The weather was clear, with light clouds and a gentle breeze.

The clouds were lingering, and the wind was tender.

“Were you waiting for me?”

“Yeah.”

Xu Xing’s soft hum could make Lu Che’s heart flutter for a lifetime.

Lu Che’s breath hitched. In front of Xu Xing, he had no choice but to submit; all his limits crumbled before Xu Xing. Just a few words from Xu Xing could leave him utterly mesmerized, turning him to mush.

This was the first time Lu Che realized that even a milk drink could taste this sweet.

In a husky voice, Lu Che said, “Class monitor, all I can think about right now is how badly I want to kiss you. What should I do?”

“…”

Xu Xing quickly pulled away, his gaze evasive. “Hold it in!”

Lu Che chuckled softly. “What if holding it in makes me sick?”

Xu Xing fell silent.

He thought to himself: If you get sick, I’ll help you heal… preferably sick enough that there’s no cure, sick enough to escape the bounds of reason, sick enough that only I can heal you.

Lu Che leaned forward, wrapping his arms around Xu Xing, burying his face in his shoulder and rubbing against it. But Xu Xing awkwardly avoided him. “Can you be a little more restrained in front of others? And I’m standing here waiting for you just to see if Fu Dai came back to class with you.”

Lu Che looked innocent, blinking as he gazed at Xu Xing. “Oh, is that so?”

Then, he changed his tone, each word dripping with allure, “But right now, I’m at my most restrained state.”

“…”

Xu Xing’s gaze narrowed as he stepped away from Lu Che, putting some distance between them.

Lu Che smiled wider, playfully biting the straw of his milk drink and raising an eyebrow. “Class monitor, we used to hug all the time. Why are you suddenly not used to it?”

Lu Che found Xu Xing’s reaction amusing. Did he get shy after being honest?

Leaning against the railing, Lu Che tilted his chin toward the classroom and said to Xu Xing, “There’s no need to deliberately avoid suspicion. Look at Ke Di and Zhou Mang; they’re always all over each other, and they’re not even in a romantic relationship, right?”

Xu Xing followed Lu Che’s gaze, seeing that Ke Di and Zhou Mang had returned. Zhou Mang was sitting against the wall, scrolling through his phone with his left hand, while Ke Di had flopped into Zhou Mang’s arms, hugging Zhou Mang’s right arm tightly and chattering away, not even sure what he was rambling about.

Xu Xing: “…”

The interaction between those two was ridiculously gay, yet they seemed completely innocent—after all, there wasn’t even a line between them.

Lu Che continued to coax, “Class monitor, let’s use Ke Di and Zhou Mang as our benchmark. We can determine what’s okay and what’s not by comparing ourselves to them!”

Xu Xing: “…”

Xu Xing thought Lu Che’s suggestion was ridiculous. However, starting from that afternoon, Xu Xing began to pay attention to how other boys in class interacted with each other, and the more he observed, the more he felt something was off—

Standing by the podium, Xu Xing was copying lecture notes when he heard a loud cry of pain. Following the sound, he caught a glimpse of two boys at the front discussing a problem, one of them touching the other’s thigh while the other let out a series of enthusiastic “uh-huhs” and “ahhhs,” shaking uncontrollably, then they exchanged remarks: “Was I too suggestive just now?”

Xu Xing: “…”

Standing in the hallway with Tang Mian, Xu Xing saw two boys sticking close together, the one in the back jokingly simulating a game of jackhammer while inviting a friend passing by to join them for a group session.

Xu Xing: “…”

Returning to the classroom, Xu Xing saw Ke Di casually munching on sunflower seeds, holding the seeds in a tissue and arranging them into a heart shape. Then, he offered the seeds to Zhou Mang with a grin, saying, “This is for my wuli Mang Mang, it’s called, love seeds~”

Xu Xing: “…”

Xu Xing looked around and realized he wasn’t surprised by KeDi’s antics anymore. It was no wonder that Lu Che’s casual embraces didn’t raise any eyebrows.

In contrast, Xiao Shun, who had long harbored feelings for the boys, kept a safe distance from his male classmates.

This might be because straight guys feel unburdened when they flirt, while gay guys feel constrained due to overthinking.

Xu Xing frowned slightly.

That night.

Before sleeping, Xu Xing received a message from Lu Che—

LC: Class monitor, go to bed early~

LC: I really miss you tonight.

LC: Remember to dream of me.

LC: Goodnight~

Xu Xing stared at his phone screen and sent back a “2.”

Lying in the darkness, the dorm fell silent after the lights went out. Xu Xing kept his eyes open: he would try to respond to Lu Che’s affection, but for now, keeping things ambiguous was enough. He wanted to avoid putting any burdens on Lu Che if he decided to pull away one day…

Xu Xing remembered the day after Lu Che had a hangover at his house. Lu Che mistakenly thought Xu Xing liked him and hesitated before responding, “Class monitor, to be honest, let’s just be friends for now. No constraints, no pretense, let’s just go with the flow, okay…”

“Whether it’s unavoidable or not, let’s just take it as it comes.”

Xu Xing repeated in his heart: Whether it’s unavoidable or not, let’s just take it as it comes.

Lu Che probably said that out of fear of disappointing him, but he also worried about the weight of expectations, right?

Xu Xing comforted himself that as long as they hadn’t defined their relationship, hugging or kissing, keeping it unspoken, allowed them both an escape route.

The next day.

As soon as Lu Che saw Xu Xing in the morning, he stuck to him with a smile, asking, “Class monitor, do we get a reward after counting down from 321?”

Xu Xing remained stubborn. “You’re overthinking it.”

Xu Xing pushed Lu Che away, glancing at the empty seat next to him with a slight frown.

After the third period ended, Xu Xing went to the office to collect materials from the homeroom teacher. He inadvertently overheard a conversation between the English teacher and the homeroom teacher: “What’s going on with Fu Dai in your class? Is he planning to take a break from school at this critical juncture in senior year?”

Xu Xing paused in his task of counting documents.

However, the homeroom teacher didn’t provide a clear answer, only saying that she hadn’t heard from Fu Dai in the last couple of days.

When Xu Xing returned to the classroom, his gaze inevitably fell on Fu Dai’s empty seat. He looked up just in time to catch Xiong Huan pretending to look back casually.

Ke Di was slumped over his desk, letting out a long sigh. “Er Dai even said he was going to score an extra 30 points on the midterms. He’s already skipped two days of class. Did he hire a tutor to cram at home?”

Xu Xing pressed his lips together. Today it was his turn to be on duty. He filled in Fu Dai’s name in the class log, casually flipping a page back to find that Fu Dai had been marked absent for three consecutive days.

Bored, Ke Di pulled out his phone to scroll. When he saw Xu Xing pass by, he suddenly changed the subject, asking, “Hey, class monitor~ Today is the last day you’re using Che Ge’s photo as your profile picture. Are you happy?”

“…”

Xu Xing shot a glance at Lu Che, who frowned and stood up to put his arm around Ke Di’s neck, pulling him away. “Let me teach you the basics of being a person.”

Ke Di squealed in mock fear, clinging to the desk leg and looking to Zhou Mang for help.

Zhou Mang glanced up, possibly annoyed by Ke Di’s loudness, and spoke for him. “I’ll teach him later.”

Lu Che huffed and let it go.

Xu Xing didn’t join in on the chaos, but during the lunch break, he couldn’t help but check WeChat again. He looked at his own profile picture and then at Lu Che’s.

That night—

As usual, Lu Che opened WeChat. When he opened Xu Xing’s chat box, he noticed the change: Xu Xing’s original profile picture had included Lu Che’s face alongside his own, but now it only showed Xu Xing gazing out the window.

Lu Che had used the same profile picture for a week, which, although it featured only his face, was cropped from the same photo as Xu Xing’s.

The light from the phone screen highlighted Lu Che’s handsome features, the curve of his thin lips slightly lifting: now, it seemed they really were using couple profile pictures.

Lu Che scrolled through the chat box, the soft glow of the night mode casting a warm hue over his deep eyes. He hesitated for a moment, then deleted the message that read, “Class monitor, when are you going to confess to me?” and typed out a few new lines—

LC: Class monitor~

LC: Do you love me?

LC: I love you so much.

LC: I love you a ton.

LC: I only love you~

Lu Che sent the messages, not rushing to wait for Xu Xing’s reply. He mindlessly scrolled through his Moments for a while. It was nearly midnight now, and based on Xu Xing’s usual response time before bed, he should have replied by now. However, Lu Che waited until 12:30 without receiving a reply from Xu Xing.

“Tsk~”

Lu Che assumed Xu Xing was pretending to be asleep, acting as if he hadn’t seen the message.

Not receiving a response from Xu Xing, Lu Che turned on airplane mode and went to sleep.

Morning—

Lu Che was awakened by the dormitory’s alarm clock. As he climbed out of bed, surrounded by low pressure, he irritably grabbed his hair. He randomly disabled airplane mode on his phone, and once it connected to the internet, a notification popped up—

“Is Xing Xing going to wake up today? Soon~”: 1

Lu Che frowned in slight confusion, doubting whether his initial guess was wrong. He opened WeChat and suddenly noticed the time Xu Xing had replied—

05:20.

“…”

Ke Di groggily crawled out of bed, passing by Lu Che’s side and greeting him, “Good morning, Che Ge~”

As a result, Ke Di was left bewildered as he heard Lu Che say, “Damn…”

His voice was low and husky, lacking any frustration. Ke Di turned to see Lu Che get up, walking past him into the bathroom, where he immediately shut himself in.

Ke Di: “??”

Morning Test Time.

When Xu Xing passed back the morning test papers, he didn’t even glance at Lu Che.

Lu Che asked him first thing in the morning, “Class monitor~ Did you set your alarm to wake up at that time on purpose?”

There was a smile hidden in Lu Che’s eyes, his lips curved upwards, and even his voice had a playful tone.

Xu Xing felt awkward and played dumb, saying, “I got up to use the bathroom and replied while I was at it.”

Lu Che chuckled even more, but he didn’t expose him: how could it be “while he was at it” if it was exactly at that time?

Lu Che rested his chin on his hand, finding joy just from looking at Xu Xing’s back.

What a lovely class monitor~

---

Author’s Note: Lu Che’s Mini Lecture: When dealing with tsundere/shy types, don’t ask them directly for the answer; instead, give them options √

1. Friends, meaningless long comments will be deleted by Jinjiang, and you might get reported… [covering face]
2. Next, let’s resolve the red line between Fu Dai and Xiong Huan. The fate of each side couple has already been hinted at, but… I doubt anyone noticed that wishing wall. [covering face]
3. Recent updates are getting later because the upstairs is being renovated. It’s too noisy during the day, so I can only write at night （:з」∠）