Chapter 156: Wish

"Little Drew, do you and your sister want any snacks? I’m passing by the supermarket on my way back, and it’s closing this afternoon."

"Oh... Oh!"

Andrew was startled, not expecting Scarlett to return so soon. After thinking for a moment, he said to her,

"Teacher, just buy whatever you think looks good. I’m not picky."

"Okay."

After hanging up the phone, Andrew snatched the bowl from Catherine’s hands.

"Stop eating. Scarlett will be back soon. I need to discuss what we’re going to do later."

"So what are you going to do?"

"When the time comes, just like this..."

"Oh, oh, oh..."

The two huddled together and whispered as they discussed their plan. If an outsider had seen them, they would have thought the two were plotting something heinous.

---

Around eleven in the morning, Scarlett returned to the apartment complex carrying a large bag of snacks.

She had the key Alexa had given her, so she didn’t need to knock. She inserted the key into the lock and turned it.

But when she opened the door, she found the room unusually dark, with barely any light inside.

Scarlett was puzzled.

"Where is everyone?"

She murmured softly to herself.

Then she looked around and noticed that all the curtains on the balcony had been drawn, blocking out the sunlight.

"Why are the curtains closed? And why aren’t the lights on?"

As Scarlett spoke, she reached out and turned on the living room light.

The room instantly brightened.

At the same moment, Andrew and Catherine, who had been hiding in the darkness, suddenly pulled party poppers and shouted together,

"Happy Birthday!"

"Huh?"

Scarlett froze on the spot, her mouth slightly open as she stared at the two of them, completely at a loss for words.

After standing there stunned for quite a while, she finally murmured,

"Birthday...?"

"Yes! Today is your birthday, Teacher!"

Andrew smiled brightly.

At the same time, Catherine quietly took the bag of snacks from Scarlett’s hand and placed it on the sofa.

Andrew then led Scarlett to the table, where three candles had been placed around the figurine in the center.

Looking at the exquisite birthday cake and the ice cream frosting covering it, Scarlett finally understood.

Andrew had been acting strangely and keeping secrets these past few days just to prepare this birthday surprise for her.

"So... today is my birthday."

Scarlett murmured, almost as if she were saying it to herself.

She hadn’t celebrated her birthday in several years. In fact, she had almost forgotten what it felt like to have someone remember it.

Scarlett remembered that when her mother was still alive, her mother was the only person who remembered her birthday. No matter how busy she was, she would always find time to celebrate it with Scarlett.

After her mother passed away, Scarlett had only celebrated her birthday once.

That had been several years ago, when Andrew’s mother, Alexa, had celebrated it with her.

And now, Andrew had given her another surprise.

"Because I had to prepare everything in a hurry, it’s pretty simple."

Andrew smiled somewhat sheepishly.

"It’s... it’s fine. I like it very much."

A smile appeared on Scarlett’s face, and her clear eyes sparkled as she blinked repeatedly, like bright stars in the night sky.

Because the heating was on inside the apartment, the ice cream cake had already begun to melt slightly.

Seeing this, Andrew quickly lit the candles, while Catherine took the opportunity to turn off the lights.

"Teacher, make a wish."

"Mm."

Scarlett clasped her hands together and held them against her chest. She closed her eyes and began to make her wishes devoutly.

"I wish Mom happiness in the other world."

"I wish the person I love eternal happiness."

"Lastly, I hope my Little Fellow can happily stay by my side forever."

---

After finishing her wish, Scarlett blew out the candles.

The three of them gathered around the table and began eating lunch.

Catherine was still thinking about the ice cream, but Andrew only gave her one piece of cake.

"You’ve already eaten so much. Aren’t you afraid of getting diarrhea tomorrow, on New Year’s Day?"

"Aiya! I’m not afraid!"

"That’s not happening! What’s left is for me and Scarlett!"

"..."

While the siblings happily bickered, Scarlett looked at the two delicate figurines on the cake and felt a little reluctant to eat them.

Andrew noticed that Scarlett was hesitating and asked,

"Teacher, what’s wrong? Is it not tasty?"

"No."

Scarlett shook her head.

"I’m just a little reluctant to eat these two little figurines."

She had immediately recognized that one figurine was supposed to represent her and the other Andrew, so she wanted to look at them a little longer.

"Aiya, Teacher, they’re made of ice cream! If you don’t eat them now, they’ll melt. If you don’t eat them, I will!"

"You dare! They’re mine!"

The moment Scarlett heard that Andrew was going to take them, she immediately swallowed both little figurines in one bite.

"You dare try to steal them! I’ll eat you in one bite!"

---

After lunch, Andrew was resting.

He hadn’t been lying on Scarlett’s soft thighs for long when Catherine directly called him over.

"Alright! Stop lounging around. It’s time to fulfill your promise."

"What promise?"

Andrew turned his head to the side, resting his cheek directly against Scarlett’s slender waist. He inhaled her faint, pleasant fragrance and showed no intention of getting up.

Catherine was so angry that she almost grabbed a cleaver and chased the shameless wretch around the house.

"I sacrificed so much for the fried chicken you promised to make! You already forgot?!"

"Aiya, didn’t I only promise to make it sometime during the New Year holiday? Today is New Year’s Eve. It’s still the last day of the year, so technically, it’s not New Year’s yet."

As Andrew spoke, he pressed himself even closer against Scarlett’s waist.

The sudden closeness made Scarlett’s body tremble slightly, and her face flushed.

She secretly thought,

How is this little troublemaker becoming more and more shameless? His older sister is right here, and he’s still leaning against me like this.

If Andrew had dared to cling to her like this in the past, Scarlett would have kicked him away without hesitation.

It wasn’t that she was unwilling to let him get close.

Rather, it had been an instinctive reaction. Her body’s vigilance was always extremely high, and she would immediately notice whenever a stranger approached her.

Even when Andrew had first started getting close to her, her body had subconsciously resisted.

But now, Scarlett realized that almost all of that resistance had disappeared.

No matter what Andrew did while clinging to her, she was perfectly comfortable with it.

Only when she felt that he was going too far would she proactively push him away.

"Pah! I can’t be bothered to argue with you. Hurry up and go! I’ve already bought the chicken legs and wings."

Catherine scolded him angrily.

But Andrew pretended not to hear her, burying himself against Scarlett’s thigh and playing dead.

Catherine stomped her foot in frustration, but there was nothing she could do.

After all, Andrew was lying on Scarlett, so she couldn’t exactly walk over and drag him away.

Damn it! I made such a huge sacrifice, and this shameless wretch is actually trying to go back on his promise!

Is there any justice left in this world?!

Just then, Scarlett gently patted Andrew on the cheek.

"Okay, you’ve been lying down long enough. You’ve rested enough. Don’t go back on your promise to your sister. Besides, you’re the only one in the house who knows how to cook right now. We can’t let our New Year’s Eve dinner be too meager, can we?"

After hearing Scarlett’s persuasion, Andrew finally sat up.

"Fine. I’ll go prepare the New Year’s Eve dinner."

Before heading to the kitchen, he glanced at Catherine.

"Eat, eat, eat. That’s all you know how to do. I haven’t even seen you gain any useful muscle from eating so much."

"Waaah!!!"

Catherine was about to pounce on Andrew, but Scarlett quickly stopped her.

"Enough, enough. You two, calm down. It’s New Year’s."

Scarlett felt that life had been wonderful these past few days in almost every way.

The only troublesome part was that whenever the siblings were about to start fighting, she had to take on the role of a mother and mediate between them.

It was somewhat helpless.

After smoothing out the slightly wrinkled clothes where Andrew had been leaning against her, Scarlett prepared to go to the kitchen and help him.

After all, cooking wasn’t easy, especially when preparing a New Year’s Eve dinner. There would surely be many dishes to make.

But just as she was about to leave, Catherine stopped her.

"Scarlett, don’t go help him. Let him handle it himself."

"But he’ll be tired if he works alone all afternoon."

Hearing this, Catherine felt as though several knives had pierced straight through her heart.

Wuwuwu... I should’ve gone back to the countryside with Mom and Dad. I have to eat this dog food every day during the New Year.

After composing herself, Catherine said to Scarlett,

"We can help, but at most, we can carry things for him. We probably won’t be much help with the actual cooking anyway. It’s better to do something else."

"Something else? You’re not suggesting we play games, are you?"

Scarlett only played games occasionally. Today was her birthday, which meant she had officially turned twenty-eight. She didn’t have the boundless energy of young people who could play games all day.

"Of course not!"

Catherine immediately denied it before leaning close to Scarlett’s ear and whispering,

"Scarlett, you definitely want to prepare a New Year’s gift for my little brother too, right?"

"That’s true."

Scarlett nodded, but she had no idea what to prepare.

The supermarkets were already closed, and after being together with Andrew for so long, she only knew that the little troublemaker was a bit of a pervert. She didn’t seem to know that he had any other particular hobbies.

Catherine naturally understood this as well.

She leaned close to Scarlett’s ear again and whispered,

"I’ll teach you how to dress up in the style my little brother likes best. He’ll definitely be ecstatic."

"Is it really that exaggerated?"

"Trust me. Absolutely."

Catherine nodded confidently.

"After all, Scarlett, you really don’t know how to dress yourself up."

Her words weren’t entirely wrong.

Scarlett usually dressed very simply. When it was warm, she wore dresses or short-sleeved tops. When it was cold, she bundled herself up like a dumpling.

If other girls dressed like that, they would completely disappear into the crowd, practically becoming background NPCs.

Yet Scarlett remained incredibly eye-catching.

The reason was simple: her face was devastatingly beautiful.

In gaming terms, she had completely maxed out her natural stats while putting absolutely no points into fashion skills.

"So, I’ll teach you how to dress up a little. When it’s time for dinner, you can come out and surprise my little brother."

"Oh."

Scarlett nodded and followed Catherine into the bedroom.