Chapter 8: Attending the School Anniversary

"It's fine, my body temperature tends to be higher, I can keep you warm!"
"No, don't."

The two were playfully wrestling in bed when the vibrating phone on the nightstand caught Ursula's attention. She reached for it, but Dylan was quicker, "Huh, who's this?"

"It's probably a scam call," Ursula quickly snatched the phone from Dylan's hand, thankfully that she had memorized Matthew's number instead of saving it as a contact. "It's nothing, just hang up," she said with relief.

"How boring!" grumbled Dylan, heading to the bedroom to dry her hair.

Ursula let out a sigh of relief. To keep Dylan from meddling with her phone again, she blocked Matthew's number and deleted him from her social media. She had told herself, no more seeing Matthew. Never again.

Dylan initially wanted to extend the stay at the hotel, to have fun exploring the area with Ursula, but when Mr. Vaughn called asking her to return, she had to apologize to Ursula and leave, saying they'd meet at the school anniversary.

Once Dylan was gone, Ursula felt a huge wave of relief.

She was afraid, always scared that Dylan might read something from her face.

To avoid the chance of running into Matthew at work, Ursula took a few days off. She didn't go anywhere, just stayed in her apartment watching TV dramas every day, revisiting the old Hong Kong version of "The Investiture of the Gods," even finding herself in tears again.

On the morning of the school anniversary, Ursula hesitated over her luggage when Dylan's call came: "Ursula, are you coming? I’m already at school."

Feeling without a choice, Ursula could only smile and replied, "I slept late last night, just woke up. Hold on, I'll be there soon."

"Hurry up, a lot of our former classmates are here already."

"Alright."

With that, she had no more excuses not to attend.

Of course, she couldn't turn up at the school anniversary looking shabby. Ursula took out a dress she was reluctant to wear. By the time she was ready and out the door, it was past ten. She hurriedly drove to her school.

"Ursula!"

As Ursula arrived at the packed school field, Dylan, who had sharp eyes, spotted her and ran over, lifting her dress and chiding, "You're so late, it's almost noon!"

Ursula apologized with a smile, "Sorry, I got carried away watching a drama series last night."

Dylan huffed and pulled Ursula to their department area.

At a table, early-arriving classmates sat in small groups, all smiling and greeting Ursula, who responded politely before being whisked away by Dylan to hear about her plans for the day.

When Ursula found out Dylan planned to make a confession on stage, she was stunned, "You've got to be kidding, have you gone mad?"
"Is there something wrong?" Dylan glanced at Ursula. "Don't worry, I've already spoken with the School Principal, and he supports me on this. I'll bring out the ring once Matthew gives the nod, heh heh!"

Ursula parted her lips to say something but was interrupted by nearby students stirring excitement, announcing that the talented guy from the Department of Law had arrived.

She looked up to see Matthew in a sharp black suit making his way through the crowd towards them, impressive and dazzling to the point it was hard for anyone to ignore him. Maybe because he saw Ursula, Matthew looked up.

Ursula's heart skipped a beat, flustered under his gaze, she quickly pretended to take a drink from her cup, while Dylan excitedly said, "Ursula, look, look, Matthew was just looking over here!"

"Uh huh, that's great." Ursula stuttered a response.

The feeling of being watched made Ursula squirm in her chair, thinking the school really didn't plan things well. Why were the Law Department folks seated behind their department? Since the Law Department was more renowned, they should be at the table in front, Shouldn’t they?