01
“Yun Chu, you were tossing and turning in bed all last night. Was it really necessary for a performance class?” Ding Xiao- Yun Chu’s roommate, spoke her first words after waking up from an all-night gaming session, and they were a complaint.
Yun Chu had been up for a while and was currently searching frantically on Baidu.
【I’m a girl, what do I do if I like a girl】
【How to pursue a girl】
【One hundred little tricks to pursue an older female upperclassman】
【Same-sex marriage law proposal】
【Online appointment process for same-sex marriage registration】
Without turning her head, she said, “Who said it was for a performance class?”
Ding Xiao leaned over the railing of the top bunk, squinting at Yun Chu’s computer screen on the desk below. “You’ve been acting weird since you got back yesterday. What are you doing now?”
The two girl group members in their dorm were perennially absent. The dorm door was shut tight now. University girls’ weekends never had a morning, so the entire dormitory building was quiet. Listening to her own heartbeat, Yun Chu turned around solemnly. “Babe, I think I’m in love.”
Ding Xiao was silent for a second.
Yun Chu covered her ears. Sure enough, the next second, Ding Xiao’s scream pierced the long night- no, the still-sleeping morning. It only stopped when someone on a balcony yelled, “Who the hell is screaming!”
Ding Xiao then scrambled down from the top bunk and accused Yun Chu, “Who was it that was drinking with me just last week, saying we single ladies will stick together, and whoever gets into a relationship first is a dog!”
“Who said I’m in a relationship!” Yun Chu felt wronged.
“Then you said you think you’re in love!” Ding Xiao calmed down. “Oh, think.” She pulled over a chair and sat down. “Wait, can love be a suspected case?”
Yun Chu: “Alright, I have someone I like.”
Ding Xiao’s eyes were shining. “Who, who? Go chase them! With your qualifications, won’t that suspected case turn into a confirmed diagnosis in no time?”
“…It’s Jian You.”
Ding Xiao: “I think I have a hearing problem.”
Yun Chu: “You heard right. It’s Jian You!”
What had been an uncertain matter after a whole night of tossing and turning became an incredibly certain thing the moment she said it out loud. She, Yun Chu, who had lived for eighteen years, always focused on fun and games and entertainment, disdainful of love, had fallen for Jian You.
Ding Xiao looked like her entire worldview had been overturned. “You, you, you-”
“Yes, that’s right, a woman.”
“She, she, she-”
“Yes, she doesn’t know me yet.”
“I, I, I-”
“That’s just how it is.”
“Ahhhhh-”
02
Yun Chu chose to have a secret crush.
Jian You was simply too dazzling and conspicuous. Any random person pulled from the Bei City Film Academy would have a crush on her, but she was entirely focused on her career and had no time for romantic matters. Yun Chu’s feelings were too light, too thin; she didn’t even have to think to know she would be rejected.
“Our little Yun Chu, your secret crush is so painful.” In their Marxism class, Ding Xiao propped her chin on her hand and watched Yun Chu search the forums for Jian You’s class schedule. “She won’t be attending classes for much longer, right?”
Jian You was a senior, so she was mostly focused on practical work. If it weren’t for some required major courses, she would have already moved out of the dorms.
Yun Chu scrolled through the forum posts, absent-minded. “After the new year, she should be going straight to the film set. She’ll only come back to get her graduation certificate.”
The school’s forum was anonymous, so the students there were quite unrestrained.
【Help! I ran into Jian You in the first cafeteria today. Sniffle, she eats so little. No wonder she’s so thin. I wish I could give her some of my fat.】
【I ran into her too! I have to say, I was sitting diagonally across from her while eating. Her face is really great to look at while eating.】
【I’m never crashing Jian You’s major classes again. The teacher called on me to answer a question. I stood there for a long time, then said sorry, I’m in the wrong classroom, and scurried out the back door.】
【Day 679 of having a secret crush on Jian You.】
【Senior, you still haven’t given up? Go get a sex change operation and then try.】
【My gender is compatible with Jian You’s, but my confession still failed. Jian You’s girlfriend right now is a camera.】
【Even though we’re at the same school, because we’re on different campuses, besides the necessary major classes that I have to go to your campus for, my distance from Jian You is greater than the distance between her and the cafeteria ladies…】
【In this life, I’m most envious of Jian You’s roommates. Who understands?】
【Folks, I saw Jian You heading to the library. Those who want a chance encounter, get to the scene quickly! I’m a coward, so I don’t dare.】
【If you come, you can also see Yun Chu from the performance department!】
【Ahhhh, little beauty, I’m coming!】
【Actually, Yun Chu and Jian You are quite a good match. A great beauty and a little beauty. Who is this killing with cuteness?】
【Stop randomly shipping people. Yun Chu likes guys.】
【Turning a straight girl gay, I like it, hehe.】
That’s right. After seeing the post, Yun Chu decided to go to the library for a chance encounter with Jian You. She sat down thirty meters away from Jian You and sent a message to Ding Xiao: “I see my senior! She’s really so pretty today QAQ”
“Go talk to her!”
“What should I say?”
“Aren’t you quite eloquent? A social butterfly like you can’t think of an opening line?”
“I’m afraid I’ll blurt out, ‘Be my girlfriend.’”
“What if Jian You is into that!”
“That makes a lot of sense!”
Yun Chu clenched her little fists, thinking, what if Jian You really was into her type? Otherwise, why would she, who could have helped anyone, have specifically helped her? She had never seen Jian You be so helpful before!
Yun Chu replied: “I’m going!”
Then she stuffed her phone into her bag and stood up, full of heroic spirit. But as soon as she stood up, she realized Jian You had gone to look for a book at some point. She was looking up, her gaze scanning the rows of books, her upward glance innocent and pure.
Yun Chu suppressed her wildly beating heart and took a step forward.
The distance between them was closing.
One step, two steps.
She even noticed Jian You glance at her, a light, fleeting look that set off a tsunami in her heart. She was almost walking in lockstep as she stood in front of Jian You.
Jian You finally looked at her, a flicker of confusion in her eyes.
Yun Chu’s breath hitched.
She said, “Excuse me, I need to get by.”
Later, when Yun Chu and Jian You talked about this, she would cover her face and fall onto the bed, then open a slit between her fingers and ask Jian You with a red face, “You don’t remember this, do you?”
Jian You went along with her. “I don’t remember.”
Yun Chu sat up. “No, you remember.”
Jian You: “Mhm, I remember.”
Yun Chu: “…”
On the verge of tears.jpg
Jian You would just laugh, wrap her arms around her waist, pull her in, and pinch her cheek. “I remember it because I thought it was very funny, and also very cute.”
“W-what was cute about it?” Yun Chu’s face turned even redder.
“You walked away so quickly, with your head down. I could only see your bright red ears and neck.” Jian You’s hand slid down from her face to her earlobe. “I was thinking, how can someone’s face be so red?”
She leaned in, nibbled lightly on Yun Chu’s earlobe, and felt it gradually grow hotter. She said in a low voice, “Later I found out that it could get even redder.”
“In bed.”
