She seemed to have only greeted him once. She didn't dare to say who she was. Only during festivals, under the pretext of group - sending, she would painstakingly edit blessing words one by one and send them to him. Then she would look forward to it, perhaps hoping he would reply. And occasionally, he really did. Even though she knew his reply might just be out of politeness, it could still make her happy for a whole day.
Those years happened to be her most non - mainstream period. Her Facebook space was filled with all sorts of overly sentimental youth - pain literature about love, heartbreak, and sorrow. Sometimes, when she heard his classmates joking about him getting close to some girl, she would be very sad. Since she couldn't bring her phone to school, her sadness would flood in when she got home. At that time, there was a saying, "Sadness flows upstream like a river," and Aria felt she was in a similar situation. She didn't dare to post random updates, so she followed others and created a new account. She would moan and groan on it every day, not daring to mention names, secretly being sad. She even had the courage to add him with this new account, and he quickly accepted. Up to now, there are only the two of them in that account. But she hasn't logged in for a long time. She's even forgotten the password. She guessed that since so many people added him every day, he might have regarded her as one of those unimportant pursuers and just agreed casually. His space wasn't locked, and anyone who added him as a friend could enter. But he posted very few updates. There were only a few in a year, and in four years, she hadn't seen him post many times, mostly about games.
The more she thought about it, the more she found it funny. She couldn't help but sigh softly. Her long and thorny road of secret love...
...
A girl's expressions are rich and changeable. She seemed to be deeply engrossed in thinking about something, frowning, sighing, and smiling. Ryder watched for a long time but couldn't figure out what was so interesting about watching someone chatting someone up that could make her react like this. He glanced at Finn Alvarez, who was chatting heatedly with someone, then curved his fingers and tapped the table to get the girl's attention.
"Aria."
"Yeah?" Aria snapped back to reality immediately. With a smile still on her lips, she asked him, "What's wrong?"
"..." Eat.
The girl's voice was soft, as soft as cotton candy. Her smile was quite sweet. She didn't refute when he told her, and obediently said "Oh". She picked up her chopsticks, and just as she was about to eat, she remembered something. Her clear, black almond - shaped eyes looked at him.
"Aren't we waiting for them to eat together?"
"Eat first. It'll get cold in a while." Ryder's eyes focused, met hers, and then moved away after a moment. He said indifferently.
"Oh." Aria didn't say much. Thinking about it, she was really hungry, so she started to eat the food in small mouthfuls. She ate very slowly, taking small bites and chewing many times before swallowing. She was also very particular, having a mouthful of rice with a mouthful of vegetables. Ryder felt like he was watching a little hamster eating. He covered his mouth with his fist and couldn't help but chuckle softly.
Aria looked at him in confusion.
Ryder suddenly asked, "You were so engrossed just now. Was it that interesting?"
"Ah?" Aria bit her chopsticks. "Not really."
She told the truth, "I was just a bit curious."
"Curious about what?"
"Um," Aria hesitated for a moment. Ryder was lazily leaning on the table, looking very good - tempered. Aria got bolder. She leaned closer and whispered.
"When you're being chatted up, is it like that too?"
Ryder: "..."
"You should have more pursuers than him." Before he could answer, the little girl added another self - answering question.
Ryder didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He slightly raised his brow bone, the corners of his eyes lifted, showing a bit of casual teasing. His knuckles lazily rested on his chin, and he chuckled, "Little classmate, are you curious about me?"
"No, no..."
The boy suddenly leaned closer, and Aria froze in surprise.
"Hmm?" His voice was low. Looking down at the little girl's suddenly blushing face, he found it extremely interesting and suddenly wanted to see if it could get even redder. So, his fingertips moved slightly, reached out, and gently pinched her face.
It was hot and soft.
His drooping eyelashes trembled, and a look of surprise appeared in his eyes, attracted by the soft touch of his fingertips.
"I, " Aria didn't dare to move, stuttering, "I'm just a little curious, just a little bit."
The finger poking at her cheek was scorching hot. Aria didn't know how he suddenly reached out his hand. The person seemed to find it interesting. One pinch wasn't enough, and he moved his fingers with a bit of excitement and pinched again.
At this moment, Aria felt that the casualness and laziness on him had disappeared, replaced by the intense and passionate youthful heart that should be characteristic of this age.
Naive and fervent, full of vitality.
After just two pinches, Ryder withdrew his hand. His gaze landed on the girl's face with satisfaction.
Hmm, it was indeed even redder.
The little girl was like a doll, sitting there obediently, her long eyelashes fluttering.
She was quite cute.
And more interesting than the cat he raised at home.
Ryder leaned back into the sofa, regained his lazy and nonchalant look, thought for a while, his peach - blossom eyes slightly narrowed, and chuckled absent - mindedly, "Actually, I don't have many pursuers."
Aria looked disbelieving.
"Don't believe me?" Ryder raised his eyebrows. "I'm not lying to you."
There were indeed many people who liked him, but what they didn't know was that Ryder actually never read private messages. Facebook was only used for work and logging into games for him. Adding friends was for socializing. Whether in high school or university, as the president of the student union, he needed connections, even if they were just left there. There were actually not many people who came directly to pursue him. When he refused, they didn't give up. So, it was better to just agree. Since they couldn't get what they wanted from him, they would gradually give up over time.
This was Ryder's way of thinking.
He didn't say, and Aria naturally didn't know.
But she was used to it. A person like him would be strange if he didn't have pursuers. Unless everyone was blind.
In Aria's heart, Ryder really had no flaws.
She often had a very contradictory mentality, probably a mentality that most girls have towards their crushes -
- I'm not happy when others notice you because I hope only I can see your bright spots, like you're my private treasure. But I'm still not happy when others really don't notice you.
You're so good that you should be known to the whole world, not be mediocre.
Under this contradictory mentality, Aria often didn't know what she was really thinking. Anyway, it was very strange.
To some extent, she was also a girl with a relatively big heart. She let go of a lot of unhappy things.
Why make things difficult for herself?
Looking at Ryder's smiling eyes and brows, she also smiled, "All right, then I'll barely believe you."
Ryder raised his eyebrows, "Barely?"
"Just a little bit." Aria deliberately raised her little finger and pinched out a tiny distance at the very top of the first joint.
The girl's eyes were sly, lively and beautiful.
Ryder snorted and laughed. His hand suddenly itched, wanting to pinch her face again. He said in a low voice, "You're getting naughty, little classmate."