Kai wore a look of utter despair. How could he have forgotten about this?
He had been telling himself he just had to endure one more day, and then he could go home tomorrow and feast. His mouth was watering just thinking about it.
But now he was staying in Italy. Was he doomed to continue this unending, mortal combat with pizza?
Beside him, Zhou Guanyu froze for a second before quickly bowing his head, his shoulders shaking as he tried to suppress his laughter.
Rosana, however, was not amused. She planted her hands on her hips, looking like a fuming teapot. "What's wrong with pizza? Don't you know that pizza is the soul of Italian food?"
Kai blinked, his face a mask of innocence. "I thought pasta was."
A torrent of rapid-fire Italian burst from Rosana. Though Kai couldn't understand a single word, he guessed she was in the process of writing a passionate, multi-volume epic in defense of pizza.
Zhou Guanyu sidled up to Kai and whispered, "There's a McDonald's in Maranello."
From the sound of it, his fellow countryman was also suffering from culinary homesickness.
Rosana's eyes went wide, as if she couldn't believe her ears. "Mamma mia! You live in Italy and you're resorting to American fast food to survive?"
"I. Will. Not. Allow. It."
She thought for a moment, and her tone suddenly changed, a bright smile spreading across her face. "Your training regimen starts tomorrow, and so does your diet plan. But for tonight, I will bring you some real Italian food. Do you know where the true flavor of Italy comes from?"
"Grandmothers. Mothers."
"The taste of home. You poor child, so far from your family. Tonight, you let me take care of you."
"McDonald's? Hah! As if. I will not allow you to abuse yourself like that."
With that, she turned and bustled away.
Zhou Guanyu stared at Kai, completely dumbfounded. He had no idea how things had just escalated to this point. He had been in Maranello for three years, and while everyone knew Rosana was warm-hearted and got along with all the students, this was the first time he'd ever heard of her offering to cook for someone.
Before Zhou could react, Rosana's voice called back from down the hall. "Zhou! Your morning training isn't over. You're not using 'welcoming a friend' as an excuse to slack off, are you? Ferdinando Monfardini will not be happy."
The smile on Zhou's face instantly collapsed. "Oh, crap."
In a flurry of motion, without even a proper goodbye, Zhou bolted, his frantic voice echoing back. "Zhizhou! I'm heading back to training! Talk to you tonight!"
In a flash, he was gone, leaving only Rosana's retreating figure.
Kai stood up straight and called out, "Thank you, Rosana!"
She just waved a hand, not looking back.
Kai let himself into his apartment. The space was clean and modern, decorated in cool tones of light grey, beige, and deep blue. It was nothing like the barracks he'd imagined. The studio apartment was fully furnished, even equipped with an induction cooktop and a small refrigerator.
Towels and a comforter were neatly folded at the foot of the bed. On the desk, a vase held fresh flowers, still dotted with dew, bringing a quiet touch of life to the room.
So, this was his home base for the next three months.
Everything had happened so fast. It was hard to believe how much his entire life had been turned upside down in just twelve hours.
He let out a long breath but didn't fully relax. This wasn't the time to get emotional. He had real work to do.
Homework.
Since he had promised his parents, he had to follow through. It was a promise he had to keep.
He opened his suitcase, but he didn't have time to unpack or even look around the apartment. He was already busy... doing his homework.
The gentle afternoon breeze rustled outside, and the quiet, peaceful atmosphere of Maranello settled over him.
Click.
He finished the last problem, scanned the pages with his phone, organized them into a single file, and sent them off. Then, he immediately dialed a number.
It was picked up before the first ring had even finished. The guy on the other end was clearly slacking off on his phone.
"Kai, you're my god! How did you know I was dying over this math homework? I've been sitting here for two hours and haven't written a single thing. You're the best, man, a true brother, just sending the answers over! Hahaha!"
The voice on the other end exploded like a string of firecrackers. Kai could practically see the guy's face split into a massive grin.
He wasn't surprised at all. He relaxed, "Yeah, keep dreaming. You were probably hiding in the bathroom playing World of Warcraft for two hours, weren't you? And 'Doctor,' when you copy it, don't just paste it word for word. People who don't know any better will think you're a reincarnated copy machine."
"Haha, I know, I know! Last time was a mistake, a slip-up, you get me? I've been copying your homework for years, when have I ever messed up?"
"Last week's English reading comprehension. The week before that, the chemistry lab report and the physics homework. The week before that..."
"Haha, ha," the voice on the other end gave a dry laugh, completely unfazed, and quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, how do you have time to do homework? I thought you'd be scrambling on the flight back. I'd already given up hope and was just going to guess on all the multiple-choice. Don't tell me you lost the race?"
The person on the phone was Song Bo, Kai's childhood best friend.
Their mothers had been classmates from elementary through high school. After graduation, they'd lost touch, only to reconnect years later when they coincidentally became next-door neighbors. Their families naturally became close.
Even more, the two childhood friends got pregnant around the same time. Song Bo and Kai were born less than three weeks apart.
It was no exaggeration to say they'd known each other since they were in diapers.
Back in elementary school, fortune-telling had been a huge fad. Song Bo was obsessed—tarot cards, name-stroke analysis, horoscopes, you name it. He was constantly begging people to let him "read their fortune." He'd annoyed the entire grade so much that kids started coming to Kai to complain, begging him to make Song Bo stop.
Kai, however, had found the whole thing hilarious. Not only did he not stop him, he started calling him "Doctor" and even took him to run scams on the older kids.
After that, the nickname "Doctor" stuck.
When Kai's mother, Jiang Mo, found out, she'd dragged Kai by the collar next door to apologize. But to her surprise, Song Bo's parents adored Kai. They weren't angry at all and even started using the nickname themselves, hoping that someday Song Bo would "wise up" and be a little more like Kai, at least when it came to school.
The wish hadn't come true, but the nickname had.
Kai lay back on the sofa, adjusting his position. The emotional rollercoaster of the last twelve hours was finally catching up to him. A wave of exhaustion washed over him.
"How could I lose? You know who I am. Of course I won. Not only that, I ended up taking a trip to Maranello, so I can't come back tomorrow."
"You'll have to turn in this week's homework for me. My dad's going to the school on Monday to get me an excused absence. He'll explain the situation, but I'll still need you to collect the homework each week, scan it, and send it to me. I promised my mom I wouldn't fall behind."
Song Bo was completely lost. "Wait, wait, what does that mean? You're not coming back?"
Kai said, "Yeah. I joined the Ferrari Driver Academy."
Song Bo's mouth formed a perfect "O," like a goldfish.
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