482 Chapter 482: The Weekend (2/2)

”You can't make a lady wait, Sensei!” Melina insisted, pushing me.

”Yeah! This is a great chance for you, Brother Richard!” Adrian added, causing me to glare at him.

”What do you mean by great chance? Chance for what?”

”Uh…nothing. To get out of the house and socialize, I mean…”

I continued to stare intently at him, but Melina gave me an insistent shove.

”Hurry up, Sensei! Or you're going to be late! You should be going there early and wait for her, not allow her to wait for you!”

”All right, all right, I'm going…”

Despite Melina's efforts, as it turned out, Zhao Yan was already waiting outside Chao Café when I finally made it there. Damn, but she was early.

”I'm sorry for calling you over, but I just need to buy something from the café, if you don't mind.”

”No, not at all.”

I did my best not to ogle her. It was a refreshing sight to see her in a simple but pretty dress that accentuated her beauty by not being overly decorative with frills and all that nonsense.

”Eh? What about your sister?”

I frowned when I didn't see Ji Yan, despite looking around. My glasses didn't register her presence in the vicinity at all, despite its hi-tech sensors, which further confirmed my suspicions that she was absent. Well, that was fine. That girl was annoying, so I would be happier to not have to deal with her company.

”Ji Yan is not coming,” Zhao Yan replied simply. Then she grimaced. ”There was a mix-up in the practical exam, it seems. I heard that you faced her…��

”Oh, right.” I chuckled. Shortly after the examination, Teacher Einsberg had contacted me through email, informing me that there was a mistake in the practical examination. Both Zhao Yan and I had gotten the wrong opponents. I was originally scheduled to face Nan Gong Zhao Yan, not Ji Yan, but because they were twins, the administrative in charge carelessly swapped them and I ended up facing the wrong sister.

Consequently, both Zhao Yan and I scored overwhelming victories, while Ji Yan and the other poor fella were…crushed. Fortunately, they were able to reschedule the exam on Friday, and the two of them were able to get fairer scores during the retest.

”Even so, Ji Yan was in a bad mood. I think she plans to blow off steam by going on a shopping spree today.”

”Oh, okay.”

”Do you mind waiting for a bit? I know I should have bought the stuff before you arrived, but you showed up earlier than I expected.”

That explained why Zhao Yan was so early. I chuckled, amused, when I remembered how stubborn Melina was in forcing me to show up early.

”No, not at all. I had a couple of siblings who sort of chased me out of the house, otherwise I wouldn't be here so early either.”

Zhao Yan returned the smile, and then turned around. I followed her into Chao Café. Incidentally, Saint Teresa Academy was located in Cardinal District, which was home to a couple of high-class cafes such as this one, but I had never visited any of them during my time here. Honestly, I didn't have to. After all, Amelia and the maids in the private Franklin manor provided all my meals for essentially free (well, technically I worked for them, given that I was hired as a private tutor…). In any event, Chao Café was evidently popular with the girls, and I could see many of the dining here. A few of them I recognized as daughters of reputable, wealthy families.

Zhao Yan purchased a box of strawberry short cakes, requesting the lady at the counter to wrap it up for her. As I offered to carry the box, I must have shown an inquisitive expression because she didn't hesitate to give an explanation.

”The strawberry short cakes are for my sister.”

”Sister? Huh? I thought you said Ji Yan isn't coming?”

”Oh…no, not Ji Yan. We have a third sister. Yue Jian doesn't go to our school, so I was thinking of buying these cakes for her.”

”Third sister?” That was news to me, but I supposed that it wasn't too unusual. ”I see. I didn't know that.”

”We're actually triplets,” Zhao Yan revealed as we left the café. I almost dropped her box of strawberry short cakes in astonishment.

”W…what?! Triplets?!”

All this time, I (and the rest of the school) was under the mistaken impression that Zhao Yan and Ji Yan were twins. I never knew they were part of triplets that included a third sister who didn't enroll in Saint Teresa Academy.

”Yes, you'll meet her when we get home. I'm sure she'll be happy to get a chance to talk to someone else her age, other than Ji Yan and me. Because of her circumstances, she isn't able to get out much and socialize.”

”I see.” I nodded thoughtfully, but I couldn't imagine how Yue Jian would look like. Probably identical to Zhao Yan and Ji Yan, except for the hairstyle. Considering that Zhao Yan tied her hair into a ponytail, and Ji Yan styled her hair into twin-tails, I supposed that Yue Jian probably let her hair down loosely. Most likely that was the case, given that she was stuck at home and didn't have any reason to doll up her appearance.

”All right, let's go.” Zhao Yan led the way to the train station. She glanced at me, a little concerned. ”I forgot to ask you, but I hope you don't mind…the trip home might take about an hour. We are quite far from the academy.”

”That's okay.” I grinned at her before retrieving a Kindle with my free hand. ”I brought something to read, so I'll be fine.”

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