Chapter 3

He still hung out with those thugs from outside school, his brow bone still bruised.

I heard that he had beaten those guys who bullied him very badly, breaking several of their ribs and costing a lot in compensation.

Liam's parents had divorced when he was young. He was given to his mother, who had remarried and had a new child, so no one really cared about him.

He was never one to follow rules, and not wanting to go home, he often wandered outside.

Moreover, his stepfather liked to get violent when drunk, which was why Liam's face was often bruised.

Liam was very resistant to this part of his past. Even after being together for over a decade, I still knew very little about it.

The young Liam was actually a very difficult person to get along with, solitary and obsessive.

The teachers treated him like an invisible person, assuming he would just fend for himself.

Back then, as class monitor, I was too responsible and always thought I could save everyone.

I talked to Liam over and over, trying to open up his tightly locked heart.

And after learning about his family situation, I tried to help him every day.

I told him the world outside was vast, and this small county town shouldn't trap us for life.

I shared my dreams with him, gazed at the starry sky together, telling him that even in darkness, we should look up at the stars.

Every day I was like a broken record in his ear, talking and talking until he got annoyed and coldly asked if I knew no shame.

After hitting so many walls, I privately swore several times that I wouldn't bother with him anymore, but I still kept trying.

Finally one day he opened a book. Liam was very smart, and after finding something he liked in books, his grades started to improve rapidly.

Later Liam said it was me who saved him from the mire.

Starting over this time, I just wanted to watch how he would rot and stink in the mud.

When the midterm exam results came out, Liam was still undisputedly in last place.

Liam and I both used the college entrance exam as a springboard to reach places we had never imagined before.

But now, how fate would develop, I no longer knew.

Liam had disappeared after the midterm exam results came out. As class monitor, the teacher asked me to go to his home to inquire about the situation.

I had originally planned to go after school, but I was delayed by a problem, so it was already getting dark when I went.

His house wasn't far from mine, on the edge of the village, with its own small courtyard.

I really didn't want to make this trip, just going through the motions.

After a long time, I reached the door and was about to knock when I heard the sound of things crashing inside, and also...

Listening carefully, I heard Liam's whimpers.

I quickly found a corner to hide myself and peeked through the cracks in the door.

A middle-aged man, reeking of alcohol, red-faced, was beating Liam with a stick, not holding back.

He was muttering something, getting angrier and angrier, hitting harder and harder.

In the end, he even tried to strangle Liam.

Liam struggled desperately. At 18, the young man already had some strength, and for a moment the man couldn't subdue him.

The man became enraged and shouted something. A middle-aged woman ran out from the inner room.

Though older, you could tell she had been a beauty when young. Liam's eyes were very much like hers.

"Hold him down." The man had completely lost his reason, his eyes full of bloodshot.

The woman hesitated, her body trembling constantly, but she still went forward.

The moment she approached, I noticed Liam stopped all struggle.

He just lay quietly on the ground, looking up at the starry sky, a strange smile on his lips, as if he was going to some sweet rendezvous.

A sudden pain gripped my heart. Liam had always told me that life was too bitter, and I always thought it was just young people's affectation.

I never imagined that for him, life really was this bitter.

The moment his mother stepped forward, he had already lost all will to live.

The gears of fate had started turning again when I came to the past.

I still hated him, the hole in my heart now cold and empty.

It had brought me here to see how I would choose?