Chapter 15 You’ll Be Turning 18 in 3 Months

• Erin felt a tingling sensation on her skin as she gasped in surprise. She turned to look at the man with the deep voice and unfriendly demeanor seated by her side. “U-Uncle Arthur?” She stuttered in shock.
• Arthur was seated in the car with his legs spread out comfortably as he fixed his stern, hard gaze at her. Erin felt as if the air around her grew thinner as she looked into his eyes—they were as deep and dark as the bottom of an ocean. I think it’s wrong for me to keep this a secret. I feel so guilty for what I’ve done now; I can’t even look him in the eyes. If Uncle Arthur had lowered himself just to come and pick me up personally any other day, I would’ve definitely run over to him with joy. But right then, Erin’s delicate frame was seated properly and uprightly. She didn’t even dare to move as she was afraid that she would be exposed under his scrutiny.
• “That person that was there with you earlier; was that your schoolmate?” Arthur repeated himself in a calm voice that didn’t reveal any emotions.
• “Yeah.” Erin nodded and licked her lips as she slowly sunk herself deeper into her seat. He watched as she unconsciously tightened her tiny hands around her bag. “Are you guys from the same class?” he asked in a monotonous voice.
• “No,” she answered obediently. He glared at her ears—they turned into a light pink shade as she spoke. “You can drive now,” he said to the driver as he looked away from her. His tone sounded oddly displeased, and Erin felt her heart sinking upon hearing it. Jude was standing by the side of the road when their car drove past him, and she caught a glimpse of Jude waving toward her from the corner of her eye. Her eyelashes fluttered before she looked down without responding to him.
• “Do you like guys like him?” Arthur asked in a coarse and deep voice ten minutes into the car ride. His question caught Erin by surprise, and she lifted her hands to her lips as she glanced at Arthur with her eyes widened. He responded with an icy stare. “You like him?” Erin wasn’t sure if she was surprised because of his hostile, icy tone, or because he had asked such a sensitive question. However, she didn’t realize anything odd about the way he spoke; she even felt her pale, smooth face flushing with heat after she heard his question. “That’s nonsense, Uncle Arthur. I’m still so young,” she said sweetly in the tone of a young girl’s voice.
• “You’ll be turning 18 in 3 months,” he replied. She lowered her head without saying much as she felt rather embarrassed. Arthur’s cold glare glinted for a moment as he noticed her slender, pale neck that was slightly exposed through her white, collared uniform. He quickly looked away before he spoke in an even sterner tone. “I want a 10,000-word self-reflection report handed in by Friday.”
• How did he suddenly change topics so quickly?! I wasn’t prepared for this at all! She fell silent for a moment before she spoke up. “Uncle Arthur…”
• “20,000 words!” he snapped. She then shut her mouth as she was too afraid to say anything more. She had been about to secretly celebrate the fact that her Uncle Arthur hadn’t found out about her sneaky act of participating in the autumn trip. Perhaps he came over personally just because he wanted to pick me up from school… she had thought. But his bossy orders for her to write a 20,000-word report then murdered her last bit of hope. Erin simply buried her face in her hands dejectedly.
• After dinner, Erin went back to her own room and sat herself down in front of the desk before she pulled out a brand-new notebook from her drawer. She then took a pen out of her pencil case before she began to work on her reflective report. Soon enough, she began to get into the flow of writing—she managed to get 1,000 words out effortlessly. Why am I so good at this? I guess there’s only one answer—it’s because I’ve gained a great deal of experience after writing one too many reflective reports in the past.