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Rhodes has always felt like a sincere man — or at least he thinks that's what he's always been, growing up, from his childhood, to his school, to high school, to college, to college, to now.

One of the biggest impressions of people who know Rhodes is the smile on his face, the smile that has not changed for thousands of years, the smile that has not changed in everything. In fact, he doesn't have only one expression, not only this expression, but also able to control the muscles on his face like ordinary people to make other changes, but what this person often shows is that there is always only one expression, or it seems that there will only be one expression in total.

He used this expression to speak, he used this expression to do things, he used this expression to express embarrassment, excitement, and gratitude, but also this expression to express dissatisfaction, sadness, and condemnation—you can imagine what the effect would be.

So over time, the weird Rhodes got the nickname "Mr. Smiley". It's not that he only laughs, it's just a boring malicious name from the people around him. As for what Rhodes himself thinks about this appellation - no one knows, because he has never officially expressed any opinion. However, some people speculate that he may not like this very personal nickname himself, because every time he talks about it in front of his eyes, the smile on Rhodes' face always disappears.

This seemed to be a very serious signal for Rhodes, a young man who claimed to be "sincere and gentle", to express his unhappiness very seriously, but this did not stop similar things from happening, but only intensified them. Because - oh my God, it's just so funny to say a nickname that can make a freak smile who is always smiling disappear, okay! I want to play again after playing it many times!

However, this game that I can't get tired of playing will eventually be unable to play. Because slowly, Rhodes finally seemed to get used to it, and when someone played with him, he was no longer played to death, but was able to laugh with him naturally, and even laughed happier than usual, as if he really felt something very interesting from it.

As a result, he became even more boring in the eyes of others. But it doesn't matter, nothing matters. Rhodes has been talking to others, talking about his persistence, he thinks that as long as he has always shown his sincere, optimistic and gentle self and is not distorted by this distorted world, then in the end, something good will happen.

He keeps talking to others, to his classmates, to his colleagues, and to his friends. And then he said it until now.

The classmates who listened to him at the beginning have all left, scattered, and basically no longer in touch - whether it is middle school or university - colleagues have been changing batch after batch in a few years, sometimes they leave, sometimes they get out of the way - the latter are the majority - after there is no opportunity to meet, the contact information between each other is "inadvertently" cleaned up, along with a lot of data garbage. Speaking of which, it's really "accidental".

And all along, he has never been lucky, and he has not encountered the "good things" he expected. He still wears a smile on his lips and eyes day after day, treating everyone he meets every day with sincerity, humor and vitality. He felt tired and realized that he might have gone wrong, that he wasn't doing enough, that he needed to improve and change, but he didn't know exactly what to do. He spent too much time and too much persistence to carve out his heart and shape his own nature, but in the end he realized that he didn't know what his nature really was.

It wasn't until a few months ago that it suddenly changed. The change came so drasticly, and the opportunity came so timely, that Rhodes was caught off guard at the same time, but at the same time, it was strangely felt that he should have been prepared for it for a long time, and all he needed was someone to push him from behind.

Fly or die!

“……”

"Mr. Rhodes."

“……”

"Mr. Rhodes?"

“……”

"Hey! Mr. Rhodes! ”

The call dragged Rhodes out of his world. His eyes refocused, and he raised his head sharply, turning his head to look at the beautiful blonde girl with beautiful blonde hair who greeted him but in the shape of a big ice cream.

His expression was a little dazed, and he glanced at the bar girl quickly, and then looked down at the cup he was wiping in his hand, only to realize that he had just lost his mind. He put the cup down a little embarrassed and rubbed his nose with a dry cough.

"I'm sorry, Miss Rhea. What's up? ”

"What were you doing?"

"It's nothing, it's just remembering some things from the past."

Rhodes said briskly with his signature smile and brisk tone, as if the big things had become irrelevant to him, which was very convincing. However, Leia, who was familiar with him, was still a little suspicious, tilted her head to look at the man more, and shook her spiral ice cream blonde hair.

"What's the matter, Miss Rhea?" Rhodes asked again.

"You're really distracted." Leia pursed her lips and snorted in a feminine nasal voice, then tilted her head in the direction of the other side of the bar and gestured, "Do you want to care?" The impact is not very good. ”

Rhodes looked in the direction Rhea had said, and immediately understood what was going on, and why Rhea would say that he was too distracted.

For this upscale, luxurious, opera-like high-end bar, what is happening now is nothing short of a disaster, nothing short of noise pollution. Rhodes didn't know what was going on, but the handsome tall man in a well-tailored gray suit was standing there, standing on the edge of the bar like an unchained mad dog, scolding at a fellow waiter he knew inside. Not only did he scold very harshly, but he also pronounced the words very clearly, and the seven or eight unpleasant words used back and forth were so delicate and skillful that it could be heard that although his vocabulary was not very sufficient, he certainly had used it a lot.

It's not a good thing, it's not something that makes people laugh. Generally speaking, a well-dressed, tall and handsome man would not be so unqualified to pour so many dirty words out of his mouth in public, which is not the kind of scene that can be seen every day. His sonorous, stiff, and distinct curses slashed across the blackboard of the classroom like nails of steel, tearing the soft music of the bar into a whirling scrap of paper that caught everyone's attention. Everyone stopped talking and watched the farce in silence.

After listening for a while, Rhodes was strange, funny, and a little unbelievable to learn that it was the waiter who had served the gentleman the wrong drink, and it happened to be the gentleman's most hated drink for some reason, so he was provoked and scolded incessantly.

Shaking his head slightly, Rhodes glanced at the foreman. The fat man stood a short distance from the arched portico, behind him a staircase drawn in a free arc, and the steps trimmed with white enamel and gold swirled upwards to connect to the second floor.

He saw that although the foreman had noticed the problem here, he was hesitant to do something. He seemed to know the man, and he was worried about the consequences of stepping forward to stop him.

Rhodes' brows furrowed, and he smiled and pursed his lips and shook his head.

"Stay here, Miss Rhea. For a while, no matter what happens, don't leave. ”

He bowed his head to Leia beside him, and then, without waiting for the barmaid to react, he walked out of the bartender and walked straight to the gray-clad man who was still spitting.

For his movements, the fat foreman kept his eyes on the man in gray, so he didn't suddenly notice it until the two appeared in the field of vision together, startled him and immediately wanted to raise his feet and step forward, but finally stopped abruptly. His face was gloomy, his flesh was shaking, and his eyes were staring at that damn smiling bastard, as if he wanted to tear that mouth open!

"Sir—Sir!"

Unlike the foreman who was "calm" bystanders, the excited man in gray didn't even notice that someone had come to his side. He still used his own not very rich vocabulary, clenched his fists and pointed at the waiter in the bar mercilessly—this one is really good, he has been scolding for two minutes before and after, and he has no feeling of scolding at all.

He was so engaged, and it wasn't until Rhodes came to his side, stretched out a hand and "gently" pressed his chest, and "gently" pushed him backwards, that he suddenly discovered Rhodes' presence. He stared at the guy who had popped out of nowhere, and was about to open his mouth to say something, but he found that Rhodes's attention was not on him for a moment.

Rhodes didn't immediately communicate with the man, but glanced back at his colleague - the poor young waiter had been scolded, and stood there with his head bowed and lost, like an indoor flower that had just been ravaged by a raging storm. The baptism of saliva of the man in gray is indeed a little unbearable for a small role like him.

"You look tired, Marco." Rhodes said gently, tilting his head at him, "Go get some rest." ”

“……”

"Hey, wait a minute, he can't go!" The man in gray reacted at this time, and immediately roared again, while his eyes were staring at Rhodes fiercely, "You him. Where did Mom come from?! ”

"Sir, calm down. It's okay, if you have anything to say, tell me. ”

Rhodes didn't care about the gray-clad man's saliva and continued to maintain a perfect smile, and turned around and quickly motioned for Marco to hurry up. Marco glanced at the two of them, lowered his head, turned and left quickly along the bar.