The Ring of Solitude

Prologue - 002：Mad, Math, and Mess

With your head down, you hurried through the school entrance,not wanting to make eye contact with anyone.

The hallways buzzed with the usual hustle and bustle, lockers lining the walls on both sides, this was where everyone gathered and chatted before class. Students huddled in groups, catching up stories and happenings from the holiday break. Laughter and voices filled the air. You remained indifferent to it all, but in the next moment your senses kicked into high gear. All nerves keenly sensitive that make you highly focused , because your gaze had unwittingly stumbled across a sight that riveted you:

Emma was standing by her locker, right across from yours.And next to her was a figure that took you by surprise.

"Emma, the star sprinter at our school, who had an incredibly sweet smile for everyone. And I mean everyone - even the biggest losers like me.She is always patient and friendly. If it were another girl, she'd just walk away without a word - that would already be a great mercy.Beautiful, affable, and the school's track and field star , it's hard to imagine anyone in this school who could outshine her.

Next to her stood a tall, muscular guy, still holding a basketball under his arm. That's Aiden, he's on the school basketball team. Just looking at Aiden's face, which always acted like it's a big deal, made me nauseous. He's a total weirdo, never seen without that old basketball, whether it's in class, the cafeteria, or even the bathroom! They were standing very close, I had a bad feeling about this."

She was chatting with Aiden about something. You perked up your ears, straining to recall the lip reading skills from trashy TV shows.

"Wanna try again ?",Aiden said smugly.

Emma giggled and replied, " Let's not talk about that here."

After saying this, Emma's face flushed slightly as she shyly looked down.

"Why can't we talk about it?" Aiden teased, his smile turning sly.

Emma didn't reply, only lightly bumping Aiden's arm with her shoulder. Their interaction seemed harmless, but to you, it was like a seed of unease planted in your heart.

"Wait for me tonight, don't go," Aiden murmured, leaning in close to Emma's ear.

He deliberately lowered his voice, his words meant for her alone. But you, with your heightened focus, managed to decipher his words by the shapes his lips made.

"Mm-hmm, okay," Emma replied sweetly.

They finished their conversation and parted ways. The moment they parted, the noisy world returned, various sounds of students flooding back into your ears. In just those brief two minutes, it felt like you had endured a never-ending marathon, both mentally and physically exhausted when it was over.

You contemplated the physical closeness between Emma and Aiden, the unintentional smiles Emma gave Aiden, and their subtle interactions.This made it impossible for you not to speculate about the nature of their relationship. The doubts sprouting in your heart grew wildly like weeds, and you started wondering if there was a deeper connection between these two.

Jacob felt a profound sense of exhaustion, both in body and spirit, as he mulled over the recent encounter. "What the fuck? Were they flirting? Why does my heart ache? Seeing Emma's ambiguous chat with Aiden, a sense of unease welled up inside me. I do have complicated feelings for Emma, not just simple liking... She's one of the few truly kind people to me in school, her smile could brighten my entire day."

Whenever you thought about her interactions with Aiden, waves of indescribable jealousy and loss emerged in your heart.

"I've never bravely expressed my true feelings to her, maybe out of cowardice, I always avoided this challenge, afraid to lose even the basic friendship with her. As for Aiden, he made me uncomfortable, that innate arrogance and confidence...and the way he interacted with Emma, it made me feel I couldn't compare, whenever I saw her, I had thousands of words I wanted to say but never could. Facing people like Aiden, I always felt a sense of powerlessness."

You felt trapped in an inescapable emotional dilemma, hoping to prove they had no relationship yet dreading to know the truth.

Watching Emma's back until she turned the corner, you then dragged yourself into the classroom.

Taking a sweep across the all-too-familiar room, Jacob couldn't help but start his grumbling, "Math first thing in the morning! I really don't get why we have to learn this stuff. Knowing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division is enough to handle most 'math problems' in life and work. Advanced algebra, trigonometry, calculus, statistics blah blah blah, what the hell are these?Nowadays, tons of people are already vlogging their mundane lives, babbling nonsense on livestreams all day, uploading lame videos on streaming platforms, or even openly selling nude photos online to make money as 'influencers.'Schools should teach us these things instead, not only is it useful, it could also save America's employment rate - everyone with a smartphone can be self-employed! That is, if being an internet beggar can be considered a profession."

The grating ring of the starting bell sounded, and Ms. Wong began droning on about the textbook, the squeak of her marker piercing through the air.

You were in an extremely irritable mood, thoughts ranging from Emma's situation to societal issues, rendering you incapable of absorbing a single word in the classroom.

Ms. Wong standing at the lectern with hands on her hips said: "Jacob, are you still with us? Can you answer this: solve the equation $2x^2 - 5x + 3 = 0$?"

Her voice had an irritated edge. "Hello?"

It wasn't until the classmate next to you nudged you that you realized the teacher was addressing you.

Embarrassment washed over Jacob's face, "I... I don't know."

Ms. Wong said severely, "Of course you can't answer it. Your mind was clearly wandering - I didn't even need to see your face to know. That's why I'm reminding you to pay attention! Never underestimate math class. Algebra might come in handy in life one day."

You nodded awkwardly.

Jacob stewed in his own gloom, looping through a labyrinth of restless thoughts: "Ms. Grace Wong, this petite, skin-and-bones Asian math teacher, supposedly graduated from some prestigious university and even got a masters degree in education. Anyway, you'd hear tidbits of gossip about her background around school sometimes. But no matter how impressive her credentials were, teaching at a public high school was like the dead end of a teacher's career, a hopeless wasteland - how could you expect someone to thrive and flourish in such barren soil? I used to think she looked cute with glasses on, but it turns out she such a sarcastic math bitch. "

After being scolded by Ms. Wong, every minute of the remaining math class gnawed away at your patience. Mrs. Wong kept enthusiastically teaching those seemingly useless algebra formulas, but to you, they were just a bunch of lengthy symbols and boring rules, completely unrelated to your life path. You stared blankly at the dull numbers and letters on the board , like codes from another world, with answers forever out of reach.

Filled with an inexplicable resentment towards Aiden, you decided to stay after school and not leave until you found those two. Knowing it would only hurt more to confirm their relationship with your own eyes, but you still wanted to see it.

Your thoughts had been overtaken by bitterness. Both morning and afternoon classes were more boring than watching logs burn in a fireplace...

Jacob secretly thought: "If they wanted to fool around in school, it'd be either the classroom or bathroom. And both being athletes, they often don't leave until evening after practice. It wouldn't be hard to find them."