Piper felt a sharp pain in her heart. She tightened her grip. She closed her eyes and said awkwardly, "Do you know what day it was yesterday?"
"It's my fault that I didn't accompany you back to the Richard family yesterday. Besides, I have compensated you." Skyler became a little impatient. He reached out to take the tie that Piper hadn't tied up yet. He was a head taller than Piper. When he looked down at her, the coldness in his eyes made Piper hurt.
"Well. I'm leaving now. I may not come back tonight."
Piper put her hand down.
For a moment, she had never realized one thing so seriously. Skyler might never be moved by her because their marriage was a mistake.
He was willing to endure the stomachache and eat Italian food with Marina, but he was so stingy that he was not even willing to give Piper a kiss.
Piper had a dream that night.
In her dream, she returned to the age of 16. At that time, she would still stand on the stage. The teacher stood behind her, held her hand, and guided her on how to draw a shadow. Piper's mom sent a text message to ask when her class was over, saying that a foreign teacher had already invited her to participate in the violin competition. If Piper was willing to attend the competition, she would stop her studies and go abroad.
Piper was wearing a white dress at that time. In June, the weather changed at will. The originally sunny sky quickly darkened. Fortunately, the rain was not heavy at first. It was just mud splashed on the ground and it was easy to dirty her shoes.
Piper had to reply to the messages while holding her book. She hid in the teaching building and her hair was wet.
Almost all the people on campus had left, but the rain showed no signs of decreasing. Instead, it became heavier and heavier.
Piper was a little distressed about how to get to the school gate. Should she wait for the rain to subside or should she just rush out? Just as she was hesitating, she heard a loud noise behind her.
"Skyler, I heard that your grandpa gave you a supercar on your 18th birthday. Your grandpa is so generous. When can you take us to have a look?"
"Skyler is an adult? He has a car but doesn't have driver's license now. He can't drive."
"Yes, I almost forgot about it. But Skyler seems to be applying for a foreign school and is not going to attend SAT. Isn't it a good opportunity for him to learn to drive and get a domestic driver's license? Skyler, do you know how to drive?"
"Yes, I do." Unlike the others, his voice was much calmer. "But I've been busy recently and don't want to learn it."
"Oh, you seem to be very busy recently. Damn, why is it raining? It hasn't rained just now. It's quite heavy. But don't worry, I have an umbrella."
There was a commotion behind her. Some people said that Kaison was amazing and something like that. Piper couldn't adapt to this kind of atmosphere. She felt a little embarrassed and wanted to leave, but she was forced to stay because of the heavy rain.
She looked out of the corner of her eye and saw a young man in a white shirt, black pants, broad shoulders, and long legs. He was like outstanding, making people notice that he was obviously the boss of the crowd, and everyone vaguely took him as the center.
He... was quite good-looking.
"Hey, there's a girl." Someone noticed Piper first and called out. Then, he laughed and said, "I don't think she brought an umbrella. Why don't we ask her if she wants to go with us?"
"Come on, that girl is obviously a good student. I won't go."
"She's pretty good-looking and well-behaved. Why don't I go up and ask for a phone number?"
Piper held the book in her arms and pretended not to hear the commotion behind her. She swiped her fingers across the phone screen irritably and then looked up at the rain. She was so anxious that she wanted to leave immediately.
Just as she decided to leave, the young man called Skyler said again.
"Are you done talking?" With that, the others all shut their mouths.
There was only one umbrella, and it was obviously not enough big for a few boys. Skyler also knew that this group of people did not want to use the umbrella at all, so he simply took the umbrella, walked over, and stuffed it into the arms of Piper.
"No wonder Skyler didn't allow us to say it. It turns out that he has his own ideas."
Piper suddenly blushed when she heard the commotion behind her. She looked up at Skyler and subconsciously wanted to refuse. "I don't need..."
"Take it. It's easy to catch a cold in the rain." The teenage Skyler was not as distant from people as he was in the future. He looked back proudly and raised his chin at the group of people. "Are you leaving or not? If not, I'm leaving."
Then he strode into the heavy rain.
Piper held the umbrella, which seemed to have the remaining temperature of Skyler.
For the first time, she understood what it meant to have a beating heart. It was also the first time she had met Skyler.
Unfortunately, when she tried to find an opportunity to return the umbrella to him, Skyler couldn't even remember who she was.
She carefully put the umbrella in a box, just like diary in her teens. No one knew about it except her.
Piper was still in a daze when she woke up.
It was four o'clock in the morning, but Skyler didn't come back.