girl, and it made her heart tremble.
Queenie couldn't stand his seduction and immediately threw away all her pride. She ran over and hugged him, "How could I not like you? You are so cute and I love you so much. I love you the most!"
"But the first boy you liked wasn't me." Timothy looked unconfident.
"Well, but you were shorter than me then!"
Timothy glanced at her, and Queenie hurriedly smiled to please him. She hurried over to comfort him, "When I was young, I was all focused on studying, and I didn't feel this way for you. Look, I came to you as soon as I realized I liked you, right?"
"It looks like your first love letter was to Leon," Timothy said flatly.
"I follow the crowd. When I was in the third year of high school, there was a lot of pressure to study. Many people wrote it, so I just wrote it casually."
"Huh." Timothy sneered.
"Don't rake up old memories. I love you the most." Queenie shook his hand.
Hearing her confession of love, Timothy couldn't help smiling, "Senior Quira, kiss me."
"Oh, I can't stand it anymore!" Queenie cried. She was unable to stand the temptation any longer. She rushed over without hesitation and knocked him down.
The sound of pleasure echoed in the room, and the smell of happiness wrapped them tightly.
At that time, Timothy felt so happy and thought he would be with the girl in his arms forever.
But such sweet and happy days had only lasted two years, but these two years were still the brightest days in his life.
No matter if he was thirty or forty years old, when he closed his eyes, he could always remember the way Queenie threw herself on him with love and eagerness in her eyes. He couldn't help drowning in it. It was deeply painful yet sweet.