Ethan looked at her stubborn gaze and understood immediately.
He knew her too well.
Even knowing her meal card balance was worrying, and she might eat only plain rice and the cheapest vegetables every day, she would never accept any form of "charity," especially one carried by pity.
Ethan didn't know how to evaluate this almost stubborn pride.
Was it dignity? Was it rigidity?
Or was it an overly sensitive condition shaped by life's hardship?
But he knew well that reasoning with such a stubborn person was useless; he could only fight fire with fire.
Without a word, Ethan reached out and took the two bills that were warmly held by Nora.
Just as Nora thought he would take them back, he raised his arm and, without even looking, tossed the two hundred dollars directly into a slightly larger planter in the nearby greenery!
"..." Nora was completely stunned, her eyes wide open.
After doing that, he didn't want to bring it up again and said gently, "Alright, don't worry about the money anymore. I'll take you somewhere..."
Before he finished speaking, Nora immediately panicked, not even listening to what he said.
Her entire mind was occupied by the two hundred dollars that had been "wasted."
She squatted down, frantically rummaging through the soil and dead leaves in the planter, muttering involuntarily with a choked voice, "Ethan, you bad person! Big jerk! All you know is bullying me... wasting money... it's gone..."
Ethan's lips curled into a slight smile. This method really worked against Nora's stubbornness.
Her pride made it hard for her to accept charity openly, but her innate thrift and deep appreciation for material things made it impossible for her to stand by and watch money be wasted like this.
This contradictory feeling was perfectly controlled by him.
Ethan walked over and saw that after finding the money, she put it directly into her pocket, not daring to give it to him again.
Ethan saw her stand up, pointed to a nearby budget hotel, and said, "Next, let's go there."
"Huh?"
Following the direction he pointed, Nora saw it and her little face suddenly turned as red as a boiled shrimp, shaking her head faster than a rattle: "No, no, no! Absolutely not! We can't go to a place like that!"
Her voice changed pitch.
Ethan deliberately put on a stern face, his eyes scrutinizing: "Why can't we go? Isn't that place just somewhere for people to rest and sleep? Why can't we go?"
He paused, leaned in closer, lowered his voice, and teased: "Or is it... are you just having some improper thoughts in your own head?"
"No, absolutely not..." Nora denied it flatly, shaking her head even harder, but her blood-red ears and cheeks had already completely exposed her panic and embarrassment.
Her makeup had been smeared off while crying just now, and now, the rest of her face already revealed the outlines of her delicate features.
Nora was so uneasy under his gaze that she instinctively took half a step back, her hands nervously clenched: "Don't... don't stare at me like that... I... I'm scared!"
Ethan looked at her frightened deer-like expression and found it a bit amusing: "Alright, I know you don't have that idea." He paused. "But I don't either. Do you know why?"
Nora shook her head; she had no idea why.
Ethan shrugged and said in a tone that was matter-of-fact, even a bit dismissive: "Because the way you look right now is just too ugly. It's completely impossible to feel attracted to you."
"Ah!" Nora was completely caught off guard by this answer and was momentarily stunned.
"What else?"
Ethan shrugged, his tone even more direct: "What I like are beauties, someone as radiant and captivating as Summer. I have no interest in ugly girls"—he deliberately emphasized those words. "Got it?"
Seeing Nora's eyes instantly dim, he changed the subject, his tone becoming a bit more serious: "So, you should understand now? I just feel sorry for you, a girl, wandering the streets in the middle of the night—it's unsafe. After all, you're my classmate, and you were crying so miserably just now. I'm just worried that those ill-intentioned thugs on the street might target you and drag you into some dark alley..."
He deliberately paused, leaving room for dangerous imagination: "Understand?"
These words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Nora, instantly sobering her up with a wave of lingering fear.
She glanced at the empty, pitch-black streets around her, and images from social news flashed through her mind, making her shiver.
She bit her lower lip and finally gave in, her voice as soft as a mosquito: "O... okay... then I... I'll go with you."
Ethan said no more and turned to walk straight toward the hotel. Nora silently followed behind, step by step.
Walking down the dimly lit street, Ethan's thoughts drifted a bit.
Having experienced everything in his previous life, he had long seen through relationships between men and women.
There were only two paths: either love at first sight, quick and intense; or love that grows over time, flowing gently and steadily.
Other than that, there was no other way.
In his previous life, although he ended up getting along well with Nora, it was only friendship. He helped her with some difficult problems and eventually became good friends, but he still couldn't make her fall in love with him.
All that online advice like "Help her in her toughest times, and you'll become the light in her life, and she'll definitely fall in love with you" was pure nonsense—at least between him and Nora, this rule didn't apply.
He skillfully pushed open the hotel's glass door. The bright lights at the front desk made Nora instinctively lower her head, almost tucking into her collar, not daring to look up the whole time, her fingers trembling slightly from nervousness.
Ethan took out his ID and handed it to the receptionist: "One standard room, please."
It wasn't that he was pretending to be a gentleman, but he deeply understood the truth that "haste makes waste." Clear goals require strategy and rhythm.
After getting the room key, Ethan led Nora, who looked like a thief wishing to disappear, toward the room.
At the door, Nora seemed to be nailed to the spot, staring at the tightly closed door, her feet rooted, not daring to step inside.
She nervously swallowed, her voice trembling: "E... Ethan... why... why only one room? Can't we get two rooms?"
She finally asked the question she'd been holding back all the way.
Ethan paused as he opened the door with the key card, turned to look at her, and calmly retorted, "Eighty bucks per room. You paying?"
Nora was stunned. Eighty dollars? So expensive?
She shook her head sharply.
To her, this was simply a sky-high price! Just for a few hours of sleep? She absolutely couldn't afford it.
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