Chapter 42

Joseph's POV

Another busy day.

I had finished reviewing the student council's activity applications for the next quarter, checked the revision comments my advisor had sent me on my thesis, and replied to the butler's message—he mentioned that Evelyn had been staying up late recently—"Add a glass of warm milk before bed and cut the power before midnight."

I could already picture her jumping up the moment the lights went out and storming to my door to pound on it.

But that was fine. I would hold her down and send her back to bed. She was still a child, and staying up late would affect her growth.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but chuckle.

Time kept moving forward, yet I always had this illusion, as if I were still stuck in those years—when Evelyn was little and Amelia often stayed at our house.

Back then, the two of them had secretly played Bloody Mary in the middle of the night, and I had been the one to rush in and drag them both out of the bedroom before it caught fire.

How many years ago was that?

I pulled out my phone, intending to scroll through my photo album, but what I saw instead was a picture of Aria—the "assignment" my parents had sent me, demanding I give it serious consideration.

The lightness in my chest vanished immediately. I silently turned off the screen, put away my files, and stood to leave.

Time had passed too quickly. Amelia and I could never go back.

Perhaps I should start telling myself now to forget her.

I walked out of the student council office and was greeted by someone.

"Hey, our workaholic Joseph finally left his pile of paperwork?" It was Joe, the head of the student council's news department. He looked excited. "Want to grab a drink? There's some big news today! Finally, I don't have to write trash stories about two girls fighting over a guy..."

I shook my head. "I'm off alcohol lately."

Alcohol wasn't a good thing. Just thinking about it reminded me of a terrible night and a mocking voice.

"Joseph-gege..."

Now my groin was starting to ache faintly too...

"Do you have a toothache?" Joe studied me.

I relaxed my jaw and shook my head. "I'm fine. It's just that I need to go home and look after my sister."

"That's a shame," Joe said. "I wanted to share my gossip column with you."

He rambled on, "Speaking of which, this has something to do with you. You know that young guy who took over as your captain? Samuel! Turns out he abused his authority to get his girlfriend onto the cheerleading squad!"

My heart skipped a beat.

"Girlfriend?"

No, it couldn't be Amelia. She would never have anything to do with the cheerleading squad.

So that blond brat had cheated again?

Amelia had even visited him after he got injured!

I knew it—he deserved a beating!

"Yeah," Joe said enthusiastically. "He hasn't come out to admit it, but that girl rushed onto the field for him! What other relationship could she have?"

"So many people were watching! The coach was about to bench Samuel! And then that girl ran in and cupped his face! Hey, if it weren't for the fact that he pulled strings to steal someone else's cheerleading spot, I'd almost praise the two of them!"

He said dreamily, "That's love, man. Youth is wonderful..."

I nodded perfunctorily. "Very beautiful."

Meanwhile, I was mentally calculating where to corner Samuel and beat him up.

"Speaking of that girl, you know her too. She's been quite the topic on campus lately..."

Joe's voice floated past my ears like the buzzing of a fly.

I felt inexplicably irritated. "I'm not familiar with any girls. I'm leaving."

"Huh? Alright," Joe's voice fell behind me, sounding regretful. "I was going to tell you how people on the forum are praising you now. They're all saying you were way more reliable as captain than Samuel, that you were never swayed by personal feelings..."

Was I never swayed by personal feelings?

Only I knew how ridiculous that statement was.

Sometimes I wished I could be the kind of person who would abandon everything for "personal feelings."

But I was a coward. I didn't dare give up everything, and the person I wanted to protect had long seen through me. She didn't give me the chance to be "swayed by personal feelings."

I kept walking, just wanting to quickly forget Joe's words.

But just as I was about to turn the corner, another familiar voice stopped Joe.

"Joe," Cassidy's voice was clear and calm. "Did I just hear you spreading rumors about my squad member Amelia?"

Amelia.

I froze, my mind in a daze, wondering if I had misheard.

Why was she everywhere?

In the distance, Joe's voice turned into a placating laugh.

"Hey, Cassidy! I was just... just repeating speculation from the campus forum."

"So you have no proof, but you're planning to put this speculation in the campus news?"

"Um, it's just a gossip piece, a little trick to grab attention..."

"You're harming people!"

"It's not that serious..."

"You're seriously damaging my squad member's reputation, as well as Samuel's! And of course, mine too!"

"Cassidy, I was just..."

"If you have objections to my cheerleading squad selections, you should come question me, the person responsible for choosing, not the football team captain! My cheerleading squad doesn't belong to the football team, and my girls aren't people you can casually spread rumors about!"

Joe's voice grew weaker. "I, um, I wasn't clear. I thought that Amelia... Joseph! Say something. When you were on the team, didn't you ever talk to Captain Cassidy about cheerleading selections?"

I turned to look at him, my neck like a rusted machine, creaking with every degree of rotation.

Or perhaps it was my brain making that noise.

Amelia?

A cheerleader?

"Is this the Amelia I'm thinking of?" I asked cautiously.

"Who else could it be?" Joe shrugged. "Amelia Grey. And you said you weren't familiar with her."

A roar exploded in my ears.

Amelia—she had really joined the cheerleading squad? For whom? For... Samuel?!

In an instant, I thought of everything I had overlooked.

I remembered Samuel telling me he dreamed that one day Amelia would cheer for him, and I had said that would never happen.

I remembered Joe just saying that the girl had rushed onto the field when Samuel was injured...

So Amelia had cupped Samuel's face in front of everyone?

Why?

Anger arrived before reason could.

When I played, when I got injured, she never watched! She never even entered the stadium!

Why?!

I pulled out my phone almost reflexively.

I needed to confront her and get answers!