chocolate
Winter vacation quietly drew to a close in February, and the hourglass of time always slipped away with remarkable speed. Those lazy mornings spent in bed, those warm moments spent chatting around the fire, all became fragments of memory, gradually settling with the bells of the new semester.
Today is February 14th, Valentine's Day. The campus is filled with a sweet atmosphere, with cheers and laughter echoing throughout. The girls, blushing and smiling, take out their carefully prepared chocolates and express their affection to their favorite boys. The air seems to be filled with the sweet aroma of chocolate.
At noon, sunlight streamed in through the classroom windows. Gu Hanzhi sat in her seat, her eyes unconsciously drifting to Shen Zhihe's desk next to her. She saw that it was already packed with all kinds of chocolates, their colorful wrappers gleaming in the sunlight, like a gorgeous sea of flowers.
She bit her lip, feeling a pang of bitterness in her heart, and a sour and swollen emotion surging in her chest.
She looked around. The classroom was empty; everyone had taken advantage of their lunch break to enjoy this special holiday atmosphere. Gu Hanzhi took a deep breath, carefully unzipped her schoolbag, and pulled out a delicate chocolate. It was wrapped in a pink heart-shaped package, tied with a small pink bow. It was cute and romantic, just like the love she kept deep in her heart, which she dared not easily express. There was even an envelope inside that Gu Hanzhi had written specifically for Shen Zhihe, but it probably wasn't a love letter.
Her hands trembled slightly, and after a moment's hesitation, she finally gently placed the chocolate on Shen Zhihe's desk. After placing it, she glanced around nervously, fearing she'd be discovered. After all this, her cheeks flushed, her heart pounded, and she couldn't help but glance at the chocolate that held her heart, filled with anticipation and trepidation...
A moment later, Shen Zhihe entered the classroom, his gaze drawn to the mountain of chocolates on his desk. The sun shone brightly against the colorful wrappers, and he frowned slightly, feeling a wave of disgust, though he couldn't find a place to place it. He looked up at Gu Hanzhi beside him, his tone polite and gentle, "Hanzhi, take all these chocolates."
Gu Hanzhi was stunned at first, a flicker of panic in her eyes. If Shen Zhihe didn't accept the chocolates, wouldn't he have a chance to eat the box she had carefully prepared? She subconsciously said eagerly, "After all, these are all gifts from those girls. I should at least accept one." Her voice was filled with deliberate earnestness, and her fingertips unconsciously grasped the corner of her clothes.
Shen Zhihe hadn't expected Gu Hanzhi to say that. He lowered his eyes, scanning the pile of chocolates. After a moment, he reached out and casually picked up a chocolate box. But when he saw the pattern on the box, Gu Hanzhi's breath caught—that was clearly the box he had prepared specially for him!
Shen Zhihe's voice was still indifferent: "A token of your appreciation? Then I'll accept this." After he finished speaking, he gently put the chocolate box aside.
Gu Hanzhi suppressed the ecstasy in her heart, but tried to maintain calm on her face. She reached out and swiftly collected the other chocolates, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but rise slightly.
In the afternoon, at Shen Zhihe's desk, some girls, blushing, shyly yet expectantly, handed over beautifully wrapped chocolates, some even slipping them into neatly folded envelopes. Shen Zhihe always nodded politely when he accepted them, then pushed all the gifts in front of Gu Hanzhi.
Gu Hanzhi curiously opened a square gift box. Tucked between the dark brown chocolates was a piece of letter paper covered in cherry blossoms. She gently unfolded it and just as she glanced at the opening line, "Classmate Chen, from the first moment I saw you, I couldn't help myself..." , her ears instantly flushed, like the sunset glow, and her cheeks also heated up.
Gu Hanzhi's fingertips tightened slightly as she gripped the light pink envelope, and she placed it in front of Shen Zhihe's desk: "This is a love letter from a little girl to you, take a look." The letter rustled in her palm, as if it was hiding a secret that should not be seen by the light.
Shen Zhihe's pen tip left a dot of ink on the draft paper. He lowered his eyes and continued to write exercises, pointing his knuckles at the metal trash can in the classroom: "Please help me crumple the paper and throw it in, thank you." The sunlight slanted across his cold pale profile, coating the careless answer with a thin layer of frost.
"Aren't you curious about what's in it?" Gu Hanzhi handed the envelope to him. The cherry blossom pattern was dazzling. She could hear her own heartbeat, as if it was about to burst through her throat.
The pen rested on its holder. His gaze, like a precise scalpel, sliced through her forced composure. "If you wrote it," he said, his voice rising slightly, a chilling heat at the end, "of course I'd be curious—if someone else wrote it, it was born to end up in the trash."
Gu Hanzhi pinched the draft paper, the ending tone was as sour as if soaked in lemon juice: "Oh, I didn't expect that classmate Shen also wanted to read the love letter I wrote personally?"
Shen Zhihe paused in spinning his pen, a low laugh escaped his throat: "Someone is so jealous, I just had a love letter stuffed into my pocket, I'm also a victim." The tip of the pen drew a winding blue mark on the draft paper, like a vine winding into the heart.
Gu Hanzhi snorted and turned away, her hair brushing against the reddened tips of her ears, like a kitten feigning composure after its fur had flared up. The setting sun gilded her stubborn profile, and even the wrinkles of her school uniform hinted at her unyielding pride.
"How about I buy you a glass of orange soda after school as an apology?" Shen Zhihe's voice was bewitching as he gently scratched her back.
Gu Hanzhi bit her lower lip and hesitated for a moment, rubbing small circles on the ground with her toes. After a long while, she squeezed out a few words from between her teeth: "Well... okay." The camphor tree outside the window rustled, crushing her smile that she had not hidden in the evening breeze.
The school bell suddenly pierced the quiet of the campus. The two walked side by side, their soda bubbles gurgling in the glass. Gu Hanzhi smiled contentedly, the sunlight on her hair swaying gently with her steps. He looked at the girl's puffed cheeks, a soft chuckle escaping his throat, and reached out to wipe the soda foam from the corner of her mouth.
In the evening, Shen Zhihe's fingertips hovered over the heart-shaped chocolate box for a long time. The small electric light on his desk flickered gently, like the anticipation hidden somewhere deep in his heart. When the lid of the box opened, the sweet fragrance of lemon wafted in his face. He stared at the frosted chocolate and suddenly remembered that Gu Hanzhi had placed the chocolate on Shen Zhihe's desk at noon. A slight blush crept into his face.
Shen Zhihe leaned on the windowsill with one elbow, the dusk gilding his silhouette with a gentle golden edge. His fingertips caressed the envelope at the bottom of the gift box. Even though Gu Hanzhi's penmanship was deliberately round and playful, the familiar arc of the pen tip was still like an imprint engraved in his bones and blood. How could he forget the handwriting of the girl he had liked for so long?
It wasn't until he caught a glimpse of the signature, "Student Shen Zhihe, I wish you will soon find the girl you admire," that his eyelashes suddenly fluttered violently. His amber pupils reflected the golden light of the setting sun, a shimmering glint in their depths. The evening breeze lifted the curtains, and he whispered softly to the empty classroom, his last words like shattered moonlight: "Gu Hanzhi, what I want..." His Adam's apple rolled, and the unspoken words were lost in the deepening night. "It has always been only you."
Shen Zhihe took a piece of chocolate and placed it in his mouth. The tip of his tongue touched the dense texture, and the sourness and sweetness exploded on his taste buds. It was exactly his favorite lemon flavor. The sunset outside the window had intensified without him noticing, dyeing the smile in the corners of his eyes a gentle orange.
This Valentine's Day has come to a successful close. The aroma of chocolate still lingers in my nose, and sweet memories are deeply rooted in my heart. Those romantic moments, like tiny starlight, embellish the ordinary years.
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