Chapter 5 A Handshake

The auditorium had been renovated, and it now looked like a book with rounded corners. It was clean and tidy, and had three floors. It could house a thousand people at the same time. The seats were all lined with cotton cushions, which made them very comfortable to sit on, even for prolonged periods of time. There were LED screens lining the back wall of the stage. Moreover, the auditorium had been fitted with expensive stereos that had excellent sound quality.

All in all, the auditorium had state of the art facilities.

Caroline, who was peeking at the auditorium from behind the backstage curtain, was appreciatively taking in all these details. She was just about to retreat when she saw the three principals walking to the front of the auditorium with a smile. They were followed by several excellent students, including Edwin!

Caroline froze at the sight of Edwin, and her heart trembled uncontrollably. He had the same hairstyle as before, and he was dressed in a white and green casual shirt and white jeans. He followed the principal of the medical university with an indifferent look on his face. All in all, he still looked exactly the same.

Caroline remembered that in her previous life, everyone had thought that Edwin's hairstyle looked like a Korean star's, and many of the boys in the university copied his hairstyle. In fact, Edwin had a bad relationship with his parents and hadn't gotten an allowance from them for several months, so he hadn't gotten a haircut in order to save money.

When Caroline had told Edwin that many people were imitating his hairstyle, the corners of his mouth had twitched indifferently. In Edwin's view, what other people thought was not worth mentioning. Whether they appreciated him or belittled him, it had nothing to do with him. 'Those who worshiped Edwin back then were really tasteless!'

Caroline thought to herself as she secretly observed him. In her previous life, Edwin had sat on the chair without reading the materials about the debate teams in his hand, let alone paying attention to others.

But now, Edwin had his head raised, and his eyes were fixed on the spot that Caroline had been seated in back then. 'There are so many tiny differences between the previous life and this one, so it's not a big deal that Edwin's behavior has changed, too, ' Caroline thought.

When Edwin shifted slightly in his seat and was about to turn back to the front, Caroline quickly hid behind the curtain.

Why had she hidden from him? She didn't know. Anyway, she didn't want to have any contact with him. Thinking of their meeting at the school gate a few days ago, her heart turned cold, as if she was holding a large piece of ice.

About ten minutes later, the debate competition began.

Caroline and the girls from the etiquette team led the debate participants onto the stage from both sides. Edwin was staring blankly at the seat that Caroline had sat in during her previous life, as if lost in thought. But when he turned his head back to the stage, he suddenly opened his eyes wide, and the light in his eyes flickered faintly. He saw Caroline, dressed in a delicate white and blue cheongsam, walk out onto the stage with an elegant smile on her face.

He tightly grabbed the back of seat in front of him with his hands, sinking his nails into the cushion. He squeezed so hard that his ten fingertips turned white.

"What's wrong?" the principal of the medical university asked, looking at him strangely.

Edwin regained his indifferent expression in an instant. He shook his head and said, "Nothing. I thought I saw someone I knew."

His voice was as cold as ice, leaving no room for discussion.

After that, the event proceeded just as Caroline remembered. However, in her previous life, she had been sitting in the auditorium and watching the tightly-fought match. Today, she was sitting backstage and just listening to their voices.

What she didn't know was that the whole time, Edwin stared at the curtains where she had disappeared into and never looked away.

At the end of the debate competition, Caroline walked out on stage again, leading several students to give out awards, prizes, and certificates. She didn't know whether she was just imagining things or not, but she kept feeling Edwin's cold eyes on her, making her stiffen.

When the award ceremony was over, everyone left except the members of the student unions, who were cleaning up the auditorium. Ted excused himself to return the tray to the canteen, but in fact, it was just an excuse so that he could loaf around. By this time, the audience had all left. Caroline and Ted walked out from the back door of the auditorium together.

They walked down the small road, which was flanked by neat rows of trees. These trees had been planted here after the renovation of the auditorium. Caroline and Ted spoke to each other casually while walking. At the corner of the path, they spotted Edwin playing with the willow leaves. Caroline stopped, feeling a gust of cold air hit her.

"It's Edwin!" Ted was so excited that he poked Caroline with his elbow. "He talked to me just now! It's really Edwin!"

After gushing to her in a low voice, he trotted all the way to Edwin.

"Hello." He carefully bowed to Edwin and then looked at him with admiration in his eyes. "What can I do for you, senior?"

Edwin scattered the leaves in his hand and turned around to face Ted. He didn't smile, but his face softened a little. He was born with a poker face, and he seldom smiled at anyone, even his tutor.

Edwin took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it to Ted. "I want to borrow a sophomore's lecture book. It will be better if it has notes on it. Can you do me this favor?" As he spoke, he took out another cigarette and lit it for himself.

"No problem!" Holding the cigarette in one hand, Ted patted his chest with the other. "Leave it to me!"

Caroline raised her eyebrow in surprise.

In her previous life, Edwin hadn't started smoking until he had gotten his doctor's degree, and even then, he only had a small craving for cigarettes and rarely carried them around with him. However, it was none of her business whether Edwin started to smoke now or later. Why was she thinking so much about it? Caroline reluctantly walked over to them step by step and politely nodded to Edwin in greeting.

"Oh, let me introduce her," Ted said with a smile. "This is Caroline Feng from the normal university. One of her nicknames is 'beautiful dinosaur.'" Then, he turned to Caroline and said, "And this is Edwin Han, the most successful Master degree candidate in medical university."

"I'm flattered." Edwin politely reached out to shake hands with Caroline.

Caroline returned the gesture and perfunctorily touched Edwin's fingers.

However, Edwin was not perfunctory at all. He grabbed onto Caroline's hand and held it tightly, even brushing his fingertips against the back of her hand. But he let go of her hand as quickly as he had grabbed it. In Ted's eyes, his handshake was impeccable, but Caroline felt uneasy for some reason and quietly frowned.

"Well, you guys can carry on. I have something else to do," she said, trying to excuse herself.

Edwin nodded. "I'm going to the lab. We..."

"I'm going to the internet cafe!" Caroline interrupted Edwin before he could finish his words. Edwin's lab was in the same direction as her dormitory. If she told them that she was heading back there now, she would have to walk all the way there together with Edwin. And that was the last thing she wanted!

"Okay then. Goodbye," Edwin said plainly.

Ted felt that there was something wrong with Caroline. It was obvious that she was avoiding Edwin like the plague, but he didn't know why. After saying goodbye to Edwin, he accompanied Caroline to the internet cafe. On the way, he kept asking her why she treated Edwin like that.

"Is he your husband? Why do you care about him so much?" Caroline snapped. Ted didn't know how to refute her.

After Caroline and Ted left, Edwin remained at the intersection and resumed playing with the willow leaves. The hand that had just grasped Caroline's hand tightly clenched into a fist and trembled slightly.