"Ah!"
Nora was completely stunned, looking down at the money in her hand, her face full of confusion and panic: "You... why are you giving me money? I... I don't want... I can't take it..." She was holding it like a hot potato, anxious to push it back.
Ethan said calmly, "This is my payment. No matter what, you'll be staying with me for one night. You'll be my secretary for the whole night. I can't let you work for nothing, can I?"
Nora shook her head like a rattle, her cheeks slightly flushed: "No, no, no! I'm not your secretary! Besides, I'm here because I can't get into campus and need your help. I haven't done anything, so how can I take your money? I can't take this!"
Her pride made her instinctively resist.
Ethan looked at her stubborn expression, sighed, and changed his approach: "Just treat it as a retainer fee. I might really need a secretary in the future. I think you're quite suitable, so let's settle it now."
His tone was casual, as if arranging a trivial matter.
"Huh? Retainer fee? W-what... what does that mean?" Nora was even more confused.
"It means I have my own company and do need an assistant or secretary. You seem capable, so I'm reserving you. This two hundred dollars will be considered an advance payment for the position."
Ethan made up this serious nonsense, trying to make the money more legitimate.
Nora looked at Ethan's calm face, but a wave of bitterness welled up in her heart.
She actually guessed it.
He must have seen her meal card with its pitiful balance during the day, realized her situation, and was helping her this way.
The secretary, the retainer fee—it was nothing but a well-intentioned lie he carefully crafted to protect her pride. What a truly... good person.
This silent thoughtfulness made her nose sting sharply, and her eyes instantly grew moist again.
He really was a good person, so at this moment her nose tingled and her eyes were still a little wet.
Ethan hesitated, but after thinking it over, decided to just say it directly: "Putting the money aside for now. The point now is,"
He paused, looked directly into Nora's eyes, and said clearly, "Tonight, you really can't go back."
"Ah!!"
Like a thunderclap in her ear, Nora froze instantly, her voice rising several decibels, filled with disbelief and sharpness: "Why? Didn't you just say you'd figure something out? Are you lying to me?"
Overwhelming disappointment and feeling deceived instantly drowned out the gratitude that had just begun to sprout, and tears could no longer be held back, streaming down her face.
Ethan spread his hands, his face full of "I'm innocent" and "I'm helpless too": "Miss, I said I'd think of a way, not that I had a way! And look,"
He pointed toward the silent, pitch-black, deserted street and the distant, tightly closed campus gate: "It's past one in the morning! I'm a guy! Even if I had superpowers, at this hour, I couldn't have quietly sent you back to the locked girls' dorm! The dorm supervisor has already locked the door and gone to bed, and there's no one at the dorm office. Can you tell me how to get in?"
"Wahhh—!!!"
The last shred of Nora's psychological defenses completely collapsed.
After suppressing fear, grievance, and helplessness all night, it all burst forth like a flood. She no longer cared about her image. Like a lost child, she burst into tears by the empty street, shoulders shaking violently as tears streamed down.
Ethan was also helpless; he felt innocent too—he'd told her from the first time that she wouldn't be able to get in.
He rubbed his temples in frustration.
Experience told him that any words of comfort at this moment would only add fuel to the fire, making her cry even louder and feel even more wronged.
The wisest approach was—let her cry it out.
He simply stopped looking at her, walked to the corner of the convenience store steps, and sat down. Then he took out his phone, and the screen lit up his expressionless face. His fingers moved as he began chatting with Sophie, Vanessa, and the others.
On the streets late at night, only the girl's uncontrolled, intermittent crying, the boy's phone screen glow, and the occasional crisp tapping created a strange atmosphere.
He knew that at this moment, trying to comfort a crying woman would only make her cry even harder and louder.
Only by waiting until she'd cried enough and then comforting her at the right moment would the effect be maximized.
After a while, Nora's cries gradually shifted from wailing to sobbing, then from sobbing to suppressed sniffling. The shaking in her shoulders slowed down, clearly exhausted from crying and having released her emotions.
Only then did Ethan put down his phone, stand up, and walk up to her. His voice returned to its previous calmness, even carrying a subtle gentleness that was barely noticeable: "Alright? Have you cried enough? No more tears? Let's talk now."
Nora lifted her swollen, tear-stained eyes, looking at him blankly and pitifully. Tears still hung on her long eyelashes, and she sobbed softly: "Talk... what about?"
Ethan looked at her pitiful expression, but a faint, helpless smile curled at the corner of his mouth: "Let's talk about what to do next."
Hearing Ethan say this, Nora felt hope rekindle in her heart. In truth, she didn't know what to do either.
She sniffed hard, trying to stop her sobs, her voice heavy as she urgently responded as if clutching at a lifeline, "Okay!"
Ethan looked at her tear-reddened, swollen eyes and bewildered expression, a helpless smile curling at the corner of his mouth: "Alright, now, pick up the money from the ground first, okay?"
"Ah!"
Nora exclaimed, then looked down and saw she only had one hundred-dollar bill; the other was nowhere to be found.
She panicked instantly—one hundred dollars! That's a hundred bucks! For her, a hundred dollars was enough to buy meals in the campus dining hall for a long time.
She frantically looked around, her gaze anxiously sweeping over the ground beneath her feet, the nearby steps, and even the gaps by the roadside. She was so anxious she was spinning around, her nose tingling again, about to shed more tears.
Ethan sighed inwardly: This visual obstruction... truly a woman with "assets"—she can't even see her own feet when she looks down...
He spoke up just in time, with a hint of exasperation: "Nora, are you a bit nearsighted? Isn't the money right by your right foot?"
Upon hearing this, Nora quickly looked to the right—sure enough! That bright hundred-dollar bill lay quietly beside the curb.
She bent down like she'd found treasure and picked it up, carefully holding it in her hands. She blew on the fine dust under the streetlamp's light, clearly cherishing the hundred dollars.
However, she immediately pressed the two bills together and stubbornly handed them to Ethan, her voice low with a barely noticeable tremor: "This money... I... I really can't accept it."
There are 130 advance chapters ahead in my Patreon. If you are interested can check it out.
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