Chapter 2 : The Fight

Henry was a boarding student. He didn''t want to go back to that house, so he chose to stay at school, reducing the chances of meeting them. Verdantia didn''t have any strict requirements about whether students had to board or not.

He planned to go out and buy something later. Next to him, Carter asked, "Henry, want to grab dinner together later? A new place just opened near the school, let''s go check it out?"

"No, I have something to do later, maybe next time," Henry declined.

"Ah, alright then, I''ll head out first. See you tomorrow," Carter said as he packed his bag and prepared to go home.

"Yeah."

Henry noticed that most of the people in the classroom had already left, so he figured it was time for him to go too.

At the school gate, Henry first went to buy what he needed. He looked at the bustling street filled with students heading home after school and then randomly picked a place to have dinner.

He was never picky about food; it was just to satisfy his hunger. When he came out, the street was even busier than before.

He chose to avoid the crowd. As he was nearing the school, he saw a group of students from a neighboring school bullying someone in an alley. The victim also seemed to be from the neighboring school. "Kid, this little bit of money isn''t even enough for me to play games at the internet cafe."

Henry initially didn''t want to get involved. But as he was about to look away, he saw the bullied boy looking at him with pleading eyes, as if asking for help.

"Let him go," Henry said, not even sure why he spoke up. He hadn''t intended to intervene, but he couldn''t refuse when he saw those eyes.

The bullies stopped what they were doing and turned to see a boy in a Verdantia High School uniform with a backpack.

The leader saw that Henry was alone. "Kid, mind your own business. I suggest you leave now, or you''ll get beaten up too."

To them, Henry looked like an easy target, someone they could knock down with one punch.

"Do you have the ability?" Henry looked coldly at the group in front of him.

The bullies, feeling insulted, got angry instantly. "Guys, get him! Let''s show him what we''re made of."

They all rushed at Henry, but there was no way he would let them touch him.

Despite his slim build, Henry fought without mercy. Even though they outnumbered him, they didn''t have any advantage over him.

In no time, a few of them were lying on the ground. Henry walked over to the leader, took the money from his pocket, and returned it to the bullied boy.

"Here''s your money. Check if it''s all there."

The boy, clutching his backpack, took the money from Henry with trembling hands, checked it, and then looked up at him. "Thank you, all my money is here. What''s your name?"

"It''s nothing, just go home quickly," Henry said, not answering his question but urging him to leave.

Seeing that Henry wasn''t going to answer, the boy didn''t ask again. Instead, he thanked him once more. "Really, thank you. Won''t they target you now?"

"No, I can handle it."

Satisfied with Henry''s response, the boy left. After he was gone, Henry looked at the people on the ground. They seemed scared of him now, not expecting him to be such a good fighter.

They quickly got up and left. Henry watched them go without saying anything, then picked up his backpack from the ground and looked at someone ahead.

Kyle had just been passing by when he heard the commotion in the alley and decided to check it out. He was surprised to see a familiar figure. He was astonished that someone like Henry, a good student, would get into a fight, and from the way he fought, it was clear he didn''t hold back at all.

Kyle didn''t know why he was so focused on someone he had just met today. This had never happened before. Watching Henry fight made him feel uneasy.

"How much did you see?" Henry asked, looking at the taller boy in front of him.

"I didn''t see much, don''t worry, I won''t say anything," Kyle''s voice softened unknowingly when he spoke to Henry, as if he should use this tone with Henry, otherwise, he might scare him away.

"It doesn''t matter if you do, I don''t care anyway."

Kyle looked at him and noticed that his hand seemed to be bleeding. "Do you always fight this fiercely? Your hand looks injured."

Henry raised his hand to look at the wound and said indifferently, "If there''s nothing else, I''ll be going."

After saying that, he brushed past Kyle. For some reason, Kyle called out to his back, "Remember to take care of your wound when you get back. See you at school tomorrow."

Hearing this, Henry paused for a moment before quickly leaving.

Kyle noticed his reaction and thought to himself that Henry wasn''t completely unresponsive after all. He hadn''t expected someone like Henry to help a stranger, and it seemed like he really didn''t care about anything.

Suddenly, Kyle felt a bit excited about the future. He wanted to see different emotions on Henry''s usually expressionless face.

When Henry returned to his dorm, he looked at the wound on his hand and remembered Kyle''s words. He didn''t understand why Kyle said that. They had no relationship, except for being in the same class and sitting next to each other.

Why was he touched by such a simple remark? He never needed this kind of concern. He just wanted to live his life, especially since Kyle was not someone he could afford to provoke.

He laughed at himself. Someone like him didn''t deserve such concern. In the end, he didn''t treat his wound but took out his homework and started working on it.

At that moment, his phone rang. Henry didn''t answer it at first, but it kept ringing. Eventually, he picked it up and saw the caller ID. He answered, "What is it?"

The person on the other end sounded angry, asking why he took so long to answer. "Why did you take so long to pick up?"

"I was doing homework and didn''t hear it. If there''s nothing else, I''ll hang up." Henry didn''t want to talk much with the person on the phone.

Even though it was his mother, he had nothing to say. "Henry, is this how you talk to me? Can''t I show some concern for you?"

"I''m fine. I''m doing well at school. If there''s nothing else, I''ll hang up."

"Henry..."

Before the person on the other end could finish, Henry hung up. He put down his phone. Concern for me? Ha, I''m just an insignificant son to her, a reminder of her failed previous marriage. Why waste time showing concern for me?

He focused on his homework again, not wanting to think about it anymore. He wasn''t the naive Henry he used to be. He used to be happy for a long time with such concern, but later he realized he was just an insignificant part of that family.

He watched them be happy and warm, while he could only watch from the sidelines. So, after enough disappointment, he stopped expecting anything.

The class group chat was very active, and since Henry hadn''t set it to Do Not Disturb, his phone kept buzzing. He picked up his phone and saw that Carter was constantly messaging in the group. The atmosphere in the group was great.

But he didn''t participate. Instead, he turned on Do Not Disturb. Nothing could disturb him now. He kept working late into the night.

On the other side, Kyle was looking at the group messages and decided to find Henry''s contact in the group members list. Henry''s profile picture was very simple, just a piece of the sky. Kyle decisively sent him a friend request.

The friend request went unanswered for a long time. Kyle thought that with Henry''s personality, he probably wouldn''t accept it.

He didn''t understand why he wanted to add him. Everything that happened today was so strange. Every time he saw Henry, he wanted to talk to him, even though he knew Henry might not respond. He just couldn''t help wanting to get closer to him.

He thought he might really be going crazy to do something like this!