To make her lie more convincing, Ruan Yu deliberately got off the bus one stop early and wandered around a nearby bookstore before returning to school. Just as she crossed the pedestrian walkway, she saw Teng Yi’s car parked at the school entrance.

Under the dim streetlights, Teng Yi stood by his car with several others, engaged in conversation, their laughter occasionally filling the air. Among the laughter, she could hear a woman’s coquettish voice.

Ruan Yu should have turned and left, but curiosity drove her forward.

She wanted to see clearly what the girl standing beside Teng Yi looked like, but unfortunately, the girl was turned sideways, and Ruan Yu could only make out her silhouette. The girl was quite tall with curly hair and a curvaceous figure. As she spoke, her arms would sometimes sway, sometimes move in wave-like motions, demonstrating street dance moves as if she might break into dance at any moment.

Was that Fang Wan?

It must be her – the only girl in the Xiyu Street Dance Club, reportedly everyone’s favorite.

Lost in thought, Ruan Yu was startled when Teng Yi suddenly looked in her direction. She quickly hid behind a street tree and, under the cover of darkness and passing vehicles, quietly circled to the back entrance.

This detour caused her to miss the dormitory curfew, but fortunately, the duty dorm manager knew her and let her in without much trouble.

Jian Xiangxiang and the others had already finished their showers. The three of them were lying in bed chatting, and when Ruan Yu came in, they all eagerly sat up to tease her.

“Ruan Ruan, wow, even you’re coming back late now. Come clean – is something going on?”

“No. I just went to the bookstore.”

“Bookstore?” Jian Xiangxiang fell back onto her bed with a groan. “You’re so boring! I was hoping you’d have some romantic encounter out there.”

Everyone laughed.

Ruan Yu ignored them and took her clothes to shower.

When she came out of the shower, the dormitory was quiet. Everyone was in the corner of their beds, occupied with their phones. Xia Qiaofeng was reading a novel, Jian Xiangxiang was on WeChat, and Chen Manbai was browsing Xiaohongshu.

Ruan Yu climbed into bed and closed her eyes, but Teng Yi’s smile lingered in her mind.

If she hadn’t happened to witness Fang Wan’s call today, who knows when she would have come to her senses?

When her father was alive, he always taught her that no matter how much you like something that belongs to someone else, you can’t take it. The same principle applies – no matter how much you like someone else’s boyfriend, you can’t allow yourself to like him.

Ruan Yu sighed deeply.

While her three roommates lay still in their positions, she tossed and turned. Unable to sleep, she took out her phone and opened an app to memorize vocabulary words, but after a long while, she couldn’t remember a single complete word.

When Jian Xiangxiang got up to use the bathroom, she passed by Ruan Yu’s bed and peeked at her phone. Seeing what was on the screen, she reached under Ruan Yu’s blanket and gave her a frustrated pinch.

“Ruan Yu, when we said you were boring, you took it to heart, didn’t you? How can you be so terrifying? Don’t you have any sweet girlish dreams?”

Ruan Yu put away her phone and stared steadily at the light coming from the bathroom.

What are girlish dreams?

Is liking someone a girlish dream?

Even if that person is unreachable? Even if that person’s heart belongs to someone else?

She had no answers. She only knew that, compared to being boring, being unable to control one’s heart was far more terrifying.

Sigh…

She wished she could go back to how things were before. For her, being an emotionless academic achiever was much simpler.