As Rachel climbed the stairs, the image of that fierce yet lazy and tired handsome face of Brooke kept floating in her mind.
Due to her mother's connection, Rachel had heard a lot about Brooke since childhood. However, because their families lived in different cities and were occupied with work, their relationship had transitioned from being like siblings over the phone to online siblings, eventually becoming real siblings under the same roof.
Rachel remembered the first time she saw Brooke when she was 5 years old, when her parents attended a school reunion. He was a smart and handsome young boy at that time.
The second time was during the summer vacation after Rachel's 15th birthday, where the boy had grown into a teenager, exuding a bold and slightly sharp aura mixed with a hint of rebelliousness in his youthful appearance.
During the year she lived with the Jiang family, Brooke had started attending A University and rarely came home.
With this change in their relationship, Rachel's thoughts became delicate, prompting her to avoid encounters with him. Consequently, their actual meetings were few and far between.
Yet, he became even more handsome, outstanding, and his sharpness was hard to hide. Rachel found it difficult to associate the term "playboy" with him for a moment.
However, the scene she accidentally witnessed earlier brutally shattered her illusions.
Quietly collecting her thoughts, Rachel opened the door to her dorm room but found no one inside, only hearing some commotion coming from the common area.
Setting her things down, she hurried to the doorway of the common area.
A curly-haired girl across from her stood with arms crossed, a self-righteous air about her, confidently stating, "1000 bucks, and I doubt you journalism students can afford that."
"Not me!" Camila retorted, refusing to back down. "It's just a glass bottle, why don't you ask for money instead?"
The other short-haired girl on the opposite side chuckled, her eyes contemptuous. "This is an artwork, hand-painted. Do you understand?"
Ariana, also from a wealthy family, chuckled at their superiority, "It's probably the ugliest artwork in the world; who with any taste would buy this junk? I wouldn't even take it if you gave it to me."
"You..." The curly-haired girl rolled her eyes. "Don't expect you journalism students to have any artistic sense. You break it, you pay."
The A University female dormitory consisted of two rooms sharing a common area for storing items and daily necessities.
Since moving in, the neighboring room filled the common area with luggage, easels, clothing racks, stuffed toys, rendering it almost impossible to walk around.
Despite Camila's attempts to reason with them for fair use, they remained indifferent.
The water dispenser was also placed in the common area, leading to inevitable clashes due to the overcrowded space.
Suddenly, there was another loud sound. The short-haired girl intentionally pushed a water glass off the table, provokingly saying, "If you can't afford it, consider it settled."
"This was a gift from my friend!" Camila, now angry, exclaimed. "You jerk! You did this on purpose, just like earlier, didn't you?"
"I intentionally broke your water glass," the short-haired girl suddenly reached out to grab Camila's hair.
Reacting instinctively, Camila threw a punch, hitting the short-haired girl's face.
The curly-haired girl stepped in to help, muttering some inexplicable words as she cursed, "I knew you journalism and communication students weren't good people, thinking you're all that just because you can seduce men."
Ariana was stunned, never expecting things to escalate to a physical fight.
As a wealthy heiress who had always been protected by her two cousins, she had never been involved in a physical altercation before. Her first thought was to call the police or seek help from a counselor.
Just as she reached for her phone, a vase smashed against the wall across the room with a loud bang, shards of glass splintering and falling to the floor with a clatter.
The girls on the opposite side immediately covered their heads, halting their scuffle.
Silence descended upon the common area.
After a moment, everyone turned to look at the girl who had entered without notice, appearing the most delicate and quiet among them, her face reflecting a cold determination.
With a pale complexion and eyes that typically showed little emotion, she drew a line in the middle of the common area with her finger, calm yet commanding: "That side's yours, this side's ours. Tomorrow morning, if your things cross the line, consider them garbage; I'll dispose of them."
"You..." The short-haired girl wanted to say something, but facing Rachel's determined and stern gaze, she fell silent, unable to come up with a sharper reply. Despite her gentle and harmless appearance, she emitted a sense of relentlessness that stifled any retort. Any thought of cunning argumentation was swallowed back.
And thus, the battle was brought to an end.
Back in the dorm room, Ariana and Camila looked at Rachel with admiration. "Rachel, are you okay? We didn't expect you to be so brave and bold!"
Rachel was the youngest in the dorm room, appearing gentle and quiet, often keeping to herself. They all saw her as a little sister.
Rachel smiled slightly. "I'm fine; the other side was just too much. Camila, are you okay? I have some iodine and band-aids here."
Camila had a small cut on her forehead. Rachel retrieved a small first aid kit from the cabinet, dabbed some iodine on a cotton swab, applied it to Camila's wound, and finally attached a band-aid.
Ariana helped, inspecting the wound. "It shouldn't scar."
Camila shrugged it off, suddenly remembering the curly-haired girl's words earlier. "Did you guys hear what Lily said about seducing men?"
Rachel and Ariana had also heard it.
Ariana opened a box of watermelon slices as she wrinkled her brow. "Seems like she has a problem with our department—the way she was provoking us tonight, criticizing us as journalism students..."
As they spoke, the dorm room door swung open, revealing a girl in a red dress with a smile on her face, returning from a date and seeming in a good mood. It was their other roommate, Hailey.
When Hailey first entered school, she was still with her high school boyfriend. After military training, she started dating a law school student, often preoccupied with love and not joining their activities.
Seeing the confusion on Camila's face, Hailey couldn't help but inquire, "What happened?" Camila explained the events of the evening, and Hailey cleared up the mystery for them.
"Is that Lily? Isn't she the one going after Brooke and failing? She shouldn't consider all of us from our department as rivals; if she can't handle losing, she shouldn't pursue him. How tasteless," Hailey remarked.
Rachel silently realized that trouble began with Brooke. It seemed that being good-looking could also lead to trouble.
Later that evening, as she lay in bed, memories of the day replayed in her mind. Her heart felt heavy, prompting her to delete anything related to him from her diary app.
Men like him were too dazzling.
There would always be a flock of girls around him, even while he had a girlfriend, with some willing to be the third wheel.
There was no shortage of secret admirers for him.
She was just an inconspicuous tree in his forest, perhaps destined to wither in obscurity.
On the last weekend before October, club recruitment began early, and the annual Student Union Fair kicked off, initiating the year's clubs recruitment campaign.
At noon on Saturday, Ariana dragged Rachel to the cafeteria for an early lunch, only to be lured in by the bustling club recruitment activities.
The main road in the dorm area was lined with booths from various clubs, banners and posters waving in the air, and senior students energetically promoting their clubs to attract talented newcomers.
Some clubs had long queues naturally forming, creating a lively scene.
Rachel was momentarily engrossed, but Ariana suddenly grabbed her arm, swaying a bit, and peered towards the club with the longest line, pleading, "My dear Rachel, accompany me there to take a look."
Before Rachel could react to where they were going, Ariana pulled her toward the AI club a few booths away.
The late summer sun still shone fiercely; a few guys behind a long table lazily leaned back on their chairs, their figures elongated endlessly, portraying pride and nonchalance.
One boy responsible for distributing application forms complained to the two seated boys, "Brooke, Gabrielle, please don't come for future recruitments; you're making our workload skyrocket."
The typically deserted AI club was unexpectedly popular this year. Despite a lively scene the previous autumn, this year it was even more bustling.
Looking at the thin application form in his hand and then at the long queue of girls waiting, some of whom were quite pretty, the boy didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Approaching the long table of the AI club, Rachel lifted her gaze, only to see that audacious face once again.
Brooke still lounged back in his chair, legs seemingly not knowing where to rest, arms casually placed on the table, occasionally making a mark on the form with a pen.
Under the direct sunlight, his slender neck slightly leaned forward, the nuchal crest clearly defined, his cold pale skin and casual gaze exuding a hint of desire. Parting his thin lips, he asked a question:
"Why did you apply to our club?"
"Because I like it," a girl in front suddenly responded to his query, hastily finding a reason, "I feel AI is the way of the future."
Brooke asked lazily, "Have you heard of the National Artificial Intelligence Competition?"
The girl shook her head, feeling a bit embarrassed and sheepish, whispering, "No."
Brooke's gaze softened, a touch of a smile in his eyes even in rejection as he politely explained, "Our club is specifically for competitions. I'm sorry."
The male student next to him added, "Just skip the good-looking guys. Our club is serious; next!"
As the unsuccessful interviewee left, she couldn't help but whisper to her companion behind her, blushing, "He's really handsome. It's worth it."
Rachel turned her face, trying not to pay attention to the activities beside her.
Ariana called out to the other male student at the end of the long table, "Gabrielle," asking him, "Are you also in this club?"
Gabrielle stood up, handing her some informational materials, "Yes. Interested?"
Rachel looked up at the male student in front of her, gentle and elegant.
Ariana accepted the materials with a smile and whispered to Rachel that he was her high school tutoring teacher.
Rachel smiled faintly and greeted him, "Hello."
Gabrielle asked her, "You're Ariana's roommate, right?"
His voice was gentle, his tone brotherly and gentlemanly.
Rachel gave a small nod, casting a glance at the student next to him who was interviewing the girls, speaking gently with a hint of casualness.
She turned her head, wanting to leave before Brooke noticed her. However, Ariana held onto her arm tightly, wearing a bright smile as she looked at Gabrielle.
Politely introducing them, Gabrielle pointed towards the male student next to him distributing registration forms and said, "My roommate Jessica," then gestured to the guy sitting beside him, smiling, "This is also my roommate, Brooke. Perhaps you've heard of him?"
Gabrielle saw Ariana's somewhat unnatural expression and assumed the girls were there for Brooke, thus introducing them to him: "This is Ariana, my younger sister from when I used to tutor, and this is her roommate..." Gabrielle's voice trailed off as he looked at her, asking for her name with his eyes.
Rachel had no choice but to reveal her name, "Rachel."
Her gaze politely flickered to Gabrielle's face for a moment before looking away and lowering her eyelids, avoiding looking elsewhere.
Brooke finally lifted his eyelids and glanced over, his dark eyes deepening with a hint of playfulness. Leaning back in his chair, he casually tapped the table with his sharply defined finger bones and posed a question:
"You seemed pretty enthusiastic the other day. Why pretend not to know today?"