The rest of orientation week went by in a blur to Lei Nuwa. Luckily, she was able to avoid most of the catastrophes that befell her in her past lives– she had completely avoided Liu Yichen and Shi Qian the entire time.
However, two gnats began to cling to her in the summer heat. Lin Cheng and Xu Zihao showed their intrigue of Lei Nuwa in vastly different ways. Lin Cheng followed her, like he was her companion to the afterlife. Lin Cheng felt as if Lei Nuwa was a boa constrictor that destroyed his will to be free– no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to stay away from her. He was not used to rejection from any girl; nor was he the type to enjoy 'the chase'. He found it was easier to abandon lost causes and pursue the easier routes. He did not know why, despite Lei Nuwa's continued rejection, he persisted.
Xu Zihao found himself in more and more 'coincidences' running into Lei Nuwa. He had begun to separate himself from Shi Qian subconsciously– which did not go unnoticed by her. Still, he found himself running into Lei Nuwa again and again.
It was finally the time where classes started. Each student at Cheng was required to choose a concentration of study. In her first two lives, she had chosen medicine in order to be closer to Liu Yichen. In this life, she decided to pursue the concentration of her preference– she chose Ethics in Medicine. She had still remembered so much from her past lives about the medical system, but this concentration would allow her to analyze the decisions made by doctors and healthcare workers in order to ensure equality and advocacy for patients.
On her first day, she was relieved to see that she knew no one in her first class. It was an advanced mathematics class, one that she had taken multiple times. She spent most of the class fidgeting with the bracelet on her wrist and stressing about her next classes. The concentration she chose, she hoped, would allow her to avoid the people who seemed to pop up at every corner.
She was not as lucky for her second class. When she first sat down, she had not seen anyone. Unfortunately, a few moments later Xu Zihao, Liu Yichen, and Shi Qian walked in.
She focused her head down, hoping they would sit in a row far away from her.
***
Xu Zihao's mind wandered as Shi Qian rambled on endlessly to Liu Yichen. They were talking about something like her eye makeup but Xu Zihao found that, as it was happening more frequently, he was not listening. Shi Qian could not help but feel concerned about him. Her and Xu Zihao grew up together as very little children. After she had met Liu Yichen, she spent less time around him, but she always saw him as someone who would unconditionally dote on her. She noticed his wavering focus for her– she wondered if he was sick. She had even been more affectionate with Liu Yichen in order to get a reaction out of him; she knew he had always been in love with her, and she would sometimes flaunt their reaction to see his jealousy. Shi Qian did not have any feelings for Xu Zihao, but she didn't want him to love anyone else but her. His lack of jealous reactions made her wonder if he had met someone– which she would not stand for.
"ZiZi…ZiZi!" She clapped her hands in front of his face, and Xu Zihao suddenly came to his senses.
"What, Qian?" He said with a hint of harshness, angry at being startled. Shi Qian, at being rebuffed, pouted. Usually, Xu Zihao would find it cute. Now he wondered to himself, 'Has she always been this frivolous?'.
"ZiZi, you have been acting weird lately. You are so mean, and you barely talk to us anymore!" She threw herself into Liu Yichen's arms, snuggling her face on his chest. When she looked back to see if Xu ZIhao was jealous, she saw that he wasn't even looking at her anymore. She felt uncomfortable and frustrated.
"Sorry Qian Qian, I guess the start of classes has been stressing me out recently." Xu Zihao said absentmindedly, getting up and sitting a few rows down from where they had originally sat.
"Where are you going, Xu?" Liu Yichen had called out, but Xu Zihao just waved his hand and turned back around.
"I am sitting closer so I can hear the teacher better. You guys talk too much." He said, turning and fiddling with his phone. Shi Qian gasped; Liu Yichen gave him a strange look that Xu Zihao did not see. As he was comforting Shi Qian, Liu Yichen could not help but feel uneasy.
Xu Zihao, after leaving the two, sat in his row and put his head in his hands. He had a headache– he often had one after being around the couple for too long. He still had deep feelings for Shi Qian, but he couldn't seem to be around her as much as he used to. When he looked around the room, his eyes fell on a girl in the row in front of him. She was delicately tapping at the bracelet on her wrist. When she looked up, he could see her subtly scan the room. His stomach leaped when he recognized her face.
***
Lei Nuwa wanted to throw something. She had seen that someone had sat in the row behind her, but the fact it was Xu Zihao made her eye twitch. She knew that he had recognized her too; was it too late to switch classes? Against her expectations, however, Liu Yichen and Shi Qian were not seated next to him. She thought back to her previous lives.
All of the times she had met Liu Yichen and Shi Qian, Xu Zihao was not with them. Were they not as close as she thought before? Or was it because Liu Yichen and Shi Qian avoided her? The amount of times she had seen them together was certainly more than her past lives combined, but she didn't know what was different. In her first life, Xu Zihao had stayed single his whole life– even when Shi Qian denied his proposal after Liu Yichen was married, he still never moved on. She knew that he would eventually become a very successful businessman– a dangerous one with connections to the mob. Her second life, Xu Zihao had disappeared halfway into the school year– and then reemerged years later as a military general. In all of the lives she knew about him, he was dangerous and violent. And he was sitting behind her. Lei Nuwa wanted to puke.