Chapter 2

I stayed silent, and his face got darker and darker, like he was about to explode.

After a long pause, I finally managed to blurt out: "I'm so sorry! I grabbed the wrong lunchbox!"

"These are toys I prepared for the kids at the children's home. I was in such a rush this morning, I must have mixed them up!"

He looked suspicious. "Really? I don't remember you having a habit of visiting the children's home."

I blinked innocently at him. "Boss, did you forget? I even asked you to come with me to the children's home before…"

"You said you looked down on the kids there and didn't want to go."

For some reason, after I said that, his expression became a little flustered. He even went out of his way to explain to me: "I didn't look down on them! I just, I just…"

But he thought for a long time and couldn't come up with a single good reason.

As a professional simp, I'd long since mastered the art of saving his ego: "I totally get it."

He immediately calmed down. "Hmph, good that you get it! Don't mess up again tomorrow. Tomorrow, I want *your* homemade breakfast, got it?"

I nodded repeatedly. "Yes, Boss."

*My* homemade breakfast? You wish!

Tomorrow, I'll just pre-order the full deluxe combo from the diner behind school.

Then he extended his long arm towards me. "Give it to me."

I froze. "What?"

Seeing my blank look, he instantly got impatient. "My birthday present, obviously! Didn't I tell you yesterday that today's my birthday?"

I slapped my forehead, feigning a sudden realization.

From a pile of pink envelopes in my backpack, I fished out one and handed it to him with both hands.

His expression softened slightly when he saw the envelope, and his ears even turned red.

"Didn't I tell you not to write me these useless things anymore?"

He kept grumbling, but his hands weren't idle, quickly pulling out the letter covered in hearts.

He didn't even care about the setting, reading it aloud right there, his voice even carrying a hint of excitement.

"Liam, hello! I'm Cindy, from the Math department…"

With every word he read, his face darkened a shade more.

Liam tore the letter to shreds and flung the scraps into my face.

"Chloe Miller! You better explain this! What is this *now*?"

I stammered for a long time before saying: "Well, you don't like me writing you love letters, right?"

"But a lot of other people want to give them to you, so I just did them a favor and handed them to you. Look through them more often, who knows, maybe you'll find one you like?"

His finger pointed straight at me, but he was too choked with anger to say anything else, just sputtering: "You… you!"

"You've really outdone yourself!"

He stormed off without looking back, fuming.

Today's work was also a success – another $1,500 in the bank!