"Stalking?! Then whatever that person does next is probably criminal, right?!"
I tried my best not to let my voice crack. More importantly, I couldn’t let this guy in front of me catch a whiff of my filthy thoughts.
"But why? I can’t imagine any reason to tail some plain high school girl..."
"You think I’m plain?! Hmph! In all my life, no one’s ever called me unattractive before!"
Xia Mo suddenly got mad for some reason, shoveling food into her mouth nonstop. I knew the latter was because I’d already finished eating, but the former left me utterly confused.
"Being looked down on for my charm? I’m seriously not happy about that, Mr. Zero EQ!"
Oh wow—so that’s why she’s pissed?! Xia Mo wore a deeply unhappy expression, staring me down with a look that screamed, *Do you realize your mistake? Apologize now, or I’ll spill what happened yesterday afternoon.* Of course, I had no intention of backing down.
I seemed to have been slapped with some weird labels for no reason. Anyway, being called low-EQ wasn’t new to me.
"Then can you tell me—why do you think someone’s stalking you?"
I rested my chin on my hand, clearing the table into my tray.
"And—wasting food is immoral!"
I pointed my chopsticks at the celery Xia Mo had deliberately picked out.
"Sometimes I feel like you’re less my boyfriend and more my family’s old maid..."
Was I being mocked again? Wait, your family actually has maids?! Guess you really are some high-born young lady.
"Can you say something useful for once?"
"Usually, you’re the one dodging topics! Whatever—Huiyuan, who barely gossips, must know tons of guys chase after me, right?"
Xia Mo looked like this was a long story. She sighed before getting to the point.
"Oh—I just found out about that..."
"Seriously?! How boring is your life?!"
Xia Mo stared like I was some rare animal. Every muscle on her face screamed pure shock.
"But I did hear a rumor about a classmate getting over ten confessions in just three months. I didn’t believe it back then—could it be you?"
"What do you mean ‘could it be’? It totally was! I counted carefully—87 confessions in three months. After that, I got bored tallying them up—"
"That’s basically once a day?!"
What a vibrant, youthful way to live! I never thought real life could be this manga-like.
"Sounds annoying to most people, but I hate all that—your popular childhood friend’s similar, right? Except she has a few close friends... I’m way worse off. Thanks to being too cute back then, I never made friends. Every day, students from other classes came to gawk at me—even seniors. The attention in my own class was already overwhelming, and then this flood of stares hit. Treated like a panda on display every single day? I absolutely loathe that life!"
Not only would others find this irritating, even easygoing me thought Xia Mo sounded arrogant—maybe even full-on conceited.
"I even remember some ‘Top Girl You’d Date’ ranking. People predicted who I’d end up with. Nothing good ever comes from that! Oh, and by the way—the number one spot on that list is your girlfriend!"
Xia Mo noticed my confused look. True, I had no clue when I’d gained a girlfriend. She clarified it was herself. Bow down to this shameless person.
"Don’t you have any friends? Forget the opposite sex—even same-sex ones?"
"I’ve got a boyfriend, but friends? Nonexistent. All because I’m too cute—I just can’t make friends. Mostly ’cause I left here at six, lived abroad, and only came back last year. I’ve been ridiculously cute since childhood, after all!"
Bow down to the great one! I’ve never met anyone this brazen!
Still, only someone with real capital could brag like this without a care. And the person before me? She absolutely had that capital.
Xia Mo let out a short sigh, wearing a faint, ambiguous smile before continuing:
"Because I’m too cute, most guys who approach me have unrealistic fantasies—dreaming I’ll favor them. Girls? They’re jealous ’cause all the guys swarm around me. My textbooks vanished nearly a hundred times. Eighty percent were girls’ doing. The remaining twenty? You know who’s behind that, right? I despise those people. They’re just pathetically proving they exist..."
I couldn’t grasp how she’d survived this or why she could speak so calmly about it. It sparked a trace of curiosity in me—like she was recounting someone else’s past.
I’d never been in her shoes, so I didn’t understand her pain. But I wasn’t clueless after over a decade of school. Mengxiang had gone through something similar once. She solved it by dating someone—I’d completely forgotten that option!
"So why not try dating someone?"
"Dating? Who exactly do you mean?"
"I mean find someone you like and just be with them! Pick a few decent guys from all those who confessed—date one. Or just find someone you genuinely like. With your charm, most guys would fall at your feet. Once you’re with one guy, the others would back off, right?"
I thought she didn’t get it, so I rambled on. Total waste of breath—and I’d just dug myself a massive pit.
I picked up my tray. Xia Mo mirrored me, and we headed to the return bin. She’d barely touched her celery. Do girls just hate this stuff? Mengxiang was the same.
"You think I haven’t tried?"
Xia Mo narrowed her eyes, shaking her head helplessly. Then, like she was venting pent-up resentment, she gritted her teeth:
"Of course I’m looking! I’ve been trying lately. But the guy I like? He’s hung up on another woman!"
"What jerk doesn’t see your charm?! Tell me who this scumbag is—I need to see him with my own eyes!"
"He’s sitting right in front of me."
"In front of you?... That’s me?! Uh... heh... sorry ’bout that!"
I scratched the back of my head awkwardly. I’d dug myself a colossal pit. But I wouldn’t fall for this. A flashy confession like this? No way I’d take the bait... probably.
After leaving the cafeteria, we sat on a wooden bench outside. The February sun was blindingly bright. Full and warm from the meal, Xia Mo unbuttoned her uniform jacket. Bad news for me.
"Come to think of it, we totally fluffed this chapter, huh?"
"You mean we haven’t even touched on me being stalked?"
"Better late than never to get to the point, right?"
