Alex and Emma talked to each other while waiting for their drinks. When she saw him, Emma thought of Haoran and remembered what she heard just a while ago, Mary liked Haoran and wanted to go to China because of him.
"Oh, by the way, I just found out that a classmate of mine purposefully chose the study trip to China because of Haoran," Emma said. She glanced at Mary who was still busy eating and chatting with Nadya. "I can't imagine how disappointed she'd be once she finds out that Haoran's going to Paris instead.
Alex followed Emma's direction and then chuckled. He said nonchalantly, "Ah, that's none of your business, right?"
Emma faintly smiled at his reply. Alex was right. It was none of her business. It's just that knowing Mary liked Haoran made Emma feel bad.
Emma decided to never tell Mary that she knew Haoran quite well and even often went to his home. Inversely, she also hoped that Mary would never find out. At least, until they graduated from high school.
"Here are your drinks," the drinks counter staff interrupted their chat.
Emma took her order and nodded toward Alex. "See you later."
Alex nodded with a smile. He stared at Emma as she walked towards her two lunch buddies. He took out his cellphone and photographed Emma from afar. With a smirk, he sent the photo to Haoran's number.
[Ha! Look who I met at the cafeteria just now!] He wrote a message under the photo.
***
Emma was happy because Mary and Nadya had invited her to lunch together. The two girls seemed to like her. And because they sat next to her in class, Mary and Nadya interacted with Emma more than their other classmates.
The two girls had been observing Emma for a few weeks; they finally concluded that Emma wasn't arrogant as some of their peers had assumed. They realized that she's an introvert and simply liked to mind her own business. She wasn't interested in other people's affairs or gossip—unlike most people they knew.
After the lunch with Mary and Nadya that day, Emma's relationship with the two girls became better. Occasionally, Emma would come to the cafeteria with them, though not often. She still liked to spend her break time alone in class, preparing her tutoring materials.
Since the summer holiday was fast approaching, Emma diligently counted the days left before the study trip to Paris. She couldn't wait to set foot in the city and look for information about her parents.
Over time, her attitude became increasingly tense. She was becoming impatient, but she had to calm down and focus her mind on her semester's final exam as it's also her tutees' final exam.
Emma somehow felt responsible for improving Haoran, David, Eric, Dinh, and Alex's grades. She'd feel bad for accepting their money if she failed to help them with their test scores.
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"How about we increase the frequency of our lessons to every day during the exam week?" Haoran asked her one week before the semester's final exam. They were working on the mock tests prepared by her, and he felt their preparation was far from adequate. Their target was pretty ambitious – move up to class A in the next school year.
"Yes, I do think we need a lot more exercise. The week before the exam, and every day during the exam week," David added.
David's father was a well-known lawyer and was delighted to see his son being determined to study. He had promised the boy a special gift if David succeeded in moving to Class 3A next school year, a brand-new car! Thinking about it made David more excited than the other three.
Emma nodded. "I agree. What about the rest of you?"
She should have known that her question was unnecessary. For Eric, Dinh, and Alex, Haoran's words were law. So, of course, they would agree with his plan. On top of that, David also supported the idea of increasing their tutoring frequency during the exam.
Seeing them all nod in unison, Emma smiled in satisfaction. "In that case, this Friday, we'll study for the Monday exams. Then we'll meet up and study on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. And lastly, on Friday, the last exam day, we'll rest and relax."
The five young men nodded in unison.
***
"Gosh, it's coming! Next week is exam week. After that, we'll have our break, and we'll go to PARIIIIISSS!" Nadya exclaimed as she plopped herself on a seat next to Emma and pulled her hand. "Emma, what do you say if we go shopping for supplies for our Paris trip next Friday after the exam has ended?"
Emma, who was packing up her books, furrowed her brows. Today was the last Friday before the exam week.
Nadya had noticed that, lately, Emma was looking a bit tense, and she thought Emma was troubled by the coming exam week. For this reason, she proposed to entertain themselves after the exam by shopping.
"Shopping for what? We don't need special things for the trip to Paris, do we?" Emma asked in confusion. "It'll be summer in Paris. It's not like we need to bring coats or anything."
"That's not what I meant." Nadya rolled her eyes and chuckled because somehow she wasn't surprised to find out Emma didn't like shopping. She had known Emma well enough by now to infer she's different from normal girls, like her, who enjoyed such activities. "We're shopping for cute outfits. Don't you want to look more beautiful in every photo taken in front of the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, and every tourist attraction in Paris?"
Emma shook her head, and flatly said, "No."
"OMG, are you really a girl?" Nadya chuckled. She turned to Mary and said, "What about you? Will you go shopping with me before our study trip? You'd want to look beautiful in front of Haoran during the trip to Beijing, right?"
Mary nodded vigorously and smiled. "Of course!"
Seeing how Nadya and Mary were so excited about their plans, Emma felt slightly left out. She wasn't into shopping, and she didn't even have a lot of personal items. However, she did like to be friends with Mary and Nadya. Surely, she could compromise this one time, right? In the end, even though she wasn't interested in shopping, Emma felt that she had to make an exception for her new friends.
"Uhmm... I'll go with you." Finally, she said to Mary and Nadya who were excitedly making a list of items they wanted to buy. The two girls were elated as they turned to Emma after hearing her wanting to tag along. Emma quickly added, "I'll come along, but I don't think I'll buy anything."
"This is great! You say that now but once when we go to the stores and see so many cute things, I'm sure I'll find one or two items that you'll like!" said Nadya with enthusiasm.
Emma wasn't sure whether Nadya would be able to convince her to buy unnecessary items, but she was glad to see her friend look so happy. It was for this reason Emma decided to come with them.
***