Number one and only. [Nicholas &team]

Chapter 20 - Ghosts of the Countryside

Three days later, Ava found a sealed envelope waiting for her on her nightstand — her father’s doing. No note, no words, just the heavy weight of paper that promised answers.
She sat on the edge of her bed, the evening light painting the room in soft orange. For a moment she hesitated, running her fingers along the flap. Then she tore it open.
Inside were neatly printed pages — official records, newspaper clippings, even a few grainy photographs. At the top, in bold: Nicholas – Background File.

Full Name: Wang Yixiang 
Date of Birth: July 09.
Origin: Seoryeon County — a rural countryside town two hours from the city.
Ava’s eyes skimmed further. Father: Wang Jaehwan – deceased.
She slowed down, reading the next lines carefully.
Mr. Wang died five years ago in a hit-and-run accident while cycling home from work. Case remains unsolved.
There was a copy of the police report — the photo of a deserted country road, a broken bicycle lying on its side. Ava’s stomach tightened.
After the accident, Nicholas’s mother had raised him alone, working two jobs to afford his schooling. He’d attended Seoryeon High School… until last year.

The next section was marked Incident Report – Seoryeon High.
Ava leaned closer.
On October 12, during the school’s autumn sports festival, a structural collapse occurred in the east bleachers. One student, Han Areum, sustained severe injuries after falling from the top row. Witnesses stated Nicholas had been with her seconds before the fall. She was hospitalized for two months with spinal injuries but survived.
Ava’s breath caught.
Below the report was a smaller note: Rumors spread in the school community blaming Nicholas for the accident. Witnesses contradicted each other, some claiming bad luck followed him. Local students referred to him as “cursed.”
There was even a blurred photograph — Nicholas in his old school uniform, standing stiffly by a hospital bed, a pale girl with a neck brace lying beneath white sheets.
Han Areum – relationship to Nicholas: romantic.

Ava set the paper down for a moment, staring at the floor. The thought of Nicholas, quiet and guarded, standing in that hospital, carrying the weight of whispers calling him cursed… it unsettled her.
She read on.
By the end of the year, Nicholas had withdrawn from Seoryeon High. His mother arranged for his transfer to Northbridge on a scholarship, relocating them to the city. He’d arrived a month after the session began — and, if the file was correct, had kept entirely to himself ever since.

Ava closed the envelope slowly, her fingers curling over the edges.
So that was why he avoided people. Why he stayed on the sidelines. Why he brushed off attention with that cold, unreadable look.
But something in her — maybe curiosity, maybe something warmer — wasn’t satisfied with just reading about his past.
She wanted to hear it from him.