9 09

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Xu Jia walked out of the oil painting department building, a heavy art supply bag slung over one shoulder. The evening breeze carried a hint of coolness, dispelling the weariness that had settled between his brows from long hours of focused concentration.

Then, he saw Shen Yuqing waiting not far away.

He remembered this girl. The library, the bookstore, the art studio.

Shen Yuqing quickly came forward, her face bearing the same bright smile as before, and handed over a fancy-designed card.

“Xu Jia, our department is having a party tomorrow night, and I really hope you can come.” Her voice was a few degrees clearer than usual, and she looked directly at him with bold eyes, no longer hiding her overly direct invitation. “I think we have a lot in common, and I’d like to get to know you better.”

Xu Jia's gaze lingered on the card for less than a second. He raised his eyes, his gaze calm and unwavering as he looked at Shen Yuqing's face, as if examining a still life painting with a flawed structure—calm, objective, and devoid of any personal emotion.

"Thank you for the invitation," he said with a distant politeness, "but I'm not interested."

Shen Yuqing's smile froze for a moment, clearly not expecting him to refuse so decisively.

"Then, if there's an even more interesting event next time, may I invite you again?"

Shen Yuqing put on a kind and friendly smile again, but Xu Jia still shook his head, "Sorry."

Then, he stopped looking at her, walked straight past her, and left with steady steps.

Just as he stepped aside to walk around, his peripheral vision inadvertently swept over the grove of trees on the side of the teaching building. A familiar figure was standing by a tree trunk.

It is Lin Ruoyin.

Her gaze fell on him, but she hesitated, causing Xu Jia, who was originally about to leave, to pause.

Then, instead of continuing in the original direction, he turned towards Lin Ruoyin.

"Where to?" he asked, his voice seemingly a fraction softer than usual.

Lin Ruoyin's eyes flickered slightly. "Go back to the dormitory."

"We're going the same way, want to go together?"

Lin Ruoyin paused for a moment, nodded, and quickly looked away from Shen Yuqing.

The setting sun cast long shadows of Xu Jia and Lin Ruoyin, which intertwined on the stone path.

A subtle silence filled the air.

Finally, Xu Jia broke the silence: "That girl from earlier," he paused, as if choosing her words carefully, "is from the design department and has come to see me a few times."

Lin Ruoyin's heart skipped a beat.

“She invited me to a party,” he continued, his tone devoid of emotion, as if stating a fact unrelated to himself. “I declined.”

Just over ten minutes ago, she and Shen Yuqing were walking hand in hand to class. Seeing Xu Jia coming out of the teaching building in the distance, Shen Yuqing immediately perked up and said in a low voice, "Perfect, let's reveal the result of our bet."

Actually, he didn't need to explain it to her.

Actually, she saw everything.

In fact, this encounter was a gamble from the very beginning.

The truth churned between her teeth, almost bursting through the dam of reason. She couldn't deceive him like this.

Lin Ruoyin took a deep breath, mustered her courage, and opened her mouth—

Just then, Xu Jia slightly turned his head to look at her. As dusk settled, his deep eyes, in the dimming light, seemed to have fallen into the deep sea of ​​stars, gazing intently at her. There was no probing, no scheming, only a calm, almost clumsy sincerity in them.

"You...don't you believe me?"

He asked cautiously, as if her trust was the most important thing to him.

Lin Ruoyin couldn't finish her sentence.

She suddenly felt a sense of panic, afraid that the trust she had just built would shatter because of her honesty. She feared that the purity in his eyes would be clouded by knowing the truth.

She cherished the moment when he walked beside her, revealing his whereabouts to her, his gaze fixed solely on her.

Ultimately, the surging honesty was defeated by the sudden surge of greed.

Lin Ruoyin simply lowered her head, avoiding his gaze, and with all the explanations she wanted to say mixed with her rapid heartbeat, she uttered a barely audible "I believe you."

"So, he's serious about you."

Weekend, downtown commercial street.

Shen Yuqing's eyes gleamed with gossip.

Lin Ruoyin absentmindedly fiddled with the dress on the clothes rack. Since that night, she felt as if she were carrying a secret in her heart, heavy yet tinged with a hidden sweetness.

"You seem to be getting serious about this too." Shen Yuqing followed Lin Ruoyin, biting her milk tea straw, and carefully observed the smile on her face.

Lin Ruoyin remained silent and walked out of the clothing store.

Shen Yuqing hooked her arm around Lin Ruoyin's and said, feigning seriousness, "No, no, you can't do this to him for real."

Lin Ruoyin looked at Shen Yuqing with a question on her face.

Shen Yuqing chuckled and nuzzled Lin Ruoyin's arm with her shoulder: "What was that famous quote again? 'Men are all the same'?"

Lin Ruoyin's cheeks flushed slightly, and she glared at her reproachfully: "Okay, I admit he's a little different."

"I suddenly feel so cheated. The bet I proposed worked so well, and I only asked for such a small stake. Shouldn't you lend me another necklace as a thank you?"

Lin Ruoyin affectionately squeezed Shen Yuqing's arm, about to say something, when her gaze inadvertently swept across the glass railing of the mall atrium and landed on the entrance of the high-end art supply store downstairs, and she froze instantly.

A very familiar figure was walking out of the store, carrying a paper bag of art supplies.

It's Xu Jia.

Almost simultaneously, Xu Jia also looked up as if sensing something. His gaze cut through the bustling crowd and precisely landed on the two girls holding hands intimately by the railing upstairs.

When their eyes met, they still had smiles on their faces and were chatting happily.

In an instant, Xu Jia frowned, and several seemingly unrelated images flashed through his mind...

Shen Yuqing approached him abruptly several times in succession.

Lin Ruoyin happened to be in the grove when he was stopped by Shen Yuqing.

And then there's this incredibly glaring scene before my eyes.

They are friends, very close friends.

Just as Xu Jia was feeling confused, Lin Ruoyin and Shen Yuqing stiffened slightly in a panic, and then, to no avail, slowly let go of each other's hands.

Xu Jia's face darkened. He took a step forward, not leaving, but heading straight for the escalator.

As he approached step by step, Lin Ruoyin's heart sank to the bottom. The expression on his face was cold and stern that she had never seen before, and his eyes, which were usually calm or occasionally gentle and inquisitive, now seemed to be covered with a layer of ice.

Lin Ruoyin's throat felt a little dry.

Shen Yuqing also sensed that something was wrong. Her smile froze, and she didn't know where to look.

Xu Jia stopped at the escalator entrance. He stood there, waiting for them, his gaze calm yet extremely imposing.

A short while later, the escalator brought Lin Ruoyin and Shen Yuqing to Xu Jia's side...

Lin Ruoyin and Shen Yuqing exchanged a glance, both seeing the same panic and guilt in each other's eyes.

When they stepped down the last step and stood in front of Xu Jia, the air almost froze.

Looking at them, especially Lin Ruoyin's obviously evasive gaze and Shen Yuqing's uneasy expression, Xu Jia's last shred of hope vanished.

The truth is almost laid bare.

But he still spoke, his voice low and emotionless, yet carrying a calm that made Lin Ruoyin's heart clench: "Is there anything you want to explain to me?"

The two girls were still in a state of confusion and stiffness.

Their silence, and the guilty look in their eyes when they exchanged glances, was the best answer.

"Understood."

Xu Jia only said those two words, then turned away without looking at any of them, his back view resolute, and instantly merged into the crowd in the mall.

It took the two girls a while to recover from their bewilderment.

Lin Ruoyin's first reaction was to chase after Xu Jia and explain. But in the blink of an eye, Xu Jia had already disappeared.

“I saw the look in his eyes just now…” Shen Yuqing said with a guilty expression, “I suddenly realized that our bet was really quite unethical…”

Lin Ruoyin's face was pale, and she couldn't say a word. It felt like there was a huge hole in her heart, and cold wind was blowing into it.

She had never regretted it as much as she did at that moment.

The two returned to school dejectedly.

In the dormitory, Shen Yuqing was still sighing in frustration: "What should I do? He must be furious."

Lin Ruoyin sat on the edge of the bed, silent for a long time. The cold, disappointed look in Xu Jia's eyes as he turned to leave the mall kept replaying in her mind.

She suddenly stood up.

"Where are you going?" Shen Yuqing asked.

"Go find him."

"Xu Jia, where are you? I'd like to talk to you, is that alright?"

As soon as the message was sent, Lin Ruoyin ran out of the dormitory building, the evening breeze caressing her cheeks, which were flushed with urgency.

Every few minutes, Lin Ruoyin would check the message, but there was no reply.

So she went to Xu Jia’s rented art studio off-campus. The familiar wooden door was closed. She knocked for a long time, but there was no answer.

She ran to the library again, almost rushing up to the third floor, where the window seat, which had held their quiet companionship countless times, was now empty.

Undeterred, she circled the campus again, searching for places Xu Jia might frequent. The lakeside behind the art building, where he often sketched, was completely deserted.

The phone screen would occasionally light up, but only with irrelevant messages; the chat window she most looked forward to remained silent.

As dusk fell, her panic deepened like the twilight. She was almost at her wit's end, and finally, she ran to the boys' dormitory building.

The boys coming and going cast curious or scrutinizing glances at her, but she ignored them all and stubbornly stood by the dormitory gate.

Time passed second by second. The sky changed from dusky yellow to deep blue, and the streetlights lit up one by one, casting a lonely shadow at her feet.

The evening breeze was cool, making her thin clothes shiver slightly, but she remained motionless. Only when someone with a similar figure appeared would her heart skip a beat, and then she would fall into deeper disappointment.

Just as she was about to be overwhelmed by the cold and despair, that familiar figure finally appeared in the halo of light at the entrance of the dormitory building.

Xu Jiagang returned from outside, carrying a paper bag from the art supply store in the mall. He kept his head down, emanating a low, unapproachable aura. Only when we got closer did he raise his head as if sensing our presence.

Their eyes met.

The light from the streetlamp illuminated Lin Ruoyin's slightly reddened eyes.

Xu Jia was clearly surprised to see her there. He stopped in his tracks, a complex mix of emotions flashing across his eyes—surprise, lingering anger, and perhaps something else—but it was quickly swallowed by a deeper silence. He didn't speak, just watched her quietly.

Lin Ruoyin took a deep breath, the cool air entering her lungs and making her a little more awake. She took two steps forward, stopping a few steps away from him. Her voice was a little hoarse from the long tension and the cold wind, but it was unusually clear: "Xu Jia, can we talk?"

Xu Jia did not answer, but he did not leave either.

"I'm sorry. I do know Shen Yuqing. We did approach you, and we did have our own purposes..."

She noticed his facial expression tighten almost imperceptibly.

“I’m sorry for starting in such an insincere way,” she continued, each word tinged with genuine remorse. “But everything that happened after we met was real.”

She forced herself to meet his cold, scrutinizing gaze. That gaze pierced her heart, but she did not back down.

"Everything we've done since we met, is it all true?" Xu Jia repeated Lin Ruoyin's words, then gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Which part?"

She looked into his eyes, tears welling up, but stubbornly refused to fall. "Can't you sense that I'm attracted to you and want to be serious with you?"

A gentle breeze blew by, ruffling her hair and the hem of his clothes.

Xu Jia silently watched her, observing the undeniable seriousness and regret in her slightly reddened eyes, and her slightly uneven breathing due to nervousness.

The cold anger still lingered in his chest, but the sincerity in those tearful eyes eventually rippled outwards.

He remained silent, but his taut jawline seemed to loosen slightly.

"Are you finished speaking?"

"...That's all."

Xu Jia turned and left without looking back.

That "I'm done talking" was like a period, coldly ending all of Lin Ruoyin's mustered courage and expectations. She watched his back disappear into the night, as if he had taken away all the light and warmth around him as well.

The evening breeze grew cooler, reaching deep into my heart.

For the next few days, Lin Ruoyin seemed to have lost her soul. Daydreaming in class was a common occurrence. In the cafeteria, she would often only touch her food a few times before putting it down. When drawing design sketches, the pen would hover over the paper for a long time, yet she couldn't draw a single smooth line.

However, what she didn't know was that Xu Jia wasn't completely ignoring this.

For example, once on the tree-lined path leading to the art building, he saw her walking side by side with Shen Yuqing in the distance. Shen Yuqing seemed to be trying to tell her something funny to cheer her up, while Lin Ruoyin just lowered her head slightly, her profile appearing exceptionally quiet in the shadows of the trees. She occasionally nodded, the forced smile quickly disappearing. Her whole being seemed shrouded in an invisible, hazy mist.

Several days passed like this. On a weekend evening, she was the only one left in the dormitory. Outside the window, the campus was bustling with weekend activity, and the faint sounds of laughter and chatter made the room seem even more deserted. Lin Ruoyin lay on her side on the bed, her phone screen flashing on and off at her fingertips, the dim light reflecting on her absent-minded face.

She didn't know what else she could do. That bet, which started as a joke, was like a rift she had carved herself, standing between her and him. And Xu Jia's resolute departure seemed to have already given him his answer.

He neither accepts nor forgives.

My heart aches dully whenever I think about this.

Just as she was about to be swallowed by the silent, dull pain, her phone vibrated, and the name that jumped on the screen made Lin Ruoyin's heart stop.

She pressed the answer button with almost trembling hands.

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, then her familiar voice came through.

"Go downstairs."

Lin Ruoyin froze, then instinctively ran to the window. Downstairs, by the dim streetlights, Xu Jia stood there, his shadow stretched long, looking up at her window.

She almost ran downstairs in her slippers, but just as she was about to rush out of the dormitory, Lin Ruoyin stopped abruptly, walked quickly to the mirror, ran her fingers through her hair, and pressed her slightly swollen eye sockets with her fingertips...

Two minutes later, she finished getting ready, turned around, and quickly went downstairs.

The night breeze carried a chill, ruffling her loose hair. She walked quickly, but unconsciously slowed and softened her pace as she approached him. Finally, she stopped a few steps away from him, calming her slightly rapid breathing from jogging and nervousness, and stood before him, looking up at him.

Xu Jia looked at her, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "I've thought about it for a long time."

Lin Ruoyin held her breath nervously.

“I’m very angry,” he said honestly, looking into her eyes.

Lin Ruoyin gritted her teeth, her expression filled with guilt.

“But,” he changed the subject, his tone low and clear, “I don’t want to negate everything because of a foolish start.”

Lin Ruoyin's pupils suddenly dilated.

His gaze was fixed intently on her: "Lin Ruoyin, do you still stand by what you said that day?"

Lin Ruoyin looked into his deep eyes and gasped.

Lin Ruoyin knew which sentence he was referring to.

That's what she wanted to say: she wanted to have a serious relationship with him!

"Yes!" she answered almost immediately.

Xu Jia stared at her, as if searching for the last trace of doubt or joke in her bright eyes. After a long while, his taut jawline relaxed slightly, and his lips, which were always pressed into a straight line, curved upwards in a barely perceptible arc.

He reached out his hand to her, palm up, and waited quietly.

The glow of the streetlight fell on his clean, slender fingers.

“Alright,” his voice held a gentle tone of relief, “Lin Ruoyin, be my girlfriend.”

These words seemed to possess a magical quality, instantly striking Lin Ruoyin.

Looking at his hand with its distinct knuckles, Lin Ruoyin placed her slightly trembling hand into his palm almost without hesitation.

He closed his hand, tightly enveloping her slightly cool hand in his warm palm.

It felt as if a subtle electric current was coursing through their bodies, a tingling sensation reaching their very hearts. Their palms were warmer than the other had imagined, the warmth spreading along their pressed skin, soothing away all the unease and coldness they had felt over the past few days.

He held her hand tightly and whispered, "You're not allowed to lie to me again."

"Yes, I won't lie to you again." Lin Ruoyin's eyes were serious as if she were making a vow, then she couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth and added, "I promise."