Chapter 3
9:30 p.m. sharp, Zhao Ge stepped into the apartnt she rented off-campus.
She’d moved out freshman year—needed a quiet place to write.
She swept her long, inconvenient hair into a ponytail, baring a neck as graceful as a swan’s.
But the mont she peeled out her contacts, she froze.
Why on earth did I ever switch to these? I’ve worn rimd glasses since I was six.
No matter how hard she racked her brain, she couldn’t find the reason.
“Senior, you look cuter without glasses, you know.”
A blurred silhouette floated up inside her head, tossing her that line.
She couldn’t grab the face or the mory.
It felt as if huge chunks of her life had been scooped out.
Her chest tightened, a dull ache, like sothing bound the missing pieces and wouldn’t let them breathe.
Click—
Sowhere inside, a lock snapped open.
The blurry fragnts burst through the dam, a torrent she couldn’t stop.
As the dust lifted, the silhouette sharpened into a familiar grin.
Huh? Why—
Tears were sliding down her cheeks; must be from pulling the lenses, right?
She rembered the first ti she’d taken off her glasses for him, how the contacts had made her cry then too.
They’d stung at first, but his words had left her giddy, glowing.
A drop rolled off her jaw and splashed onto the manuscript, blooming the pale-blue ink into bruised clouds.
We promised we’d be together once he got into university... How could I forget sothing that huge?
Bang—
Her fist hit the desk.
She didn’t even notice the pages soaking.
She clawed through every rescued mory, tasting them again and again, terrified they’d slip away.
He’d hauled her out of the dark, the loneliness; without him she’d never have made it to college, never have beco a novelist with a million sellers.
The reel jumped to today, freezing on the stairway at dusk—
That boy, quiet, a little sad, staring at her, words stuck behind his teeth.
Lin Zhe.
She flashed back to her own chilliness that afternoon. Why hadn’t the most important thing in the world clicked the instant she saw him?
He must have been waiting for this reunion for a year—
And I answered with stranger’s eyes, cold shoulders.
When she’d turned away, she’d caught the hurt on his face.
I’m such an idiot!
Her heart scread it.
But it’s not too late. I have to see him—now.
She yanked out her phone, scrolled the contact list franticly.
Nothing. His na had vanished.
Call log—this afternoon’s entry.
Thumb shaking, she hit dial.
“The number you have reached is not answering. Please try again later...”
Again.
Again.
Each ring the sa sterile voice.
Then she rembered: Teacher Zhou had asked Lin Zhe to deliver that folder.
Zhou would know where he was.
She punched the teacher’s number.
A calm, womanly voice answered. “Oh, Zhao Ge. I had one of my students drop off the folder—did you get it?”
“Got it. Sis Zhou, I need everything you have on that boy—Lin Zhe. Right now.”
A pause. “Why the sudden interest?”
“Don’t ask, just tell .”
It took so wrangling, but she finally pried his major, class, and dorm building out of his counselor.
Zhou’s teasing laugh ca through the speaker:
“Heh-heh, don’t tell you’ve taken a shine to my student?”
“He’s my boyfriend. Going now—sleep early.”
She hung up before the shock could settle.
Too late to head to campus; Lihai locked its gates after 10 p.m., and the dorms shut theirs at 11.
Tomorrow morning, then.
...
Across town, in a dorm room inside the South Campus girls’ building, another student stared at her own phone, brows knit tight.
She, too, hunted a na that refused to appear.
Calls went straight to voicemail.
Why had she forgotten everything about Lin Zhe?
They’d started dating the day senior-year results ca out, had co to Lihai together, just as planned.
They’d even shared a ride back from the dorm mixer tonight.
Why had he acted so distant? Xiao Lin must be furious by now.
Chen Zhijing, still unable to reach Lin Zhe, was on the verge of tears. She bit her lip hard, refusing to let the sob escape.
(At the sa mont, the sa drama was playing out in different places...)
Lin Zhe had dozed off without realizing it. When he woke and checked his phone, it was already past 3 a.m.
That wasn’t the worst part.
His call-history log had sohow swollen by several pages, one contact alone contributing dozens of missed-call alerts.
A cold prickle raced across his scalp.
No way...
Every one of those nicknas belonged to an ex-girlfriend.
Staring at the familiar nas, he sank into stunned silence, unable to decide what on earth he was supposed to do.
He climbed out of bed. His three roommates were long asleep.
He eased the balcony door open, leaned against the railing, and fished a cigarette from his pocket. His hands shook like a Parkinson’s patient’s as he lit it.
The clear night had turned black and heavy while he slept; the air pressure dropped until it felt hard to breathe.
The quiet had that ominous hush that cos seconds before a cloudburst.
Don’t tell that offhand wish I made actually worked...
God of Love, are you serious?
People are going to die if this keeps up!
And then he rembered: he’d told every single girlfriend that his first-choice university was Lihai University.
Now they were all coming.
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