The rainy night was chilly, with the balcony door not fully closed and moisture seeping into the floor tiles.

Xia Xia felt the cold on her soles and tucked the blanket under her feet. “Your feelings for him are your business. Whether I like him or not doesn’t affect you.”

Zhao Shanqi wrapped herself in the blanket like a burrowing mouse: “Xie Huai likes you. If you don’t like him, I can pursue him, but if you both like each other, I’d be like a homewrecker.”

Xia Xia froze: “Xie Huai likes me?”

“Of course Xie Huai likes you,” Zhao Shanqi said. “Why else would he be so good to you?”

“He rejected my scarf but accepted yours, wouldn’t eat my Haidilao hotpot but eats your boxed meals, and ignored me when I invited him to play basketball. He only agreed when I said I’d get my uncle to revoke your disciplinary notice. Every time I talk to him, two out of three sentences are about ‘our Xia Xia.'”

Xia Xia buried half her face in the pillow to hide her uncontrollable smile. With each word Zhao Shanqi spoke, her smile grew wider until it nearly reached her ears.

“I don’t understand,” Zhao Shanqi said. “You’re beautiful, but I’m not ugly either. You’re gentle and cute, but my personality isn’t bad either.”

“Why doesn’t Xie Huai like me?” Her tone turned wistful.

Xia Xia pulled her face from the pillow and met her gaze.

The girl’s face was slightly flushed from holding back her laughter, though it wasn’t visible in the darkness.

Xia Xia said: “I haven’t answered your earlier question yet. Is it appropriate for you to say such things?”

Zhao Shanqi froze, and Xia Xia added: “Saying such things in front of your love rival – aren’t you afraid I’ll get angry and kick you off the bed?”

Zhao Shanqi: “So you do like Xie Huai!”

Xia Xia: “Do I have any reason not to like him?”

The timid Zhao Shanqi couldn’t help but ask: “Then what do you like about him?”

Xia Xia calmly said: “Whatever you like about him, I like too, but I like him far more than you do. The sides of him you’ve seen, haven’t seen, and perhaps can’t accept – I like all of them.”

Zhao Shanqi asked: “There are sides of him I haven’t seen?”

“Yes,” Xia Xia replied with the air of a proper principal wife. “But I won’t tell you about them. Give up that hope.”

“I might still have a chance,” Zhao Shanqi pondered. “What if you break up, or he stops liking you…”

Her words trailed off as she met Xia Xia’s eyes.

Xia Xia: “I really will kick you, you know. Say one more word, and even if I don’t do it now, I’ll pretend to sleepwalk and kick you off in the middle of the night.”

Zhao Shanqi: “…”

She turned over and lay face down, silent.

Xia Xia asked: “Does this mean I shouldn’t go to your house tomorrow?”

Zhao Shanqi turned back: “You should still come.”

“I can’t help that Xie Huai likes you, and this is your bed, so I have to back down when you threaten me, but just wait.” Zhao Shanqi said confidently. “My brother and I have been closest since childhood. He’ll help me get revenge by giving you trouble.”

The Zhao family lived in a prime, quiet location in the city center. Their gated community had artificial mountains and ponds with flowing water, surrounded by three-story European-style villas.

Zhao Shanqi had plans to go shopping with friends, so she left after bringing Xia Xia over.

It was Saturday, and Zhao Jinsong was home resting. Though nearly fifty, he was well-maintained and looked much younger, appearing to be only in his thirties.

He wore casual clothes and gold-rimmed glasses, giving off a gentle and refined air.

As he was pouring water for Xia Xia, a boy carrying a soccer ball came running downstairs.

Zhao Jinsong beckoned: “Shijie, come meet Teacher Xia.”

“What teacher?” Zhao Shijie said impatiently. “I told you not to hire any teachers. I’m going to play soccer – tell her to go back where she came from.”

His words stopped abruptly when he saw the girl sitting on the sofa.

Xia Xia sat properly and smiled in greeting: “Hello, Shijie. I’m Xia Xia, your sister asked me to teach you English.”

Xia Xia wore a red T-shirt and black chiffon skirt today, her forearms and ankles exposed, her skin luminously white.

Zhao Shijie was developing quickly – though only in seventh grade, he was already 1.7 meters tall. He was taller than Xia Xia and looked at her like she was a delicate porcelain doll.

“Xia Xia?” Zhao Shijie scratched the back of his head. “Dad, you didn’t hire a high school student to tutor me, did you?”

Xia Xia answered, her voice sweet and gentle: “I’m your sister’s classmate. If you don’t want to call me teacher, you can call me sister.”

“Sister?” Zhao Shijie pouted. “No way.”

He cast a reluctant look at his soccer ball before tossing it into the corner of the living room.

“Weren’t you going to teach me English?” Zhao Shijie said coolly. “Let’s go.”

When Zhao Shanqi returned home in the evening laden with shopping bags after a day out with her friends, Zhao Jinsong was sitting alone in the living room drinking tea.

“Where’s Shijie? He hasn’t gone out to play again, has he?”

She checked her watch – it was already six, and getting dark, but Zhao Shijie wasn’t downstairs.

Zhao Jinsong pointed upstairs.

Zhao Shanqi went up suspiciously. Zhao Shijie’s door was slightly ajar, and she peered in, hearing her brother’s cheerful voice.

“My sister’s two-faced, like an old lady. She acts nice outside but she’s so mean to me at home, always tattling to Dad.”

“I’m not surprised that guy Zhao Shanqi likes doesn’t like her back. If it were me, I’d like you to. Even though I can’t stand my sister, she’s considered a goddess by others. That guy must be so cool to reject her.”

Zhao Shanqi: “……”

Zhao Shijie: “Xia Xia, can you tell me what’s so special about this guy you all like? I want to learn how to chase girls at my school too.”

Xia Xia replied calmly: “Memorize these ten vocabulary words first, then I’ll tell you.”

Zhao Shijie lay on the desk, muttering the words to himself.

Zhao Shanqi went downstairs with a complex expression.

Zhao Jinsong: “That girl is your roommate? She’s interesting – completely different from how she appears.”

Zhao Shanqi fumed: “Zhao Shijie is such an ungrateful traitor!”

“Previous tutors all catered to his whims, treating him like a young master. Xia Xia ignores him, and now he’s the one trying to get her attention.”

“Don’t blame Shijie, you’re just the same,” Zhao Jinsong said. “If you like that Xie Huai boy, Dad can help you. He needs money – why would he worry about money if he’s with my precious daughter?”

“Forget it,” Zhao Shanqi said listlessly. “He doesn’t like me, why force it?”

Nine o’clock at night.

Xia Xia took the subway back to school. Xie Huai was organizing packages in the prefab building.

Instead of returning to her dorm, Xia Xia deliberately took a detour to find him.

She pulled two plastic containers from her backpack: “Dumplings made by Zhao Shanqi’s housekeeper. I haven’t eaten dinner yet – have a late-night snack with me?”

Her gaze at Xie Huai was full of tenderness and smiles.

Xie Huai washed his hands at the outdoor tap and came back to sit down: “Why did you go to her house?”

Xia Xia asked: “Am I not allowed to go?”

“She likes me.”

Xia Xia smiled sweetly: “I know.”

Xie Huai stopped talking. He didn’t use chopsticks, instead picking up dumplings with his fingers and stuffing them in his mouth, wolfing down an entire box.

“Haven’t you eaten?”

Zhao Jinsong had Xia Xia stay for dinner and had the housekeeper pack food for her to take.

Xia Xia was already full, but knowing Xie Huai’s habit of having late-night snacks at the supermarket, she brought two boxes back.

“No appetite,” Xie Huai said.

Xia Xia pushed her box to him too. Xie Huai didn’t look like someone with no appetite at all, eating another half box. In the trash can was a cafeteria container – the rice was eaten but the vegetables barely touched. It was stir-fried peppers with pork, Xie Huai’s most hated dish. She wondered who had brought it for him.

Xia Xia couldn’t sit still. She cleaned up the messy counter and helped organize his package shelves.

Xie Huai went to throw out the trash without a word. Xia Xia ran out to follow him.

Gone was her aloof attitude toward Zhao Shijie from the afternoon. She bounced along: “Brother Huai, why aren’t you happy? Let me tell you something fun – today while tutoring Zhao Shanqi’s brother, that kid was quite interesting…”

Xie Huai stopped to look at her. Meeting his gaze, Xia Xia could read the irritation in his eyes.

He was in a bad mood.

Xie Huai seemed about to say something but turned away, saying flatly: “Never mind.”

He pulled down the rolling door of the prefab building and, instead of returning to the dorm, walked alone toward the sports field.

Xia Xia didn’t know what was wrong with Xie Huai. She was confused but still followed him.

Xie Huai walked ahead while Xia Xia, afraid of bothering him, quietly followed several meters behind.

At ten at night, there weren’t many students around. The area near the sports field was pitch dark, surrounded by dense groves where couples were being intimate in hidden spots.

Xie Huai had never been one to keep his cool – he was more like a hot-blooded, impulsive youth.

Today he wasn’t his usual joking self, speaking with that arrogant tone, nor was he threatening to mess with her when angry.

Xia Xia found this version of Xie Huai somewhat unfamiliar.

Xie Huai sat on the steps of the sports field, and Xia Xia sat beside him, thinking.

Earlier he had asked why she went to Zhao Shanqi’s house, and when she asked if she wasn’t allowed to go, he fell silent.

Zhao Shanqi said Xie Huai liked her. Xia Xia wasn’t stupid – even without hearing it from Zhao Shanqi, she could feel how differently Xie Huai treated her compared to others.

Since Xie Huai wouldn’t say it, she kept playing dumb.

Is he angry with me? Xia Xia wondered.

She knew Zhao Shanqi liked him but pretended not to care, wanting him to speak his heart first.

The spring breeze was intoxicating.

Xia Xia tilted her head. Her gaze at Xie Huai burned with an intensity she didn’t realize.

Xie Huai leaned back lazily on the steps.

He was looking up at the stars.

“Shanqi talked to me for a long time last night, saying she likes you,” Xia Xia murmured. “I know she likes you, but so what?”

Xie Huai’s gaze moved from the stars to her face.

He was more silent than usual tonight, but his eyes were still bright. When Xia Xia met his gaze, her face burned.

“I don’t care about her,” the girl said with a light laugh.

Her voice was gentle, enchanting in the spring breeze: “Why should I care about her?”

Xie Huai had been sitting in one position so long that half his body was numb. He tried to stand up but was pressed down by the girl’s hand on his shoulder.

She mimicked his habit of pinching her face, returning the gesture exactly.

Xie Huai stared at her in a daze.

“Xie Huai, do you like me?”

The moonlight was gentle on the girl’s sweet face.

She looked slightly nervous but more shy and expectant. Her smile was radiant, showing a carefree and brave spirit willing to risk it all.

She released her grip on his face, tilted her head, and gently kissed his chin.