The audience seats near the stage held three figures: one tall, one kind of tall, one short.

Only, the slightly shorter one was separated from the other two by one empty seat.

“Lin↑ sen↓pai←.”

“Xia↓ sen↑pai→.”

“ Tsk, tsk, tsk… man, I’m so jealous…”

Mufeng mimicked Xia Yan’s tone from earlier with an exaggerated accent, his voice dripping with envy as he sighed.

“Ugh… I’ve added so many senpai on my contacts, and they still can’t compare to a single strand of Lin Qingyu’s hair… Quantity just can’t beat quality.”

Xiang Guan put down his phone and joined Mufeng in staring blankly at the dazzling figure on stage.

Mufeng: “I’m seriously jealous of Yan-ge.”

“He’s handsome, he’s strong, he’s righteous, and he’s good at studying 😭.”

Xiang Guan: “I’m jealous too… I’d be happy if I could just steal like 20% of his talent for training 😭… No wonder Lin-senpai’s already secretly fallen for him. Sigh.”

“She’s the untouchable flower of the Administration School on Tieba and the forums, y’know… Only Yan-ge’s good enough for her. That rich company heir or whatever tried chasing Lin Qingyu and she didn’t even bother to look his way, and that guy’s got insane background…”

Mufeng: “I feel like I just got dumped, but I’m not even sad.”

Xiang Guan: “I’ve got no complaints.”

Hua Xin: “I do 😡.”

“?” x2

The two of them looked around, confused, trying to find who had just spoken.

As fellow men blessed by the gods of good looks and charisma, the two good brothers of Xia Yan could only praise this absolute winner at life behind his back without a shred of jealousy.

But the more the girl listened, the more off it sounded.

(A secret base some senpai told him about 😨…)

(An ice-cold goddess taking the initiative to chase him…)

(How does this not sound exactly like a male lead in some romcom anime 🤔…)

No no no no no no…

Don’t tell her they were already Wu Tao😱…

“I have a huge problem with Xia Yan being together with that senpai.”

The girl forced herself to sound calm as she explained, completely forgetting she wasn’t in her little dark room and that the people in front of her were not anonymous netizens.

Her tone was ice cold. (And weak.)

“Sigh.”

Mufeng and Xiang Guan let out a heavy sigh in perfect sync.

“Didn’t think you liked Lin Qingyu too, Brother Hua. (So deep.)”

“Brother Hua, I get how you feel. (Truly.)”

They slumped back into their seats again, listlessly staring at the stage.

Looks like Hua Xin wasn’t as hard to get along with as Xia Yan made her sound. As expected, nothing brings men closer than talking about women.

Hua Xin snapped back to herself. Under the mask, her pretty face flushed bright red in an instant. Her small hands twisted together nervously under the cover of her backpack.

What had she just said??

What did she just say, ahhhh!

Why hadn’t she run it through her brain before talking?

(Deflated.)

The girl silently lowered her head.

“By the way…”

“Lao Xiang, don’t you think Yan-ge’s been a little off lately?”

Mufeng narrowed his eyes at the two people on stage who looked like a perfect match, then suddenly spoke in a low voice.

Hua Xin’s ears perked up at once 👂🏻, and she scooted her whole body a little closer to the two of them.

“Hm?”

“Yeah, he’s kinda off.”

Xiang Guan hesitated for a moment, sneaking a glance at the withdrawn Hua Xin sitting beside them with her head lowered.

They were all bros. It should be fine.

Once he calmed down, he said seriously, “I’ve seen him sometimes just hugging his phone and laughing.”

“He used to always be reading books.”

“I noticed too. I won’t lie, I peeked at his screen once.”

Mufeng looked away and tilted his head back at a forty-five-degree angle toward the ceiling. “I saw Yan-ge calling someone ‘wifey’ and ‘baby.’ I didn’t see the rest of the chat, but just those two words are enough to confirm a lot.”

“You get it? He’s never called me baby 🥺.”

“There’s only one truth.”

“He really is dating Lin Qingyu?!” x2

“Sigh…”

Mufeng and Xiang Guan looked at each other, both wearing the same miserable expression, and spoke in unison. With Lin Qingyu and Xia Yan chatting and laughing together on stage at that exact moment, everything seemed to line up.

(Da… dating??)

The girl jerked her head up in shock, her gaze drawn to the stage.

Handsome guy, beautiful girl—together, they were very easy on the eyes.

Wait.

Xia Yan dating someone… why should she care?

Even if he was dating, he was still treating her to meals, still picking her up and taking her to school, still bringing her up to that “secret base” rooftop of the teaching building…

…………

Something felt off.

Hua Xin turned her head away, took a fast gulp of cola, letting the icy fizz burn her throat and clear her head a little. Her brain started racing.

If Xia Yan really was in a relationship…

Then why was he still spending so much time on her…?

Or rather—if he was already with such a beautiful senpai, why was he still taking such good care of her?

Suspicious.

Extremely suspicious.

Her gaze suddenly sharpened as she realized the biggest blind spot in how she’d been dealing with Xia Yan.

The words of that top-ranked commenter from the forum were still echoing in her ears.

He was right. No one approaches someone else for no reason, with zero agenda.

So Xia Yan really was plotting something. Pretending to be a nice guy just to get close to her…

A faint cold smile stirred in Hua Xin’s heart. As expected, she’d managed to sniff out a loose thread.

But from the looks of it right now, these two beside her…

Uh, one track-star and one sports-brain apparently had no idea about her and Xia Yan. Maybe she could probe them for info.

Hua Xin clenched her hands. The trust she’d only just started to build toward Xia Yan slowly cooled into icy suspicion.

(I knew it…)

(You’re totally faking it! 🥺)

(No one’s that flawless, that gentle and reliable to everyone.)

(So what’s your real reason for getting close to me…?)

Those memories that had tormented her so much burst into her mind one by one. But at the same time, Xia Yan’s patience, that ice cream, and today’s lunch all remained just as vivid.

Hua Xin hugged her backpack tighter, her body trembling a little.

Inside were leftovers.

And that half box of sweet-and-sour ribs she’d only taken one bite from.

She couldn’t figure it out.

Why was Xia Yan doing all this?

But this time, Hua Xin didn’t want to just swallow it in cowardly silence.

She didn’t want to go through betrayal again, then be mocked and looked down on.

She wanted to fight back.

The girl quietly watched Xia Yan on stage.

At some point, he’d already changed into a sharp suit. He was holding a stack of notes covered in text, that gentle smile still on his face, as if he treated everyone the same way.

The girl beside him was just as dazzling.

She made every other pretty girl around them fade into the background.

She was really beautiful.

Hua Xin slowly withdrew her gaze, glanced at the two guys slumped in their seats howling in despair, then just hugged her backpack tighter.

“Since you already have such a perfect life, why do you still have to get involved with me?”

“I’m not…”

“Not dumb enough to believe someone actually sees me as a good friend.”

“Since you’re so eager to play ‘friendship’ games with a shut-in otaku, I’m not going down without a fight.”

A flash of cold light crossed the girl’s eyes.

Then let her…

Tear off this man’s mask herself! 😡