The next day at noon, Mortimer Quincy was "ditched" by Holly Winslow. He went to the cafeteria to eat alone and ran into Pantheon and Zeke Zane. He stopped and, for the first time ever, asked Zeke, "Have an appetite?"

His tone was light, but laced with a hint of resentment.

Zeke, who had just stuffed a mouthful of food into his mouth: "..."

He didn’t have much of an appetite to begin with, and now he had even less.

He poked at his bowl a few times with his chopsticks, grumbling, "Mortimer, are we brothers or not?"

Mortimer gave him a dark look, then picked up his tray and moved to another table in "disgust."

The spurned Zeke: "..."

Pantheon, only half-understanding the situation, glanced at Mortimer, then back at Zeke, a little confused. "It doesn’t feel like you’re the one who broke up. Mortimer acts more like it."

Zeke: "..."

Before Zeke could say anything, Pantheon’s eyes widened. "Holy shit, don’t tell me Mortimer actually broke up with his girlfriend? I saw a post on the school forum yesterday saying they split, but I thought it was fake. But looking at the situation now..."

"Something’s not right."

"I’m gonna call my girlfriend and ask."

When Cynthia Owens got his call and heard what was going on, she replied instinctively, "You’re overthinking it. We’d break up before they ever would."

She didn’t mean anything by it; she was just stating a possibility.

Pantheon: "..."

He sulkily poked at his food. "Why would we break up?"

"I’m just telling you it’s a possibility," Cynthia’s voice softened a little.

"But you can’t just say it’s a possibility like that," Pantheon insisted, but his voice was quiet, as if he were muttering to himself.

Cynthia turned a page in her book and changed the subject directly. "I have to go out this afternoon, so I won’t be in class with you."

"Where are you going?"

"To the bookstore. Is there anything you want me to get you?"

"You don’t have class tonight. My class ends at four, so I’ll go with you. We can catch a movie tonight too."

"Okay."

An irrepressible smile spread across Pantheon’s face.

Zeke: "..."

He couldn’t eat anymore.

What a gut punch.

’Right now, I just want to say one thing: What the hell is Monica Lewis?’

"Take my tray for me in a bit. I’m leaving."

Pantheon looked at him, confused. "You’re not eating?"

Zeke: "..."

He forced a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. "I’m full."

After that, he took out his phone and continued to call Anna Willow. But at that moment, Anna was at the hot springs with Holly Winslow and Iris Kensington, so the call naturally didn’t go through.

At the hot springs, Anna Willow scanned the people coming and going, discussing excitedly, "Whoa, that group of guys on the left is super hot. ROAR ROAR ROAR."

Iris Kensington looked over, studying them seriously. "The one in the middle is the cutest. He kinda looks like Mr. Handsome!"

"Doesn’t look like him. Not at all."

Holly glanced over, refuted the claim, and quickly looked away. She settled back into the hot spring comfortably and added, "Mortimer’s phoenix eyes are a bit more upturned."

Anna let out a "Yooooo," and pretended to get goosebumps from all the sweetness, shivering twice in the water. "Holly, can we please not talk about your boyfriend when we’re out?"

Holly said innocently, "You guys brought him up first. Ah, soaking in the hot spring feels so good. This was worth the one-eighty."

Then she sighed, "Guess I’ll have to skip hot pot a couple of times, or I won’t be able to afford groceries."

Iris couldn’t help but give her a gentle shove, laughing. "Holly, look at you. You’re not even married yet and you’re already worrying about money. Tsk tsk tsk."

Anna laughed and teased, "Ellie, Holly is already engaged. That’s pretty much the same as being married."

Holly smiled, let out a comfortable sigh, and chimed in, "I’m a married woman now."

Anna and Iris "tsked" in unison. Iris looked at her seriously. "Holly, aren’t you afraid you’ll regret it?"

Holly shook her head. "I won’t regret it."

Marrying Mortimer Quincy was something she wouldn’t regret in her past life, or in this one.

...

After soaking for an hour, the trio moved on to a KTV. They had only been singing for five minutes when Mortimer called. Holly answered, "Hello."

Mortimer heard the noisy background and knew they were at a KTV. Actually, he didn’t even need to listen to know where they were.

Whenever one of the couples among Holly’s trio of friends had a fight, a KTV gathering was a must. He’d had the "privilege" of hearing their god-awful wailing once before.

That was no exaggeration.

"Honey, my dormmate just gave me a few coupons for a Western restaurant. They’re for 50% off. Wanna go?"

Holly believed that passing up a deal like this would be a total loss. Her eyes lit up. "Yes! Are there four coupons?"

"There are." How could Mortimer forget to account for Anna Willow and Iris Kensington?

He wasn’t Zeke.

Holly asked Anna and Iris, and neither of them had any objections.

Anna and Iris, being very considerate, took a table for two. Then Anna laughingly gave Holly a little push. "Holly, Ellie and I are going to have our own little world for two. We won’t bother you! Bye-bye." She said, waving her hand.

Holly feigned anger. "Goodbye."

Then she and Mortimer sat down at another table.

Seeing the girl start to look through the menu, Mortimer breathed a sigh of relief. He then tentatively pointed to a set meal. "How about this? This one’s pretty good."

Holly thought for a moment. 499 discounted would be 250. For a steak dinner, that was a very good deal.

"Okay, I’ll have this one. Hmm, but I also kind of want to eat this one." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

She pointed at a picture on the menu with a mischievous "hehe."

Mortimer chuckled softly. "I’ll have this one." After telling the waiter, he added two glasses of red wine, and then said, "And two glasses of red wine for that table over there, too."

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. That evening, Anna dutifully went back to the university. Holly, who had an early class the next day, had also planned to sleep at her dorm.

But that rascal Mortimer "tricked, swindled, and abducted" her, "luring" her back to his place with a cup of milk tea.

The aftermath of the twelve-yuan milk tea was Holly’s "broken" back.

The next day, she really couldn’t get up, and she skipped class for the first and only time.

When Holly got out of bed, the ever-diligent Mortimer was in the kitchen with his sleeves rolled up, cooking. The fragrant aroma dissipated much of her anger, but she still let out an indignant "Hmph."

Hearing her, Mortimer turned his head to glance at her. "The food’s almost ready. Be good and go watch some TV."

"Watch TV my ass! I missed a class because of you. You owe me."

Holly reached out, pinched off a piece of sausage from the cutting board, and popped it into her mouth to chew. It was from Mortimer’s grandparents.

In light of her "hard work" yesterday, Mortimer, for once, didn’t scold her. He put down the kitchen knife, took her hand, and washed it gently. "You like it? I’ll ask Grandpa to make some more during summer break."

"No, I’ll just buy some at the supermarket then." Holly tilted her head to look at him and added, "I’m going home for summer break, you know. My dad’s home alone, so I have to keep him company."

"Okay." Mortimer leaned down and gave her a kiss. "Go get the rice. After we eat, I’ll tutor you."

After they finished eating, the make-up session began. Holly didn’t hold back at all, asking him about every problem she didn’t understand.

The next day, a user named "Holly Darling" posted on the school forum: No fight, no breakup, engaged.

Mortimer basically had a built-in "trending topic" constitution, so the post quickly garnered over three thousand likes and more than a thousand comments.

I bought a new outfit for nothing. I was hoping for a chance encounter in the classroom.

I suspect this is just for show, building up a "devoted top student" persona.

Doesn’t Holly Winslow already have a new boyfriend? Nathan Chaney from the math department just gave her a bag of snacks the day before yesterday.