Because of Ye Si’s words, Yu Guang stood in front of the mirror on the balcony of the dormitory for most of the day.

He lifted his bangs, carefully examining the slightly widened peach blossom eyes in the mirror. The deep brownish-gray irises were clear and lustrous, sincere and gentle when seriously looking at others, full of deception, and the curled eyelashes flickered like small fans.

Indeed, they were a pair of eyes that fit the mainstream aesthetic, weren’t they?

But what his parents disliked the most was his pair of peach blossom eyes—the source of all tragedies.

So he had kept his bangs long since he was a child, whether they blocked his vision when writing or not. This troublesome but obedient hairstyle had been with him for nineteen years, from elementary school to now, and had never changed.

Ye Si’s ‘beautiful’ was almost the first and only praise he had ever received for his eyes in his life.

Yu Guang stood in front of the mirror, staring unblinkingly for a long time.

Until the sunset tore the white of the sky, and the black night approached, his vision dimmed and he could barely see clearly. Yu Guang suddenly laughed out loud, smoothed his scattered bangs, moved his numb legs, pushed open the glass door, and returned to the dormitory.

Gao Leilin looked over at the sound, and Yu Guang knew this was the prelude to trouble.

Sure enough, the boy took off his headphones, ‘slapped’ them on the desk, his tone unfriendly as he said, “What were you doing standing outside for so long?”

Yu Guang shrunk his shoulders, startled by the sound of the headphones hitting the desk, his steps paused, hesitantly standing still without speaking.

Gao Leilin couldn’t stand Yu Guang’s delicate appearance like a tender flower, always unable to resist bullying him. He frowned, tossing the math homework left by the teacher onto Yu Guang’s lap, raising his chin, “Do it for me.”

This wasn’t the first time Gao Leilin had done such a thing. In over a year at university, who knows how many assignments he bullied Yu Guang into helping him with.

It’s odd when you think about it. Their dormitory was a mixed one, with everyone except Yu Guang studying applied physics. He was the odd one out, studying Chinese language, just ending up in the same room by chance.

When Gao Leilin first tossed the assignment book to Yu Guang, he didn’t really expect a liberal arts student to be able to handle professional physics problems. It was just a new excuse to bully him.

But he didn’t expect Yu Guang to finish the one-hour assignment given by the teacher in less than thirty minutes, right under his nose, without searching for solutions or seeking external help, and not a single mistake.

Yu Guang glanced at the exercise book in his arms, calculus problems. Then he looked up at Gao Leilin for half a second before silently returning to his seat, turning on the desk lamp, grabbing the pen, and opening the textbooks, hesitantly asking, “Which ones do you need help with?”

“Start from the second problem on the fifth page, all the way to the seventh problem on the sixth page. Show your work, make one or two mistakes.”

Yu Guang’s hand hesitated slightly as he began to write, a subtle emotion flashing through his restrained eyes, before he started solving the problems on the white paper one by one.

He didn’t like mathematics.

To put it another way, he loathed mathematics.

But for something he detested so much, he was unexpectedly good at it. He wasn’t sure if it was due to his family genes or the countless math classes he endured as a child.

The two pages of problems weren’t many, nor were they difficult. Yu Guang quickly finished them, detailing the process and deliberately making one or two mistakes in harmless details—completely according to Gao Leilin’s requirements.

Just as he was about to get up, someone pressed his shoulder and forced him back into his seat. The pressure on his shoulder irritated him, but he restrained himself from reacting because of his disguise. He could only tightly furrow his brows where the person behind couldn’t see.

Sometimes, he really wanted to tear open this layer of pure white skin and expose the rotten and putrid thoughts hidden beneath the flesh.

The completed exercise book was snatched away with a sigh, replaced by a box of still warm takeout thrown onto his desk.

Gao Leilin glanced at the neatly written characters on the exercise book, his tone somewhat smoother than before, though still somewhat awkward. “I accidentally pressed a few extra times when ordering takeout. I can’t finish the extras. Consider it a gift for your help.”

At his words, Yu Guang turned his head to look at Gao Leilin, the fine strands of hair in front of his forehead partially obscuring his eyes, making it difficult for Gao Leilin to discern his emotions.

Yu Guang silently restrained his emotions, handing the takeout box back to Gao Leilin in front of him, murmuring, “No, I’m not hungry.”

“You’re not having dinner again?” Gao Leilin glared at him sternly. “No wonder you’re so skinny that you’ll topple over with a gust of wind… What’s with that look?” He was about to reach out and tousle Yu Guang’s hair.

Yu Guang looked at the hand reaching out to him, reacting quickly. He pursed his lips and leaned back, avoiding it.

“Don’t touch me.” His tone didn’t hide his disgust.

Seeing Gao Leilin’s face darken, about to erupt, Yu Guang grabbed the backpack hanging on the back of his chair and swung it behind him, fleeing out the door as if to escape.

Originally, he was supposed to go to BLUE tonight. His backpack contained his ID, bank card, cigarettes, and punk earrings. The only thing missing was suitable clothing. He was sure to be ridiculed by the bartender with just his plain white T-shirt.

But being mocked by Lena for pretending to be innocent was still better than staying in the dorm facing idiots.

Yu Guang pursed his lips and walked towards the old place to climb over the wall and leave the school.

It was a little after seven o’clock, and the sky hadn’t completely darkened yet, with quite a few students coming and going on the road.

Yu Guang didn’t like the crowded feeling of being in a crowd, nor did he like the wind blowing when passing by people. He tried to take less crowded paths with fewer people.

As luck would have it, he encountered that ominous black cat again.

The black cat leaped lightly out of the roadside bushes, blocking his path just as he was about to step on it, startling him.

Looking at the pair of straight, amber-colored eyes with pure black pupils, Yu Guang couldn’t help but recall the scene from last time, sending shivers down his spine. Even the wound on his right leg, scratched and bleeding, already scabbed over, throbbed with pain.

Can’t provoke me, but can’t escape me either?

Yu Guang’s face was full of frustration as he was about to change paths when he saw the eerie black cat being grasped by a slender, fair hand by the nape of its neck, effortlessly lifted up.

And this hand, he had seen it this morning, with well-defined knuckles and faintly visible blue veins under fair skin, exuding a seductive charm.

At that time, those hands were stably and firmly placed on the wooden table; now, the hands cradled the black cat, lightly stroking its black fur through his fingers…

“Yu Guang, it turns out you’re afraid of cats, huh?” The voice was elegant and playful.