A New Me

I added, "Aileen, watch your words.

"You're the one that asks me for gifts again and again.

"I'm not a decent man, but it's you spending my money without shame.

"you said you just borrowed my money. But have you ever once paid it back?"

"Now get out of my way."

I went between Aileen and Emma and ran to class...

This was a language class.

I listened very carefully.

Actually, I was a smart boy. Teachers had said that if I worked hard, I could achieve high.

I finished learning the whole textbook after listening carefully to my teacher.

The bell rang.

Emma walked over to my desk uninvited.

She whispered, "If you're willing to buy Aileen that recently launched phone, she can forgive you for what you said to her."

I looked back at Aileen. She seemed to be slightly nervous.

I said indifferently, "You tell her that keeping her alive is already the biggest forgiveness I have for her.

"Stay as far away from me as she can. I'm sick of seeing her!"

Emma's mouth was wide open. She could not believe what I said.

I adored Aileen from freshman year to senior year, and it was known throughout the school.

Why I suddenly changed and didn't take Aileen seriously?

On the other hand, my classmates began to talk about us.

They were very loud.

"Hey, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. So let's all bet on how much money Patrick will spend on Aileen this time?"

"Tens of thousands of dollars?"

I deliberately walked out of the classroom through the crowd.

I turned around and said, "Not a single penny!"

My classmates all froze...

In the afternoon, we would have a language quiz in the first class.

We would get the score before the end of the class.

Aileen ranked, as always, first in the class. She was as good as ever.

But, surprisingly, I ranked fifteenth this time.

The teacher and my classmates were very surprised.

If I worked hard, I could make huge progress.

Because of my outstanding grades, I was moved to sit with Cynthia.

Cynthia was from a rich family, like me.

It was only that her grades stood out among the rich children.

The teacher let me sit with her, and it was a recognition of my performance.

Cynthia shook my hand and said, "Welcome, my study companion."

Cynthia was more than pretty. She was gorgeous.

She was also very easy-going and kind.

I shook her hand as well and showed my respect to her.

From the beginning of the afternoon class to the end of the evening class, I was all about "preparing" for the class.

My classmates were very surprised.

In the past, my whole mind was on Aileen.

I would either talk to her or send her a small gift.

Why had I changed my mind today? I was actually ignoring Aileen.

After the evening class, Aileen took the initiative to invite the whole class to the Rivefield Restaurant for dinner.

She said it was a celebration of Valentine's Day.

And, she came to invite me herself.

As smart as I was, I understood what she meant.

It was all a lie.

She just wanted an expensive gift from me.

And I would be the one who ended up paying the bill.

I wasn't nice to her.

I said, "Invite someone else. I have to go home and review my notes.

"You are on my way."

Aileen's eyes widened.

She stopped me again.

She then said, "Did you ignore me on purpose? Is it about the gift?"

It was funny.

I was speechless.

"What's the matter? Do I have to give you gifts?

"Who am I to you?"

Aileen didn't know how to answer my question. She had already gotten used to me being nice to her.

She took it all for granted.

I was the one who always gave unconditionally.

Anger flashed across Aileen's face.

Afterward, she said, "Alright, Patrick, it's fine if you don't go. Then you can lend me your membership card for the Riverfield Restaurant.

"OK?"

The membership card for the Riverfield Restaurant was worth at least 30 thousand dollars.

What she really meant was to let me pay for the bill.

Who said she was an innocent and outstanding girl?

She once said she would become a big shot.

And I was going to be a loser.

But now she wanted me to settle the bill?

She really wanted all.

A wave of nausea almost made me throw up.

Aileen was disgusting.

I took out my membership card and handed it to Aileen.

"Take it and stop pestering me."

Aileen snatched away the card I hadn't even handed to her.

In fact, she had no intention of pestering me at all, other than trying to take advantage of me.

In the evening, I reviewed my textbooks at home.

These books were too easy for me, and I really regretted not concentrating on my studies before.

Instead, what I thought about was Aileen.

But, thankfully, it was not too late.

It was nice to see that my mom and dad were both healthy and doing well in their careers.

It was great to have loved ones!

I put down my textbook and stretched. It was done here for now.

Then Aileen called me.

I smiled and glanced at the number on the screen, purposely picking it up and hanging it up again.

I wanted her to know that I got her call.

But, I didn't want to answer it.

Then, Aileen made five or six more calls, and I did the same thing.

I felt excited to think about Aileen's anxious appearance.

Maybe it was because I didn't answer Aileen's call, so Emma called me.

I picked it up, and it was Aileen's voice.

"Patrick, what the hell is wrong with you?

"Why do you lend me a card with no money?"

On the other side of the phone, I couldn't stop laughing.

I said, "You didn't say you had to borrow one with money?

"And why should I lend it to you?"

Aileen said in a broken voice.

"Are you kidding me? You know how embarrassed I am now?"

I sneered, "So what if I did that on purpose? Want to hit me?

"You feel embarrassed in front of your classmates. What does that have to do with me?"

Damn You

In the past, I never said a harsh word to Aileen.

So, my attitude now made Aileen unable to accept it at all.

She still believed that she was my princess as before.

In fact, I'd already given up on her. She meant nothing to me.

Aileen said, "Patrick, if you are willing to pay the bill for me, I might consider letting you hold my hand tomorrow."

I said, "I'm sorry. I'm not interested in anybody's hand."

On the other side of the phone, Aileen kept silent. I could only hear her breathing.

Aileen hadn't figured out what happened to me.

I hung up the phone without hesitation.

And then I switched it off.

Tonight, I could have a nice long sleep.

The old days had gone.

I didn't have to keep my phone on, waiting for Aileen's call, even though she wouldn't call me.

And my mood wouldn't be affected by Aileen.

The next day, I got up and went downstairs.

I saw Lilia dressed in the maid's uniform, standing at the end of the stairs waiting for me.

Seeing me coming down the stairs, Lilia greeted me with a rare smile.

However, I didn't even look at Lilia.

Lilia walked to the dining room and said, "Mr. Dickerson, I've prepared breakfast for you.

"I cooked it all."

And then she offered me her hand.

In my previous life, I would give her a huge tip.

But now, there would be nothing.

I shouted, "What do you mean by reaching out your hand?

"Want money?"

Lilia looked at me in amazement.

I sneered.

I added, "Be careful. I can chop your old paw off.

"You don't know what you do for a living? Cooking is one of your jobs.

"How dare you!"

Lilia's face darkened.

"Oh, Mr. Dickerson, I'm sorry. I'll do my job carefully, and I won't dare to ask for tips again."

I ignored that old woman.

I walked to the dining room.

I smashed all the dishes on that table to pieces.

"Hey, you! What have you cooked? It looks like trash.

"I'm wondering if you bought the food from someone to cheat our family."

Lilia said helplessly, "But, Mr. Dickerson. You haven't even tasted it, so how can you jump to conclusions and say it tastes bad?"

I cursed, "Lilia, who's the boss here, you know?

"You or me?"

Lilia's head was covered in sweat. She then said, "Of course, you."

I gasped, "Since you know, how could you disobey my words?

"Is there a problem? Or do you think you can just deal with me because you have a beautiful daughter to back you up?"

My words silenced Lilia, and she kept waving her hands to show that she had no such thoughts at all.

I said, "I'll give you one last chance. If you make another mistake, get out of our house immediately."

I reminded her again, "By the way, we recently realized that some valuable stuff was missing.

"I want them to be where they should be before the police arrive.

"Or, your wages, the money your husband uses to buy booze, and your daughter's future...

"Make sure you choose right."

Lilia couldn't stand still.

She tried to open her mouth to defend herself several times, but she couldn't find any excuses.

I could let their whole family be destroyed easily.

They wanted to rely on my family to earn a large sum of money. It was hilarious. It might be impossible for them to survive or they might even go to jail.

I got into Jaylon's car and headed for school.

On the way, I saw Aileen buying breakfast from a stall.

I was curious. Did Aileen come to buy breakfast herself?

With the money she got from me, she could live a better life than her classmates did.

She loved to show off and always asked vendors to bring her meals to school.

I told Jaylon to stop the car a short distance away.

Looking at Aileen in the car window, I thought, 'Is it because of her treat last night in the Riverfield Restaurant?

'She spent all those savings she got from me to pay the bill.

'So she has to buy breakfast herself to save money.'

Suddenly, there came a tall, handsome, and sunny boy in casual clothes. He went to the side of Aileen.

Like a butterfly, Aileen ran to the boy.

She gave the breakfast she bought to the boy.

But the boy didn't bother to take it.

However, Aileen wasn't angry at the boy's attitude.

Instead, she came up into the boy's arms and asked for a kiss.

The boy impatiently kissed Aileen on her lips.

Aileen, however, looked as if she had gotten a treasure, her face full of joy.

Then, the boy took Aileen's breakfast.

Only then did Aileen say goodbye to the boy, carrying her schoolbag with satisfaction.

Aileen was reluctant to leave.

When Aileen disappeared from the boy's view, he threw the breakfast into the trash can.

I laughed bitterly in my heart, so Aileen was also a stupid girl falling in love.

All the good I'd done to Aileen for so long, all the money I'd given her, she gave them to another boy.

She already had someone in her heart. And, she really cared about that boy.

She cared about that boy so much that she could not tell the boy didn't love her.

The most unacceptable thing was she kept it a secret from me.

She took my money for granted. But she neither refused nor accepted me.

In my previous life, I was so stupid that I was completely played by this woman.

I sighed and shook my head, telling Jaylon to drive.

Jaylon sent me to school. I got out of the car but found Aileen waiting at the school gate.

And, she was all high and mighty as if she was born to be superior to me.

Then I remembered what she did to that handsome boy. I felt sick.

Aileen blocked my way.

She said to me coquettishly, "Patrick, stop right there.

"My mom called me and said that you scolded her again this morning.

"Did you?"

I shouted angrily, "Aileen, you'd better not question me.

"Why don't you ask your mom how much valuable stuff she stole from my house?"

Aileen looked dumbfounded and argued, "No way. Although my mom is poor, she is not a thief.

"She wouldn't steal from your house. You must have wronged her."

I sneered.

"Do you want to watch the surveillance?

"As soon as I give the police the evidence, your mom will lose her job.

"And she will go to jail, too. Your whole family will have no source of income. You will be forced to drop out of school.

"Straight-A student? You can't even pay your tuition.

"Oh, no, I said it wrong. If you can take a part-time job, you'll still barely be able to pay your tuition."

Were they kidding me? If Lilia stole anything, Aileen, as her daughter, would not know?

Aileen didn't dare to fight back.

She changed the subject.

She then said, "So, about last night's bill...

"That's twelve thousand dollars in total, and you can give me the money, right?"

Aileen pretended to be rich and took the whole class to the Riverfield Restaurant.

And now she asked me for money?

She still thought I would give her money as before.

I said, "Call me Daddy, and I'll consider paying you money."

Considering

Aileen said, "Patrick, don't go too far."

I said, "OK, I'm going to class. Bye."

However, I had just taken a few steps when Aileen's voice sounded behind me.

"...Daddy!"

I turned back. "Good girl."

But I didn't stop there.

Aileen was anxious and came after me. "Patrick, I have already done what you asked.

"So you can give me the money, right?"

I said, "I didn't promise you that.

"I said I would think about it."

Aileen said angrily, "Are you trying to make a fool of me?"

I scornfully said, "Good girl, it is such a large sum of money.

"Dad does need time to think.

"And by the way, I may need one or two years to think about it."

Aileen said harshly, "Patrick, if I don't see the money within two days, don't expect me to care about you anymore."

I didn't bother to pay any more attention to her and walked straight towards the classroom.

I waved my hand behind me without turning my head back.

"I don't have much money right now. Because I'd already given the money I had away."

Aileen looked at my back with hatred.

Angrily, she said, "Okay, you have the guts..."

When I came to class, everyone was seated and waiting for the teacher.

My deskmate, Cynthia, blinked her big eyes and looked at me with a smile on her face.

I was a little confused and said, "Cynthia, why are you looking at me like that?

"Are you in love with me?"

Cynthia said, "Patrick, good for you.

"In the morning, I saw Aileen chasing after you.

"And you ignored her.

"You're really getting manly."

I said, "What do you mean by getting manly? I'm a man, OK?"

Cynthia said, "Could it be that you found out the relationship between Aileen and Clay?"

I didn't get it.

I asked, "Who is Clay? Never even heard of him."

Cynthia said, "Clay Mcgee is a handsome boy. And Aileen really liked him."

I thought to myself, 'He must probably be the boy Aileen sent breakfast to.'

Clay was indeed handsome and rich enough to make a girl's heart flutter.

But what did that have to do with me?

Whoever Aileen liked to be with had nothing to do with me.

I no longer cared about her.

But any time I had the slightest feeling for her, I was sorry for my dad and mom.

Cynthia wonderingly looked up at me.

"You're not interested in Aileen's affairs at all?"

I said, "I'm a student. I should focus on my studies."

Cynthia saw my solemn demeanor and made sure I wasn't joking.

She gave me a thumbs up.

"OK, good for you.

"I'm impressed!"

It was math for the first class.

I could learn a lot more from what my teacher taught.

I could put forward several important questions.

My teacher and classmates were all impressed with me after only one or two classes.

And, for a while after that...

My grades had improved greatly.

There were many questions that the students did not understand and could not even be answered by the teacher.

However, when they asked me, I was able to answer all these questions.

And, there had been a few comprehensive tests in between, and I'd ranked top.

Although, the number one in the class was still Aileen.

But my rapid progress was enough to make Aileen scared.

In a little while, it would be time to decide who could be referred to the best university.

In our class, Aileen was the ideal candidate .

However, she seemed to be distracted in class every day now.

And, in terms of grades, she fell behind a little.

Another exam was coming up.

This time, Aileen still ranked in first place.

However, the difference between her and the second and third places was negligible.

In second place, it was me.

In third place, it was Cynthia.

However, I was also very curious.

Every day, I worked very hard.

And I was smart enough. So I got second place, and I deserved it.

But what was the deal with Cynthia?

She slept every day as soon as she got to class.

She went out and played after class.

She skipped most of the evening classes to hang out with her rich friends.

Even though she didn't put much effort into studying, she got a score that was on par with mine.

I felt so shocked.

On this day, there was still a class going on.

Cynthia just "woke up".

"Hey, Patrick, I'm so bored. Let's talk about gossip, OK?"

But what I was thinking about was I must take first place in the next exam no matter what.

I was not looking forward to accompanying Cynthia talking.

I said, "I'm not in. I have to study."

Cynthia said, "Don't you even want to know why Aileen is dressed in such rags?"

Sure enough, Cynthia's words piqued my curiosity.

Yes, Aileen had gotten a lot of money from me.

Lilia, too, earned a rich paycheck at my house.

And, Aileen had great personal vanity.

By all rights, she should be dressing herself gorgeously.

Why did she dress so shabby every day?

Despite her good looks, she wasn't dressed any differently than a country pumpkin.

I asked, "It seems interesting."

However, Cynthia slouched and slumped back down on the table.

"Ah, I'm tired. I should have a rest."

She was tantalizing me.

I "shook" Cynthia up.

"Tell me or I'll keep you awake all day."

Threatening Cynthia definitely worked.

Cynthia then told me everything she knew.

It was that Aileen was completely trapped.

She put herself at the mercy of Clay.

For so long, every penny she scammed from me, all went to Clay.

She had received lots of gifts and luxury bags.

She sold them all at a discount.

Then, she gave the money to Clay.

I laughed bitterly.

In my previous life, Aileen made a fool of me.

She used my money to please another boy.