Xie Huai’s jaw was firm, and when touched by Xia Xia’s warm lips, his once-cold skin instantly heated up.

Xia Xia straightened up, creating distance between them, and asked again: “Do you like me?”

Her kiss came unexpectedly, leaving Xie Huai stunned.

The girl’s smile was pure, her eyes glistening with moisture. The hair by her temples swayed in the evening breeze as she quietly stayed by his side, like a gentle, soft kitten.

Xie Huai remained silent.

The night was quiet, with a row of spring cherry trees planted in front of the gymnasium. As the wind blew, his ears twitched, and for a moment, he heard the sound of flowers falling from branches and hitting the ground.

“You agreed to play in the basketball game to get my disciplinary record cleared, and you rejected Shanqi’s gifts but accepted mine,” Xia Xia said with flushed cheeks, counting each instance, “You helped me deal with Xia Jun, and earlier you talked about ‘our Xia Xia’ in the group chat…”

“I’m sorry,” Xie Huai suddenly interrupted her. “I used you as a shield.”

“Miss Zhao was too clingy, and I was too annoyed to deal with it. But since we’re such good friends, you won’t be mad, right?”

He pointed to his chin, his expression neutral and unreadable: “Forget about kissing me and don’t be so naive to randomly kiss people in the future. Those men out there are really bad, and a sweet, soft girl like you could easily be taken advantage of.”

Xia Xia froze before she could say everything she had planned: “Why would I randomly kiss people?”

Xie Huai avoided her gaze, turning to look at the cherry blossom tree instead.

The night was deep and profound, and the clusters of flowers had lost their daytime vibrancy, hanging on the branches in the pitch-black night, indistinguishable from leaves.

He said: “How would I know?”

Xia Xia bit her lip and explained: “Shanqi said you liked me, and I also…”

“Am I Zhao Shanqi?” Xie Huai said, “You believe whatever she says?”

Xia Xia’s intended words “I felt the same way” were blocked by his response.

Her heart full of sincere love and girlish thoughts was doused by a bucket of cold water. She stared at Xie Huai in shock, her nose beginning to sting.

Tonight Xie Huai was in a bad mood, and she had presumed without asking that his unusual behavior was because of her. She had even presumed to kiss him. Everything she had said and done was based on the premise that “Xie Huai liked her,” but if Xie Huai didn’t like her, would her actions disgust him?

Xie Huai’s brows were furrowed, hiding unresolvable irritation. He coldly stared at the rubber track beneath his feet, saying nothing.

Xia Xia suppressed her hurt feelings and asked: “Then why were you so nice to me?”

“You’ve asked me this question before,” Xie Huai said. “I’ve already explained.”

“Just because you see me as a little brother?” Xia Xia said, “Look at me when you speak.”

Xie Huai shifted his gaze back to her, and in that eye contact, Xia Xia detected many indescribable, unknown emotions in his eyes.

“Yes.”

The girl’s expression changed from gentle affection to shocked disappointment in just a brief moment, and she remained silent for a long while.

“Do you like me? I’m asking you for the last time. Think carefully before you answer, and I’ll believe whatever you say.”

Xie Huai’s lips moved several times, opening and closing.

Their shadows, cast by moonlight, stretched long and thin on the rubber ground, like two parallel trees standing side by side.

“I understand,” Xia Xia stood up and patted her skirt. “I’m sorry, Brother Huai.”

She calmly said: “Just treat what happened earlier like being bitten by a dog, don’t take it to heart.”

She turned and left.

Xie Huai turned back and called out: “Xia Xia!”

The girl’s figure was thin and delicate, her steps quick but stumbling nearly falling several times.

She walked into the shadows of trees along the path where moonlight couldn’t reach.

Xie Huai got up and chased after her.

Xia Xia held back her tears the entire way, but once inside the dormitory, she couldn’t help but crouch down and cry.

In her memory, she could count on her fingers the number of times she had cried in recent years. The last time was the night Xie Huai helped her deal with Xia Jun – overwhelmed with emotions, she cried with a face full of tears while holding a cup of instant noodles. The time before that was the day she broke up with Ping Jiapeng, when she stayed alone in the darkroom of the club, feeling disgusted with people and life, and terrified of what was to come.

Looking further back, Xia Xia couldn’t remember anymore.

She hadn’t been so prone to crying before, nor would she cry in front of others, but since meeting Xie Huai, it seemed that every time she embarrassed herself by crying, it was either seen by him or related to him.

“Stupid Xie Huai,” Xia Xia’s voice choked, “Dog, trash, stinking man.”

She hugged her legs, face buried in her knees, tears rushing out and soaking her skirt and T-shirt.

Xia Xia couldn’t tell whether she felt more upset about Xie Huai not liking her or about embarrassing herself in front of him.

Just thinking about how she had asked Xie Huai if he liked her and kissed him without warning made her want to bang her head against the security door behind her dormitory.

Xia Xia’s face was covered in tears and mucus as she got up from the floor and sat at her desk to wipe her nose with tissues.

“What kind of stupid shield am I supposed to be? If you don’t like me, why are you nice to me, why sing songs and buy me clothes, are you an idiot?”

She entered the room without turning on the lights, leaving it pitch black.

She lay on the desk crying and cursing Xie Huai, her voice rough either from crying or cursing.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of curtains being pulled above her head.

Xia Xia’s crying stopped as she heard Cai Yun’s voice from the bed behind her: “Xia Xia, are you crazy? Are you going to let people sleep or not in the middle of the night?”

When Xia Xia had entered, the lights were off and there was no movement, so she thought the dormitory was empty and dared to cry freely. She hadn’t expected Cai Yun to have secretly gone to bed after ten o’clock. Now that Cai Yun had seen her embarrassing state, her already devastated mood became even worse.

She took her tissues and went out to cry in the corridor.

Her phone rang with a call from Xie Huai, but she hung up without thinking.

The dormitory was at the end of the corridor next to the window, where she could see the tops of palm trees below and the bright moon in the sky.

The moon’s halo was a pale ring that seemed tethered to the trees, hazy, and blurred through her tears.

Xia Xia thought dejectedly, to hell with the fallen prince and Cinderella.

Even though the prince had fallen from grace, he had still once been a prince, while she didn’t even have a pair of glass slippers, yet dared to dream of being his Cinderella.

As Xia Xia continuously wiped her nose with tissues, she suddenly heard a click from the dormitory door – Cai Yun had locked it from the inside.

Xie Huai stood beneath the girls’ dormitory building.

Two dormitory supervisors were chatting on the steps in front of the building, and couples passed by Xie Huai one after another, with boys reluctant to leave after escorting girls back, still embracing and kissing goodbye behind the pillars.

Xie Huai’s fingers touched his chin where Xia Xia had kissed him, and he continued dialing.

The other end was powered off.

Xie Huai’s face was dark, his eyes frighteningly red. After a few seconds of silence, he threw his phone to the ground in anger.

The chatting dormitory supervisors were startled by him. One picked up his phone with its shattered screen and handed it to him: “Young man, why so angry?”

Two girls in nightgowns came down from upstairs to get hot water, gossiping as they passed by Xie Huai: “Do you know Xia Xia from the Social Sciences department? I live next door to her, and just now when I went out, she was sitting in the corridor crying. She used up a whole pack of tissues, seems like she had a fight with her roommate and got locked out.”

Xie Huai’s eyelids twitched. He didn’t take the phone back but walked straight towards the girls’ dormitory, bypassing the supervisor.

The supervisor stopped him: “Young man, what are you doing? It’s eleven o’clock now, no entering the girls’ dormitory.”

Xie Huai was held back by both arms by the two supervisors and shook them off impatiently: “Didn’t you hear them say someone’s locked outside?”

“What business is it of yours if there’s trouble in the girls’ dormitory?” the supervisor said, “If she can’t get into her room, she’ll come down for the key. Don’t try to find excuses to sneak in.”

Xie Huai sat on the steps in the cold night wind, the words of those two girls still echoing clearly in his ears.

“She was just sitting in the corridor crying…”

“Used up a whole pack of tissues…”

His heart felt like it was being pinched between someone’s fingers, filled with irritation and heartache.

Xie Huai swiped across his smashed phone screen, continuing to call Xia Xia, but her phone remained powered off.

He stood up and walked towards the dormitory entrance again, but the student on duty, who had been warned by the supervisors to watch him closely, blocked the doorway and wouldn’t let him enter.

Xie Huai’s face was expressionless, his gaze frightening to behold.

He didn’t try to enter again but turned to leave. At the bottom of the steps stood an iron trash can. As Xie Huai passed by, he kicked it violently.

The trash can was welded to the ground and didn’t move, but after his kick, its surface bore a deep dent.

At twelve-thirty at night, the dormitory power was cut and doors were locked.

Xia Xia had just stopped crying, with a pile of tissues scattered on the floor tiles beside her.

She cleaned up the garbage and went downstairs to get the key from the supervisor.

In the early morning hours, occasional female students moved between the washroom and dormitory. As Xia Xia descended the stairs, she saw Xie Huai standing right outside the main entrance.

He wasn’t doing anything, just standing there with his hands in his pockets.

The male dormitory would be locked by now too, and Xia Xia didn’t know what he was doing here or where he would sleep.

Her gaze passed over him briefly, as if she hadn’t seen him, as she walked to the supervisor’s office window.

The supervisors weren’t asleep yet, checking the night inspection records inside.

“That boy at the entrance has been standing there all night, what does he want?”

“Who knows? First throwing his phone, then kicking the trash can – pretty scary.”

Xia Xia took the key and turned to go upstairs, with Xie Huai watching her the whole time.

She stopped on the stairs and turned back to meet his gaze.

His eyes fell on the tear stains on her face and her wet T-shirt. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something.

But he said nothing, gently averting his eyes.

Xia Xia was avoiding Xie Huai.

For two straight weeks, she arrived for class just as it started and ran out as soon as the bell rang. She didn’t take Spring He Road back, deliberately taking a long detour to return to the dormitory.

Xie Huai hadn’t seen her in the cafeteria until one time he spotted her coming from the school gate carrying takeout boxes.

Just as he was about to approach, she saw him and immediately ran away.

After half a month without speaking, everyone could see something was wrong between them.

Weekend.

Jiang Jingzhou accompanied Xie Huai out on errands, and they ate lunch nearby.

During the meal, Jiang Jingzhou asked: “Did you fight with Xia Xia? I haven’t seen her at your place for a long time.”

Xie Huai: “We didn’t fight. Xia Xia isn’t the type to fight. She has her things to do, she can’t always hang around with me.”

Jiang Jingzhou studied his expression and put down his chopsticks: “What happened?”

Xie Huai said: “Nothing.”

Jiang Jingzhou was perceptive: “Cold war between men and women usually has only a few reasons. Since you’re not together yet, I’m guessing you confessed and she rejected you?”

“That’s not it,” Xie Huai said, “Don’t you know me?”

“True,” Jiang Jingzhou smiled. “Given Young Master’s personality, even if rejected, you’d persist relentlessly – giving up isn’t possible. If you weren’t rejected, then it must be the opposite.”

He asked: “You don’t like Xia Xia?”

Back in school, Xie Huai had been close friends with him. Jiang Jingzhou had a gentle personality and was insightful, knowing everything but never pointing it out directly. Back then, Xie Huai was surrounded by people, but most were just spoiled rich kids from their circle who competed and caused trouble. His only real friends were Jiang Jingzhou and Qi Da.

Jiang Jingzhou knew him well: “That can’t be right.”

Xie Huai tapped his chopsticks against the bowl’s edge: “Liking someone won’t put food on the table. What’s the point of dating?”

He said self-mockingly: “In my current situation, I’d only hold her back. What could she get from being with me? Setting up street stalls and living in poverty for life?”

Jiang Jingzhou: “How do you know she wouldn’t be willing to face hardship with you if you don’t even ask her? Besides, you won’t necessarily be poor forever.”

He wore a refined smile: “When opportunity comes, making money can happen in the blink of an eye, but if you miss this chance at love, you might never find it again. Can you let go?”

“I don’t need to ask her,” Xie Huai said authoritatively. “She suffered so much before and things are finally getting better. What right do I have to make her suffer with me? She’d be better off with anyone else than with me.”

“Being poor isn’t even the main issue,” he said. “First, I need to be sure I’ll live long enough.”

He touched his temple, where a scar remained from the bandaged wound from winter break, usually hidden by his hair.

He pushed his hair back, and Jiang Jingzhou’s eyes narrowed, seeing a knife wound about the length of a finger joint, but very deep.

“That year, they kidnapped my mother to force me to pay back the money,” Xie Huai said calmly. “If Xia Xia and I were together, who’s to say they wouldn’t kidnap her next time I couldn’t pay? I accept my fate, but what has Xia Xia done wrong to deserve living in constant fear with me?”

Jiang Jingzhou: “If you thought it through so clearly, why did you pursue her in the first place?”

“I didn’t mean to pursue her initially,” Xie Huai said. “I just felt sorry for her. Did you see her when school started? She didn’t have a penny to her name. Being poor was one thing, but she was also timid. My sympathy got the better of me, and I inexplicably wanted to look after her.”

“Later…” Xie Huai fell silent.

Images flashed through his mind, each frame filled with the girl’s delicate face and sweet smile. She was always following behind him, or sitting quietly beside him, calling him “Brother Huai” in her soft voice. When he got beaten up, he didn’t even feel the pain, but she was furious, ready to seek revenge with a fierce determination.

…Later, he got used to having her by his side, used to looking down and seeing her sweet smile.

“Let’s just say I couldn’t help myself,” Xie Huai stared at the rim of his bowl, saying softly. “She’s so well-behaved and lovable, such a good girl… I just wanted to protect her for a few years and see her live better. I never expected her to bring this up.”

Jiang Jingzhou: “Maybe Xia Xia isn’t as weak as you think. She might not care about these things.”

“Whether she’s weak or not is her business, keeping her away from trouble is mine,” Xie Huai said. “Even if she’s not afraid of death, I can’t drag her to her death.”

Jiang Jingzhou was silent for a moment: “Yi Lei mentioned something to me earlier, he wasn’t sure whether to tell you. Remember the day we dealt with Xia Jun…”

A commotion outside interrupted them, drawing Jiang Jingzhou’s attention.

His words trailed off as he looked out the window.

Xie Huai: “What thing?”

Jiang Jingzhou: “…Xie Huai, that person across the street, doesn’t she look like Xia Xia?”

Xie Huai turned to look.

Under the harsh noon sun, a crowd had gathered on the sidewalk across the street, where a fight was breaking out on the pedestrian path.

Xie Huai’s gaze fixed on the scene, unable to look away.

The girl they had just described as gentle, lovable, and somewhat timid was straddling a large, burly man.

She gripped his collar, her fist raised high, repeatedly striking his face.

Xie Huai rubbed his eyes, thinking he must be seeing things.

Then, Xia Xia’s familiar voice reached his ears.

Gone was her usual softness and gentleness when speaking to him, replaced by cold anger:

“Come on, didn’t you want to fight? If you’ve got the guts, just kill me! If you can’t kill me, I’m going to fucking kill you all!”