Chapter 585: The Naive Girl
"This is my classmate, Ellie Ashton," Patrick Thorne introduced briefly. He looked a little unnatural, his eyes shifting.
Tang Xiaonan understood at a glance. Her second brother had a budding crush on this bright and vivacious girl. ’I wonder if she’ll have a chance to become my sister-in-law.’ She liked cheerful and generous girls for her sisters-in-law, ones who weren’t petty.
"Hi, Ellie," Tang Xiaonan chirped sweetly.
Adrian Hawthorne and the others greeted her as well. Ellie Ashton smiled graciously. "I hope I’m not troubling you all."
"It’s no trouble at all! Any friend of my brother’s is a friend of ours. We’ll be boarding soon, so let’s head to the waiting room," Jim Thorne said enthusiastically. ’This is my future sister-in-law,’ he thought. ’I have to be a good host.’
Patrick Thorne shot him a warning glare. ’He’s being so obvious, a blind man could see it! What if it makes Ellie uncomfortable? She and I are just friends right now. There’s nothing going on between us.’
Inside the waiting room, boarding hadn’t started yet. Ellie Ashton sat down next to Tang Xiaonan, with Clayton Xavier on her other side. Patrick was too embarrassed to come sit near them.
"You must be the sister Patrick is always talking about. You’re adorable, just like he described. A little doll."
Ellie Ashton’s hands were itching to pinch Tang Xiaonan’s chubby cheeks. One pinch on the left wasn’t enough, so she gave the right one a squeeze too. When she saw that Tang Xiaonan didn’t seem annoyed in the slightest, Ellie liked her even more. She pulled a can of Coke from her bag. It was beaded with condensation, clearly fresh from a refrigerator. ’As expected of a Party Secretary’s daughter,’ Tang Xiaonan thought. ’They can afford a fridge in this day and age.’
"Here, have a soda. It’s pretty good."
Ellie Ashton generously offered it to Tang Xiaonan. She had another can in her bag and looked a bit conflicted, unsure how to share it. She decided to just give it to Jim, explaining to Patrick and the others, "I only brought two, so they’re for the youngest ones."
"Thank you, Ellie."
Tang Xiaonan liked Ellie even more now. ’She’s such a generous girl. You can tell she grew up well-off.’
However, she didn’t drink it, instead handing the Coke back to Ellie. She wasn’t that interested in Coke anymore. What she was really craving now was milk tea. ’I wonder when I’ll get to have some.’
"Xiaonan, I know the packaging isn’t much to look at, but it tastes really good. It’s called Coke. It’s an American soda my dad brought back from Tristone. You can’t buy it here in Vessaria."
Ellie Ashton assumed Tang Xiaonan disliked the can. To be honest, she didn’t like it either—it was bright red, like a lacquered toilet bowl. But the soda inside was delicious. ’I can barely bring myself to drink it,’ she thought. ’Dad only brought back four cans in total, and I’ve only had two.’
"You have it, Ellie."
Tang Xiaonan beamed. ’Ellie definitely doesn’t get to drink this often. I can tell by the look in her eyes how much she hates to part with it. What a sweet, simple girl.’
Ellie Ashton swallowed and shook her head. "I’ve already had some. You have it, Xiaonan."
’I can’t take a treat from a child. I’m a grown-up.’
’I’ll just buy more when we get to Capria,’ she decided. She had brought fourteen years’ worth of her allowance on this trip—over two hundred yuan. That was more than enough to cover her food and drinks.
"Xiaonan’s sick of it. You drink it. We can buy more when we get to Capria."
Patrick stopped Ellie as she tried to hand the Coke back to Tang Xiaonan. ’If they keep passing it back and forth, it’s going to get warm.’
Ellie Ashton blinked. ’Sick of it?’
’She herself wasn’t sick of it, so how could a little kid be? Does she drink it every day?’
’Are the Thornes that rich?’
With her imagination running wild, Ellie Ashton scrutinized the three Thorne siblings, her probing gaze like a searchlight. Her thoughts were written all over her face. Tang Xiaonan covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. ’I have to tell my second brother to step up his game and make Ellie my sister-in-law.’
But then—
"Are you one of Patrick’s brothers too? You don’t look anything alike. What’s your name?" Ellie Ashton asked Clayton Xavier enthusiastically, her eyes instantly brightening as if a supernova had gone off inside them.
’A familiar scene, a familiar conversation...’
Tang Xiaonan’s heart sank. ’It’s all over!’