Xu Xing was held tightly in Lu Che’s arms, his chin resting on Lu Che’s shoulder, his every breath filled with Lu Che’s scent. Lu Che’s hair brushed against his cheek and ear, a touch that felt ticklish yet stirred something deep inside.

Xu Xing gently closed his eyes and said, “Let go.”

Though he craved the warmth, a sense of anxiety and an unnamed fear lingered within him.

Lu Che, aware they were in Xu Xing’s apartment complex, briefly hugged Xu Xing before letting go.

Xu Xing glanced at Lu Che, his gaze shifting as he hesitated, staring at the ground as though wanting to say something.

With a smile in his eyes, Lu Che asked, “Shall I get going, then?”

Xu Xing took the chance to ask, “Where are you staying tonight?”

Lu Che replied, “I got a hotel room～”

After all, they had just returned to school after a long break, with classes resuming the next day, so staying at Xu Xing’s place might seem a bit too forward. His parents might not say anything, but they’d surely wonder.

Xu Xing nodded, relieved. With his sister Xu Yin at home, he couldn’t agree even if Lu Che begged to stay over.

Turning his face toward the streetlight, Xu Xing said, “It’s late—head back now.”

Lu Che nodded and turned to leave, only to pause when he saw Xu Xing still standing there instead of heading back up. He then looked back, asking, “Class Rep, could you walk me to the entrance?”

The request earned Lu Che an eye-roll, but Xu Xing begrudgingly started walking him to the complex entrance.

Hands in his pockets and looking a bit impatient, Xu Xing followed Lu Che, both in silence, down the stairway. As they neared the road, they suddenly heard a girl’s voice nearby: “Are you trying to drive me crazy? Get lost and stop following me!”

It was a girl’s irritated voice, carrying a familiar edge.

“…”

Xu Xing and Lu Che both turned and saw, under the dim streetlight in the distance, a young couple arguing.

Lu Che glanced over with mild disinterest, while Xu Xing squinted to recognize the girl’s back—she was wearing a skirt. It was Xu Yin.

Xu Xing’s eyelid twitched. Lu Che’s ride back to his hotel had arrived, but Xu Xing wasted no time pushing him into the car, telling him “message me on WeChat” and urging the driver to go.

Xu Xing had hoped to get home unnoticed, but seeing Xu Yin in an argument with a guy left him uneasy.

The guy was tall, and while Xu Xing couldn’t make out his face, he saw him staying silent as Xu Yin ranted, positioning himself to shield her on the sidewalk.

Xu Xing called out, “Xu Yin?”

The pair under the streetlight turned to look, and Xu Yin immediately fell silent.

She muttered, “Go back before my brother sees,” and, saying nothing more, turned and walked toward Xu Xing, leaving the boy standing under the lamplight, watching her leave.

When she reached him, their eyes met, both holding a hint of unease.

Xu Yin broke the silence first. “What are you doing here?”

Hands still in his pockets, Xu Xing replied, “Just went for a walk.”

Xu Yin mumbled, “Oh,” and began walking ahead, with Xu Xing following at a leisurely pace.

Casually, he asked, “So, you’re dating?”

She glanced back, shooting him a glare. “Just broke up.”

Xu Xing wasn’t entirely convinced. They had definitely been arguing, but who goes out to break up and sprays on perfume?

Is this some kind of statement? My allure isn’t for you?

Xu Xing: “…”

When they got home, their mom made Xu Yin a bowl of porridge and invited Xu Xing to have some too, but he declined.

Going straight to his room, Xu Xing saw that Lu Che had messaged him on WeChat.

LC: Class Rep～

Xu Xing explained: “I saw my sister just now.”

LC: ?

Lu Che was momentarily confused before starting to guess wildly. “Does your sister know about us?”

Xu Xing corrected him, “Not exactly. To be precise, she’s misunderstood our relationship!”

LC: She doesn’t approve of us?

LC: That’s understandable. Don’t worry, Class Rep; I’ll work hard to win her over.

LC: Have faith in me～

Xu Xing recalled what Xu Yin had told him. If she objected, it was more out of worry.

As for Xu Xing’s feelings for Lu Che, he had no doubt—if anything, they were bound by fate. Lu Che’s feelings for him, inexplicable as they might be, were as deep as they were confusing.

The next day.

With the holiday over, seniors returned to school, ready to face the shock of their monthly test scores.

Xu Xing didn’t stress over grades, focusing only on areas for improvement. His steady attitude owed largely to his decent performance. Remaining unfazed after tests is easy when results are okay; otherwise, it’s tough. In this regard, his classmates Fu Dai and Ke Di had stronger resilience.

These two, always at the bottom of the class, loved teasing each other over grades. As soon as the Chinese test was handed back, Ke Di smacked the desk, laughing as he taunted Fu Dai, “Thirteen points? Man, how’d you manage that?”

Fu Dai’s test, with a score setting a new low, was indeed shocking.

Unbothered, Fu Dai seemed unaffected. The Chinese teacher, on the other hand, looked ready to lose it, and after class, he even chased the teacher down, asking, “Sir, what’s our class average rank in the grade?”

The teacher, beyond annoyed, swatted Fu Dai with the test paper, snapping, “Second-to-last in the grade! Whose ‘accomplishment’ do you think that is?”

Fu Dai, grinning ear-to-ear, cheerfully replied, “Then I’m relieved!”

The teacher was just about ready to smack him.

Ke Di mocked Fu Dai all morning until physics class in the afternoon, where the reason for his poor score became clear—

The homeroom teacher had promised that if any subject earned the class the highest grade average in the grade, the class rep of that subject would get to choose the avatar used for the class group. And Xiong Huan was the Chinese class rep, so Fu Dai had dragged down the Chinese average just to keep someone else from getting the spotlight.

Classic move.

Ke Di suddenly felt like an idiot for mocking him earlier.

During physics class.

The teacher announced with a smile, “I have to thank our physics class rep. Thanks to him, our class had the highest physics score average in the regular classes this month, beating the next class by two points. Give yourselves a hand～”

The class clapped briefly, but they were more interested in the reward.

One student raised a hand, asking, “What’s the prize?”

The teacher smiled. “Since our physics class rep scored first in the grade, he gets veto power over the avatar choice. Lu Che—”

Turning to him, the teacher asked, “Are you going to use your veto?”

As most of the class watched eagerly, Lu Che, leaning back with a lazy grin, replied, “I don’t want to spoil everyone’s fun, but to avoid any misunderstandings, I’d rather our class rep use my photo for the avatar.”

At this, Xu Xing looked back, clearly unimpressed, and found Lu Che smiling and tilting his chin.

A few of the girls in class looked disappointed but joined in the cheer.

Xu Xing faced forward and told the teacher, “I decline.”

Ke Di snickered, winking at Lu Che. “What’s the plan here, man? You trying to keep the Class Rep single?”

---

Ke Di secretly held a little secret: a week ago, Xu Xing mistakenly liked a post on Ke Di’s Weibo. The reason Lu Che found out was that Ke Di had said that night in the dormitory, “Oh no, the class leader might not be single soon. A goddess wants my class leader’s recent photo.” The girl in the photo Ke Di posted on Weibo had browsed Xu Xing’s personal homepage, stumbled upon a picture of Xu Xing from two years ago, and thought he had a good vibe, which made her even more curious about Xu Xing’s recent situation.

Upon hearing this, Lu Che directly asked Ke Di to keep it under wraps.

Lu Che smiled and said, “The class leader definitely won’t be single for long, but it’s better not to have too many bad relationships. My profile picture can help the class leader screen them!”

Ke Di interpreted this and added his commentary: “Wow, Brother Che, you’re really thoughtful. If someone changes their mind just by seeing your photo, it definitely means they don’t truly like the class leader. Is that what you mean?”

Lu Che was so pleased he wanted to pat Ke Di’s head and praise him.

Xu Xing: “…”

The class teacher spoke up, “Class leader~ Let’s treat this as a little game. Or you could also suggest that Lu Che use your photo as his profile picture. What do you think?”

As soon as Lu Che heard this, he said, “Sure! I’m okay with that. Let’s swap profile pictures!”

Xu Xing: “…”

This was originally a fun game organized by the class teacher, so if Xu Xing rejected it outright in front of the whole class, it would seem overly serious and a bit pretentious.

Xu Xing remained silent for a moment, suppressing his unwillingness, and asked, “For how long?”

Lu Che initially wanted to say until the end of the monthly exam next month, but he always kept the principle of “knowing when to stop” as a strategy to win Xu Xing over, so he said, “Just one week is fine~”

Xu Xing ultimately compromised.

After class.

As soon as Xu Xing saw the photo Lu Che sent him, he exploded again— the photo was not a solo shot of Lu Che but a picture of the two of them together.

In the photo, Xu Xing was looking out the window, his profile handsome; Lu Che was looking down, seemingly playing with his phone, casually low-key, and even the angle of his head down couldn’t conceal his striking features.

The two in the photo appeared natural, giving the impression that a third person was capturing the moment. In fact, this was taken when Lu Che and Xu Xing were on their way back to City A together.

Xu Xing’s reason for resisting was simple: using a joint photo as a profile picture looked too much like a couple showing off their affection.

Lu Che earnestly explained to Xu Xing, “Class leader, using my solo photo would make people think it’s a picture you downloaded online, and it could raise suspicions about your preferences. Only a joint photo can show that this is a classmate you know in real life.”

Xu Xing: “…”

Lu Che continued to coax him, saying, “Also, given that this picture shows only your profile, when you use it as your profile picture, you can crop it so that only half of my face shows. The focus will be on your side, and people will think I’m just an incidental passerby due to the size of the profile picture!”

Xu Xing: “…”

Xu Xing was really persuaded by Lu Che.

Suppressing his inner discomfort, and under the urging of his classmates in the class group who loved a good spectacle, Xu Xing decided to change his profile picture to the one with Lu Che.

Xu Xing prepared himself mentally: as long as he didn’t post anything or like any posts in that week, probably no one other than his classmates would know.

However, after the evening study session.

As soon as Xu Xing took out his phone, he saw:

Xu Yin: “…”

Xu Xing: “…”