Selena had been secretly observing that handsome visiting professor from the East for a long time.
The project site of those entomologists was right next to their vige, asionally, she would go with her sisters, under the guise of delivering local specialties, to strike up a conversation with them.
He always stood nearby, wearing gold–rimmed sses, his clear, almond–shaped eyes both distant and gentle
at once<b>. </b>
Her sisters would yfully tease him, but he would only smile faintly and let it
pass.
They all said Professor Turner was a very good person. He didn’t show off his knowledge, disliked lecturing others, and even if something was broken, he would only good–naturedly advise them not to repeat the mistake.
Even the veteran colleagues on the project team respected and admired this young and diligent professor.
He seemed perfect, but Selena knew his secret.
He hated humans
She had once seen him, unafraid of dirt, intently rescue a butterfly with broken wings from the mud.
She had also witnessed him catch a girl who fell while running; despite smiling and urging her to be careful, he immediately turned around and washed his hands under running water for seven or eight minutes.
Insects, more than humans, resonated with him.
He loved those small creatures; he would stand countless times by a flowing waterfall in the wilderness, spending hours observing the delicate breathing of a cicada.
Yet he would not spend a single second attending to a person’s joys or sorrows.
Many long–term researchers stationed abroad periodically received letters and packages from their hometowns.
However, Archer had never received any.
They said his mother was ill, and his father was apanying her during her recuperation.
Selena wondered, ‘But during her recovery, couldn’t they spare time to express their thoughts?‘
She didn’t understand theirck of contact and affection. <fn3879> Get full chapters from find[?]ovel</fn3879>
Her grandparents loved her deeply. Whenever she lingered in the jungle ying for even an hour, they would bring her younger siblings and noisily search for her.
Selena was intensely curious about this mysterious Professor Turner.
7:17 <b>Mon</b><b>, </b><b>Sep 8 </b>
Finally<b>, </b><b>one </b>day, she struck up a conversation with him.
156 volichis
The research team nned to venture into the jungle to track an orchid mantis resembling orchid <b>petals</b><b>, </b><b>and </b>a bored Selena volunteered to be their guide.
As they ventured deeper, others were continually sidetracked by different species, until only she <b>and </b><b>Archer </b>remained.
The sky changed abruptly.
Heavy rain fell unexpectedly.
She had just recovered from a cold a few days prior and worried about getting sick again upon returning when she saw Archer beside her,pletely unfazed by the sudden downpour, casually pulling out an umbre.
She looked at him in surprise andmented, “Professor Turner, you’re so lucky.”
Archer just smiled faintly in response, “It’s not luck. I just keep it handy out of habit.”
“Huh? Why?” she asked, subconsciously.
His expression softened, and his gaze, fixed on the torrential rain, became distant. After <i>a </i>brief moment, he answered, “Because a long time ago, I missed the chance to give an umbre to a girl.”
“Couldn’t you just give it to her next time?” she asked, puzzled.
Archer’s smile held a hint of helplessness and mncholy.
This was the first time Selena saw such an expression on the clever and usually omnipotent professor. “She already has someone to hold an umbre for her,” he added.
At that moment, Selena vaguely understood what he meant.
It wasn’t untilter, when she hesitated and, by a mere thought, missed out on a boy she truly liked, that she suddenly realized Archer must have also deeply cared for the girl he couldn’t shield from the rain.
At that time, she simply patted his shoulder infort and said, “It’s okay. At least that girl won’t get wet.”
He paused, then smiled, “Yes, she will always be fine.”
*****
They didn’t find the orchid mantis that day, but they saw a blue morpho butterfly, resplendent and beautiful.
Selena had seen Archer send several packages back home.
She heard they were butterfly specimens he had promised to give to someone.
Archer, usually careless about everything, handled those specimens with the utmost care and personally <b>tied </b>elegant bows on the gift boxes.
<b>7:17 </b><b>Mon</b><b>, </b><b>Sep </b><b>8 </b>
Remarkably, every time he sent specimens, their project team would receive a substantial research grant, and the research period would be extended.
Selena once heard someone joke that with such generosity from the investors, they could remain in Nemniba indefinitely.
After several repetitions, Archer stopped sending them.
Until one day, Selena discovered he was gone.
She frantically inquired, only to learn he wasn’t in trouble; he had simply returned to his home country for a very important matter.
Strangely, she immediately worried something had happened to him.
Perhaps it was because his eyes, hidden behind his smile, always seemed weary of the world.
Archer returned quickly.
Encountering him again in the jungle, she happily asked, “Professor Turner, have you found your butterfly?“They said Professor Turner, who rarely returned home, had gone backst time because there was good news about the butterfly he had been tracking for years.With a rxed smile, he said, “I found her. She found a very suitable habitat and a caretaker.“So, congrattions?Thank you.
They said Archer, who rarely returned home, had gone backst time because there was good news about the butterfly he had been tracking for years.
With a rxed smile, he said, “I found her. She found a very suitable habitat and a caretaker.”
Selena smiled, “So, congrattions?”
“Thank you,” he replied.
Heter resumed his research with full dedication.
He worked tirelessly, fully absorbed in his work.
His connection to the world remained those tiny insects.
Selena thought he would continue like this until one day he copsed by an unknown stream or ended up in the belly of arge python.
It wasn’t until several yearster, when she returned from studying out of town, that she found Archer was again energetically sending out specimens.
She asked him if they were still for the girl as beautiful as a blue morpho butterfly.
He smiled, shook his head, and said they were not, but for a young
friend.
The young friend’s name was Joyce Lesley, and she was his niece.
<b>Mon</b><b>, </b><b>Sep </b><b>8 </b>
Hearing this, Joyce wondered, ‘How could Professor Turner’s niece have the surname Lisley?’
When Selena was in school, she had also studied foreign literature, learning about kinship in different cultural contexts. She thought, ‘Logically, shouldn’t Joyce have the surname Turner?‘
But it didn’t matter, because Archer proudly showed them the little girl’s photos and videos.
She was incredibly beautiful and endearing.
Selena said no one could dislike little Joyce.
A four- or five–year–old child is at an age when imagination runs wild and curiosity about the world is unbounded. Joyce deeply longed for the colorful insect world described by her uncle.
Selena once chanced upon Archer on a video call with the little angel. The little angel, in a sweet, childlike voice, angrilyined about her unreliable, ‘bad‘ dad.”
“Daddy said he and Mom both have the surname, Turner, so it’s right that they are closer. And I, with the surname Lesley, shouldn’t sleep on the same bed as the Turners. He is a big bully. I’m not a three–year–old anymore,” Joyceined.
Her smug little demeanor revealed a child nurtured by love.
Even if her parents told her she had been found in a trash can, she would still firmly believe she was a cherished darling.
When she said she secretly drew a big turtle on her dad the night before, so he wouldn’t see himself in the mirror before going to work, the usually reserved Archer burst outughing.
Joyce was a beautiful little angel, like a light healing the world.
At the end of the conversation, she childishly dered that she had decided to bravely run away from home to avoid being spanked by her dad.
She asked her Godmother, Sadie, to cover for her, as she would be joining Ramona, who worked abroad, to y in Arnatar that afternoon.
She also hinted that Archer should prepare a beautiful insect wee gift for her.
She was such a tiny person, yet she managed to coordinate everything perfectly for a group of adults.
Archerughed, “Okay, I’ll take our Lele to see live blue morpho butterflies then.”
Selenater saw Archer’s intergenerational friend at the research base.
Joyce was even cuter than she appeared in the video,
of
With an incredibly beautiful little face, sweet–talker, good at coaxing people, smart and witty, a group researchers who deal with insects all day cherished her so much that they couldn’t put her down<b>, </b>fighting over her every day.
<b>7:17 </b><b>Mon</b><b>, </b><b>Sep </b><b>8 </b>
A few dayster, she also saw the parents who came to pick her up.
The man was tall and handsome, and the woman radiant and beautiful. It was clear they were deeply <b>in </b>love, standing together, they seemed to create a world of their own naturally, oblivious to their surroundings,
Joyce, who was busy chasing a lizard, immediately ran to her mother for a hug, and then her father lifted her high, eliciting gleefulughter.
Selena watched Archer’s back as he gazed after the retreating family of three, thinking that he probably wouldn’t be saddened by not having been able to hold an umbre for that girl.
“They were truly wonderful.
‘As he said, butterflies are free and splendid,‘ Selena thought.