Give Me Heartthrobs 12

Chapter 12: The Court

Wen Yu felt for the switch by the door. With a click, the darkness before her eyes was instantly dispelled. The dorm was silent; everyone else had gone home.

Accustomed to desertion and boredom, she leaned against her desk and flipped through a book casually. Not long after, she put the book down and, on a whim, picked up her phone and opened WeChat.

And then…

She opened Ye Qizhen’s Moments.

Wen Yu hadn’t expected to take the initiative to ask Ye Qizhen to be friends tonight. It was the first time she had done such a thing; it simply wasn’t her style. Even with Qi Yun, whom she was closest to, she had never uttered the word “friend.”

Ye Qizhen didn’t post on Moments very frequently, basically once every three to five days. There were landscape photos, food photos, and stray kittens in corners of the campus.

She must like photography. Wen Yu could tell that quite a few photos were taken with a professional camera.

Scrolling down one by one.

When she scrolled to a selfie, Wen Yu’s fingertip stopped. She clicked it open. In the photo, Ye Qizhen was smiling brightly at the camera, with a few smears of cream on her face. The caption read “Eighteen.” She checked the date: March 12th.

After returning to the dorm, Ye Qizhen was also scrolling through her phone out of boredom. She stared at Wen Yu’s WeChat profile picture for a while and clicked in out of curiosity.

As she expected—

Wen Yu’s Moments were completely blank.

Thinking about the photos she took tonight, she casually wrote a post: Dinner, Pier, Fireworks. Rice noodles were the best part of today. Then she added six photos in one go.

After posting, Ye Qizhen realized that Wen Yu’s hand appeared in the last photo. The wrist was slender and exquisite, the fingers long… Since it didn’t show her face, it should be fine.

Soon, a like popped up.

Ye Qizhen thought it would be Tang Tang, who practically lived on Moments. But when she clicked in, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. It was actually Wen Yu.

She actually checks Moments?

Amazing.

After a while longer, quite a few likes and comments trickled in. Ye Qizhen looked casually and, sure enough, many people noticed how beautiful the hand in the sixth picture was.

***

Around eight o’clock in the evening.

Wen Yu sat by the window in the art studio, staring blankly at the gently swaying ginkgo leaves outside. The drawing paper was blank; she had no clue where to start. She rubbed her forehead. When she lacked inspiration, she felt particularly depressed, as if something was stifling her chest.

Qi Yun noticed Wen Yu’s low pressure. Leaning by the window to touch up her makeup, she tilted her head and said to Wen Yu, “Don’t force it if you have no inspiration. It’s just a class assignment, is it worth being so serious?”

“Going out?” Wen Yu saw Qi Yun holding a lipstick, looking left and right at the front-facing camera.

“Met a pretty interesting girl recently.”

“Didn’t you say you didn’t dare to date anymore?” Wen Yu asked.

“Who said anything about dating?” Qi Yun smiled lightly.

Wen Yu knew what Qi Yun meant. When Qi Yun met a girl she liked, she would treat her well without asking for anything in return, spending money on her, asking after her well-being, ambiguous but never crossing the line. Once the other party started to develop feelings for her, she would immediately turn cold.

“Don’t you think that’s a bit scummy?” Wen Yu asked with a smile.

“You have the nerve to call me scummy?” Qi Yun retorted without hesitation. “Besides, I know my limits. I’ve never hurt anyone’s feelings.”

Wen Yu said no more. Many people thought she was scummy, including Qi Yun. She never defended herself; she couldn’t be bothered. Besides, she didn’t care how others saw her; it had been like this since she was a child. Qi Yun said this was keeping the initiative in her own hands so she wouldn’t get hurt easily. Wen Yu saw through it clearly: Qi Yun was just cowardly, afraid of liking someone.

Qi Yun said “Leaving now” and left dashingly.

Wen Yu looked up at the ceiling. It seemed she wouldn’t find her flow tonight. She picked up her phone to check the time and unconsciously thought of Ye Qizhen again. After the National Day dinner, Ye Qizhen fulfilled her promise and treated her to a meal alone just yesterday. If she asked her out again today, would it be too frequent?

After thinking about it, Wen Yu decided to run a few laps on the playground instead. She liked to sweat when she felt depressed. Just as she was about to get up, a WeChat notification popped up on the screen.

[y]: Do you have time tomorrow morning? My friend has a basketball game, want to go watch together?

Wen Yu stared intently at the message from Ye Qizhen. We just met yesterday, and she wants to ask me out again for tomorrow? Isn’t this too frequent? Gently rubbing the edge of her phone with her fingertip, she turned to look out the window and smiled. She was being influenced by Qi Yun—thinking so much just because a girl sent her a WeChat message.

Less than a minute later.

Ye Qizhen received a reply.

[w]: Sure, I have time.

Ye Qizhen originally didn’t plan to do this favor for Tang Xiao, but Tang Xiao’s mouth was too persuasive, and he swore this was the one and only time. Only then did she agree. She thought Wen Yu wouldn’t be interested, but unexpectedly, she agreed so readily.

Tang Xiao was on the school basketball team in high school and played decently. Ye Qizhen knew why Tang Xiao begged her to bring Wen Yu along; it was too easy to guess. He just wanted to act cool and leave a good impression.

Speaking of which, girls generally have a good impression of boys who play ball well, right? Ye Qizhen thought about it, then felt she was the exception.

The next day was breezy and sunny.

The outdoor basketball court was bustling.

Ye Qizhen wore a loose, thin sweatshirt and canvas shoes, standing by the basketball court soaking up the sun. The temperature was a bit high after ten o’clock, but with the wind blowing, it didn’t feel hot, just warm.

Tang Xiao trotted all the way to Ye Qizhen. “Are you sure she’ll come?”

“She agreed to come, should be here soon.”

“Do I look handsome today?”

Ye Qizhen: “Pretty good.”

Tang Xiao frowned: “Do you have to answer so perfunctorily?”

“Have you ever heard a saying?” Ye Qizhen felt it necessary to remind him. “When boys think they are handsome, they become very greasy (cheesy/try-hard).”

Tang Xiao felt hurt. The game was about to start, and someone on the court shouted loudly in his direction, so he ran over hurriedly.

Ready to go. The first half of the game had already started, but Ye Qizhen still didn’t see Wen Yu. She looked around, searching for the target, but found nothing after a scan.

Checking her phone, Wen Yu hadn’t messaged saying she wasn’t coming, so she should be coming, right?

Ye Qizhen was looking down at her phone seriously and didn’t notice the person beside her. After a good while, she realized the shadow next to her had moved closer. Only then did she slowly lift her head.

She was stunned when she saw the person.

The person beside her was none other than Wen Yu.

Like a small surprise suddenly dropped from the sky, Ye Qizhen looked at Wen Yu and smiled. “When did you get here?”

“Just now.” Wen Yu tilted her head to answer. She had seen Ye Qizhen from afar; her aimless looking around seemed a bit silly.

She wore a light-colored shirt again today, lazy and casual, with the cuffs rolled up revealing a section of nice-looking wrist. Ye Qizhen discovered Wen Yu really suited wearing shirts. Perhaps art students naturally carried an artistic temperament? Thinking of Tang Xiao, it seemed that wasn’t necessarily true.

“Um, Tang Xiao is number 13.” Ye Qizhen reacted after a while, stiffly dragging the topic to Tang Xiao. “He plays okay.”

Wen Yu gave an “Mn” and turned her gaze to the court.

Ye Qizhen saw Wen Yu watching intently, seemingly liking it. Does Tang Xiao actually have a chance this time? She asked Wen Yu, “You like basketball?”

Wen Yu turned back and said lightly, “Don’t understand it.”

Ye Qizhen: “…”

“You like basketball?” Wen Yu asked Ye Qizhen in return.

Ye Qizhen shook her head and confessed, “Just here to support him.”

“You and Tang Xiao have a pretty good relationship.”

She doesn’t misunderstand that I like Tang Xiao, does she? Ye Qizhen quickly explained, “We’ve known each other since childhood. We used to be neighbors, and he considers my parents his godparents.”

On the court, a group of people moved swiftly, sweating like rain. Whether it was an illusion or not, Ye Qizhen felt the atmosphere became much more intense after Wen Yu arrived. Even though it was just a friendly match, everyone was putting in extra effort. Whenever someone dunked, they would look in their direction.

However, both Ye Qizhen and Wen Yu were very calm and didn’t cheer. Ye Qizhen occasionally clapped, while Wen Yu was completely indifferent.

Ten minutes later, Ye Qizhen felt she must be astrologically incompatible with basketball courts. Otherwise, that flying basketball wouldn’t have hit her squarely on the head.

Ye Qizhen clutched her painful forehead, suspecting she might have a concussion. She had only zoned out for a moment.

“Sorry.”

“Are you okay?”

“Are you hurt?”

…

A group of people quickly surrounded her. Smelling the sweat, Ye Qizhen felt even more uncomfortable, but she still smiled and said, “It’s okay, it’s okay, you guys continue.”

“I’ll accompany you to the school hospital to check it out? Let me see if it’s serious.”

The boy who walked up to her was Xu Kaiming. Ye Qizhen knew him; they had met at the dinner last time. She also heard from Tang Xiao that Xu Kaiming was on the same basketball team as him. Seeing his hand reaching out, Ye Qizhen resisted slightly and stepped back. “Really, it’s fine.”

Wen Yu glanced at Xu Kaiming. “I’ll accompany her.”

“Alright, if it’s fine, let’s continue.” The boy in the number 6 jersey shouted loudly.

After the crowd dispersed.

Ye Qizhen continued rubbing her forehead.

Wen Yu said to Ye Qizhen, “Move your hand, let me see.”

After rubbing a few times, Ye Qizhen obediently listened to Wen Yu, turned her face directly toward her, tilted her head back slightly, and jokingly asked, “Did I grow a horn?”

“You did.” Wen Yu suddenly smiled. Seeing that it wasn’t serious, going to the hospital would be an exaggeration. She added, “Wait for me here.”

That sentence again. Just like last time, when Ye Qizhen heard her say this, her heart felt warm. Before she could ask what Wen Yu was going to do, she had already turned and left.

Not long after, Ye Qizhen saw Wen Yu coming back with two ice creams in her hand. She took the one Wen Yu handed over, feeling a bit embarrassed, said “thank you,” tore open the package, and started eating.

Wen Yu smiled helplessly. She guessed right; Ye Qizhen just wanted to eat as soon as she saw ice cream, so she specifically bought two. “Come here.”

Ye Qizhen paused while eating the ice cream, and then saw Wen Yu press the ice cream in her own hand onto Ye Qizhen’s bruised forehead.

While applying the cold compress, Wen Yu asked softly, “Does it hurt?”

The other’s voice was gentle, and her movements were gentle too. Ye Qizhen was stunned and didn’t answer immediately. She thought Wen Yu must have misunderstood her to think she needed to be taken care of so much.

Normally, she would have immediately taken the ice cream from the other person’s hand and said, “It’s fine, I’ll do it myself.” But now, she just gazed quietly at Wen Yu, motionless. “A little.”

Occasionally, I still want to be taken care of…

Looking at me with those eyes again. Wen Yu even wondered, Am I really overthinking it? She continued to press the ice cream lightly on Ye Qizhen’s forehead, meeting Ye Qizhen’s gaze. “Is this more comfortable?”

“Mn,” Ye Qizhen hummed.

“The ice cream is going to melt, hurry up and eat.” Wen Yu reminded her with a smile, but the smile was distracted. “You eat, I’ll hold it for you.”

It really was going to melt. Ye Qizhen quietly ate her ice cream like this, but her mind wasn’t on the ice cream.

“Student Ye.”

“Mn?” Ye Qizhen looked at Wen Yu.

“Do you need to eat something delicious at noon to make up for it?” Wen Yu admitted she had selfish motives; she wanted to see Ye Qizhen eating again. It looked especially appetizing.

Ye Qizhen could tell Wen Yu was teasing her. It was almost noon. She glanced at the court and discussed with Wen Yu, “Wait for Tang Xiao and the others to go together?”

Wen Yu thought for a moment, gazed intently at Ye Qizhen, and whispered, “I’m in a bad mood today, I don’t want anyone else around.”