Only you in my love

Austin's message said, "I like her."

"Ah!" Michelle was so ecstatic that she screamed, pumping her fist in the air. The sudden noise woke up her father.

Adams squinted at his daughter who was doing a little crazy dance, but he just chuckled. As long as she was happy, he was happy.

A few seconds later, he was asleep again.

Elaine and Tim both looked at her questioningly.

"I have a piece of good news, and I need to call Lydia." Michelle ran out of the living room to make the phone call.

Elaine shook her head and smiled. "Someone looks happy. Anyway, aren't you sleepy, Tim? If you are, you can go ahead upstairs to sleep in the guest room. The bed's already been made. No need to stay up with us." "I'm fine, I want to." Tim's smiling face was flushed, perhaps because he had something to drink. He looked much gentler, and even his tone was friendlier than normal.

"I never really celebrated New Year's before, so I've never stayed up waiting for the countdown. So, if it's alright with you, I'd like to wait up with you."

A tinge of pity flashed through Elaine's eyes. She smiled kindly and said with sincerity, "Come over more often. I'll cook you a nice, warm meal."

"Is that okay?" Tim perked up slightly.

"Of course it's okay," Elaine said with a cluck of her tongue. "You're always welcome here."

The corners of Tim's mouth tightened. After a while, he was finally able to squeeze out one word. "Okay."

His voice trembled.

When Michelle came back from her phone call, she found Tim discussing the sketch comedy with her mother. Elaine threw her head back and laughed heartily, and even Tim looked at ease and was smiling. Michelle could see that although it was only a slight smile, it was a genuine one.

The way the two got along with each other was like mother and son, which made her feel a little strange.

She felt somewhat moved for a second.

But before she could think about it some more, her phone buzzed.

It was a text from Austin. "Was Lydia the one who told you to ask me?"

Michelle hesitated for a moment. Before she could type out a response, a new message appeared.

"Yes or no?" it read.

Michelle decided to tell the truth. "Yes."

After a moment, Austin replied, "Thank you.

Also, do you know Lydia's home address? I need to send something to her."

Michelle sent him the address.

"No specific house number?"

"Lydia's house is in the countryside, so just send it to this address."

Austin replied, "I want the specific address."

Without thinking about it too much, Michelle sent Austin a detailed address. Then she took a screenshot and happily sent it to Leon.

She shared every aspect of her life with Leon.

Not all stories about unrequited love had unhappy endings.

Her story and Lydia's were cases in point.

There was only ten minutes left before midnight. Michelle ran to the bathroom to pee after having drank too much juice.

In her haste, she left her phone on the coffee table.

At 11:55 in the evening, Leon requested a video call. Tim happened to see her phone buzzing, and when he saw the caller ID, he subtly turned off the phone.

Then he put it back on the table, as though nothing had happened.

When Michelle returned to the living room, the clock struck midnight and the bell started ringing, announcing the arrival of the New Year.

Elaine rushed to wake up her husband

while the news anchors on TV greeted cheerily, "Happy New Year!"

Michelle threw her hands in the air and shouted, "Happy New Year! Happy New Year, Mom and Dad! Happy New Year, Tim!"

"Happy New Year!"

Michelle threw her arms around her parents and hugged him tight. Tim expected he would get a hug too, but Michelle just stopped in front of him and raised her head. "Happy New Year, Tim!" She didn't give him a hug.

Despite this, he was happy. He celebrated New Year's Eve with her, stayed up late with her, and heard her say "Happy New Year" when the clock struck midnight.

Other than her dad, he was the first man she greeted. Even Leon didn't have that privilege.

"Happy New Year," said Tim, smiling warmly.

Exhausted, Adams and Elaine headed straight to their room to go to bed. But before disappearing up the stairs, Elaine insisted that Tim sleep in the guest room. It was hard to refuse her kindness, so Tim accepted her invitation gratefully.

Michelle, on the other hand, wasn't too happy about this, but she knew she couldn't go against her mother's wishes. She decided to keep it a secret and not let Leon know. She grabbed her phone on the table and hurried to her room. As she walked, she tried to unlock her phone using her fingerprint scanner, but the screen remained off. "Did it run out of battery?"

Just as she was about to go into her room, Tim walked out of the guest room, which was right next to hers. Leaning against the doorway, he glanced at her phone indifferently. "Are you about to sleep?"

"Yes," Michelle answered. "I just plan on sending well wishes to my friends before going to bed."

Tim raised his eyebrows slightly and said, "You told me yesterday you would stay up late on New Year's Eve with me."

Michelle cocked her head to the side, confused by his words. "We did just now, didn't we?"

Tim frowned. He wanted to say that he meant only the two of them, but it was true that he didn't make this clear beforehand. He could do nothing but bear the dissatisfaction in silence. He took out a red packet from his pocket and handed it to her. "Happy New Year."

"What?" Looking at the red packet, Michelle knew it must be filled with a lot of money.

She didn't dare to accept it.

"I'm a grown up, I can't accept that!"

Tim's frown deepened.

'I can't believe it. I saw you get a digital red packet from Leon earlier today!'

He didn't know exactly how much money was in that packet, but he had seen Michelle meticulously counting it, so it must've been a large sum of money.

"That's what young people tell elders. We're peers, so just take it."

He forced the red packet into her hand.

Seeing that Michelle still wanted to refuse, Tim looked at her sternly. "If you really don't want it, just throw it away."

Of course, she would never do such a thing.

Michelle had no choice but to take it. She quietly went back to her room and opened it. There were twenty thousand dollars in total. What was more, each bill was new and crisp. She was stunned.

She quickly found a charger and plugged in her phone. The sum of twenty thousand dollars was just too much, she couldn't possibly accept it all. She was so anxious that she didn't even notice her phone battery was still at forty percent. When her phone was booted up, she tried to send a digital red packet to Tim. However, the maximum amount a digital red packet could carry was 200 dollars. It would've been too troublesome to send him a hundred red packets. 'I don't think Tim will accept them, she thought sadly.

Instead, she punched in his phone number and transferred twenty thousand dollars to his number on Alipay, with the caption, "Happy New Year."

The transaction was successful, and twenty thousand dollars was automatically transferred to Tim's account.

Michelle heaved a sigh of relief and was about to sit on her bed when there was a knock on the door.

When she opened the door, Tim strolled in without a word and closed the door behind him. He held Michelle's shoulders with both his hands and shoved her against the wall.

Acting purely on impulse, he was unable to control his strength and Michelle was slammed into the wall.

"What are you doing, Tim?" She looked up angrily and met a pair of even angrier eyes.

But the anger in his eyes wasn't blazing and fiery. Instead, it was like the darkness of an abyss, trying to devour Michelle whole.

Tim loosened his grip a little, but still he didn't back off. "Why did you return the money?" he asked coldly.

She was so confused. 'Did he break into my room just for this?'

He even had the audacity to push her!

Michelle was so angry that she dared to look back at him defiantly. "I didn't. The red packet you gave me is in my pocket. The money I sent you is my New Year's gift to you!"

"Don't lie to me! I gave you a red packet with twenty thousand dollars inside. Are you saying you just happened to give me twenty thousand dollars? It's clear to me you're not willing to accept my red packet." Tim gazed at her sharply with eyes like an eagle's.

So you're willing to take a red packet from Leon, but not from me? Is it because you don't think I can give you as much as he can? I'll give you all my money; I'll even give you my life!"000