Chapter 2
Chapter 2
The memory cut off as I reached the foot of my apartment building.
Song Qi stood a short distance away, watching me in silence. Beneath the loose hair over his forehead, his eyes looked as deep and dark as a secluded pool.
After our gazes met for two seconds, he looked away.
“Oh.”
“Wrong way.”
I said nothing and walked past him.
“Sang Yu.”
His black hoodie carried a faint trace of mint cigarettes.
He stopped me again. “That last call you made to me a month ago—what did you want to say?”
I did not answer.
“We settled everything that day.”
“From now on, it would be best if we had no contact outside school.”
Song Qi gave a small laugh.
“Right.”
“We’re only ordinary classmates now. We don’t even have each other’s contact information.”
“Sorry to bother you, Classmate Sang.”
His footsteps receded.
Under the streetlight, the shadow of his tall figure stretched long and slanted before slowly dissolving into the dusk.
After he ended our relationship without warning, I spent days in a haze.
I drifted through most of my classes.
As if that were not enough, my period came early.
My lower abdomen cramped with a dragging pain, and a migraine tugged viciously at my skull.
By the time I forced myself through classroom duty, I was the only person left on the entire floor.
The pain drove me facedown onto my desk.
Without thinking, I called Song Qi.
“Hello.”
His familiar clear voice came through the phone.
Then a girl said beside him, “Song Qi, can I answer it for you?”
A moment later, her voice grew louder on the line.
“Sang Yu, right?”
“Do you need Song Qi for something?”
“He’s right here. Whatever it is, just say it. He can hear you.”
Most of my fog vanished at once.
I hung up without a word and stayed folded over the desk until the pain eased enough for me to stand.
I barely managed to make it out of the building.
The security guard stared at me in surprise.
“Someone’s still here this late?”
I tried to smile, but I could not quite manage it.
Our class president’s birthday party was held that Friday night.
When Song Qi deleted me from WeChat, I thought it would bother me for a long time.
In reality, one night’s sleep was enough to put it out of my mind.
School resumed on Monday.
That morning, as usual, I stopped at the breakfast stall near campus for soy milk.
The owner glanced behind me and teased, “Young lady, here for soy milk with your little boyfriend again?”
I froze.
“What?”
I followed his gaze and met Song Qi’s eyes.
Ruan Zhiyao peeked out from behind him.
“You guessed wrong, sir.”
“He’s my boyfriend.”
The owner looked at me, then at Song Qi.
As if she knew exactly what he was thinking, Ruan Zhiyao explained with a smile.
“You must have misunderstood before.”
“That thing between those two a while ago? They were playing truth or dare. It was all fake.”
“I’m his one and only girlfriend.”
Realization dawned on the owner.
“You young people!”
Ruan Zhiyao beamed. “Song Qi brought me a cup of your soy milk last time. It was incredible—even better than what I’ve had at Michelin-starred Chinese restaurants.”
“I told my father about it. I want him to order a thousand cups so everyone at his company can try it.”
The owner laughed and waved his hands.
“You certainly know how to flatter an old man.”
Ruan Zhiyao had always possessed that gift.
She was not only beautiful.
Despite being born into a wealthy family, she had none of a spoiled heiress’s airs.
She was lively, considerate, and easy to like.
Most of the boys in our class had a crush on her.
The girls all competed to be her friend.
I took my soy milk, scanned the code to pay, and turned to leave.
A hand closed around my arm and pulled me back.
Directly ahead of me was the soy milk vat. Water boiled inside it, sending up scalding steam.
My arm had almost brushed against it.
Song Qi’s grip tightened, his gaze dark.
“Still haven’t learned to watch where you’re going?”
Ruan Zhiyao’s smile stiffened.
I pulled my arm free.
“Thank you.”
Then I walked past them both.