Part 9 Unspoken Tensions

                                    

                                          

"Owen's table was arranged by the company's department manager, Lee, because the two departments would be collaborating on a project later. Owen didn't decline the invitation.

Only after arriving did he realize that Ami was also there.

When Lee was about to introduce everyone, Ami smiled and said, 'No need for introductions, Lee, we already know each other.'

Lee was a bit surprised, 'Oh?'

Owen was genuinely taken aback. He had a very good memory, but to be honest, Ami's face left no impression on him whatsoever.

However, he didn't show it, at least managing not to appear rude.
Ami added with a smile to Lee, 'Owen and I were high school classmates.'
Lee nodded, then suddenly seemed to think of something and asked, 'Then there's also Emma, right? You three were all classmates?'
Ami froze, a fleeting flicker of something crossed her eyes before she quickly regained composure and smiled lightly, 'Yes.'
Owen looked at Ami's face once more, and only then did he vaguely remember. Back in high school, it seemed like there was indeed someone who had been quite close to Emma.

He recalled it now because of one time when Emma had been caught staying up late making a birthday gift for someone.
It was during the first semester of their second year in high school, just after the school year had started, but the teachers weren't holding back on assignments just because it was the beginning of the term.

And since they were attending one of the top high schools in Los Angeles, the first two years were packed with all the coursework, leaving the entire final year for review and preparation for the college entrance exams.

Each day, stacks of test papers piled up, and it wasn't uncommon for students to be working on homework until midnight—anything less, and you might feel you weren't a real high schooler.
Emma was excellent at liberal arts subjects, finishing her Chinese and English homework early, but math? That could stress her out enough to turn her hair gray.
Every time, she would need Owen to explain the problems one by one before she could barely finish her assignments.

But on that particular day, miraculously, Emma declared by 10:30 that she had completed all her homework and was very tired, desperately needing sleep!
These past few weeks, though they'd only been back in school for a short time, nobody had been to bed before midnight. Given how tough things had been, serious sleep deprivation was inevitable.

Owen didn't think much of it, especially since they were in different classes, and the teaching pace varied between teachers, as did the assigned homework.
Because he tutored Emma every day, Owen had gotten used to speeding through his own problem sets, but that night, without needing to help his little study buddy, he suddenly had a lot of free time.
His body clock, accustomed to staying up late, refused to let him sleep, so he decided to organize Emma's mistake log instead.
Around 11:00 PM, Owen went to the bathroom. As he passed by Emma's room, he noticed a sliver of light escaping through the door crack.

He didn't think much of it; Emma was afraid of the dark and always left her bedside lamp on when she slept. But when he came out of the bathroom, he suddenly heard a 'thud,' like something had fallen to the ground.
Owen's heart tightened. Worried that she might have fallen out of bed, he gently knocked on the door and asked, 'What happened?'

There was complete silence inside, no response at all.
After five seconds, Owen noticed that the light from the door crack had vanished.
That could only mean one thing—the person inside wasn't asleep but was wide awake and didn't want to open the door.
Not wanting to wake up their grandparents downstairs, Owen stopped knocking and lowered his voice, 'Emma?'
Still, there was no reply.
But this time, Owen could hear faint shuffling sounds from inside.