Chapter 3

I said glumly, "Don't feel like leaving."

He tipped his chin toward me.

"Come on. Let's get lunch. Coming?"

One of the guys beside him looked astonished.

"Whoa. Jiayan actually inviting someone to eat? Found us a sister-in-law, have you?"

What on earth was he talking about?

I didn't have the energy to spar with Shen Jiayan like I had that morning.

"I'm not going. I have homework."

He and his friends laughed.

The other guy marveled, "A university student so devoted to her studies she forgets to eat or sleep! An example to us all."

Their footsteps faded down the corridor.

I sighed with relief and checked my phone.

Xiaoxiao had replied.

"I'm on the toilet. I'll bring your things as soon as I'm done!! Wait for me!!"

Fine.

Outside the window, green leaves swayed in the breeze.

I wasn't in the mood to admire them. I sat there staring listlessly.

Then I heard footsteps.

I turned. Shen Jiayan had come back and was leaning lazily against the classroom door.

"Are you still in high school? How much homework can you have?"

He glanced at my desk.

It was completely empty. Not a trace of homework.

I no longer had the energy to make up a story.

So I told him the truth.

"There's no homework. I'm not feeling well. I'm just sitting here for a bit. Don't worry about me."

"What's wrong?"

"Stomachache."

"Eat something bad?"

"No."

"Then what?"

I took a deep breath and decided to swallow my embarrassment.

"Shen Jiayan, could I borrow something? I was wondering if you could—"

"Sure. How much money?"

"I don't want money." My face flushed. "I mean... could I borrow your jacket for a while? I'm... a little cold."

It had been chilly that morning.

But now it was noon, with the sun blazing overhead. There was no way I could be cold.

I braced myself for a refusal.

The next second, a jacket came flying at me.

A faint, pleasant scent surrounded me.

"Here."

Underneath, he was only wearing a white tank top.

Broad shoulders. Narrow waist. Clearly defined muscles in his shoulders and arms, a hint of his chest beneath the fabric.

So... so handsome.

His unconcerned voice reached my ears.

"Just as well. I'm boiling."

Beyond the window, the autumn sun shone fiercely.

My heart suddenly began to pound.

What was this?

Maybe he wasn't as bad as I'd thought.

I put on his jacket.

I'd meant to tie it around my waist, but he was so tall that, on me, it almost reached my knees and covered everything.

To thank him, I took out my meal card and offered generously, "Here. My meal card. Help yourself. Two meals on me!"

He took it between his fingers and lowered his eyes.

I immediately tried to stop him.

"On one condition. Don't look at my photo."

Too late.

He raised the card out of reach.

After looking, he deliberately asked, "This is what you looked like when you first enrolled?"

"Yes."

He smiled at the picture, making me a little nervous.

"I'll be going!"

"Wait."

Shen Jiayan slipped the card back into my pocket.

"Idiot. Keep it and feed yourself. I can afford two meals."

Wearing his jacket, I bought food at the cafeteria and returned to the dorm.

"Luoluo, do you know how hard I was trying to finish up on the toilet for you? I painfully cut things short, and then you said you didn't need me anymore. What happened..."

I made a sincere suggestion.

"Why don't you go sit for a bit longer?"

"I can't go anymore."

Then she noticed the jacket. Her eyes lit up.

"Holy shit. Isn't that a guy's jacket?"

"Yes."

"And it looks familiar! Is it Shen Jiayan's?"

"Correct."

"Wow. You dared to steal his jacket!"

"..."

What kind of logic was that?

"I didn't steal it. I borrowed it. He happened to pass my classroom, so I asked."

More precisely, he'd passed by and then come back.

When I emerged from the bathroom after changing my trousers, Song Xiaoxiao came over with gossip written all over her face.

"What's going on with you two? Report everything to the organization. Now!"

I washed his jacket while telling her what had happened at lunchtime.

She immediately struck a Detective Conan pose.

"Then there's only one truth!"

She pointed at me, looking impressively convincing.

"Shen Jiayan likes you! You! Jiang Luo! You're about to become the first woman in the life of our eternally single campus bad boy!"

I answered gravely, "Ms. Song, eat whatever you like, but watch what you say."

"But in two years, I've never heard of him treating anyone like this."

"Maybe he just likes helping people..."

She put a mirror in front of me.

"Oh, please. Look at yourself. Your smile's practically reached your ears!"

"Has it?"

I touched the corners of my mouth.

But a little sweetness stirred inside me.

Damn.

I thought I really was falling for him.

That evening, I lay in bed scrolling through my phone.

I happened across a new post on Shen Jiayan's Moments.

A photo.

A basketball court at night lay behind him.

The angle alone made it obvious he'd taken it casually. Even so, the screen could barely contain his good looks.

He'd clearly just finished exercising. Sweat dotted the taut lines of his neck. His head was tipped back as he drank, his hand with its prominent knuckles wrapped around a water bottle.

Yet the caption said:

"Drink plenty of warm water. Get an early night."

Was I reading too much into it?

Why did it feel like he was talking to me?

Could he like me?

No. I had to be imagining things.

Once his jacket was dry, I messaged him on WeChat to arrange a time and place to return it.

That evening, someone knocked on our dorm room door.

I opened it to find two girls. One was the girl who'd told Shen Jiayan she'd saved him a seat.

"Hi," I said politely. "Can I help you?"

"You have Shen Jiayan's jacket, right?"

"Yes."

She smiled.

"Give it to me, then. He asked me to pick it up. I'll take it back to him."

"Oh. All right."

I was about to fetch it when something struck me as wrong.

"Wait. He didn't mention this. I can return it myself. No need to trouble you. Thanks."

Her smile vanished.

"I'm his future girlfriend. Nobody's more entitled to collect his jacket than me. Go and get it. I'll return it for you, okay?"

I laughed.

"You're his girlfriend? Then I'm his wife!"

And slammed the door.

Anyone could make things up.

I turned. Xiaoxiao gave me a thumbs-up.

"Nice one, girl!"

"Who was that?"

"Someone in his class. Apparently he's turned her down loads of times, but she won't give up. Keeps clinging to him. Eventually he just started ignoring her."

"Oh. So that's it. I almost believed her."

Shen Jiayan was waiting a little way away.

I was carrying his jacket over when the girl who'd knocked on my door appeared from nowhere and reached him before I could.

His expression was utterly cold.

Only when he saw me did his lips curve.

"Been waiting for you forever."

I hurried over.

The girl gave a mocking laugh.

"Shen Jiayan, do you know what she called herself yesterday?"

Huh?

She seemed to have followed me here just to expose the remark I'd made to annoy her.

If she couldn't have him, apparently she had to drag me down too.

He glanced at her.

"What did she say?"

"Yesterday I told her I was your classmate and could return your jacket. She refused and said she was your wife. Isn't that hilarious?"

Amusement flickered in Shen Jiayan's eyes as he looked at me.

I was about to explain.

But he said, "That's right."

"This is my girlfriend. What's strange about her calling herself my wife and turning down your unreasonable demand?"

The girl's smile froze.

"What? You're really dating..."

I froze too.

Then Shen Jiayan gave me a meaningful look.

I caught on at once.

Putting on the perfect shy-girlfriend expression, I affectionately slipped my arm through his.

"Honey, your jacket's so comfortable."

"No need to be so polite with your boyfriend."

As he spoke, his hand slid down and his fingers laced through mine.

It was the first time in my life I'd held a guy's hand.

My heart couldn't help pounding.

The girl still wouldn't give up. She blocked our path.

"I don't believe you! Don't think I've never read a novel. In novels, people pretend to date to fool someone like me. You two obviously haven't even kissed!"

I put on a helpless expression.

"Please. We kiss more times a day than I can count. We just haven't done it in front of you."

"I don't believe you. Not unless you kiss right now."

Shen Jiayan curved his lips indifferently and bent down.

"Come on, babe. Give me a kiss."

His voice was lethally seductive.

You asked for this. I wasn't taking advantage of him.

I rose onto my toes and brushed a kiss over his lips.

He lightly licked the corner of his mouth.

Aaargh!

Please. Did he have to look as though he wanted more?

My face was about to explode with heat.

The girl stormed off.

Our fingers were still tightly intertwined.

"All right. She's gone. We can stop acting now."