My best friend's little thoughts
Not every story with a cliché beginning will have a cliché ending, especially when the protagonist is such an extraordinary person as Li Jiaqi.
Ever since she found out that Fu Jia had accepted her chocolate, she had been making all sorts of speculations and harboring all sorts of thoughts. She felt that Fu Jia must have noticed her and liked her too: Otherwise, why would he go to the playground to play ball before she went for a walk? If I didn't go, he would stay in the classroom? Otherwise, why did she always see his gaze sweeping over her from time to time, only to quickly turn away when he noticed? Otherwise, why would he deliberately say loudly when she passed by that the girl he liked was the kind of fair-skinned, small, cute girl who looked like a steamed bun? She felt that all of Fu Jia's actions were hints to her, and she even felt that every time she came to talk to Xia Tong during breaks, Fu Jia would deliberately bully Xia Tong to get her attention.
But, sensitive and sentimental girls, when you're secretly pleased that your crush is giving you an extra glance, have you ever noticed that there might be another girl standing next to you?
After enjoying this secret delight for two weeks, Li Jiaqi finally couldn't contain her urges and began to act. She first subtly hinted at her intentions to befriend Fu Jia, but Fu Jia didn't respond. Later, after a PE class, Li Jiaqi followed Fu Jia into the school's small supermarket. When no one was around, she called out to Fu Jia, who was choosing drinks at the freezer. Then, when Fu Jia turned around, she shyly lowered her head and stammered, not saying a word. Fu Jia, impatient with this girl who suddenly appeared and kept talking to him, naturally lacked any gentlemanly manners. He grabbed a drink and walked into the supermarket.
Li Jiaqi quickly followed, and after a moment's hesitation, she asked in a soft, gentle voice, "Did you eat the chocolate that Xia Tong brought you on Christmas Eve last time?"
"Is this it?" Fu Jia reached out and took a box of chocolates from the shelf.
"Uh? Oh, yes, yes." Li Jiaqi was momentarily confused when she saw Fu Jia holding the same chocolate that she had given him last time, but then quickly nodded.
Fu Jia took a box of chocolates and a bottle of drink and headed to the cashier. Li Jiaqi, of course, couldn't let this rare opportunity to be alone slip by, and made conversation: "So you really like this brand of chocolate! What a coincidence!"
"I don't really like it either," Fu Jia replied as she paid.
"Then you..." Li Jiaqi was completely confused this time. Before she could think about it, the box of chocolates was slapped into her arms. Fu Jia, who had been walking in front, finally turned around and faced her directly: "Here you go."
"What's the meaning?"
"It's pointless, I'm not interested in you." Fu Jia simply opened the can of drink and took two big gulps. Talking to this girl is so tedious, she just had to be so direct.
Upon hearing this, Li Jiaqi's face immediately turned from red to white. If this kind of confession failure happened to an ordinary, shy girl, she would either run away crying or walk away silently. But as I said, Li Jiaqi was no ordinary girl. She put aside her shyness and asked coldly, "Then who are you interested in?"
Fu Jia put down her drink and looked at her with surprise: "This has nothing to do with you, right?" Then she walked past her and headed straight for the teaching building, leaving her on the main road.
Before Li Jiaqi could react, Fu Jia turned back and said, "I hope you stay away from Xia Tong. Don't take advantage of her just because she seems naive and easy to fool." With that, she turned and left.
Rejected and given a sharp rebuke, Li Jiaqi returned to the classroom indignantly with the box of chocolates. She didn't even glance at Xia Tong as she passed by her seat, and went straight back to her own, leaving Xia Tong, who wanted to greet her, standing there awkwardly with her hand raised.
Li Jiaqi returned to her seat, threw the chocolates on the table, and sat there sulking. Chen Cheng, who was behind her, immediately teased, "Hey, who gave this to you? Why is it so popular to give this kind of chocolate these days? Wasn't this the same kind that Xia Tong gave to Fu Jia when she confessed to him last time? Hey, it's exactly the same." Chen Cheng reached for the box of chocolates that had been thrown, stroking his chin as he examined it.
"Xia Tong is Fu Jia's sister! Confess to me, you idiot!" Li Jiaqi got along well with the boys around her. In middle school, looks weren't important; a lively and outgoing personality was what mattered.
"No, I didn't know that. Who said that?"
"Xia Tong is all by herself!"
"Really?! My god, I always thought Fu Jia liked Xia Tong! He kept this from me?! He doesn't treat me like a brother at all!" Chen Cheng was stunned by the news and immediately turned around to pat Lu Yuan, who was sitting behind him: "I'll tell you a huge secret: Xia Tong is actually Fu Jia's sister!"
Lu Yuan was engrossed in his basketball newspaper, not even looking up: "It's fake."
"It's true! Xia Tong said it herself!" Chen Cheng said confidently.
"It's fake." Lu Yuan shook the newspaper, emphasizing his words, but still didn't look up at him.
"I know you can hardly believe it either, but we've been wrong all along. Fu Jia's attitude toward his sister is really strange..." Chen Cheng continued rambling on.
"I was their elementary school classmate for six years." Lu Yuan finally couldn't stand the boy who kept nagging like a gossip interrupting his newspaper reading. He looked up and calmly stated this fact. Chen Cheng also quieted down. Thinking back to how Fu Jia usually treated Xia Tong, how could he possibly treat her like a younger sister? Wasn't he just a bad boy who had designs on her and tried every means to attract her attention?
"Think more before you act in the future. Also, do you still have a basketball newspaper with you?" Lu Yuan gave him a disdainful look, then reached out his hand.
"Um... I've returned everything to you. If there's anything missing, I don't know who took it." Chen Cheng began to stammer.
"Then I'll believe you if you let me flip your table over."
"Hey--Don't move--Don't--"
"Damn it, Chen Cheng, are you looking for death?! You dare to cut up my newspaper?!"
"It's just a newspaper, you're so stingy..."
"I haven't even looked at it yet, and you're already arguing!"
"·····"
Neither of them noticed that Li Jiaqi, who had overheard their conversation, was now clenching his fists and looking ashen-faced.
What?! You think my sister is happy to receive chocolates?! Do you think I'm stupid?!
Before evening self-study, Xia Tong always spent dinner time with Li Jiaqi. Sometimes, Li Jiaqi would skip dinner to lose weight and drag Xia Tong to the playground to exercise, and Xia Tong would go hungry with her, though she would inevitably eat more when they got home. But today, Li Jiaqi left with her other friends without waiting for Xia Tong. Xia Tong finished a problem and only saw her receding figure. She felt a little disappointed and vaguely sensed that Li Jiaqi was angry with her.
Before evening self-study, Xia Tong went to Li Jiaqi's seat, which was towards the back. Li Jiaqi was chatting happily with her deskmate, and when Xia Tong called her, she pretended not to hear. Since most of the boys were sitting at the back of the classroom, Xia Tong felt particularly uncomfortable standing there. "Li Jiaqi, Li Jiaqi, do you want some candy? I just bought some milk candy." She then placed a tube of candy on Li Jiaqi's desk. Only then did Li Jiaqi turn around, her previously smiling face instantly turning icy cold. With a flick of her wrist, the tube of candy rolled off the desk and onto the floor.
Xia Tong was extremely surprised: "What's wrong with you?"
Li Jiaqi sneered, "Don't you know what you've done?" Then she turned back to chat with her deskmate.
Xia Tong silently picked up the candy that had been thrown on the ground and returned to her seat. She didn't know if anyone behind her was watching, but she felt extremely embarrassed, and also felt wronged and sad. She sat there thinking for half the class about what bad things she had done these past few days, and then used the remaining half of the class to write a letter.
After writing and folding the note, she asked Fu Jia's deskmate to pass it on. She rarely passed notes, afraid of bothering others and being bothered herself. But this time she went all out, for this friend with whom she had gotten along so well for the first time since childhood, for the friendship she cherished.
Fu Jia saw it and immediately snatched the letter from her deskmate: "What is this? 'For Li Jiaqi'? What secrets could you two have to say? Let me check it." She then started to open the letter.
"Give it back to me!" Xia Tong immediately lunged forward, her body incredibly close to Fu Jia in that instant of struggle. Fu Jia was momentarily stunned, and the letter in his hand was snatched away. He hadn't expected the usually petite and timid Xia Tong to be so fierce, nor had he expected her to be so close to him. He could almost feel the strange touch of Xia Tong's hair brushing against his face, the soft sensation of her small hands pushing against his shoulder, and perhaps the lingering scent of her usual laundry detergent.
Fu Jia clutched her rapidly beating heart and grinned mischievously at Xia Tong: "Don't get excited—don't get excited!"
Xia Tong held the letter she had snatched back, carefully smoothing out the wrinkles, muttering under her breath, "Has no morals at all? Peeping at other people's letters."
Fu Jia wanted to experience being close to Xia Tong again, so he shamelessly stuck his head near Xia Tong's mouth and said, "What did you just say? I didn't hear you. Say it again."
Fu Jia's ear was almost touching Xia Tong's, and his lower body was right next to her shoulder. From a distance, it looked as if Fu Jia was leaning on Xia Tong's shoulder. Xia Tong was startled and pushed him away with one hand, her hand feeling quite uncomfortable from his short and stiff hair: "What are you doing? I didn't say anything."
Fu Jia's deskmate, Liu Yufan, was a boy who spoke somewhat rudely but was very thoughtful in his actions. He handed the letter that Xia Tong had asked him to pass to the back of the room, and then pulled Fu Jia back with one hand: "Stop fucking being a slut here, look at you, you pervert!"
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I haven't been able to log into JJ for the past two days, so I'm posting two chapters as compensation.
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