Chapter 8

Katie's POV

"Thank you, Percy, for such a wonderful opportunity, but I'm only a sophomore right now. The L-ACE Club would be more suitable for a more mature version of me. Besides, Elias's schedule spans the entire globe—I definitely wouldn't have that much time to travel with him."

I declined this extremely tempting offer. I admit I'm excellent, but it really isn't quite right for me at this moment.

What a shame, though. That's Elias—the God of Grass! Just thinking about it is so exciting.

Arabella let out a shriek. "What? Is it really Elias? You must be lying, right? This is insane. I don't believe it."

As she spoke, she ran over trying to snatch my phone.

There was no way I'd let her grab my phone. How incredibly rude.

"You must be guilty—you're definitely lying."

I ignored Arabella's words. I didn't need to prove anything to her.

I looked at Lily. During this confrontation, I no longer avoided eye contact. I didn't need to fear her anymore, because Percy had already given me infinite courage.

"Lily, no matter what you say, I will stay on the tennis team until the end of this season. I hope we can coexist peacefully for the rest of our time together. Otherwise, you wouldn't want to see the Wilson family disgraced because of you."

"Are you threatening me?" Lily glared at me, completely unprepared for me to dare resist her. At this school, today, I had defied her multiple times—this must have made her feel utterly humiliated.

Challenging her authority, resisting her social hierarchy.

I had simply done what many students wanted to do but didn't dare. I cheered myself on internally—Katie, you're really amazing.

Lily's bag suddenly flew toward my face. I dodged to the side.

My heart raced wildly. Deep down, I was still somewhat afraid of offending Lily, yet excited by my rebellious spirit. My body trembled slightly, beyond my control.

Percy embraced me from behind, holding me tight against him. I couldn't see Lily and the others, only heard Percy's calm voice carrying a hint of menace.

"I'm not a gentleman, and I have no principle against hitting women. I advise you to leave here immediately!"

I heard Lily's high heels clicking away into the distance. Judging by the rhythm, she was furious.

I lifted my head, wanting to watch them leave, but Percy pressed my head back down. His hand gently stroked my hair, his voice no longer harsh. "Don't be afraid, Katie."

I buried my head against his chest again and closed my eyes.

"Do you live off-campus or in the school dormitory? I'll take you back."

Percy's voice came from above. I released my arms from around him, my face instantly flushing red. I glanced at him awkwardly, then quickly looked away. He wouldn't think I was deliberately clinging to him, would he?

I swear I absolutely wasn't—I was just... drawing courage from him. Yes, that's exactly what it was.

Percy drove me back to the school dormitory. Percy spoke very little; I did most of the talking.

I probably needed to vent too much—about meeting Terry, getting to know him, falling in love. I didn't understand. He used to be such a good person. Do people suddenly turn bad, or were they always that bad, just hiding it well so I never noticed?

When we arrived downstairs at the dormitory, I said, "Oh, Percy, there's something I forgot to ask you. At the conference center, you thanked me for always believing in you and defending you. How did you know? I mean, this is our first time meeting."

My knowledge of Percy came from him being a once-dazzling tennis prodigy. I liked tennis so I followed him, which is how I knew about him.

But I'm just an ordinary, average female student who plays tennis mediocrely and has a narrow social circle. Yet Percy also seemed to know me well.

I was certain this was our first meeting.

"Katie, your social media profile picture is you holding a puppy. Your Teddy dog—one morning, after you defended me countless times online, it was brutally killed and thrown at your front door, wasn't it?"

Recalling that day still filled me with terror, my back going cold in waves, goosebumps rising on my arms.

From the moment I saw Percy today, his emotions had remained stable—whether angry or irritated, he kept everything under calm control.

But now, those beautiful amber eyes contained a storm. His lean body tensed with muscle, veins spreading from his neck to his jawline, even his Adam's apple rolling up and down uncontrollably.

I stood before Percy, opened my arms and embraced him. "Don't be afraid. All of that is in the past."

Gradually, I felt the muscles in Percy's body soften. His voice carried a note of grievance. "I'm sorry. I scared you. I've always brought you trouble—before, and now too."

That summer, I stayed home, going nowhere, moderating comments for Percy online until the Teddy was killed. Only then did I tone down my commentary.

"You were like a warrior, fighting and struggling among all that abuse, defending me. It was hard not to notice you. Every day I told myself not to go online, not to read those people's comments, but every day I went online. I was looking for you. The only reason I'm still alive is because of your strength, Katie."

I imagined Percy hiding in some dark corner, licking his wounds alone, watching the world's hatred toward him. He didn't dare come out, didn't even dare stand in the sunlight.

I tightened my arms around Percy. "I'm not a warrior, but if you feel that was a force of light, I'll give it all to you now, okay? Percy."

"But I can't be that selfish. I'll only bring you trouble."

Percy pushed me away, stepping backward in large strides until he was far from me. "Katie, that position will always be available. This is the only thing I can do for you."

Percy...

I walked toward him, but he stopped me from approaching.

Heartache, distress, frustration—I didn't know how to describe my feelings.

I only knew I wanted to pull back this person who kept falling into darkness. But he refused to let me near, and I was frantic, not knowing what to do.

A baseball suddenly flew toward my face from somewhere. Percy, who had been distancing himself from me, suddenly ran over and knocked me to the ground. The baseball flew over my head.

Just a little closer, and my face might have been ruined.

Just a little closer, and I wouldn't have been able to hold onto Percy.

I grabbed Percy's clothes tightly, wrapped my legs around his waist, preventing him from getting up.

I was afraid that if I let go, he would run away again.

How could I bear to watch him fall into endless darkness? That would be too cruel for him.

Unable to keep him otherwise, I had to resort to being unreasonable. "You saved me again, so because of you, my troubles can be resolved, right?"

Percy said nothing. I didn't expect him to say anything, so I continued.

"You were just trying to distance yourself from me, not letting me near you. Look how close we are now—no trouble! The facts prove that trouble isn't brought by you. On the contrary, you're the person who helps me solve my troubles."

"Can you let go of me?"

Percy's voice was hoarse. Only then did I notice his earlobes were bright red, with the redness threatening to spread to his face. Our current position was truly terrible.

I quickly released my legs. He wouldn't think I was someone like Arabella, would he?

I wanted to explain. "Percy, I didn't mean to, I was because..."

Why was my voice trembling? Why was my face so hot? Why did I look guilty?

This is terrible—how am I supposed to explain this!

I cleared my throat. Never mind what he thinks—I have a more important thing to tell him.

"Percy, I think you should return to the tennis court. It needs you."