Reborn with My Genius Husband-Chapter 24: Husband, You’re So Manly

Soon, the whistle blew, and over a dozen girls started running. Iris Kensington disliked running, but she wouldn’t just phone it in, so she gave it her all from the start.

Holly Winslow and Anna Willow simultaneously waved their pom-poms and shouted, "Go, Ellie!!"

"You’ve got this, Ellie!!"

"Go, Jane Langdon! Go, Jane Langdon..."

"Go, Jack Webb! Go, Jack Webb..."

Anna Willow and Holly Winslow’s voices were drowned out by the others. Unwilling to be outdone, Anna yelled at the top of her lungs, "Go, Ellie! Go, Ellie!"

Holly joined in for a few more cheers, but her voice soon gave out and she had to rest. Before long, Anna couldn’t keep shouting either.

Panting, Anna said, "Ellie’s losing steam."

Just into the second lap, Iris Kensington’s pace began to slow.

Seeing that other runners had people pacing them, Holly Winslow and Anna Willow quickly conferred and decided to take turns running alongside her on the inner track.

Holly went first. She pulled up alongside the gasping Iris. "Keep going, Ellie! I’ll treat you to pork ribs for lunch."

With her hands on her hips, Iris gasped wearily, "Just let the pork ribs eat me. Damn this stupid sports meet!"

Holly paced her for one lap, then Anna Willow took over.

A single lap was 400 meters, and running it was exhausting. Holly was squatting on the inner track, panting for breath, when a water bottle suddenly appeared before her eyes, its cap already opened.

She looked up to see Brian Willow, also in one of the light yellow staff vests. She accepted it without hesitation. "Thanks, Brother Brian."

She took a few sips and finally felt her breathing even out.

"The women’s 800-meter is this afternoon," he said. "You shouldn’t be pacing people. You’ll have no energy left for your own race."

Brian Willow watched her. She was wearing a pink tracksuit today that made her already fair skin seem even more radiant. Her hair was tied up in a bun.

With her features fully revealed, he could see her beautifully shaped, classic arched eyebrows. The corners of her almond-shaped eyes tilted up slightly, and her nose and mouth were both small and delicate.

Her oval face still held a touch of baby fat. While it slightly softened her otherwise delicate features, it gave her a fresh and natural charm.

Holly’s eyes were fixed on Anna and Iris, so she didn’t notice Brian’s gaze. "It’s fine, Brother Brian."

A few minutes later, Anna and Iris came around again. Holly quickly stood up to take over for Anna. By now, Iris was in terrible shape; her face had gone pale. "Ellie, stop running. Just walk for a bit."

Iris shook her head, breathing heavily. "I can’t stop. If I do, I won’t start again."

Just then, Julian Carlton jogged onto the inner track to catch up with Iris and Holly. "Iris," he said with concern, "are you feeling sick? If you are, you need to stop right now."

"Old Calder, don’t ever sign me up for this again," Iris said, "I’m dying." She waved a dismissive hand at him to show she was okay, despite her words.

Julian Carlton didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He tried to console her, "After you finish, I’ll buy you all a bag of candy out of my own pocket."

"I want the lemon ones," Iris replied between gasps, not passing up the chance to exploit Old Calder.

"Deal."

Julian Carlton only managed to pace them for half a lap before he gave out. "These old bones can’t keep up with you youngsters," he wheezed. "I need a break."

Holly and Iris couldn’t help but laugh. Having people with her was a good distraction, and the run became a little less agonizing for Iris.

During the fifth lap, a girl from another class fainted and had to be carried off the field.

Chris Chaucer bent the rules, slipping off his yellow staff vest to run the final two and a half laps with Iris.

Iris successfully completed all seven and a half laps, collapsing right at the finish line. Chris Chaucer caught her just as Holly and Anna swarmed around them.

Holly brought her a cup of warm water and helped her take a few sips while Anna fanned her from the side.

Julian Carlton came over and asked again, "Iris, are you feeling unwell?"

Iris was too exhausted to speak and just shook her head.

A few minutes later, Iris started to recover.

Holly and Anna supported her by each arm and helped her back to their class’s area. There, Wendell Hayes gave Iris a bottle of Pulse as a reward for participating.

Once Iris had fully recovered, Anna nudged her with a sly grin. "So, was the 3,000-meter race worth it?"

Holly joined in, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively at Iris.

Iris’s face instantly flushed crimson.

「 」

In the afternoon, it was time for Holly’s 800-meter race. Thanks to her "connections" with Brian Willow and the others, she was assigned to lane one in the second heat, which was closest to the inner track.

While it didn’t shorten the distance, it meant she wouldn’t have to fight anyone for the inside lane.

As she was pinning on her number, a voice came from overhead. "Go, Holly."

She snapped her head up. "Hub—"

She swallowed the rest of the word just as it reached her lips. Beaming with delight, she asked, "Cousin! What are you doing here?"

They had spoken on the phone at noon, and she’d told him about her race, but she never expected he would actually show up.

"I took two hours off,"

Mortimer Quincy said, slightly out of breath. He had clearly rushed to get here.

Seeing a strand of hair fall across her face, he reached out and tucked it behind her ear. In a voice only the two of them could hear, he added, "Go get ’em, wifey."

Anna Willow and Iris Kensington, standing nearby, didn’t find it strange at all. He was her cousin, after all. Such a gesture was perfectly normal.

"I wish I could trade my brother for a handsome cousin like him," Anna said with an envious "tsk, tsk."

Iris playfully smacked her arm. "Anna, if I were your brother, I’d want to trade you for Holly. She’s so pretty, after all."

"Oh, get out of here."

Anna shot her a look of mock disgust and added, "My brother isn’t that shallow. But fine, you want to trade insults? Let’s go."

"If I were Chris, I’d be into Holly. She’s way prettier," Iris retorted with a mischievous giggle.

Seeing them dragging her into their banter, Holly gave each girl a light swat. "Go ahead and trade insults, but leave me out of it."

Iris and Anna giggled in unison.

A whistle blew, and the women’s 800-meter began.

Two of the runners in this heat were from the school track team. Holly and the other girls had barely taken a few steps before those two had already shot far ahead.

Holly clicked her tongue and picked up her pace, falling in just behind the runner in third place.

Mortimer Quincy paced her, running at a steady, unhurried gait. The sun cast a soft golden glow on one side of his face, highlighting the perfect line of his nose.

"Regulate your breathing. Keep your lips pressed together."

Holly glanced at him, and her heart fluttered just as it had in her youth. Slightly out of breath, she praised, "Hubby, you’re so manly."

With all the cheering around them, no one else heard what she said.

Mortimer Quincy replied with a low chuckle, "Didn’t you already experience that firsthand, wifey?"

Not far away, Julian Carlton watched the pair, a broad smile on his face. He turned to Cole Young, the homeroom teacher for the neighboring class. "The one pacing Holly Winslow is Mortimer Quincy, number one at Jarton High."

"That kid’s something else," Cole Young said, his tone full of praise for the star student. "Besides language arts, he gets a perfect score on pretty much everything."

Cole Young’s son was also in the honors class at Jarton High, so he knew a bit about Mortimer Quincy. He smiled in admiration. "He certainly is. My son told me he won first place in the National Mathematical Olympiad."

Both men were homeroom teachers who were strict about cracking down on young love, but at that moment, the thought that the two students might be dating didn’t even cross their minds.