Emma and Haoran took out the telescope parts from the box and worked together to assemble it. Emma read the instructions from the telescope manual while Haoran set them up following her direction.

They laughed and dismantled it again when Haoran misplaced the lens. After several tries, finally, he could proudly show off his new telescope to Emma.

"This is harder than assembling Ikea furniture," Haoran commented as he sat and wiped the sweat from his forehead. The telescope was quite large and looked very expensive. Emma could only wonder how much it cost.

"Did you ever assemble Ikea furniture?" Emma asked in surprise. She knew that in this luxury mansion there was no single cheap furniture, especially ones that had to be installed by the buyers like those from Ikea.

Haoran laughed and shook his head. "Actually, no. But I read it somewhere. People say lovers can test their relationship by working together to assemble Ikea furniture. If they were both patient, have good communication, and can work well together, then their relationship will last. If they were impatient and selfish, and unable to work together, then the furniture will be either damaged, wrongly installed, or they will just give up. The result would reflect the relationship between the two ..."

Emma looked at Haoran with an amused look. This young man seemed to have a very high EQ. His every action was calculated, he sounded wise, and he could always find the right words in almost all situations.

"You always act like you know-it-all," finally, the girl could only shake her head. "You talk about a relationship even though you've never had one."

"Eh ... how could you say that?" Haoran responded while shrugging. "I had a girlfriend before. We went to the same middle school and dated for a year. She moved abroad three years ago."

Emma was stunned by the young man's words. She thought Haoran was joking, but seeing Haoran's serious expression, she became curious and was finally tempted to read Haoran's mind.

Her face immediately turned pale.

The girl's name was Lily. She was very beautiful, very smart, and considered the queen in their school. Her parents died in a traffic accident, and Lily was forced to move to California to live with her uncle's family, who migrated there.

Having felt heart-broken after Lily left and coupled with his grudge toward his father, who had separated Haoran from his mother, Haoran felt he had no more reason to keep his grades and intentionally flunked two years in a row.

Emma's heart hurt a little when she found out all this information. She thought she was special to Haoran, being the first girl he liked and kissed.

Turned out, she was wrong.

KNOCK KNOCK

Haoran noticed the change in Emma's expression and was about to ask her what was on her mind, but before he could speak, there was a knock on his door. He immediately got up and opened the door. He saw Dinh, Alex, and David on the doorway, carrying their respective backpacks and bags filled with drinks and fireworks.

"Hey ... you guys are here," Haoran said. He invited them into his spacious room. "Where's Eric?"

"He'll be here soon," Alex explained. "He needed to drop off his sister first at her ballet lesson."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Oh, I see."

Alex walked to the balcony terrace and approached Emma, who was busy tidying up the manuals and the telescope box. The young man looked at the telescope and Emma alternately. "What are you doing?"

"Haoran bought a telescope," Emma said. "We were setting it up so that we can see the moon tonight."

"Wow ... how exciting!" said Alex. He fiddled with the telescope and tried to use it. "Do we have to wait for night to come to use it?"

"Yeah, of course..." Emma said, laughing.

She left Alex and walked with the telescope box in her hand, and approached Haoran. "Do you want to throw the box away or keep it?"

Haoran reached out and took the box from Emma. "Let me do it. I'll keep it in the storage."

After chatting for a while, they then took out their books and began studying with Emma. The girl only needed to see a little material and easily explain the topics they still didn't understand.

Half an hour later, Eric finally arrived. He apologized for being late and immediately joined his friends to study. For 90 minutes, the five of them looked serious about their studies, but as the clock showed 5 pm, their faces slowly began to look bored. Dinh even yawned every two minutes.

Emma knew their minds had been distracted by the smell of cooking from downstairs which smelled so delicious in their noses. Especially David, who had his birthday today. He wanted to immediately celebrate his birthday and have fun.

"Uhmmm ... actually, we still have half an hour left, but I see you guys are not concentrating," commented Emma. "Then let's just call it a day, okay ..."

As soon as she finished speaking, the boys threw down their books and sighed in relief. Emma just shook her head when she saw their actions.

"Hey ... we're celebrating David's birthday soon!" exclaimed Haoran. "Ms. Chang has prepared a lot of food too. But before we have fun, I'll show you guys your rooms. You can shower and do whatever before we have dinner and start the party ..."

Haoran rose from his seat and signaled his friends to follow him.

"Ahh ... we can just sleep here with you like usual," David said, shrugging.

Alex immediately elbowed him and glanced at Emma. Only then David nodded in understanding. Of course, even though Emma was their friend, they wouldn't treat her like a man and ask her to sleep with them.

Besides ... tonight they would drink to celebrate his birthday. Nobody wanted them to do things they would regret if any of them got drunk.

"I don't want you to take advantage of us weak men," Haoran whispered into Emma's ear as they walked out of his room.

"Iishhh..." Emma hit the young man's shoulder when she heard his words, and Haoran laughed.

"I really mean it. If you want to take advantage of us later, what can we do? No one would be able to resist you if you used your power." Haoran laughed incessantly at Emma, who was frowning. He smiled broadly and touched the girl's hand. "I'm just kidding, Emma. Don't frown too often."

Emma naturally didn't have a high sense of humor, to begin with, plus today she just learned that Haoran had previously had a girlfriend. She couldn't see the funny in what he was doing. There was even a tinge of jealousy in her chest as she thought about the girl named Lily.

Were Haoran and the girl still communicating today? Did they still like each other and were in a relationship?

Then why did Haoran tell Emma that he liked her and did so many things to help Emma find her parents? And why did Haoran kiss her if he was still thinking about another girl?

Ahh ... she stood corrected. Emma just remembered that actually it was HER who initiated the kiss. Haoran just responded to her kiss.

Suddenly the girl felt embarrassed. Was she being too aggressive that day? She didn't even know what kind of relationship she and Haoran had right now.

Were they now in a relationship? Why didn't she know the answer?

"What are you thinking about?" Haoran asked in puzzlement. He noticed Emma had been frowning and seemed to be thinking about something serious. The girl's expression intrigued him. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Emma shook her head. She wanted to know how Haoran really felt about her, but she didn't want to read Haoran's mind again. Not only did she feel bad about invading the young man's privacy, but she was also afraid of getting answers that she didn't like. What if Haoran still liked Lily?

Or, worse ... what if Haoran just made her a substitute for Lily because Emma, in many ways, reminded him of that girl?

Emma was both beautiful and incredibly smart. In this case, Haoran seemed to have a specific type for a girlfriend.

"Hmm ... if something bothers you, I hope you will share it with me," Haoran finally said. He did not want to push Emma to open up to him if she didn't want to.