Zhou An Ran and Xing Qian Yan walked arm in arm into the classroom, coincidentally encountering Chen Dong at the front door as he was about to leave.
Chen Dong paused, his tone dripping with disdain: “Xing Qian Yan, you’ve already transferred out. What are you doing in our class?”
Xing Qian Yan rolled her eyes dramatically at him: “None of your business. Don’t you know a good dog doesn’t block the way?”
Chen Dong retorted: “By ‘good dog,’ you mean yourself, right?”
These two still bickered every time they met, even after being separated into different classes.
But Zhou An Ran was still worried about the person called away by the homeroom teacher. She had no interest in watching them argue, so she released Xing Qian Yan’s hand: “You two chat first.”
Xing Qian Yan immediately linked arms with her again: “No way, I have nothing to chat about with him.”
With that, she shouldered past Chen Dong and pulled Zhou An Ran inside.
Shu Xian Zhang hadn’t arrived yet, so Zhou An Ran sat in her seat.
Xing Qian Yan sat down in An Ran’s spot and, noticing her friend’s tightly pressed lips, comforted her: “Don’t worry. We’re talking about Luo Bai Chen here. Which teacher would dare to do anything to him?”
Zhou An Ran still felt a heaviness in her heart: “But—”
But she didn’t know if the homeroom teacher had called him away because of what they’d just witnessed.
Moreover, his every move was under scrutiny. Ever since last month when he publicly brought her food to cheer her up in the classroom, rumors about their possible romantic involvement had never ceased.
“No buts,” Xing Qian Yan leaned on her desk. “You just love to overthink things. Didn’t he say it was probably something good? If you don’t believe him, at least believe me.”
Zhou An Ran: “…”
He always liked to tease her, often speaking half-truths. She couldn’t be certain if what he’d just said was entirely true.
Just like she still couldn’t be certain about his true feelings.
But Zhou An Ran didn’t want Xing Qian Yan to worry along with her, so she softly replied, “Mm.”
Xing Qian Yan pointed at her schoolbag: “Then hurry up and see what he gave you!”
Zhou An Ran had been so preoccupied with worrying about him that she’d forgotten he’d put something in her bag.
She unzipped it to find a small black gift box inside.
Zhou An Ran opened the box to reveal a little rabbit charm that could be attached to her school bag.
“Oh, this little rabbit looks a bit like you,” Xing Qian Yan leaned in, poking the rabbit as if she’d stumbled upon something amusing. She laughed, sprawling across the desk, “White and soft. He’s quite good at picking gifts, isn’t he?”
Zhou An Ran also poked the little rabbit, her lips curving into a slight smile.
Soon after, Shu Xian Zhang arrived as well.
Xing Qian Yan chatted with the two of them for a while longer before heading upstairs to her classroom as the morning self-study session was about to begin.
As the warning bell rang, Zhou An Ran looked back once more.
His seat was still empty.
Zhou An Ran’s heart sank a little more.
Why hasn’t he come back yet?
What on earth is the homeroom teacher discussing with him?
Zhou An Ran turned back, somewhat distracted as she memorized vocabulary words. His voice hadn’t come from behind her, but just a second before the morning study bell rang, she heard the slight scraping of a chair behind her. It seemed the boy who sat behind her had arrived.
Then, something lightly tapped her shoulder.
Zhou An Ran, assuming it was the person behind passing forward homework, didn’t think much of it. Without turning around, she reached back to take it.
After receiving it, she realized something was off. The object in her hand was heavier than the usual homework or test papers.
Zhou An Ran looked down.
What had been passed to her from behind was an open loose-leaf notebook with a line of familiar, vigorous handwriting.
“Do you like the gift?”
Zhou An Ran froze, suddenly turning around.
The person called away by the homeroom teacher had somehow taken the seat behind her. The school’s blue and white uniform always looked particularly fresh on him. The boy was casually twirling a black pen in one hand, his chin resting on the other, dark eyes twinkling with amusement.
Zhou An Ran’s gaze unexpectedly met his, causing her heart to skip a beat. She quickly turned back around.
The morning self-study had already begun, and Zhou An Ran didn’t dare keep turning back and forth. After steadying her heartbeat, she lowered her head, her shoulder-length black hair hiding her slightly warm ears. She picked up her pen and wrote beneath his line: “I like it.”
The boy’s handwriting was bold and confident.
Her writing looked so small compared to his.
Somehow, it made those two little words “I like it” seem oddly intimate.
But she did like it, and she couldn’t bring herself to lie and say she didn’t.
Zhou An Ran bit her lip, then decided to add two more questions she wanted to ask him: “Why are you sitting behind me now? What did Teacher Gao want to discuss with you?”
With the additional string of words, it finally looked less suggestive.
Zhou An Ran glanced around, and seeing that the teacher hadn’t arrived, she carefully passed the notebook back to him.
A few seconds later, her shoulder was tapped again.
Zhou An Ran took it back and saw a new line of his handwriting below hers.
“You’ll find out later.”
Zhou An Ran wrinkled her nose.
Why was he being so mysterious?
She fiddled with her pen.
He’d given her a gift, so it shouldn’t be a problem to ask one more question, right?
Zhou An Ran lowered her head and wrote back: “Can’t I know now?”
A few seconds later, he replied: “No, haven’t you watched TV dramas? You need to leave some suspense to hook the audience.”
Zhou An Ran: “…”
Where did he come up with all these ridiculous ideas?
He wasn’t a TV drama.
And she wasn’t his audience.
But somehow, her lips still curved into a faint smile.
*
After the morning self-study session, Zhou An Ran accompanied Shu Xian Zhang to the restroom.
When they returned through the back door, she noticed that the sixth seat in the second row was empty, as was the seat behind her. She didn’t know where he had gone.
Zhou An Ran and Shu Xian Zhang were walking hand in hand towards their seats when a boy from their class suddenly rushed past, hurriedly shouting “Excuse me!” as he ran towards the back. Zhou An Ran and Shu Xian Zhang let go of each other’s hands and stepped aside to make way for him.
In doing so, Zhou An Ran accidentally knocked a book off the desk behind her. After the boy had passed, she bent down to pick it up. As she glanced at the desk behind her, she felt something was slightly off.
She didn’t think much of it and picked up the math book that had fallen to the ground.
Just as she stood up straight, Zhou An Ran heard a deep voice behind her, still with that familiar, amused tone.
“I step away for just a moment, and you’re already rummaging through my things?”
?
Zhou An Ran turned around, holding the math book: “How did this become your stuff?”
Even though he had switched to sit behind her for the morning self-study session if he were to bring books over, wouldn’t it be English or Chinese?
Luo Bai Chen casually leaned on the desk behind her, raising an eyebrow slightly: “Don’t believe me? Take a look yourself.”
Zhou An Ran opened the math book cover and immediately saw a large, flamboyant signature on the first page—
“Chen Luo Bai”
Zhou An Ran: “?”
How was it his book?
She looked up at him, then down at the desk beside her, finally realizing the source of that slight sense of incongruity from earlier.
The arrangement of books on the desk was different from before. It wasn’t particularly neat, but it wasn’t messy either. It seemed more like his style.
A thought flashed through her mind, but before she could grasp it, she saw Ran Zhu push him from behind: “If you want to talk to Zhou An Ran, why don’t you stand on her side? Why are you blocking the way?”
Luo Bai Chen moved aside.
Ran Zhu passed by him and sat down at the desk behind Shu Xian Zhang.
There was no need to grasp at that thought anymore.
The facts seemed to be right in front of her eyes.
Zhou An Ran’s heart was filled with surprise and a sense of disbelief. She looked up at him with wide eyes: “You guys moved to sit behind us?”
Luo Bai Chen’s lips curled into a smile: “I told you it was good news.”
Zhou An Ran’s heart skipped a beat.
Was changing seats good news?
Or was sitting behind her, for him, a good thing?
Zhou An Ran didn’t dare to ask him.
She still wasn’t brave enough to openly reveal her feelings in front of him.
Zhou An Ran put the math textbook back on his desk and said softly: “Class is about to start.”
Luo Bai Chen watched her replace the book, and seeing that she intended to go back to her seat, he lowered his eyelashes: “Zhou An Ran, are you always this cold to your new deskmate?”
Zhou An Ran: “…?”
Cold?
What did he expect her to do?
“Not at all,” she tentatively argued in a low voice, “Should I throw you a welcome party or something?”
Luo Bai Chen: “A welcome party isn’t necessary.”
Zhou An Ran felt slightly relieved.
The next second, Luo Bai Chen suddenly leaned towards her, supporting himself on the desk. His tall figure loomed over her, his dark eyes gazing directly at her. His voice was low and close, resonating near her ear.
“Just say ‘welcome, new deskmate’ for me to hear.”
Zhou An Ran’s heart rate instantly skyrocketed due to his sudden proximity.
Although he always maintained a certain distance.
But this was in the classroom.
Her face suddenly flushed, and she retreated two steps as if escaping: “Class is really about to start.”
She didn’t look at him again and lowered her head to sit back in her seat. But she faintly heard the boy laugh very softly as if he was particularly pleased after teasing her.
Shu Xian Zhang, who had witnessed the entire scene from the side, couldn’t help but write a note and pass it to Ran Zhu’s desk.
“I feel like we’re completely superfluous here.”
Ran Zhu quickly replied: “Not just us two. Don’t you feel like our entire class is pretty superfluous?”
Zhou An Ran didn’t notice the two of them passing notes. By the time the warning bell rang, her heartbeat had only slightly calmed down. It was then that she belatedly realized something was amiss.
The homeroom teacher had specifically called him for such a long chat this morning. It couldn’t have been just for this small matter of changing seats, right?
But if it was because of the “rumors” about the two of them circulating in school, it seemed unlikely that they would agree to let him move to sit behind her.
Zhou An Ran pondered for a moment but couldn’t come up with an answer. The bell for the official start of class had already rung. She suppressed her curiosity, deciding not to ask him again. After all, asking him didn’t guarantee an answer, and she might end up being teased instead.
Regardless, his moving to sit behind her couldn’t possibly be a bad sign.
The first monthly exam of the new semester was scheduled for the second day after returning to school.
Before Zhou An Ran could fully experience what it felt like to have him sitting behind her, she found herself in the exam room the next day.
Her rankings in the final exam and the last monthly exam of the previous semester were the same, so she was seated in the same position as the previous semester’s final exam.
The first subject in the morning was mathematics.
After arriving at the exam room, Zhou An Ran took out her pencil case, water bottle, and other tools from her schoolbag one by one.
Just as she was about to zip up her bag after taking out the last item, she suddenly heard a knock on the window beside her.
Zhou An Ran turned her head.
A tall boy in a school uniform stood at the window, casting a large shadow. His eyes were filled with amusement. If it weren’t for the morning sun shining from the other side of the classroom, leaving no golden light dancing on his shoulders, the scene before her would have been almost identical to the end of last semester’s exam.
This time, Zhou An Ran didn’t fumble with her things in surprise at seeing him, but her heart still quickened.
Mainly because he always drew attention no matter where he appeared.
Most of the people in the exam room were from other classes, unlike their classmates who had grown somewhat accustomed to their interactions. As soon as he stood by her window, all eyes in the exam room turned towards them.
Zhou An Ran tried hard to ignore these gazes and reminded him: “The exam is about to start.”
Luo Bai Chen responded with a casual “Mm” and said: “Hold out your hand.”
Zhou An Ran blinked: “What for?”
Luo Bai Chen: “Just hold it out first.”
Zhou An Ran’s ears warmed slightly as she continued to pretend the entire exam room didn’t exist and obediently extended her hand toward him.
A cool sensation touched her hand.
The boy placed a bottle of fresh milk in her palm.
“Good luck on your exam,” he said.