At the same time, Mrs. Crawford transferred a thousand to her on WeChat and left a message: "Ariana, this is your living expenses for the month. Spend it sparingly."
This thousand in living expenses coupled with the last "spend it sparingly" was quite ironic. Why was her allowance coming from Miles's mom? If she was supposed to be frugal, why give her money?
This question was answered when Ariana Thorne opened her memories. After her parents' divorce, her brother was taken away. Her father was always on business trips, so she lived at The Crawford's Home from a young age. Her father regularly sent living expenses to Mrs. Crawford.
After she went to college, Mrs. Crawford told her father that girls couldn't manage money well on their own, so she would dispense the living expenses to both Miles and Ariana.
Mr. Thorne was a man, and since Ariana was also willing, the money was first sent to Mrs. Crawford, who then distributed it monthly to Miles and Ariana.
From this memory, Shea Thorne sensed something was off with Mrs. Crawford.
But she couldn't quite pinpoint what was wrong. Ariana had grown up with her, almost like a half-guardian, so it was normal to listen to her, but the extent was peculiar.
Mrs. Crawford didn't work and relied entirely on the living expenses her father provided to raise them, so it was her father providing an allowance while Mrs. Crawford divided it between Miles and her.
In other words, her father was supporting Miles and his mother.
At this thought, Shea Thorne developed a bad feeling toward Mrs. Crawford, but she didn't have any evidence yet. She was more curious about how much living expense Miles got each month.
She opened a box of snacks, containing some dried fish made by Mrs. Crawford. Shea took them out and placed them on the table, inviting her roommates to join in.
"Delicious! These dried fish are sweet, spicy, and crispy. Really good." Sharon Somerset munched on the dried fish, and the other two nodded.
Farah Hale asked, "This dried fruit is great too. Where did you get it? Next time, bring us some."
"These are all made by Miles's mom. You can't buy them outside. Hurry up and eat. They've been at the courier station for days, and won't last long. It'd be a pity if they go to waste." Her dad used money to buy the ingredients, Mrs. Crawford processed them; in other words, half of it was hers.
Everyone nodded, and they cleared the snacks completely.
Meanwhile, Shea was thinking about how to get Miles's clothes to him. She had already returned the keys to the rented apartment to him and didn't want to go there herself. Now, she could only wait until going to National Medical University the next day and drop them off.
She pulled out a large shopping bag. Originally, she wanted to just throw Miles's clothes in randomly, but the Ariana inside her became "meticulous," folding each piece neatly by size and placing them into the bag.
Once she fully sorts out Ariana, those clothes will eventually end up thrown into the trash outside his door.
If it weren't for Miles, Shea would have to praise Ariana as a meticulous woman.
Unfortunately for Miles, he's going to miss out.
But for Mrs. Crawford, Shea was determined to find out more clearly.
...
Just after finishing organizing the clothes, her hands were sore from exhaustion.
Shea picked up her phone and found a voice message from Miles on WeChat. Without much thought, she opened it, and the message played aloud in the dorm, with Miles rudely saying: "Make sure you put my clothes in my room, and don't touch the snacks my mom made! Also, bring them to me!"
This left the three roommates who had eaten half of them feeling awkward, but Shea didn't feel embarrassed and immediately apologized, "Sorry, it looks like I have to keep the rest for him."
See, Ariana, this is the Miles you like, treating you like a caretaker is one thing, but making you look bad in front of your roommates?
"It's no, no problem, we should be the ones apologizing, we ate quite a bit all at once." The three of them exchanged awkward glances, placing their leftover snacks back into the bag in front of them, tying it up, and putting it back into Shea's shopping bag with her neatly folded clothes.
Shea remained expressionless, although Ariana felt a pang of guilt toward her roommates and a hint of dissatisfaction and disappointment toward Miles.
After Shea left with the items to wash up and closed the dormitory door, she intentionally paused at the door, and sure enough, within a minute, Rhonda Ford's fiery discussion ignited: "How can Miles be so rude to her? What does she even see in him? If Jonah Bell ever spoke to me like that, I'd break up with him immediately!"
"Exactly, this is way too much, and he doesn't even value her."
"I think so too..."
"He's even more disrespectful than to a caretaker. Why does she belittle herself like this...?"
"Sigh... let's not say anything when she comes back, she must be feeling awful too..."
As the topic turned to "why doesn't Ariana break up with Miles?" Shea turned around to wash up. She wanted to know more than anyone else why this was so?!
...
At five in the morning, the alarm vibrated and sounded.
Shea Thorne immediately got up and started her morning routine. The dorm opened at 5:30, so she could leave. She had agreed to meet Milo Sinclair at the entrance.
Thanks to Mrs. Crawford, she originally only carried a violin case, but now she also had a huge shopping bag. The cold winter morning made her fingertips ache.
She had looked at the clothes Mrs. Crawford bought too. They were neither good nor bad, just average for a small town. But Shea found them unbearable. The styles were so conventional that they stifled Ariana's natural beauty, making her look like a bumpkin from the countryside.
Moreover, the underwear was terrible, as if it were discount clearance items, of an auntie's conservative style, failing to support any shape.
The size was also off, squeezing her ribs painfully, and the hooks scratched and irritated her back.
All Shea could say was that Mrs. Crawford was clever. With inferior underwear, how could a girl like Shea complain to others?
This silent suffering had to be swallowed for now.
Milo Sinclair waited outside the car, and seeing Shea arriving with two big bags from a distance, he quickly jogged over to catch them for her.
"Is this... an exchange of favors?" Milo glanced at the contents of the shopping bag, filled with clothes and items for a guy, joking a little.
Humph! Shea might as well give everything to Milo, except these clothes didn't match up to Milo at all.
Everything Milo wore or used was top-tier, and these things would probably match the level of cleaning rags at his home.
A few days ago, Shea had emphasized multiple times for him to keep a low profile and not drive his usual cars, or they'd draw attention at F University. Today, he had used a relatively low-key white BMW.
Once inside the car, Shea rubbed her fingers to get the blood flowing. Her skin was quite delicate, turning purple from the cold in no time.
Milo handed her a thermos and a food container, revealing inside were white porridge and side dishes.
"Breakfast made by my household aunt, cleaner than eating out," Milo explained, and then asked, "What's with that bag of clothes?"
Shea didn't shy away, eating breakfast, she said, "Mrs. Crawford mailed winter clothes to us, and I'm taking them to him today. His house is across from mine. My dad was often away, and she took care of me when I was young."
Milo drove without glancing sideways, saying, "You're still a kid after all, relying on adults to prepare your clothes."
Shea didn't reply, she wished she could tell Mrs. Crawford to stop sending things, but words failed her. Those clothes were carefully prepared by Mrs. Crawford, including a hand-knitted scarf, hardly grounds to accuse of being cheap.
Importantly, Ariana really liked them—they restricted her too much.
The car drove straight into the National Medical University, stopping at the nearest parking lot to Jenson Hall. Shea finished breakfast before getting out.
At this moment, she most regretted that bet—she wasn't only the first woman to sit in Milo's passenger seat, but also the first to eat there.
Sigh, maybe with higher odds, she might have to struggle half a year less.
The medical community was very quiet early in the morning. Shea specifically chose the most secluded seat to practice, with Milo sitting not far away enjoying the morning, snapping several photos of her.
Backlit, very beautiful.