Footsteps started echoing through the courtyard.
The door swung open.
The woman who strode in was rocking a bright red plaid shirt and a felt hat. Her eyes sparkled, and she had this fierce, heroic vibe.
She stood about 1.72 meters tall—legs for days. She was wearing short denim, black stockings, and a pair of knee-high boots.
Honestly, she wasn’t the kind of beauty that’d make you stop in your tracks. Evan Lin thought she wasn’t as stunning as Selina Wu, Lynn Chen, or Autumn Zheng.
But Evan could totally feel it—the second she showed up, Allen Ju’s heartbeat went into overdrive.
Guess love really does make you see things differently.
"Whoa, everyone’s here! Long time no see!"
Mia Liao walked in, grinning wide as she scanned the courtyard, her gaze landing on each person in turn.
"Tsk, Frank, your head’s getting squarer every year."
Calvin, you’re still as money-crazy as ever. Back in grade school, you were always hustling little gadgets to sell to your classmates, and the teachers almost kicked you out for it.
Wanwan, you’re still gorgeous—seriously, you just keep getting prettier every year.
Kuangkuang, you’ve shot up! Give it a couple more years and you might even be taller than me.
Mia Liao checked everyone out, grinning without holding back, her voice loud and totally unfiltered—no sign of shyness at all.
Everyone she called out, like Frank Bi and the others, grinned and shouted, "Sister Mia!"
Selina Wu and Evan Lin were hanging out at the back, and Selina kept glancing nervously at the spot behind Mia Liao.
The door was still wide open, but nobody else had come through yet.
Finally, Mia Liao’s gaze zeroed in on Allen Ju.
She strode right up to Allen, reached out, and ruffled his hair—totally unabashed.
Allen didn’t dodge or flinch—he just stood there, staring at her.
"Just got to the airport and didn’t really get a good look at you. Now that I see, you haven’t grown much taller, huh? You hanging out with Martin Wu all day again?"
Mia raised an eyebrow, a little annoyed. "That Martin Wu always skips meals when he’s out playing, and now you’re not growing either. If you don’t shoot up soon, how are you gonna find a wife?"
She looked like she was scolding him for not trying hard enough, but her tone was full of doting big-sister vibes.
Evan saw Allen’s face go bright red.
Usually, Allen Ju was cool and collected, but right now he looked like a kid with his first crush.
"Nah, Martin and I always eat on time now."
Allen shook his head, trying to keep his voice steady, but it was obvious he was both happy and nervous.
Honestly, in all of Beijing, there were probably only a handful of people Allen would let mess with his hair like that.
"Well, you better play more basketball then! Guys need to jump around if they wanna grow taller."
Mia nodded, tilted her head, and looked him over again, then casually asked, "Were you mad I ignored you at the airport and just drove off?"
She asked it super casually, like it was no big deal.
Allen stood there, holding it in, but before he could answer, Mia laughed and ruffled his hair again—didn’t even give him a chance to speak.
Just then, more footsteps sounded at the door.
Two men walked in.
One of them looked a lot like Tyson Tai—maybe seventy or eighty percent similar—but he was bigger and older.
The other guy was pale, like he’d been drained by too much partying—wine and women had hollowed him out.
"Wow, everyone’s really here!"
Tyler Tai called out, smiling and waving at Mia Liao, who was standing with Allen.
Mia stopped looking at Allen and beamed, taking a few quick steps straight to Tyler. She smoothed her long black hair and grinned proudly. "Of course, look who’s back!"
"I told you there’d be a crowd today, but you kept saying no one would care after I was gone for years."
You could totally hear the excitement in her voice.
When she talked to Allen, it was like a big sister doting on a little brother. But now, with Tyler, she sounded like a younger girl chatting up her cool big bro.
She was proud and just a little smug.
"Okay, okay, I admit I was wrong," Tyler said, shaking his head helplessly, making Mia’s smile even brighter.
Tyler’s admission made Mia beam even wider.
Allen stood there, his face suddenly looking pretty grim.
Turns out, the person Mia rushed off to pick up from the airport was Tyler, not Allen or Tyson.
Frank Bi looked worried, Calvin Zheng frowned, Wanwan Sun wanted to say something but hesitated, and Gloria Rong and Leon Lu looked seriously conflicted.
Most of them just felt frustrated.
"Back in the day, there were two batches of kids growing up in this courtyard. Tyler’s group was a few years older than ours," Selina explained quietly to Evan.
"Big kids usually didn’t play with us little kids. Tyler was the king of the big kids, and Mia used to hang out with his crew. Only after Tyler and his group left did she start playing with us," Selina continued.
"That’s when Mia and Allen started getting close," Selina finished.
Evan pieced together the backstory and nodded, finally getting the gist.
Maybe back then, when the older kids left, Mia lost her playmates, spotted Allen getting bullied, and suddenly got fired up—grabbing a stick and a dog leash, she stormed over to help him out.
It was just a casual move for her, but it burned the image of ‘the girl with a stick and a dog’ deep into young Allen’s mind.
And that imprint lasted more than ten years.
Evan still couldn’t tell what Mia really thought of Allen.
But from the way things looked, Mia was definitely closer to Tyler.
"Calvin! Hey, long time no see. I just came up with a new project—let’s talk later, yeah?"
The pale guy next to Tyler Tai greeted Tyson’s group, then spotted Calvin Zheng and laughed, acting like they were old buddies.
But when Calvin saw him, he frowned and his face darkened.