Eric watched as the bedroom door closed and massaged the bridge of his nose....Meanwhile, in Edelweiss, Mike, Chad, and Ivy finished their breakfast and checked out from their rooms.Since they had already seen the auroras, it was not necessary for them to remain in this town, so they planned to head to the capital of Edelweiss.Mike had promised Ivy that he would take her to the capital after she had seen the auroras. Avery had mentioned that Ivy had been living in poverty for the past eighteen years, so it would be best to take her somewhere beautiful.The university that Lucas was studying at was situated in the capital as well so Mike intended to stay in a hotel nearby before taking Ivy to the university in the afternoon.The university he found was an ivy league school with extremely high tuition that ordinary families could not dream of affording.For someone who was able to afford that and not look down on Ivy, Mike knew that Ivy's friend had to be a good person, but si
"Will we be allowed inside?" Ivy asked sheepishly.Mike smiled. "Technically speaking, the school is not open to tourists, but we just need to register as guests.""Oh... Uncle Mike, do you know someone there?""No." Mike's social circle was limited to Aryadelle and Bridgedale. "But the guard doesn't know that. Just keep quiet and follow my lead. I promise that we will get in."Ivy trusted Mike when she saw the confident look on his face.Feeling slightly shy, he asked, "Aren't you worried that I'm lying?""Of course, not. I just think you are really talented, in a different way than Dad and Hayden," she said."Are there different types of talents?" he asked before coming to a realization. "You are saying that I'm streetsmart, aren't you?"Ivy chuckled. "Not really. It's not like we are doing something bad.""You are right, actually. I'm not like your dad, and I like learning weird skills...""I think it's interesting," she said earnestly. "As long as you are not doing someth
The two took a leisurely stroll down the trail, and Mike stopped after twenty minutes."Ivy, look." He pointed to a tree that looked strong but not overly tall with countless cards hanging on it."Hahaha! I guess religion knows no bounds." Mike took Ivy to the tree and found a booth that stood a little distance away from the tree. The booth had a plate that read, 'The Wishing Booth' and another plate that read 'The Wishing Tree' by the tree.People seemed to have written their wishes on cards and hung them on the three. He walked over and glanced through some of the cards. "Um... 'Pass my exam'... 'Get my dream guy'... 'Slim down!', 'Get rich'!' He chuckled after reading a few cards aloud. "Do you want to write your own? Maybe it will come true.""I don't think I have any wishes. I feel like I'm the happiest person on earth, and it would be greedy of me to make any more wishes." She considered it in all seriousness and realized that she did not have any wish.She wanted to go wher
"Where?" Ivy asked curiously."Let's go to the administration building," Mike said."Huh? The administration building? Are we hanging this there?""No. Let's find the feedback box for the dean."Ivy immediately came to a realization. "Uncle Mike, are you telling me to put this in the feedback box that's meant for the dean?""Yeah! The feedback box is nothing but decoration. Even if someone puts something inside as a prank, none of the staff will notice."Ivy started to feel like what Mike said made sense because he looked extremely confident. Mike was older and more experienced, and she realized that she should listen to him.The two headed to the administration building. Outside the dean's office, there was a box meant where students could drop their feedback.Mike snapped his fingers smugly before putting Ivy's card into the box. Following the 'Ping!' sound, Mike smiled and said, "See? I told you that it is just there for decoration. There is nothing inside."Ivy nodded. "Un
There was no signature."Oh, there's no signature on the card so you might need to ask around to see which one of your friends wrote this," Anne continued.Lucas held onto the card for dear life; even without a signature, he knew that it was from Irene because she was the only one who would call him Mr. Lucas'."Isn't Irene dead?" he thought. "When did she write this card? Before she died?""Ma'am, do you know how often the feedback box is opened?" he swallowed hard and asked.Anna shook her head. "I'm not so sure about that. Should I call and ask?""Please do."She picked up her phone and called the dean's secretary and asked the question on Lucas's behalf."We do it randomly, depending on my schedule. I sometimes open it once a month, sometimes once every other month, but I won't leave the box untouched for over three months at a time."The hope that rose within Lucas vanished as he was led to believe that Irene wrote him the message before her death."Why did she put it in
"It's no trouble at all! I go to Bridgedale all the time anyway," Layla said. "It's quite convenient to travel. I want to see your house and pay Hayden a visit!""Oh... Okay! It's a shame that I can't go anywhere until the winter holidays.""You will have a long holiday during New Year's, right? You can go during that time. Your house should be ready by then.""It's not that long.""You can apply for more leave."Ivy shook her head. "I will pay Hayden a visit during my winter holidays. It's not a long wait from New Year's.""Sure! I will take videos to show you," Layla said with a smile. "Are you really going to stop Mom and Dad from following you to school tomorrow?"They had discussed this during dinner, and Ivy had informed her family that she wished to go to school on her own and told the others that she would come home immediately once admission was over."What if someone recognizes them?" Ivy smiled sheepishly. "I don't want to be the talk of the school before school actu
"Mr. Foster, the car is over there, and since the campus is pretty packed with people, it may take some time for the tour to end.""It's fine. Safety first," Elliot said before taking his wife and daughter to the car.Ivy watched as other students walked around campus, and she felt like a tourist as she toured around in a car. The person who drove the car was likely someone who worked on campus, and he explained everything while driving.Ivy listened attentively as she was going to spend the following three years at this university.Half an hour later, they had finally finished the tour around campus and the staff asked if they wanted to walk around."We will walk around on our own, Sir. Thank you so much," Ivy said.Elliot gave the staff permission to leave and Ivy said, "Mom, they are selling drinks over there."The sun was shining brightly, and it was hottest in the afternoon.Avery glanced at the booth where a considerable number of students gathered and said, "You can go
As expected, Ivy seemed satisfied after viewing the first apartment."Mom, how much is this place? I feel like it's a little too big for me. I wish there was a smaller apartment."A sheepish expression appeared on Elliot's face when he heard what Ivy said."Haha. This isn't that big. It's quite cheap, and real estate properties around this area tend to be more spacious. The apartments in this residential area can go up to 130 and 150 square feet! This is already the smallest one," Avery said.The real estate agent did not understand what Avery meant and immediately said, "There are apartments within the range of fifty to sixty square feet that often target students studying at Southern University."Avery, Elliot, and Ivy reacted differently to what the agent said."Mom, he said that there are ones that are fifty to sixty square feet! Let's go have a look!" Ivy said excitedly.Before Avery could say anything, Elliot blurted out, "Darling, that's too small. We will need a place to