1 Chapter 1

"Yuri, please accept these flowers! I picked them myself!" the guy in front of me said as he bowed his head while stretching his arms, handing me the bouquet of random flowers in his hands.

I recall seeing these flowers on the way to school. He must have picked them up from there.

"Why?" I asked as I looked at the stems his hands were gripping on tightly. "Th... These are my gift for you. We're going to high school next school year so... I was hoping to see you more by then..." he said, his voice slowly shrinking as he reached the end of his sentence.

The corners of my lips rose up and curved into a smile as I watched his ears turn red. "I'm sorry, I can't accept them," I said. "Besides, I'm not staying here for high school," I continued.

He lifted his head and looked at me with widened eyes. His pupils were trembling as his face was filled with shock, probably unable to believe what I just said.

"Where..." Before he could even continue what he was about to say, I spoke over him to cut him off.

I don't want to speak with him more than necessary.

"Well, then. I'll be leaving. Good luck," I said and turned around, leaving him behind even though he kept calling my name. I can hear his friends in the background, some were consoling him and some were laughing at him for getting rejected.

The smile I had on my face vanished and turned into a frown as I sighed. I felt chills down my spine as I remembered how he looked when he confessed to me.

Seriously, it's our middle school graduation and his uniform has a lot of stains. I can still see the stain from yesterday's lunch on his shirt. He clearly did not bother washing it, ugh.

He even handed me flowers that can be found on the sidewalk. There's no way I'm accepting those, fully knowing how dogs pee on them almost every day.

Just thinking about holding them with my hands makes my skin crawl.

Besides, he's a bully. That's more the reason why I won't ever accept flowers from him. In our school, accepting gifts from someone who's interested in you basically means accepting them as your lover.

There's no way in hell I'll ever date someone like him.

He shouldn't feel too down about it, though. After all, I rejected more than half of the school population today. He's just a part of them.

It's natural for that to happen. After all, I'm the main character.

I looked at the time on my phone and realized that it's almost lunchtime. I have to go home right away to prepare lunch for my granny.

Brisk walking home, I used the certificates I received to cover my head from the heat. It gets pretty hot in here when it's around this time, so I really wanted to hurry home.

I stopped in front of a house with a short wooden gate that's about 3 feet tall. There were bushes on the sides and you can see from the outside that the house that's also made of wood was only about five steps away from the gate.

I pushed the gate open and went inside. I removed my shoes before entering and opened the door, carrying the pair of worn-out shoes in my left hand and the certificates in my right hand.

"Granny, I'm home!" I said as I stepped inside. "Yuri, pumpkin!" she laughed as she came out of her room.

"Granny," I said while smiling as I wrapped my hands around her. "How was it today? I'm sure you did very well," she said as she hugged me tightly.

Hmm... Her scent. I'll be missing my granny when I leave.

"Of course! After all, I took after my beautiful and intelligent granny," I said and giggled. We broke free from the hug and she looked at the certificates I have in my hand.

"Are these all of your certificates?" she said with an amazed look on her face as she smiled. "I'm so proud of you, pumpkin," she said as she rubbed my head while smiling proudly.

She looked at the certificates once again with squinting eyes, unable to see clearly because she wasn't wearing her reading glasses.

"I'm sorry granny couldn't go with you today, hmm?" she said as she looked at me with an apologetic look on her face. "It's okay, granny. You weren't feeling very well today," I smiled.

"I'll cook something for you, so you can rest in your room for now," I said as I held her arms and guided her back to her room.

I made her sit on the bed my uncle built for her and turned the fan on so it won't be too hot in her room.

"Pumpkin..." she called my name as I took the certificates from her hands and put them on top of the small cabinet next to her bed. "Hmm?" I looked at her.

"Are you really leaving?" she asked with sad eyes. I know my granny would miss me if I leave, but it's also a bit hard on my part to miss out on such a great opportunity. It's not every day that you receive a scholarship from the most prestigious school in the country, maybe even in the entire continent.

Aside from the fact that it's such a great school, all my expenses will be paid for by the school. I won't pay a penny for staying in the school's dorm, my meals are free, and I'll even receive an allowance every month as part of the scholarship.

"I'm afraid so." I gave her a little smile. "That's great... I'm sure you'll do well there, too," she smiled at me, this time a genuinely happy one.

My heart throbbed as I looked at the gentle look my granny had on her wrinkly face. I knelt in front of her and held her hands. "Of course, granny. I'm your grandson. I'm the best in middle school, so I don't see why I won't be in high school," I smiled.

I'll rise to the top in Chen Academy. After all...

I'm the main character.