Before, I always thought the break between classes was too short—like I never had enough time to do anything before the bell rang.
But now, these ten-plus minutes felt unbearably long.
After two hellish, agonizing minutes, Bo Jiangxin finally broke the silence.
Though she didn’t understand what there was to be embarrassed about, staying silent wasn’t a solution either.
Clearing his throat, he returned to his usual mechanical and cold tone and asked, “Which question?”
Xiang Di let out a breath of relief and quickly handed over the Chemistry Exam Paper.
…This question.
Luckily, there was something to divert his attention. Bo Jiangxin glanced at the question and said, “Use the difference method to calculate it.”
Xiang Di: “Huh?”
She wasn’t even close to understanding chemistry yet, so Bo Jiangxin picked up a pen and started explaining from the beginning: “Let’s set the mass of magnesium oxide as x, and it’s heated together with magnesium carbonate…”
“So, the answer is A.” Bo Jiangxin looked at her. “Got it?”
Xiang Di lowered her head to look at the Draft Paper where he’d laid out the steps. She blinked slowly.
How was it so easy to understand? It hadn’t even been a minute.
She hadn’t heard enough of his clear, low voice explaining the question, nor seen enough of his beautiful, slender fingers confidently working through calculations on the draft paper, and she certainly hadn’t sat by his side long enough.
Because once this question was over, she had to go back to her own seat.
For the first time, Xiang Di regretted being so smart.
But if she pretended not to understand, she feared Bo Jiangxin would think she was dumb, so she could only honestly say, “I get it.”
Bo Jiangxin gave a soft “hm,” then returned the paper to her.
Xiang Di took the paper and was ready to leave.
The social death crisis from earlier had been deftly avoided; at this point, she just needed to act like nothing had happened.
18…
Xiang Di bit her lip and decided to explain a bit more.
She didn’t expect her crush to come true, but at least in these last few months, she wanted to leave him a good impression.
Even if many years later, even if just for a second, if Bo Jiangxin happened to recall their high school days, at least she would be a positive image in his memory, not some delinquent who sent him borderline videos.
Whether he cared or not, she cared deeply—having a crush makes one sentimental, especially about how they’re seen in the eyes of the beloved. So what if he teased her?
In a tone as if she had nothing to lose, Xiang Di said, “Um, you just mentioned abs… Did I send you some weird video or something?”
Bo Jiangxin raised his brow and asked sharply, “What do you mean?”
Xiang Di quickly explained that if he had received a borderline video from some male internet celebrity, it wasn’t from her—it was a prank her brother pulled yesterday using her phone.
But she didn’t say that the internet celebrity was actually her brother; that would be too embarrassing. She couldn’t bear that.
“I really can’t believe he deleted my chat history, so I had no idea. And he even sent that video to Zhōu Línxiāo.” Xiang Di covered her face at this point. “I seriously suspect he might have sent it to every guy in my contacts.”
Her tone was so certain she might as well have sworn to Bo Jiangxin, “You have to believe me, that video was definitely not from me.”
Seeing her so anxious to explain, as if not believing her would mean she’d have to die to prove it, Bo Jiangxin naturally believed her—he knew she didn’t have that kind of nerve.
Now that the misunderstanding was cleared and she hadn’t harassed him, this matter should have been dropped.
But still, Bo Jiangxin felt a strange irritation building inside.
His eyes were quiet and his voice flat, “Since that message wasn’t from you…”
Xiang Di nodded rapidly like a pecking chick: “Mm-hmm.”
“Then why were you looking at Zhōu Línxiāo’s abs?” He paused, pursing his lips without emotion. “And you touched them?”
Xiang Di whispered, “Because he said I could see them, so I just…”
“So you looked, and because he said you could touch, you touched.” Bo Jiangxin’s black eyes locked on her. “He grew up abroad, so it’s fine for him, but what about you? Did you grow up abroad too?”
Xiang Di scratched her cheek, feeling like she was being lectured by some conservative elder. Besides, she hadn’t really touched him, had she? Didn’t he interrupt?
“That’s got nothing to do with being abroad or not.” She said, “It’s just touching abs.”
Zhōu Línxiāo said that people who work out usually welcome others admiring their muscles—it’s a point of pride.
Bo Jiangxin suddenly smiled, “Just touching? So if today he asked you to touch somewhere else, you would’ve done that too?”
Xiang Di tilted her head: “Somewhere else? Where?”
Bo Jiangxin:
She was so innocent right now.
It was like talking past each other. He turned his head: “Forget it, if you think it’s fine, then it’s fine.”
Xiang Di thought Bo Jiangxin’s mindset was a bit too conservative, but she could understand—it made sense.
As the unattainable “high mountain flower,” of course he wouldn’t let just anyone touch him. If everyone could pluck him, he wouldn’t be a “high mountain flower” anymore.
She kindly explained, “Actually, I used to think like you, that it’s not good to casually touch other people’s muscles. But Zhōu Línxiāo told me it’s common at their fitness center. We’ve never been to a gym or trained muscles before, so not knowing is normal.”
Bo Jiangxin: “Who said I’ve never been?”
Xiang Di: “Huh? You have?”
Bo Jiangxin was silent, neither confirming nor denying.
No wonder he was a top student—while piles of exam papers accumulated daily, he still found time to hit the Fitness Center.
No wonder his waist was so slim and firm—she could feel the strength even through his clothes. Besides being naturally thin, he’d actually trained.
Xiang Di asked, curious but cautious: “…So, you have abs too?”
Bo Jiangxin raised one brow and glanced at her, still no denial.
Xiang Di pouted.
She really wanted to see. She really wanted to touch.
But he wasn’t Zhōu Línxiāo—he definitely wouldn’t show her, let alone let her touch.
But she really, really wanted to see, a hundred or even ten thousand times more than Zhōu Línxiāo’s.
Even if he wouldn’t show his abs, if he just rolled up his sleeve and let her look at the muscles on his arm, she’d be more than satisfied.
The summer School Uniform at Fourteenth High School had sleeves too.
Xiang Di had only ever seen the skin on Bo Jiangxin’s forearms, and he was so conservative that even in the hottest summer, he rarely unbuttoned the collar of his uniform.
Although restraint had its own kind of allure, the more he buttoned up and withheld himself, the more she craved. She even dreamed of it.
Yearning for his body for three years, if she could just see it for real, she wouldn’t have to imagine it all in her head every time.
Even though her heart ached with desire, Xiang Di forced herself to suppress the thought.
Hungry as she was inside, she could only say, “Haha, that’s great.”
Just as the topic stalled awkwardly, Wang Sicheng came back. Seeing Xiang Di sitting in his seat, he said, “Huh?”
Xiang Di immediately stood up and returned the seat.
Wang Sicheng said, “It’s fine, you can sit. I’m just grabbing something.”
“No, no, I just came over to ask a question. I’m done.”
Back at her desk, Xiang Di buried her face in her arm, annoyed.
Xiang Di, why are you so timid and pathetic?
You deserve to have had a crush on him for three years with zero progress.
She laid her head down on the desk, silently blaming herself, completely unaware that Bo Jiangxin, who sat a seat away, was frowning deeply with his lips pressed into a thin, emotionless line, also silently blaming her.
What was she so scared of? He had already dropped enough hints.
Given his usual distant attitude that kept others at arm’s length, his behavior towards her wasn’t a hint—it was practically a declaration.
She said it was normal to touch muscles in the gym, and he clearly told her he’d been to the gym and had muscles.
Bo Jiangxin wasn’t like Zhōu Línxiāo—he disliked being touched, let alone showing off like a peacock.
Telling Xiang Di he went to the gym was already the biggest concession he could make from his pride; asking him to be like Zhōu Línxiāo was impossible.
Besides, she was the one who liked him first, so wasn’t it natural for her to take the initiative?
When it came to her favorite daydreams, she didn’t hold back—everything she wished for, she let herself enjoy.
But the moment reality set in, she became as timid as anything.
If only she were a little braver.
Bo Jiangxin’s mood was complicated.
A hopeless little groundhog like this—what chance was there for anything to happen between them?
At this rate, he might be six feet under by the time she was still stuck on her unrequited crush.
That night after evening study, Xiang Di got into a fight with Xiang Sheng.
Saying “fight” was generous; it was more like Xiang Sheng was being beaten one-sidedly.
Since Xiang Sheng sent those messages to the two boys yesterday, he’d braced himself for punishment and didn’t even think about fighting back.
The siblings’ size difference was huge, and Xiang Sheng worked out regularly. If he used any strength at all, Xiang Di’s tiny arms and legs would never stand a chance.
The less the beaten resisted, the more it fueled the attacker’s violent side. Xiang Sheng went rigid all over.
Xiang Di thought hitting him with her hands was too wasteful, so she grabbed a pillow and whacked him on the head.
Eventually, she got tired, threw the pillow aside, and stood by the sofa, spitting on him hard.
“Got it? Next time you dare send messages from my phone, I’ll deal with you!”
Xiang Sheng lay on the sofa, a sly smirk curling his lips: “You really think your puny strength could make your big brother surrender?”
Xiang Di pretended to hit him again, but Xiang Sheng used his waist strength to spring up from the sofa and precisely grabbed her wrist.
Xiang Di struggled a few times but couldn’t break free, and she quickly got flustered: “What are you doing!”
Since Xiang Sheng started middle school, their parents had taught them to keep appropriate boundaries between brother and sister, so they hadn’t fought physically since—only argued verbally.
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