That weekend, the competition was held at a distant theater. Fearing she’d be late, Lu Yan got up before seven.

There weren’t many people on the streets, traffic was smooth, and even the bus was emptier than usual.

But when Lu Yan transferred to the subway, that feeling of being watched returned.

Previously, it had only happened in the evening. This was the first time during the day. Lu Yan’s heart pounded, but taking comfort in the crowd around her, she carefully surveyed her surroundings.

Being weekend morning, the subway car held only elderly people returning from the park and students like herself carrying backpacks.

After observing everyone, Lu Yan wondered: was someone following her, or was she just too stressed lately and imagining things?

She arrived at the theater before eight. Many teachers and students from Seventh Middle School had come to support Lu Yan and the others, along with students from other schools, all gathering at the entrance.

Seeing Deng Man and Tang Jie, Lu Yan told them about the strange occurrences of recent days, but before they could discuss it further, the competition was starting.

Jiang Chengyi and Wang Na were assigned to Group A, while Lu Yan and Yu Mao were in Group B.

Group A went first.

By the time Lu Yan came down from her performance, Jiang Chengyi and Wang Na had long finished.

The theater had many rooms. After the competition, following the teacher’s instructions, she and Yu Mao went to wait for the results in an empty backstage room.

Other school students were there too, all discussing the competition. Jiang Chengyi and Wang Na were also present.

Jiang Chengyi seemed to know a student from another school. When Lu Yan entered, he was talking with that person.

Yu Mao was anxious about the results. After exchanging a few words with Lu Yan, he nervously took out his phone to make calls.

Wang Na wasn’t much better than Yu Mao. To distract herself, she seemed eager to join Jiang Chengyi’s conversation, but he didn’t give her the chance. After standing around for a while, she came to Lu Yan’s side and smiled nervously: “Wonder when the results will be out.”

Lu Yan had been quite confident, but after seeing other schools’ contestants perform, she realized there were always stronger competitors. Especially since Yu Mao had performed poorly due to nerves, which might have affected their results, she was completely uncertain about whether they could place.

After waiting a while, the results came out. Jiang Chengyi and Wang Na successfully made the top three, while Lu Yan and Yu Mao’s team missed the finals by 0.5 points, placing fourth.

This was Lu Yan’s first time not qualifying in such an inter-school competition. Learning the results, she felt dejected, shouldered her bag, and left the room glumly.

Yu Mao caught up with her, full of apology: “Lu Yan, I’m so sorry. If I hadn’t been so nervous, I wouldn’t have dragged you down and kept us from the finals.”

This kind of competition tested teamwork – it was about both people. How could Yu Mao take all the blame?

She quickly shook her head, comforting him: “Fourth place is still good. We didn’t make the finals this year, but there’s always next year. If we get another chance to compete, we’ll just do better then.”

Yu Mao still felt very guilty and said: “Lu Yan, you must be thirsty. I’ll go buy you a drink.”

He ran off before Lu Yan could refuse.

Lu Yan took a few steps when Wang Na rushed past her like a gust of wind, calling her parents as she ran: “Mom, Dad, I made it to the finals!” She looked delighted.

After a while, Jiang Chengyi came out too, and when passing Lu Yan, he actually gave her a sideways glance.

Lu Yan was already feeling low, and meeting Jiang Chengyi’s gaze, she felt he was deliberately showing off as a victor. Her frustration intensified, and she couldn’t help glaring back.

She regretted it immediately. If she could calmly and objectively comfort Yu Mao, what right did she have to take out her anger on Jiang Chengyi? That glare had been quite unreasonable.

He paused slightly.

Lu Yan felt extremely embarrassed and quickly turned to look out the window.

The theater maintained its colonial-style architecture from the last century – red-painted wooden floors, wide floor-to-ceiling windows, and everything in sight was classically clean. For stylistic unity, even the backyard was filled with lush banana trees. Looking out the window, she was overwhelmed by the verdant view.

At some point, most students had left, leaving only her and Jiang Chengyi in the vast corridor.

Jiang Chengyi took a few steps, then stopped, standing neither far nor close, just a few steps away from her.

Sensing he wasn’t leaving, she pretended to be calm, but her heart was pounding and her back unconsciously straightened.

Just then, Yu Mao returned, followed by Tang Jie and Deng Man.

“Lu Yan,” they called, running over.

“Oh, Jiang Chengyi,” Yu Mao and Tang Jie slowed their steps upon reaching them.

Deng Man, having already noticed something between Lu Yan and Jiang Chengyi, wasn’t as surprised as Tang Jie. She just pulled Lu Yan aside and said: “Let’s go. Didn’t you say someone’s been following you lately? While it’s still early, let Tang Jie and I walk you home.”

Yu Mao had bought many drinks and was about to distribute them when he heard this. Surprised, he said: “Following? Lu Yan, someone’s following you?”

Jiang Chengyi had been about to leave but stopped upon hearing this.

Tang Jie said: “Lu Yan only suspects it since she hasn’t seen the stalker. But with so many creeps in society these days, it probably isn’t Lu Yan’s imagination. Don’t know who’s so evil to keep scaring Lu Yan like this. They’d better not let us catch them, or I’ll beat them to death.”

Back home, worried about her safety, Tang Jie and Deng Man stayed at Lu Yan’s place all afternoon before leaving.

On Monday at basketball practice, Lu Yan didn’t see Jiang Chengyi. She later learned that since he and Wang Na had made it to the finals, they would be in intensive training during this period.

Walking home that evening was peaceful, making Lu Yan secretly relieved. However, the next day, that feeling of being watched returned.

This time, Lu Yan was truly scared. As soon as her mother came home, she told her about it.

Worried about her daughter’s safety, her mother personally took Lu Yan to school the next day and decided to drive her to and from school every day starting next week.

On Wednesday, when Lu Yan went to the gymnasium for practice, she noticed many unfamiliar male students. She learned that because Third Middle School’s basketball court was under renovation, they had borrowed Seventh Middle School’s facilities. The Third Middle School coach had even suggested: why not have a friendly match between the schools tomorrow?

After jumping for a while, during a formation change, Lu Yan turned to face the rest area and saw Jiang Chengyi sitting against the wall, drinking water while expressionlessly staring at a boy.

She had never seen Jiang Chengyi look at anyone that way. Finding it strange, she looked over and saw a tall boy she didn’t recognize, probably from Third Middle School.

Seeing her look over, the boy blushed and gave her a bright smile.

The next day after school, Lu Yan wanted to stay and watch the evening friendly match, but since her mother had to work overtime and needed to rush back to work after picking her up, she wouldn’t let Lu Yan stay at school.

Lu Yan had no choice but to go home with her mother.

The next morning at school, as soon as Lu Yan entered the classroom, she heard classmates gossiping: “This is why they say basketball players are strong – that fight was so intense! You should’ve seen it, that guy almost coughed up blood last night. Even the coaches couldn’t pull them apart.”

Tang Jie had been eating bread but pulled Lu Yan to sit down when she arrived: “Finally, you’re here.”

Lu Yan put down her bag in surprise: “What happened?”

Tang Jie said: “You don’t know yet? Last night during the friendly match, Jiang Chengyi got into a fight with that creepy guy from Third Middle School.”

Jiang Chengyi? Fighting?

Lu Yan’s heart jumped: “What happened?”

“It was the guy who’s been following you. Well, they caught him last night,” Deng Man added.

“Right, right. Who knew he was also a student, from Third Middle School no less? Jiang Chengyi and the others must have been watching him for days. They not only confirmed his identity but also got photos of him following you. That guy was creepy – he followed you twice just these past few days. Once at the school gate, he just showed his face and left, but the second time was worse – he almost followed you home.”

Lu Yan frowned: “How disgusting. Then what?”

“After the game last night, before everyone dispersed, Jiang Chengyi confronted him about stalking and scaring you. The guy denied it, and Jiang Chengyi didn’t waste words – he grabbed the guy’s collar and started hitting him. Everyone was shocked. It took several coaches together to finally pull Jiang Chengyi away. With photographic evidence, the guy couldn’t deny it, but Jiang Chengyi hit him too hard – knocked out one of his teeth. Early this morning, the guy’s parents came to school furiously. Heard they run a company, so this probably won’t be settled quickly. But Jiang Chengyi never caused trouble before – this time it’s such a big deal, who knows if he’ll be punished.”

“Was Jiang Chengyi hurt?”

“He must have some injuries – don’t forget that Creep was also on the basketball team.”

All morning, Lu Yan was preoccupied.

At lunch break, Lu Yan claimed the teacher needed to see her. After Deng Man and Tang Jie left for lunch, she ran to Class Three to “check on” Jiang Chengyi. Peering in, she didn’t see him, so she went to the gymnasium, but he wasn’t there either.

Later, while buying takeout, she passed a pharmacy and went in to buy a box of iodine and a pack of bandages, planning to give them to Jiang Chengyi as get-well gifts when she saw him.

Thinking about how her mother had been frantically busy these days picking her up and dropping her off, in the afternoon she texted her mother saying the stalker had been caught and she would walk home with Deng Man and Tang Jie.

That evening, passing the gymnasium with Tang Jie and Deng Man, she hesitated briefly before asking them to wait for her at the school gate while she went to find Jiang Chengyi.

But he wasn’t there either. She thought never mind, if she saw him tomorrow, she’d give them to him then.

Walking a bit, remembering Tang Jie saying in the afternoon that Jiang Chengyi might be punished for this, she hesitated again. After thinking, she decided to check Class Three one more time.

The teaching building was quiet. Just as she reached Class Three, she heard voices inside. Peeking in, she saw Jiang Chengyi with several boys in the classroom. They were talking while he remained silent.

After several glances, unable to see his injuries, she was spotted by the people inside.

“Lu Yan?” One of the boys came over.

Lu Yan smiled and had to force herself to walk in.

The boys exchanged knowing looks, draped their jackets over their shoulders, and left with grins.

Jiang Chengyi stood leaning against the window, watching her approach dispassionately.

Up close, Lu Yan discovered his forehead, bridge of nose, and corner of mouth were all cut. The wounds hadn’t scabbed over and must have been treated last night, but due to his carelessness, they showed signs of infection. As for other injuries, she couldn’t see them under his clothes.

But he seemed in good spirits, so the injuries couldn’t be too severe.

“Are you okay?”

He just stared at her silently.

She put down her bag, and took out the iodine and cotton balls, saying formally: “If you don’t treat them properly, your wounds will get infected.”

Seeing he didn’t object, she held out a cotton ball soaked in iodine.

He didn’t take it: “I can’t see them myself.”

She stared at him, not moving.

He looked down at her, the stubbornness clear in his eyes.

After a standoff, she decided to yield and re-wetted the cotton ball, raising her hand to apply the medicine. After all, it was just a few wounds – it wouldn’t take long.

But before the cotton ball could touch his face, he suddenly turned away, grabbing her wrist: “Think carefully – if you help me with this, you’re going to be my girlfriend.”

Her heart pounded like a drum. She met his gaze for a moment, then looked away, touching the cotton ball to the wound on his temple – very lightly, very slowly, but without hesitation.

His face instantly reddened.

She stopped looking at him, focusing instead on treating the wounds – temple, brow bone, sides of the forehead, bridge of the nose, not missing any. However, before the cotton ball could reach the corner of his mouth, her vision darkened as he lowered his head and kissed her.