“So you fell for me at first sight since university.” Zhou Jingze lowered his neck to look at her, his narrow eyes overflowing with scattered bits of amusement.

Xu Sui snatched her cup back from his hands, her eyelashes trembling slightly, saying nothing.

Was it from university? Zhou Jingze should never know this answer.

On Friday, they had plans to eat together. Xu Sui had to work overtime unexpectedly and sent Zhou Jingze a message, telling him to find a café in the mall to sit in first, and she’d be there later.

Soon, the screen lit up again. Zhou Jingze replied with a brief message: 【Alright.】

Zhou Jingze sat in the café, ordered an iced Americano, scrolled through news, then watched a ball game. Zhou Jingze sat there with a lazy posture, holding his phone with a section of his wrist exposed, the blue veins on the back of his hand prominent. He was looking down, his profile alluring.

He was watching the game when a shadow suddenly fell before him, with an obvious scent of women’s perfume. It wasn’t Xu Sui. Zhou Jingze didn’t even lift his head.

Not only did the shadow before him not leave, but it moved an inch closer.

Zhou Jingze thought the other person had no seat and wanted to share the table, so he moved the promotional flyers from the table, his eyes still watching the game on screen.

The other person chuckled “pfft,” and a pleasant female voice spoke: “Zhou Jingze, after all these years, you’re still the same.”

That cool, aloof appearance, only caring about things that interested him.

No matter how hard others tried their best, they couldn’t catch his attention.

Only then did Zhou Jingze look up. The moment he recognized the other person’s face, he very lightly quirked the corner of his mouth, his magnetic voice sounding:

“Long time no see, Bai Yuyue.”

Bai Yuyue raised an eyebrow, pulled out a chair to sit across from him, joking: “Interview question – how does it feel to see one of your many ex-girlfriends?”

Zhou Jingze turned off his phone screen, raised his brow bone, and smiled: “How does it feel? Tsk, seems like no particular feeling.”

Bai Yuyue picked up her phone to order coffee. Hearing Zhou Jingze’s answer, she wasn’t surprised.

It wouldn’t be Zhou Jingze if he looked back.

Both were in a relaxed state. Bai Yuyue waved the ring on her finger at him, saying she recently got engaged, and talked about her work. She also said: “Oh, when we had our symposium, I ran into Xu Sui. You don’t know – she’s completely different from her timid, quiet appearance during school days. Much more beautiful now, and very capable…”

As soon as she mentioned Xu Sui, she noticed Zhou Jingze’s originally weary, indifferent expression suddenly became much more alert, his eyes lowered as he listened attentively.

Bai Yuyue felt displeased and asked: “No way, you’re still obsessing over Xu Sui? What’s so special about her?”

Her looks weren’t the striking, gorgeous type, and her personality wasn’t Zhou Jingze’s preference either.

“Her…” Zhou Jingze’s voice lowered, squinting as if thinking of something: “She’s special in every way.”

Bai Yuyue gave him a thumbs up. With that answer, she had nothing to say. She changed the subject and continued chatting about their university classmates’ current situations.

Just then, a server passed by. Bai Yuyue turned to call them over to add desserts, and immediately spotted Xu Sui who had just entered.

Xu Sui clearly saw them too.

Zhou Jingze made to get up, but Bai Yuyue signaled with her eyes for him to sit down, saying: “Aren’t you in a probation period? If you want to become permanent, sit down.”

Bai Yuyue’s intention was that surely Xu Sui would get jealous.

Zhou Jingze resumed chatting with Bai Yuyue. Sometimes she talked about how good and devoted her current fiancé was, sometimes she cupped her chin while looking at the man before her and sighed:

“Male classmates our age are either fat or disgustingly greasy, but you become more charming as you age. You even still have that youthful air about you.”

Zhou Jingze lifted his eyes in a carelessly amused smile, clearly not really listening to Bai Yuyue. From the moment Xu Sui entered this café, his gaze only followed her.

They were all wrong.

Seeing Zhou Jingze with Bai Yuyue, Xu Sui didn’t rush him or show any reaction. She chose another seat to sit down, and when the server came to take her order, she even smiled at them.

Zhou Jingze discovered she didn’t care at all who he was with.

She wasn’t jealous.

After reaching this conclusion, Zhou Jingze felt a knot in his heart, an indescribable stuffiness.

Xu Sui had just gotten off work and brought her laptop home. After sitting down, she casually opened her laptop and began organizing work-related emails. She hadn’t been organizing for long when a male voice sounded from across her, his tone hesitant:

“Hello, could I have your phone number?”

Xu Sui looked up just about to speak when a cold voice cut in. Zhou Jingze had somehow walked over. He raised his eyes to look over, his tongue pressing against his left cheek, his tone arrogant:

“What do you think are the odds she’d be interested in you versus me?”

The man awkwardly withdrew his gaze, said sorry to them, and left.

Zhou Jingze took Xu Sui away. They went to eat Singaporean food together. When he poured tea for Xu Sui, he actively brought up the earlier topic: “Aren’t you curious what Bai Yuyue and I talked about?”

Xu Sui sipped her tea, raised her eyelashes. It seemed like because Zhou Jingze actively mentioned this, she reluctantly engaged: “What did you talk about?”

“Said that someone doesn’t like me as much as I like her now.” Zhou Jingze’s tone was casual, but his eyes looked directly at her.

Xu Sui blinked once and didn’t answer this question directly, but jokingly responded: “Is that so? Then she’s quite ungrateful.”

On the weekend, Xu Sui stayed home to rest. At ten o’clock, the doorbell rang. Opening the door, it was a courier delivering packages.

Xu Sui had recently bought a desk and floor bookshelf online, plus other deliveries had also arrived. She signed for them all.

Xu Sui planned to assemble the desk and floor bookshelf in the morning, then tidy up in the afternoon before going out to see an exhibition and have dinner.

However, she overestimated her hands-on abilities. After assembling for less than ten minutes, Xu Sui looked at the desk leg nailed to the table with another wooden board that wouldn’t fit no matter what, and completely broke down.

Xu Sui’s hand was also cut by wood splinters. She found a band-aid to put on it, decided to set the desk aside first, and try the floor bookshelf. This turned out to be even harder to assemble. She was completely clueless, even thinking this was harder to memorize than medical terminology.

She sat dejectedly on the floor, took a photo of the pile of wooden boards, and posted on social media to complain:

【This is too difficult for me. I should have just bought from IKEA directly.】

Xu Sui also added a Psyduck breakdown emoji. After posting, she casually placed her phone on the floor. Soon, the screen lit up.

She picked up her phone to see Zhou Jingze had sent a message. Even through the screen, she could feel his displeasure, word by word:

【Did you forget you have a probationary boyfriend?】

Xu Sui felt a bit embarrassed. She had indeed forgotten, mainly because over the years, when encountering many situations while alone, she could only handle them by herself.

Half an hour later, Zhou Jingze came visiting. Soon, the young master effortlessly assembled the bookshelf and put together the desk quite easily too.

Zhou Jingze had an instruction manual card in his mouth, his long black eyelashes hanging down. In no time, he had both items done. Xu Sui poured him a glass of water to express her gratitude.

The man raised an eyebrow, didn’t take it, but drank two sips from her hands instead.

After everything was finished, Zhou Jingze nestled on the sofa. Just as he opened his phone, he received a message from Sheng Nanzhou.

Sheng Nanzhou sent a bitter smile emoji, saying: 【She won’t see me.】

Zhou Jingze pressed his thumb on the phone screen, typed in the dialogue box and sent: 【Do you want her to come back or not?】

If it were him, he’d have tied the person back long ago.

Putting his phone aside, Zhou Jingze remembered something and asked: “There’s a high school class reunion next week. You should have received an invitation. Going?”

“What invitation?” Xu Sui looked puzzled.

Xu Sui remembered there was still a pile of unopened packages. She walked over, took a paper knife to open one package, and an invitation card plus a name tag fell out.

The invitation read: Tianjie Middle School Twelve-Year Class Reunion, cordially inviting student Xu Sui to participate. We’re waiting for you at Tianzhong.

It included a gathering address and required everyone to bring their Tianzhong school uniform and name tag, supposedly for a time machine mailbox viewing activity.

Xu Sui picked up the name tag from the table. In neat small seal script, stroke by stroke, it was carved: Grade 1 (Class 3), Xu Sui.

For a moment, the walls of deliberately sealed memories in her mind collapsed. She lowered her eyelashes, fingertips caressing the name tag, not knowing what she was thinking.

Finally, Xu Sui said to Zhou Jingze: “I should go, but don’t say we’re together.”

Zhou Jingze had just opened a can of carbonated drink. With a “click,” the pull-tab fell to the ground at the same time as her voice. He subconsciously narrowed his eyes, asking with some displeasure:

“I’ve found you don’t like me as much as before.”

Otherwise, why would she want to hide and conceal even at this kind of class reunion?