Boheng set down his soup bowl. "I'll go get some more food."
"I'll come too." Eunice stood up. "Is there anything else you want?"
Jahadorei glanced at her plate. She had been lost in thought earlier and, without noticing, had eaten nearly everything on it.
"Get me another egg," Jahadorei said, placing the fried egg onto Eunice's plate. "I don't eat fried eggs. Too greasy."
Boheng wandered aimlessly among the serving trays. He recalled Jahadorei's answer just now—she had not wanted to reveal her friend's private matters. In other words, she truly regarded the people here as friends.
At that moment, Boheng suddenly felt that his decision had been a mistake. But soon, he realized that this mistake had been unavoidable. After all, he could not have foreseen how Jahadorei would change after coming here.
Then again, he should have been the one to anticipate it most. Young women like Jahadorei, so innocent and full of romantic fancies, were always more easily tempted by the glittering world. Hadn't he himself, in his youth, been equally immersed in poetry, in all kinds of impossible ideals and fantasies?
"Teacher, there's no food left over there."
Boheng came back to himself and realized he had wandered up to a row of completely empty trays.
"There is! There's food—" Santa's voice came from the other side. She pushed over a cart, removed the plates of food from it, and replaced the empty ones. Smiling, Santa said, "Eat as much as you like!"
After breakfast, Boheng followed Jahadorei and Eunice to the reading corridor on the second floor. The children and all the teachers were there as well.
Jahadorei stayed only a short while before saying she was going to see a friend and hurrying away.
"How long are we staying here?" Boheng asked.
"Until