The Youthful You Who Was So Beautiful

Nine

Patrick felt rather helpless about the entire situation.

Kayla's family had forgiven Lily, and simply viewed it a prank between classmates that unfortunately went overboard; although Chloe was indeed on the receiving end of numerous bullying incidents, Chloe's death was ultimately caused by suicide. Thus, from a legal point of view, there was no direct connection between her death and Lily's bullying incidents.

With respect to Lily's physical humiliation and beating of Chloe, the forensic investigator had already pronounced that the injuries on Chloe's body failed to meet the requisite criteria necessary to constitute an 'injury' under the law. Although procedure provides for Lily and her group of friends to be detained for a certain period of time, they had been released on account of their young age.

Although Lily was expelled from school, this was meaningless to Eliza.

Since Lily and her group of friends were no longer in school, they transformed into a bunch of wild, rabid wolves on the streets, and had absolutely no restrictions or restraint. They concealed themselves near the roads to and fro from school, and pounced on you the very moment you let down your guard.

There was no war between the wolves and the sheep on the food chain – a war implied that both parties had equal power; instead, the wolves hunted whilst the sheep were devoured.

Patrick began fetching Eliza to and fro from school on a daily basis.

He treated her extremely nicely. He would always purchase breakfast and dinner for her, and would occasionally bring her to various restaurants on the pretext that she was too skinny, and required additional nourishment.

Due to the nature of his job, Patrick frequently worked irregular hours. As a result, Eliza gradually grew accustomed to sitting on the steps in front of her house whilst waiting for him. On several occasions, Eliza would even utilize the surrounding lights to memorize numerous vocabulary.

The warm glow of the early morning sun shone on her head and the back of her neck. Eliza saw her own shadow in front of her – the shadows around her head betrayed the tiny, unruly strands of hair that refused to be tamed.

Eliza glanced at her watch. She was going to be late once again. Redirecting her attention to the book in front of her, she simply continued with the calm memorization of her vocabulary.

The sound of approaching footsteps rang out, but it wasn't Patrick. Eliza held her breath, and gradually rose from her seat. She gingerly placed her right foot on the step before her, and readied herself to run back into the house if the situation called for it.

The face of the youth appeared beyond the surrounding walls. Taking a seemingly unconcerned glance beyond the walls out of habit, Sebastian's gaze grazed past the metal gates and collided with Eliza's. The two of them stared at each other, the surprised and blank expression on their faces coloring the entire incident with a comical tone.

She hadn't seen him for a long time. Sebastian's hair had grown longer during this period, and the bandage on his arm was now glaringly absent.

He took the initiative to begin the conversation, "What are you doing here?"

Eliza retracted her right foot in an inconspicuous manner, and straightened herself before explaining in a small voice, "This is......my home."

Stumped by her reply, Sebastian only managed to continue the conversation after a minute had passed, "What I meant was, what are you doing here now? Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

Eliza remained silent.

"I'm asking you a question." With his hand stuck in his pocket, Sebastian kicked the metallic gates with his foot, and was about to enter the yard when her voice rang out.