Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I shook my head.

He didn’t remember.

Or perhaps he had just said it yesterday to break the ice, a casual remark he didn’t think twice about.

But I was foolish enough to take it seriously.

Everything changes the moment you start caring about someone.

Even with hundreds of people on the playground, I could always spot him from the windows upstairs with a single glance.

The braised beef brisket and tomato-egg stir-fry at the cafeteria tasted wonderful; no wonder he ordered them so often.

Every Tuesday at noon, he would go to the campus radio station to broadcast.

When he sang “Class 3-2” a cappella, he sounded even better than the original artist, Jay Chou.

Sometimes he would give me a faint smile, and my heart would flutter for the rest of the day.

I bought a diary with a lock, filling its pages with the secret thoughts of a girl in love.

That day, it was pouring rain. Jiayi and I were taking the bus to school.

When the bus pulled up to Cotton and Linen Factory No.2, Shen Dongye and a few other boys boarded through the back door.

The sky was dark, and the rain came down in sheets.

He raised his hand in greeting, his smile like a bolt of lightning cutting through the endless gloom.

“Li Linlin, Zhou Jiayi, you guys are here too!”

Jiayi smiled back naturally, but I was so nervous I couldn’t even manage my facial expressions properly.

I felt like a stiff, awkward clown.

The boys stood right next to us. Shen Dongye’s hand gripped the back of my seat, pinning down a lock of my hair.

He was completely oblivious, chatting away with the others about the NBA.

My heart hammered against my ribs, and my breath seemed to stop.

I didn’t dare move an inch, my mind racing with frantic thoughts.

Is my hair too oily?

I really should have washed it yesterday.

The ends are so frizzy-will it feel rough if he touches it?

We have hair conditioner at home, so why was I too lazy to use it?

Jiayi kept babbling to me, but when she saw I wasn’t responding, she looked at me with a suspicious frown. “Why is your face so red?”

Panic surged through me. “Maybe it’s just too stuffy in the bus,” I whispered.

Jiayi glanced at me, then tapped Shen Dongye’s hand. “Classmate Shen, you’re pinning Linlin’s hair.”

Shen Dongye blinked in surprise and immediately let go, apologizing profusely.

The tugging sensation on my scalp vanished.

And with it, my heart felt strangely empty.

When we reached our stop, the boys got off first.

Jiayi and I trailed behind.

Even though she had her own umbrella, she insisted on squeezing under mine. She hooked an arm around my waist and asked suggestively, “Do you like Shen Dongye?”