Chapter 72

Elise had finally exhaled after delivering presents to all four of her brothers. She had worried that the plan to help Julian and Miles make up might fall apart if anyone let the surprise slip. Adrian was the least reliable secret-keeper of the four, but she had told him not to say a word. Surely even he could manage that much.

Every day, Mu Chuan sent her a health article. One link a day, without fail.

The dismissal bell rang. Elise took out her phone, and there it was: today's installment.

Mu Chuan: Twenty Health Tips You Probably Didn't Know! Read Them All—and Pass Them On!

Elise stared at the link.

Elise: …

Where did he keep finding this stuff? He ran a company. Was this really how he spent his free time?

When Mu saw the string of dots she sent, one corner of his mouth lifted.

He had, for the first time in his life, saved a collection of health articles. Before meeting Elise, he had never followed accounts like that or bothered to read their posts. But once, he had seen Pei Yi share a health tip on his feed. Mu had been at a loss for what to talk about with her, and the idea had stuck.

He wanted her to stay healthy. So he sent her one useful link every day.

Elise glanced at the chat, thought nothing of it, and closed the app. Maybe this was simply Mu's style.

After school, she met Jade and Nora at the plaza to skate.

They had barely arrived when the sky began to darken. Elise eased her board to a stop and looked up. Clouds were gathering overhead.

Jade rolled over from the far side of the plaza. “It's going to rain. We should call it.”

That was the trouble with skating outdoors: rain meant the session was over.

Elise frowned. They had only just gotten there.

A few seconds later, a raindrop landed squarely on her forehead.

Nora brought her board to a slightly awkward stop. “Guess we'll have to try another day. I even told my parents I'd be home late. I thought we'd get to skate for a while.”

Elise sighed, frustrated. She spent most of her time bent over her schoolwork, and she and Jade only managed to skate once or twice a week. It was one of the few ways she could loosen up after studying. Now the rain had cut the afternoon short.

They ran beneath the trees along the edge of the plaza to wait it out. None of them had brought an umbrella, but that was all right; Ethan Cole had one in the car. Still, it was disappointing to have planned a rare afternoon out and barely gotten to skate.

The three of them looked up at the gray sky and sighed in unison.

A Maybach pulled to the curb beside the trees and honked twice.

Elise turned at the sound. Pei Yi had stepped out of the car.

She was still wondering what he was doing there when he reached them and gave her a polite smile. There was a note of deference beneath it.

“Ms. Whitmore, I was passing through the area.” He paused, his gaze dropping to the skateboards at their feet. “What happened?”

Elise had only met Mu's secretary a few times, but he seemed like a gentleman.

She glanced inside the car. Mu wasn't there.

“Nothing serious,” she said with a smile. “We came to skate, then the rain started, so we're waiting it out.”

“Oh, I see.” Pei sounded unexpectedly interested. “You all skate?”

Nora eyed him curiously. Since he knew Elise, she felt comfortable answering. “We do. We just can't now.”

A faint glint passed behind Pei's glasses. “A friend of mine owns an indoor skate park. It has all kinds of street obstacles. The place was abandoned after the business ran into trouble. It's not far from here. If you don't mind, would you like to go skate there instead?”

Jade's eyes lit up. Indoor parks were rare in their city, and the few she knew about were far away and expensive. They had rails, ramps, and other obstacles; the plaza was mostly flat ground. She had been eager to try a more difficult course for ages.

Elise was tempted too. There was a roof, so the rain wouldn't matter. And at the plaza, boys sometimes gathered to watch them skate. She had grown tired of having strangers stare. At an indoor park, they could skate without an audience.

She hesitated. “If it's abandoned, are we even allowed in?”

“Of course. No one is using it. I only need to clear it with the owner.”

“But…”

She wanted to go, but it was still someone else's property.

“Please don't feel uncomfortable, Ms. Whitmore. You're Mu's friend, which makes you a friend of mine. Besides, I startled you and your friend at Lakeview estate last time. Let me make it up to you by taking you and your friends skating.”

Jade looked puzzled. “Lakeview estate is yours?”

Pei's expression turned awkward. He nodded. In this situation, he was speaking for Mu.

Elise looked from him to her friends. Jade and Nora were both watching her with bright, hopeful faces. After a moment's thought, she nodded.

Pei let out a long breath of relief and opened the car door for the three girls.

At last, he had completed his assignment. Mu had been having the indoor park renovated for some time; the work had only recently been finished. But he had been struggling to figure out how to give it to Elise without her realizing what it was.

Pei sometimes couldn't understand his boss. Why not just tell her it was a present? Instead, Mu kept inventing one excuse after another, afraid that if he said it plainly, Elise might run away.

When the girls got out of the car, they stopped short.

Before them stood a huge warehouse, enclosed by corrugated metal walls covered in graffiti. From a distance, it looked rough and effortlessly cool.

Jade gave an appreciative whistle. “They did a great job with the walls.”

Pei walked around them to the entrance. He crouched and felt beneath the stone pavers for a while before finding a key.

“If you want to come skate, you can come whenever you like. The key is under this paver.”

Elise stared at him. Was he really leaving the key in such an obvious place?

Pei unlocked the door and pushed it open. He took a breath inside, then looked satisfied. They had used high-quality, low-odor paint; the place didn't smell at all.

Elise, Jade, and Nora stood speechless at the sight of the park.

It was enormous—nearly as large as the plaza. Most of the center was open flat ground. One section was packed with street obstacles, including the curved ramps skaters loved. Another held sofas and a bar counter. Beyond it were four rooms: a kitchen, a bathroom, an office with a desk, and a furnished lounge with a bed. The rooms were lavishly equipped and spotless.

“Make yourselves at home,” Pei said. “You can rest when you're tired, or grab something to eat later.”

Elise was past the point of being merely surprised.

It took her a moment to find her voice. “You said this place was abandoned?”

It isn't. Mu built it for you.

Pei couldn't say that.

He nudged a discarded magazine near his shoe. “It is. Look at all the abandoned magazines.”

Elise fell silent again.

His definition of abandoned must have been different from hers. Apart from a few old magazines and sheets of paper on the floor, everything looked brand-new.

Pei saw how uneasy the girls still were and hurried to reassure them. “Don't worry. This warehouse is nothing to my friend. He's wealthy; he doesn't care about a place like this. I could ask him to hand it over, and he wouldn't mind.”

Mu Chuan certainly had money to spare.

Only then did some of the tension leave Elise's face. She glanced at Jade and Nora; neither of them had managed to close her mouth yet.

Pei didn't stay long. Before leaving, he reminded them, “Enjoy yourselves.”

As soon as he was gone, the three girls looked at one another—and then erupted into delighted shrieks.

“Am I dreaming? I can't believe I finally get to skate at an indoor park!”

“Look, there's a kitchen! I saw a grill!”

“And the bar has wine and drinks!”

Elise was a little more composed than they were, but she was thrilled too. She loved skating, and this place was perfect for getting together with her friends. Next time she would ask Pei whether she could buy it, since it was abandoned. Then she could skate here without feeling like she was intruding.

The three of them were like mice let loose in a grain store. Boards in hand, they scattered across the park and started skating.

Jade showed Elise how to approach several of the more difficult street obstacles. Elise was rusty at first and fell short a few times. On her final try, she landed cleanly, her movement sharp and sure.