Chapter 442 - 438: Seraphina

"Seraphina!"

A soft call rang out. The girl slowly turned her head. When she saw her friend, a smile as gentle as a magnolia in a spring breeze bloomed on her face. Her beautiful eyes curved into crescents, making her look lively, playful, and utterly vibrant and dazzling.

Just like the first time he saw her, a single glance at her smile had been enough for Ethan Sterling to remember it to this day.

Seraphina naturally linked arms with her companion, and they walked out of the cafeteria, laughing.

"Ethan!"

Jameson Stone’s sudden shout startled Ethan Sterling, who had been lost in thought. His hand trembled, and he nearly spilled his bowl of noodles.

"What are you spacing out for? What are you looking at?"

Ethan Sterling quickly collected his thoughts and shook his head. "Nothing. I was just thinking about what to eat."

An image of the place where he first met that girl flashed through his mind—the spicy skewer shop they had gone to with his two friends.

"I’ll have malatang!" Ethan said.

Hearing this, a troubled look crossed Jameson Stone’s face. "Why do you want malatang too?"

Renee Reid, who was standing to the side, laughed. "Because we’re having it. Malatang is delicious, and it’s none of your business."

Jameson Stone pouted but couldn’t be bothered to argue back.

After lunch, Ethan Sterling wandered around campus by himself, unable to get the image of that girl out of his head.

Seraphina.

He had heard her friend call her name. It was so unique, and it fit her perfectly.

He remembered that the first time he saw her was just a fleeting glance. But he knew he was in the final sprint for the college entrance exams back then, so he had decisively suppressed his feelings.

But things were different now. He was in college, and they were even at the same university.

It felt like fate.

He walked on until he reached the small athletic field on the east side of campus. Ethan Sterling was still lost in thought when someone suddenly stopped him.

"Excuse me, student. You can’t go through here for now. The Photography Club is filming a promotional video for the school."

Ethan Sterling stopped and looked toward the athletic field not far away.

His eyes lit up!

A girl in a white dress was running on the rubber track, which shimmered with the heat of summer. Her steps were as light as if she were treading on clouds. The wind caught her long, cascading black hair, making it dance in harmony with her swirling skirt.

The clamor from the distant basketball court was muffled by the wind into a hazy backdrop. The only thing vivid was her jubilant figure and the bright smile she flashed at the camera as she glanced back while running.

"Sorry about that. If you’re in a hurry, you can take a detour that way."

The person beside him spoke up, snapping Ethan Sterling back to his senses. He asked, "You guys are filming a campus promotional video?"

"That’s right. Students will be able to see it on the school’s big screens and official social media accounts soon." As the person spoke, he ran toward another student who was passing by. "Excuse me..."

Watching Seraphina filming in the distance, Ethan Sterling found her smile so infectious that the corners of his own lips curled up unconsciously.

He didn’t leave. Instead, he sat down on a bench under a nearby tree.

"Perfect, just perfect."

A senior from the Photography Club kept praising Seraphina as he filmed. "This is exactly the right vibe. You’re doing great!"

After a while, they successfully finished filming several shots.

"Are we filming more, senior?" Seraphina asked politely, stopping her movements.

The senior was extremely satisfied with the results. He gave Seraphina a thumbs-up. "One take. Your screen presence is amazing. I’m starting to get addicted to filming you."

Seraphina smiled, a little embarrassed. Her friend handed her a bottle of water and whispered, "The guys playing basketball over there stopped playing. They were all watching you. And that guy over there has been staring at you with a goofy grin."

Hearing this, Seraphina glanced in Ethan Sterling’s direction, her gaze meeting his.

A flicker of recognition made Seraphina pause. She thought Ethan Sterling looked a bit familiar, too.

But she couldn’t quite place him.

"He’s pretty good-looking," her friend whispered.

Seraphina’s eyes crinkled with a smile as she nodded. After dabbing the sweat from her forehead with a tissue, she said to the senior from the club, "Well, senior, I’m heading back to my dorm. If you need someone for something like this again, feel free to ask. I quite enjoy it."

"Sure! I love filming people like you who are naturals and don’t need any coaching. I’ll contact you later, then."

As Seraphina walked past Ethan Sterling, she subconsciously glanced at him again. The feeling of familiarity was even stronger this time.

Ethan Sterling looked away shyly. In the end, he didn’t dare to go up and say hello.

When it came to pursuing girls, he had zero experience and had no idea what to do.

All he could do was admire her from afar.

Once Seraphina was far away, Ethan Sterling finally got up from the bench, his mood surprisingly good. He went to the campus supermarket, bought a chilled watermelon, and planned to share it with his roommates back at the dorm.

But when he got back to his dorm room, Ethan Sterling found his trash can knocked over. Its contents were scattered all over the floor, and half of the trash wasn’t even his.

He rushed to his desk to check his computer and other belongings. Thankfully, nothing was damaged.

But the trash can had been standing there just fine. He had even bought a metal one with some weight to it, so there was no way it could have fallen over on its own.

Besides, much of the trash in it wasn’t his.

"Psst! Psst! Ethan!"

Just as he was wondering what had happened, a voice suddenly came from behind him. He turned around to see his roommate, Wayne, poking his head out from behind the curtain of the bunk across from his.

"Wayne, you’re here!" Ethan Sterling jumped, startled. The room had been so quiet he thought no one was there.

Wayne jutted his chin toward the bunk next to Ethan’s. "He did it!"

Ethan Sterling followed his gaze. The person in the bunk next to him was named Victor Tucker. The four of them had first met in the dorm on the first day of school and had even gone out to eat together.

They had eaten and drunk together, and in the end, Ethan Sterling had insisted on paying the bill.

They had gotten along well after that. Even though the four of them had four different personalities, they had never once gotten into a real argument.

So Ethan Sterling was surprised and confused. ’Why would he do this?’

"Why?" Wayne was also puzzled. He looked at Ethan and asked, "Did you two have a fight?"

Ethan was completely baffled himself. "N-No!"

The two of them had even spoken when they got up that morning, and nothing had seemed out of the ordinary.

Since he couldn’t figure it out, he decided not to dwell on it. Ethan Sterling went to the balcony, found a broom, and silently cleaned up the trash. The good mood he’d been in because of Seraphina had mostly evaporated.

"I’ve been lying in bed this whole time. I was going to get up and help you clean it in a bit, but I didn’t expect you to come back so soon," Wayne said, wearing only a pair of boxers as he climbed down from his bunk. "Ethan, if it’s a misunderstanding, you should just talk it out. We’re all friends living in the same room. But if Victor Tucker is trying to bully you, Rabbit and I definitely won’t stand for it."

"Thanks, but it’s probably just a misunderstanding." Ethan Sterling managed a smile, unwilling to think so poorly of his roommate.

With that, he took out the watermelon he’d bought. "It’s chilled. Let’s eat it together."

Wayne’s eyes lit up at the sight of chilled watermelon, and he rubbed his hands together excitedly. But just as the two of them sat down, the dorm room door opened.

Victor Tucker was back!