Lan Xiang sat in class, bored out of his mind. All of the topics the teachers were discussing were topics that he had already heard enough of in his other life.
Ren Weiwei pouted as she saw him sleeping. Before he went into a coma, Lan Xiang would always ask her to teach him the bare minimum to pass. And so she did.
Now, however, when she offered to teach him, he replied with "Thanks, but no thanks."
"...What does he mean by that?" His reply kind of pissed off Ren Weiwei. "He answered in such a condescending tone that... I would assume he was the top student in school, and that I was being presumptuous in offering to tutor him."
At last, on lunch break.
Ren Weiwei and her friends ate lunch together on one table in the cafeteria, Lan Xiang included.
"...Xiang, you should pay more attention in class." Ren Weiwei put down her spoon.
"I told you, I'm doing fine, and will do better in the future." Lan Xiang continued to munch on his food.
"You're doing fine? Are you joking with me?"
"Re. Lax."
"How can I...?" What should I do if you get expelled? Can't I be selfish just this once?
Seeing Ren Weiwei's genuinely worried face, Lan Xiang sighed. "Okay, since you don't believe me, let's bet on it."
"Huh?"
"If I... get into the top 10 scorers on the next exams, you'll stop pestering me about this, mmkay?"
The top 10 scorers?! Ren Weiwei was in disbelief. He couldn't even get into the top 100, much less the top 10! But he seems really confident too...
"What if you don't?"
"You think of the punishment." Lan Xiang couldn't care less -- he was gonna win this bet anyway.
As Ren Weiwei thought of possible punishments, her face blushed red. Lu Xifa, who sat beside her, elbowed her.
"Owie, what are you doing?"
"You be careful with your imagination there." Lu Xifa pointed at Lan Xiang.
"...Right, yeah."
Lu Xifa's warning brought Ren Weiwei back to reality.
While she was despondent, a handsome guy walked up beside her.
"Ahem. Underclassman, hello!"
Ren Weiwei looked up. It was Lin Fan.
"...What do you want?"
Lin Fan casually took a seat beside Lan Xiang, startling him.
"Underclassman, I was hoping to get an update on that rain check!" Lin Fan smiled, as if he didn't see the unpleasant glares towards him.
"What rain check?" Ren Weiwei didn't bother looking at him. "You decided that on your own; I said no."
Lin Fan giggled.
"Yes, you did say no, but that was because of Lan Xiang here, right?" He draped his arm around Lan Xiang's neck, patting his shoulder a few times. "Now, you don't have a reason to reject me, do you?"
This time, even Lan Xiang was pissed off. Does she need a reason to reject you?
Feeling kind of responsible for Lin Fan's indecent pursuit, Lan Xiang took Lin Fan's arm off him. "You should leave."
"Eh, why?" Lin Fan was startled. "Didn't you say you would support me?"
Hearing that, Ren Weiwei froze.
"I never said I would support you, I said it's none of my business whether you pursue her or not."
Ren Weiwei took another critical hit...
"Well, why are you meddling now then?" Lin Fan was getting angry.
"Because you're being unreasonable. She's my friend, after all."
Ren Weiwei couldn't help but hear the word "friend" in her mind a hundred times louder.
In the end, she slammed the table as she stood up. "I, I'm gonna go. See you guys in the classroom."
"Weiwei..." Lu Xifa tried to reach for Ren Weiwei's hand, but she was too far already.
Lin Fan couldn't bother with Lan Xiang anymore and chased after Ren Weiwei. "Wait, Ren Weiwei, I'm not done with you yet...!"
"Ah, that guy... Doesn't he know about a girl's feelings?" Lan Xiang shook his head.
When they heard that, Lu Xifa, Ye Qingle, and Zhang Ying all felt the urge to facepalm.
When Lan Xiang saw that Ren Weiwei still had leftover foods, he was confused. "Wait, she had food left, why did she run away?"
The three girls couldn't help but facepalm this time. How did this dense prick get a girlfriend??
One of the great mysteries in life...
Lan Xiang engaged in small talk with the three before they returned to the classroom. He walked towards Ren Weiwei's seat, hoping to ask her why she left when she had food left.
Sensing this, Ye Qingle grabbed his arm. She shook her head.
Lan Xiang raised his eyebrow in confusion.
Ye Qingle's expression turned deadpan as she dragged Lan Xiang to his chair and sat him down. "Just sit obediently."
"But..."
"Shh."
Lan Xiang felt an inexplicable urge to obey what she just said. And so he stayed on his seat.
Lu Xifa pat Ren Weiwei's back as the latter had her head buried on her chair.
"It's fine, it's fine, it's not your fault he's that dense..."
Ren Weiwei raised her head. "It's not his fault either... Maybe he already noticed me and is just ignoring it because our friendship might fall apart."
"...I assure you, he hasn't noticed a thing. He doesn't have a single clue."
Suddenly, Lan Xiang stood up from his seat as he took a call. "Oh, Jian'er?"
"Jian'er..." Ren Weiwei muttered the name. "That must be his girlfriend."
She buried her head in her arms once more.
"...Come to think of it, I haven't seen his girlfriend either." Ren Weiwei had a muffled voice since her head was still under her arms.
"Don't worry, Weiwei, I'm sure you're prettier than some Jian'er!" Zhang Ying cheerfully declared. Even so, she was curious.
Lan Xiang returned to the classroom with an ecstatic look on his face.
Zhang Ying walked up to him. "Xiang, you have a girlfriend, right?"
"Yeah, why?" Lan Xiang shrugged.
"Let me see, let me see!"
"Eh? What?" He was weirded out. What triggered her to want to see my girlfriend? Was it the phone call just now? "But..."
Ren Weiwei was also curious. And so was Ye Qingle and Lu Xifa. They stood up from their seats and rushed to Lan Xiang. "Us too, we wanna see too."
"Hmm, alright, but... don't say I didn't warn you..." Even though he said that, Lan Xiang felt his pride rising by the second.
He opened his gallery, and voila...!
He scrolled down immediately. It seems to, uh, be too inappropriate to show off. Ah, there we go, a normal picture.
"Here she is! Xie Jian, my girlfriend, isn't she pretty?"
"...Xie Jian?"
The whole class heard the name "Xie Jian" and perked their ears. Even though Lan Xiang never interested them one bit, the name Xie Jian to come out of his mouth, and to declare that she was his girlfriend was... let's say, it's like a toad chasing a swan.
They all turned their heads to look at the photo. Maybe, just maybe, it was a different Xie Jian, with the exact same name as the popular one.
But their world was shattered the moment they saw the photo.