Lian and Maisie walked side by side down the hallway, keeping a safe distance from each other.
"You're really something," Lian muttered under his breath while walking. "I seriously underestimated you. You even managed to fool my mother…"
"Your mom is actually a very good person," Maisie shot back without any mercy. "I really don't understand how such a nice woman ended up with a total scoundrel like you. Are you sure you're her real son?"
Lian almost choked on air.
He never, ever expected that this round-faced, sweet-looking girl walking beside him could say something so sharp and vicious.
"Don't worry, I will completely pretend I never saw anything that night," Maisie continued, tilting her head and giving him a look full of disgust. "Being a little boy kept by a rich older woman isn't even that rare these days anyway."
"Little boy kept by an older woman?!" Lian felt his anger explode inside him, but after thinking about it for a second, he suddenly went quiet.
As much as he hated to admit it, if he completely ignored the fact that his aunt was blood family, what Maisie just said was… technically true.
Being able to face that truth calmly was actually one of Lian's better qualities.
"Wow, I didn't know you could stay so calm after being insulted like that," Maisie said proudly, puffing out her chest a little as she walked. Because she exercised and trained every single day, her chest was clearly bigger and more noticeable than most girls her age.
"Well, it's still better to have someone rich and beautiful supporting you than not," Lian refused to back down. "My girlfriend is a hundred times prettier than certain people. Tons of guys dream of being kept by her, but she wouldn't even give them a second look."
"I'll admit that woman is really beautiful," Maisie said, "but if she actually likes you, then she must be totally blind."
"Who says she's the blind one?" Lian smirked. "Today I learned something new, there are girls who look all cute and innocent on the outside but are actually super cunning and know exactly how to play everyone. It really opened my eyes!"
And so, throwing sharp words back and forth the whole way, the two of them finally reached the classroom.
From that day on, Lian truly understood just how "vicious" this classmate of his could be.
Whenever the teacher wasn't looking, Maisie would suddenly step down hard on Lian's foot or slam her elbow into his side with full force. If it were just light playful hits, he could have lived with it.
But she always, always hit as hard as she possibly could.
By the end of each school day, Lian's whole body was covered in fresh bruises, big and small.
The worst part and the smartest part was that Maisie had clearly learned from the first fight. She never hit his face again, so almost nobody noticed what was happening to him.
Lian could only grit his teeth, block as best he could, and keep following his rule of never hitting a girl, no matter what.
When he got home that night, his mother didn't mention the school incident at all. Instead, she sat his father down and told him all about Maisie's sad family situation, how her mother was laid-off and barely making ends meet with a tiny shop, how her father was disabled from a work accident and only got a small disability payment every month. In short, the girl's life was really hard and pitiful.
Even Lian felt his anger toward Maisie soften quite a bit after hearing all that.
Because of her difficult situation, his father decided to drop the whole matter completely.
Without even asking Lian for his side of the story, his mother gave him a clear and strict warning: "From now on, you are not allowed to harass or bully Maisie ever again."
She didn't spell it out, but the meaning was obvious to everyone: Maisie was a beautiful and pitiful girl, and Lian was clearly the bad boy trying to take advantage of her.
Lian felt so wronged he almost wanted to cry.
That same evening, his aunt sent her usual text message telling him to keep up his hard physical training no matter what.
The next few days felt exactly like living in hell.
Every single morning during his run, he had to keep looking over his shoulder and dodging Maisie's stalking and chasing.
During school hours, he had to stay on high alert the whole time, watching out for her sudden "ambush" attacks.
And at night, he had to run away from her pursuit yet again.
Lian truly had no idea just how deep her hatred for him went. It felt like the girl had nothing else to do with her life except make him suffer. He honestly didn't know how much longer he could keep enduring this torture.