Embedded Files
Psst! We're moving!
The two of them walked a little further, and the lighting on the road gradually returned to normal.
With clearer visibility, Lin Zhexia tidied her loose hair and, under the brighter light, couldn’t help but glance again at Chi Yao’s wrist encircled by the black hair tie.
This hair tie was very similar to the ones she used in high school.
It was the simplest design. After wearing it for over a month, it had stretched slightly, so now it fit perfectly around his wrist.
Black, thin, like a small circle.
As if silently declaring to everyone that he was hers.
“…” With the principle of reciprocity in mind, Lin Zhexia asked as they walked, “So should I also leave my mark?”
“How?” Chi Yao asked while holding her hand.
Lin Zhexia avoided answering directly: “How would I know? You’re the one who should answer that.”
Chi Yao, in his most indifferent tone, said something bold: “Would a kiss count?”
“…”
Lin Zhexia: “Pretend I didn’t ask.”
After walking a bit more, Lin Zhexia thought about what of Chi Yao’s belongings she could take as her “mark.”
Lin Zhexia: “Something obviously belonging to a guy… and preferably portable. Actually, I think I’ll start carrying around the lighter I took from you yesterday wherever I go. What do you think?”
This time, it was Chi Yao’s turn to fall silent.
He responded with a similar phrase she had used earlier: “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”
Lin Zhexia: “Oh.”
She added, “It does seem a bit inappropriate.”
At the dormitory building, Lin Zhexia said “goodbye” to him. But no sooner had she finished saying it than Chi Yao, who had been about to let go of her hand, suddenly tightened his grip: “Don’t move. Let me hug you again.”
When Lin Zhexia returned to the dorm, Lan Xiaoxue immediately saw through her: “You’re together now?”
Lin Zhexia shyly hummed in affirmation, then asked, “How did you know?”
Lan Xiaoxue waved her phone: “You underestimate your boyfriend’s influence in school. The moment you two hugged downstairs, someone in our dorm group chat started crying, claiming they were heartbroken.”
Lin Zhexia: “… “
That wasn’t necessary.
“It happened so fast,” Lan Xiaoxue continued. “I thought he’d chase you for at least a month.”
Lin Zhexia: “… A month feels a bit long, doesn’t it?”
Lan Xiaoxue understood her well: “You’re just spoiling him.”
Lin Zhexia didn’t continue the conversation; she felt too embarrassed.
She picked up her things and prepared to wash up. Before doing so, the earlier scene uncontrollably replayed in her mind.
She wondered if her reaction had been too stiff.
Had she acted strange?
Chi Yao seemed much calmer than she was…
________________________________________
On the other side.
The “calm” Chi Yao returned to his dorm and spent half the night on the balcony trying to cool down his heated body and red-tipped ears.
Before heading to the balcony, his roommate had asked him: “Where did you go?”
Chi Yao: “What’s it to you?”
“Can you help me get someone’s contact info? She’s in our class. I’m afraid she’ll reject me.”
“Ask her yourself,” Chi Yao replied. “Do you not have a mouth?”
The roommate wasn’t offended: “You’re so cold, so ruthless.”
Leaning against the balcony door, anyone looking at his face would never guess he could feel nervous, even to the point of his ears turning red.
But the person he faced wasn’t just anyone—it was Lin Zhexia.
Their past interactions had carried over from childhood, when she always tried to pick fights with him.
When Chi Yao first met Lin Zhexia, he thought she was strange.
At their first meeting, neither of them was willing to back down.
…
Later on, it became more about concealing, hiding the fact that he secretly liked her.
So he always spoke with a mismatch between his words and feelings, always acting as if he didn’t care.
Before they parted ways, he had never imagined that one day their dynamic would change.
Now, he could tell her he “liked” her, openly admit that he wanted to hold her.
Finally, Chi Yao lowered his head, calmed himself, and after returning from the balcony, the dorm lights had already been turned off.
Even though the lights were out, everyone was still chatting, discussing the matter the roommate had brought up earlier.
“How should I approach her tomorrow? Should I just say, ‘Hi, can I have your contact info?’ Wouldn’t that be too simple? It wouldn’t highlight my uniqueness.”
“You want to be unique… Stop overthinking.”
“But this is my rare initiative,” the roommate said. “I need to make a deep impression to lay a solid foundation for future developments.”
As they chatted, someone finally remarked: “Talking to us about it won’t help. All four of us in this dorm are single. Do you think gathering four single guys can summon a dragon for you?”
The roommate pondered: “You might be right.”
Indeed, everyone in their dorm was single.
Initially, because a certain Mr. Chi kept showing them an old photo of him and a girl, they assumed that girl was Chi Yao’s girlfriend.
But later, when they unexpectedly ate with her dormmates, they realized it wasn’t as straightforward as the photo suggested.
…
Just then, a “click” sounded in the dorm.
A desk lamp lit up.
Their dorm’s most temperamental yet popular person sat cold-faced next to the lamp.
One of the roommates peeked over toward his desk: “Bro, the lights are out. Aren’t you going to sleep?”
After speaking, the roommate felt something was off.
Normally, when someone turns on a lamp, the light shines on the desk or books. But for Chi Yao, whether intentionally or not, the light focused on his wrist.
“…”
After a long pause, someone finally asked: “… Bro, what’s that on your wrist?”
Chi Yao slowly moved, cracking his knuckles nonchalantly: “Nothing much.”
“My girlfriend gave it to me.” In front of others, he was completely relaxed, nothing like the nervous and awkward demeanor he had shown in front of Lin Zhexia. “By the way, I forgot to mention—I’m off the market now.”
The other three roommates in the dorm: “… … …”
Lin Zhexia had no idea what had happened on Chi Yao’s end. She only knew that tonight, she couldn’t sleep.
She tossed and turned in bed for a long time before giving in to temptation and opening her social media feed.
Chi Yao’s feed was still empty except for that one abrupt post, but after refreshing, she noticed that beneath his profile picture, there was now a concise signature.
[In a relationship. Do not disturb.]
Lin Zhexia exited his profile and opened her own.
Her posts weren’t frequent either.
Occasionally, when she went out with friends, she posted pictures of food and drinks.
Her most recent post was a photo of her standing in front of Lian University’s gate with her suitcase, captioned: Enrolled.
But that wasn’t what she wanted to look at. She kept scrolling until she reached over a year ago.
Time seemed to rewind as her fingers swiped.
February 14.
[/Image]
The wind on a midsummer night.
[/Image]
Both posts were from her high school days, visible only to herself.
The feeling of a dream coming true—something she once wanted but didn’t dare to pursue—was exactly like this.
Lin Zhexia stared at these two old posts for a while, then exited and opened Chi Yao’s contact details.
She deleted the nickname “Mr. Chi” and carefully, solemnly typed three words: Boyfriend.
Not the “person I like” she had once considered setting, but a step further: Boyfriend.
________________________________________
The next day.
Lin Zhexia hadn’t slept well and dragged her feet around the dorm for a long time.
“Your boyfriend is waiting for you downstairs. Aren’t you going down?” Lan Xiaoxue asked before heading to the cafeteria.
Lin Zhexia: “I… Just a moment. I need to find a hair clip. You all go ahead to the cafeteria.”
She felt a bit embarrassed.
Before, even though she secretly liked Chi Yao, their meetings were always as friends.
But today, it was different.
They were boyfriend and girlfriend now.
She had no experience in dating, and the thought alone made her nervous.
What should she say or do when she met Chi Yao?
Lin Zhexia wanted to act naturally, but things often went awry. As soon as she went downstairs and saw Chi Yao, she forced a laugh and said: “Chi Yao, look how round the sun is today.”
Chi Yao looked at her.
Lin Zhexia continued her awkward performance: “Hello! After not seeing you for a whole night, you’re still as handsome as yesterday.”
“…”
Though it was only their second time holding hands since yesterday, Chi Yao acted as if it were routine, reaching for her hand. Once he held it, he said: “Girlfriend, give yourself a few minutes.”
“?”
“Bring your brain with you before you speak.”
“…”
Hearing Chi Yao say such things actually made Lin Zhexia feel closer to him, especially since the word “girlfriend” prefaced it. Still, she teased: “You’ve barely started pursuing me, and already you’re insulting me.”
Chi Yao scoffed: “This isn’t an insult.”
“This is sincere advice for my girlfriend.”
“…”
Chi Yao was still the occasionally insufferable Chi Yao.
But precisely because of that, Lin Zhexia quickly relaxed: “I think I really didn’t consider enough yesterday. Dating someone isn’t a small matter. Can I return this and think again?”
Chi Yao replied: “Nice try.”
He added, “I gave you time to think yesterday. No returns, no exchanges.”
During breakfast, the two faced each other, and Lin Zhexia made a request: “Can you scold me a bit more?”
Chi Yao glanced at her lazily: “Are you seriously becoming mentally unstable from dating me?”
Lin Zhexia: “… No.”
She was just nervous.
“Go ahead, scold me a few more times.”
After pouring her some vinegar, Chi Yao didn’t continue teasing her. He raised his eyes: “Idiot?”
Lin Zhexia: “Too gentle. Be harsher.”
“Moron.”
“… That’s better.”
“Crazy.”
“That’s good enough.” On her first day as a girlfriend, Lin Zhexia said contentedly, “That one felt genuinely heartfelt.”
“…”
Military training was about to end. While eating, Lin Zhexia discussed the semester’s course schedule with him: “Your class has so many courses. Good thing I didn’t qualify.”
Chi Yao didn’t respond. After listening to her talk about her classes and dorm life for a while, he suddenly said: “A few movies are premiering next week.”
Lin Zhexia: “Hmm?”
Chi Yao: “Any you want to see?”
She had just begun to relax when she heard this and became nervous again: “Is this… a date?”
“What else could it be?” Chi Yao leaned back and said coolly, “Going to the movies with my girlfriend—is that supposed to count as team-building?”
“…”
“Then let’s watch the trailers.” Lin Zhexia had finished eating by then, so she put down her chopsticks and opened her phone. “Let’s choose together.”
As she spoke, she habitually opened WeChat.
By the time she realized she had tapped the wrong app, Chi Yao’s gaze had already landed on her phone screen.
There was nothing unusual about WeChat.
Her chat history with others was unremarkable.
But…
On WeChat, there was the updated nickname she had given Chi Yao last night.
Next to his cat-head avatar, the three characters “Boyfriend” stood out prominently.
“…”
Although, he truly was her boyfriend.
Still, having him unexpectedly see the nickname she had changed without consulting him was somewhat embarrassing.
Her voice grew quieter: “I… Last night, I thought that since we confirmed our relationship, the nickname shouldn’t feel too distant. So I changed it casually.”
As she spoke, she tried to cover her phone screen with her hand.
“Stop looking.”
Chi Yao didn’t find anything wrong with it.
His wrist wearing the black hair tie moved slightly, and his hand opened his own WeChat. In front of her, he changed “Dear” to “Girlfriend” to match her.
“So you like this term,” he said. “Let me change it too.”
“…”
Changing couple nicknames on the spot was too impactful.
Lin Zhexia desperately wanted to crawl into a hole.
She avoided looking at his phone screen, but Chi Yao tapped his fingers on the table, prompting her to look up.
“What?”
“Pin your boyfriend to the top.”
Lin Zhexia: “Huh?”
She didn’t usually pin contacts since her frequent communication with Chi Yao meant he was always at the top anyway.
She found the “pin” option and casually asked before selecting it: “Am I pinned?”
The cafeteria was noisy, bustling with people.
But Chi Yao’s voice remained crystal clear.
“You always have been.”
Google Sites
Report abuse