Chapter 5

The same Nathan who, in my parents' eyes, was ten thousand times better than I am.

After saying goodbye to the Westons, I carefully fished the house key out of my pocket. The moment I opened the door, someone came rushing headlong into me and knocked me to the ground. I accidentally banged my arm against the edge of a step, and it quickly started bleeding.

I drew in a sharp breath and looked up, only to see Mom and Dad running over with worried expressions. The pain in my body seemed to intensify because of it, and out of nowhere, a wave of hurt and self-pity washed over me.

"Mom, Dad—"

But in the very next second, Mom and Dad pulled Nathan—who was beside me—into their arms.

"Nathan, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"

I lowered my head awkwardly, gently wiping away the tears threatening to fall.

Only after they had made sure Nathan was unharmed did they notice me still on the ground.

Dad furrowed his brow and asked in disbelief, "Malcolm? What are you doing back here? Shouldn't you be in the mountains right now?"

Beside them, Nathan seemed displeased by my presence, though his smile remained as pleasant as ever.

"Malcolm, you really came back! A few days ago, when I called you, you said life in the mountains was too hard, and you wanted to use my birthday as an excuse to come home.

"I was afraid Uncle Joseph and Aunt Rebecca wouldn't agree, so I turned you down. I didn't think you'd still find a way to make it back."

Hearing this, I froze. What was Nathan talking about? I had never told him that life in the mountains was too hard or that I wanted to find an excuse to come back.

But before I could defend myself, the faces of Mom and Dad instantly went cold.

"Malcolm, you have utterly disappointed us! We didn't let you come home because we wanted you to learn to be independent, so that one day you'd face any hardship with composure and resolve. And yet you treat home as your personal refuge, seizing any chance to run back on a whim!"

I shook my head frantically, desperately denying it.

"Nathan is such a manipulative jerk. He totally turned Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell against Malcolm!"

"Quick, Malcolm, take out your recommendation letter and explain everything to your parents. They love you so much—surely, they'll understand."

Right, the recommendation letter.

Prompted by the floating comments, I frantically pulled the letter out of my bag and handed it to my parents.

"Mom, Dad, that's not it at all. I never called Nathan—he's lying. The reason I came back was that my teacher, Eunice Madden, told me to. She said my grades are excellent. And just recently, I qualified for the Math Olympiad and ended up ranking in the top ten statewide.

"Ms. Madden and the school want me to have better opportunities, so they've recommended that I come back to the city to study. Mom, Dad, I really want to come back for school. Could you please just sign the consent form?"

Mom and Dad took the recommendation letter from my hands and looked it over carefully, their expressions softening a little.

I instinctively searched for the floating comments and saw that the commenters were happy for me too.

"Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell must be overjoyed! Malcolm, you're amazing!"

"Malcolm has worked so hard out in that remote mountain village—it honestly puts me to shame. He's earned everything he's achieved today. It's good he's heading back to the city for school early. That way, the three of them can finally be together again."

"Yeah, and now Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell won't have to cry late into the night every night from missing him so much."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Still, I didn't dare to let my guard down.

"Mom, Dad, does this mean I can come back to the city for school?" I asked cautiously.

Mom pursed her lips and tossed the recommendation letter aside casually.

"We'll talk about this later. Right now, we need to celebrate Nathan's birthday. Go back to your room and rest first. We'll discuss it tomorrow once you wake up."

With that, they completely ignored me and walked out hand in hand with Nathan.

I stood there frozen. It wasn't until a gust of cold wind from outside made me shiver that it occurred to me to step inside.

But the moment I set foot in the house, I found I couldn't move another step.