Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Jiang Che and I did not exchange a single word all morning.
A trace of cold weariness hung about his eyes, giving him an unmistakable air of Leave Me Alone.
Our last class of the morning was PE.
The sports representative invited Jiang Che to play basketball.
I sat on the steps a short distance away, my gaze following him.
The longer I watched, the more familiar he seemed.
I did not even notice how naturally he and Song Qi worked together on the court.
Then the memory struck me.
It had happened the day I made my last call to Song Qi.
By the time I finished cleaning and left school, the cramps brought on by my period had barely improved. I had no strength left.
I boarded a bus, and the first hard stop nearly sent me sprawling.
A hand caught me in time.
A boy rose from his seat.
“Come here. Sit.”
“Thank you.”
I sat down.
My head was swimming, and I did not see his face clearly.
At a later stop, a middle-aged man boarded.
He stood directly in front of me, his belly straining so hard against his shirt that the buttons looked ready to pop.
I had to press myself against the window to keep him from brushing me.
The boy noticed.
Without making a scene, he moved between us.
The choking reek of alcohol and cigarettes was replaced by the clean scent clinging to him.
I tugged at his sleeve.
He turned his head and looked down at me.
This time, I thanked him slowly and sincerely.
He faced forward again, resumed scrolling through his phone, and gave a quiet grunt of acknowledgment.
Only now did I realize that boy had been Jiang Che.
The bus grew more crowded.
My eyelids grew heavier until I was drifting against the window.
When the bus stopped at one station, Jiang Che straightened.
I thought he was about to get off.
Instead, he only glanced at me, lowered his head, and continued playing on his phone.
I came fully awake.
“Are you tired?”
“You should sit.”
“Thank you for letting me have the seat for so long.”
The moment I stood, Jiang Che pressed me back down.
“Stop worrying about me. Sleep if you’re tired.”
Eventually, I did fall asleep.
I woke hazily several times, and Jiang Che was always still there.
The bus gradually emptied near the final stops.
When I woke again, he was gone.
I decided to buy him lunch as thanks.
The moment the dismissal bell rang, I trotted over to find him.
A crowd had gathered around Jiang Che.
Song Qi handed him a bottle of water.
“It’s been a long time. Dinner tonight?”
Ruan Zhiyao offered him a towel as well.
“Our treat.”
She put heavy emphasis on the word our.
Jiang Che understood at once.
“You two are together?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
I stopped where I stood.
It felt as though a wad of wet cotton had lodged in my throat, choking off my breath.
Ruan Zhiyao saw me and tilted her head.
“Sang Yu, who did you come to see?”
Everyone turned toward me.
I opened my mouth and struggled to recover my voice.
“No one.”
Then I walked calmly past them.
Seeing Ruan Zhiyao chatting so familiarly with Jiang Che set off something like a trauma response.
I could barely stop myself from trembling.
I remembered that first encounter on the bus and began to suspect the darkest possibility.
What if Jiang Che had planned the whole thing?
What if he was just like Song Qi—another boy who liked Ruan Zhiyao, who had approached me on her orders so they could make a fool of me?
I would never forget how completely I broke down when Song Qi ended things without warning on my birthday.
I had reached for his hand and begged him to stop making such a cruel joke.
He dodged me.
He told me he already liked someone else.
He had only dated me because of a bet.
“Dating you was no different from completing an assignment.”
“The three months are over. My assignment is done.”
“That’s the reality, so let’s talk about something practical. What compensation do you want?”
By the time my thoughts returned to the present, my clenched nails had left crescent marks in my palms.
Once I calmed down, only one thought remained.
Stay away from Jiang Che.