Emma tried to get the thought out of her mind and focus on her work. After all, Dinh, Alex, David, Eric, and Haoran seemed to be really serious about today's lessons.

Emma felt guilty because she had wrongly assumed that these dumb students from class F wouldn't have the intention to study, especially considering these five boys came from affluent backgrounds. The stereotype for rich kids was that they were either lazy or arrogant. But these boys weren't like that at all.

'Do not judge a book by its cover,' she reminded herself.

"I've already given Haoran some tests to check his level of understanding on each subject, but I've yet to know yours. Therefore, I've prepared various subjects for each of you to answer, so I'll know your strengths and weaknesses. Later, I'll use your results as references to prepare suitable learning material." Emma started her class by distributing test sheets to her new students. "You don't need to do these tests now. Please bring them home and return them to me at our next meeting on Friday."

The four boys looked at each other and nodded. Emma reached out to ask Haoran for his book.

"Okay then. Let's begin. What did you learn this afternoon? Is there anything you want to ask?" She looked at the five of them with attentive eyes.

"We were studying Physics starting from chapter 40," Haoran said, handing over his book to Emma.

The girl flipped it to chapter 10 and skimmed its contents. Mr. Chen, the physics teacher, had also taught class A chapter 40, so she was quite familiar with the material.

"All right, this is very easy," Emma said. "Please open your books and I'll explain what's in there."

The first tutoring lesson between Emma and her five new students took place smoothly. They paid enough attention to the lessons delivered by her. From time to time, Alex and Dinh would joke around and tease each other, but Haoran's glare was enough to make them immediately behave and refocus on the lessons.

"Thank you for your cooperation today," Emma said as she finished her lesson. By then, two hours had passed.

"It's only 7 PM," said Haoran. "Just have dinner here. We've finished our first session so don't you think we have to celebrate it? My friends have also decided to stay for dinner. You should join us."

Emma saw all four heads bobbed at Haoran's words. Feeling compelled, Emma accepted. They all packed up their books and put them in their bags. Following that, they left Haoran's room and climbed down the stairs to enter the dining room.

Two servants were preparing sumptuous dinner dishes on the dining table for them.

"Let's eat!" said Haoran.

The other four boys immediately made themselves at home. They took their seats and sat facing the food. Emma turned her head left and right, looking for something.

"What are you looking for?" Haoran asked in puzzlement.

"Oh, no. I just wanted to know where your parents are. Are they not going to eat with us? I haven't met them."

Haoran's friends paused grabbing food and exchanged glances, it's like she had asked a forbidden question.

Haoran only shrugged. "Oh, my father doesn't live here. He lives with his young wife."

"Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't know," said Emma, regretting her meddling into Haoran's personal life.

"It's okay, I never told you. How could you possibly know?" The guy answered.

"Does that mean you're living here alone, only with servants in this big villa?" asked the girl in surprise.

Haoran nodded. "That's right, that's why I often have my friends to come over."

Emma couldn't imagine what it was like to have parents but weren't living together with their children because the father chose to live with his young wife. It must be horrible and lonely.

Out of the blue, he asked her, "Don't you want to ask where my mother is?"

Emma shook her head. "No, I don't like to interfere with other people's business. I'm afraid I'll offend you if I ask about your mother."

"It's okay," Haoran said. "My biological mother lives in China. My parents divorced five years ago, and I haven't seen her since then."

"Oh, that's so cruel," Emma commented.

"Father doesn't love me, that's why he lives with his new wife. But even though he doesn't love me, he also didn't allow my mother to take me. He's really a selfish man, and he's also the reason why I deliberately flunked my grades."

"Oh, have you ever tried to go to China by yourself to meet your mother?" she asked.

Before Haoran could reply, his friends distracted their attention by making a big fuss about dinner.

"Let's eat, don't talk much. I'm starving," Dinh said hurriedly. He knew that Haoran didn't like to talk about his father and mother. Therefore, he diverted the topic by immediately devouring food that had been served on the table.

The six students dined together while chatting about random things. Emma felt sorry for Haoran and didn't continue talking about his parents.

Hence, she focused her attention on the food and enjoyed dinner while chatting with the five boys. She didn't expect, however, that she would be very happy to sit among the students from class F. They all had different personalities, but it's clear the four looked up to Haoran as their leader. Apart from being older, he's also more dominant in other aspects than the rest.

After dinner, it's time to go home. David and Dinh both lived in Lotus Garden, while Eric and Alex lived in another area some distance away. Eric brought his own car while Alex's family driver picked him up.

"Alright, My ride's here," said Alex after he received an SMS from his driver outside. He turned to Emma. "You can go with me. Where do you live?"

When Emma mentioned her address, Alex nodded. "Not too far from my home. Just come with me. We'll drop you off in front of your house."

"Ah, well, thank you for your kind offer, but I don't want to trouble you." Emma tried to reject his offer.

"It's no trouble at all," said Alex.

Seeing him insist, Emma eventually accepted. After saying goodbye to Haoran, they all went their way back to their respective homes. Dinh walked to his house because it was very close. Eric drove David as he was passing by his house, and Emma got into Alex's car.

"I didn't want to discuss this in front of Haoran because I didn't want to offend him," said Alex while in the car. Emma turned her head his way, looking forward to what he would say. "I think you need to know why Haoran didn't try to meet his mother in China on his own."

"Why?" Emma asked.

"His father threatened him. If Haoran insisted on visiting his mother in China, his father will send his people to punish Haoran's mother. So, Haoran was forced to stay away, in order to protect her," Alex explained with a sad expression on his face.

"Why would his father do something like that? Didn't they once love each other? How could he mistreat his ex-wife that terrible?" Emma exclaimed in surprise.

In her mind, a husband and wife were people who truly loved each other. Such love between husband and wife shouldn't change that drastically, especially if they had children together, right?

"His father wasn't like that before, but ever since he married his current wife, Haoran's father changed; he became unreasonable. He only listens to his new wife, and it's almost impossible to change his mind. So now, what Haoran can do is protest in his own way, like deliberately failing his grades in school."

"Uhm, if he couldn't meet his mother, then why did he initially want to go on a study trip to China?" she asked in confusion.

"Well, he was going to use the study trip as an excuse to go to China. He had hoped he could contact his mother there to meet secretly. No matter what it took." Alex shrugged. "But it seemed like he changed his mind and realized the attempt would be futile anyway. He realized that won't be able to trick his father, so he doesn't want to risk it."

"Hmm... is that so?" After listening to Alex's explanation, Emma's mind became filled with Haoran's life all the way to her home. She didn't expect for that guy, who always looked so relaxed and full of warmth, to be hiding his pain for missing his mother.

In her heart, she wondered if Haoran was intentionally helping her to go to Paris because he understood how she felt. He knew what it was like to carry a deep longing for a mother.