Early that morning, the moment Jiang Wan stepped into the classroom, she found her deskmate staring at her with barely contained excitement.
“Jiang Wan, you’ve gone viral!”
Jiang Wan: ???
Before she could even ask, Mi Shuyun thrust her phone forward, urging her to check the pinned post on the school forum.
【OMG! Beauty close-up, that waist alone I could play with for three years! [Pictures]】
The original post consisted of photos from Jiang Wan’s performance at last night’s event.
The photographer’s skills left much to be desired, but they couldn’t conceal the girl’s inherent grace.
With her hair tied up in a neat bun, she stood poised on the stage, her skin as translucent as fine porcelain, her waist slender and delicate. Her chin tilted slightly upward, she evoked the image of a noble white swan.
Even through the images, one could sense the elegance and poise radiating from her very core.
The post had gone up last night, and the comment thread had already ballooned past a thousand replies.
Some commenters chimed in with agreement, others fished for details about Jiang Wan, and a few dismissed it outright.
Jiang Wan rarely bothered with the school forum—she wasn’t one for gossip. But seeing her name and class already doxxed in the thread left a sour taste in her mouth.
She hated being gawked at like some exotic animal in a zoo.
No thrill, no flattered surprise—just irritation.
This wasn’t the first time. It had happened a few times back in junior high, when groups of boys would barge into her class just to see if she really looked as stunning as the rumors claimed. A few had even tried their luck with shy advances.
Back then, the quick-tempered Guanguan had chased them off with her fists.
Thanks to Guanguan, the harassers had thinned out afterward.
She could only hope the students at No. 13 Middle School proved a bit more mature.
Seeing the blank expression on Jiang Wan’s face—not even a flicker of surprise—Mi Shuyun awkwardly pulled her hand back.
“So many people are asking about you now. Aren’t you happy?”
“Why would I be?” Jiang Wan shot back.
“Because… because everyone’s paying attention to you!” Mi Shuyun blurted.
Unlike herself—so insignificant, her presence barely registering, no one ever noticing what she did. She envied Jiang Wan, drawing the eyes of the crowd with every move.
“But… not everyone enjoys the spotlight. I certainly don’t.” Jiang Wan tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and offered her deskmate a smile, though it lacked her usual warmth.
Attention?
She’d felt it, alright.
From the second she walked in, something had felt off. Classmates kept stealing glances her way, whispering behind their hands.
Pretending not to notice, she straightened her books and pulled out her English textbook to memorize vocabulary.
The scrutiny wasn’t outright loathsome, but she didn’t like it one bit.
If they wanted to talk dance, she’d welcome it. But if it stemmed from shallow lust for her looks? Spare her.
Stumped by Jiang Wan’s cool responses, Mi Shuyun pouted. With the teacher yet to arrive, she kept scrolling—and stumbled onto something explosive.
“Jiang Wan! Jiang Wan! The pianist who backed you up yesterday—was that Bei Huai?!”
Last night, when Bei Huai had taken the stage, the lights had been dim. Once the performance began, the spotlights had fixed on Jiang Wan, leaving the piano corner in shadow.
Besides, every eye in the audience had been glued to Jiang Wan. Who had spared a thought for the pianist?
Someone had, clearly—enough to post about it.
The thread was brand new. According to the original poster, she’d spent the night buzzing with excitement and agonizing over whether to share, but her urge to spill had won out. She’d posted anonymously, with a healthy dose of self-preservation: delete immediately if the subjects took offense.
The photos were clearly snapped on the sly, low-resolution and furtive, but unmistakable—those signature red locks could only belong to Bei Huai.
Who else at No. 13 Middle School?
No one had expected the school’s notorious delinquent to play piano—and play it well, at that!
The post had detonated within minutes, joining Jiang Wan’s at the top of the forum.
At Mi Shuyun’s words, Jiang Wan abandoned her vocab. For someone who’d sworn off the forum, she snatched her phone with impressive speed and dove in.
The first image to load was a side profile of the girl—focused, aloof, utterly captivating.
Lost in her dance last night, Jiang Wan hadn’t noticed anyone else.
Classmate Bei Huai at the piano… she was breathtaking.
Even in a plain shirt, she exuded an effortless poise.
Flamboyant and wild, she was cool and edgy. Serious and intent, she was beautiful and fierce.
Jiang Wan pressed her lips together, her hand drifting to her chest.
Her heart…
It was racing.
~~~
“Here you go—the thing you asked me to handle.” Cen Jin tugged down the brim of her cap and tossed the USB drive from her pocket onto the coffee table.
Seeing the girl silently plug in the drive and scan through the files without a word, Cen Jin took a sip of her coffee, her smile warm and knowing. “This is for that little friend named Jiang Wan, isn’t it?”
“I never imagined it—our cool ice queen actually volunteering to accompany someone on piano.” Cen Jin idly browsed the school forum when she was bored, and now that post had blown up so massively it was impossible to ignore.
Cen Jin shook her head with a tsk-tsk. “What’s so special about this Jiang Wan that she’s got you so enchanted?”
“None of your business.”
“Now you’ve got me curious. How about I swing by school later and check her out myself?”
She said it purely to tease.
It was an obvious joke, yet Bei Huai’s expression darkened instantly.
The girl frowned, her voice icy. “If I catch you going anywhere near her, you can kiss goodbye to ever tasting Sister Ala’s homemade brew again.”
Those words wiped the smile right off Cen Jin’s face.
“Hey, come on—no kidding, you’re playing hardball like that?”
Seeing Bei Huai’s gaze unflinching, Cen Jin caved. “Alright, alright, relax. I won’t go anywhere near your little darling.”
Bei Huai ignored her completely, lowering her head to focus back on the computer screen.
As she scrolled, her phone pinged with a notification.
Several seconds passed before she lazily reached for it, unlocked the screen with a casual glance, and started to set it aside.
But then her peripheral vision snagged on the words “Annoying Pest,” and her movements froze.
Annoying Pest: Classmate Bei Huai not coming to school today?
Tree: Got something going on?
Bei Huai stared at the chat window, patiently waiting for Jiang Wan’s reply while tuning out Cen Jin’s meaningfully arched eyebrow.
Annoying Pest: Time to make good on that milk tea promise from yesterday.
Bei Huai scoffed to herself. She wasn’t some silly little girl who went gaga for milk tea.
Even so, her fingers flew across the keyboard without hesitation.
Tree: Back at school later. Not into milk tea.
Annoying Pest: What flavor for Classmate Bei Huai then?
Tree: Strawberry.
The words slipped out almost subconsciously, Bei Huai firing them off without a second thought.
Her fingers hovered in the air as a wave of embarrassment crashed over her belatedly.
She’d just claimed zero interest in milk tea, and here she was seconds later demanding strawberry. Total self-own.
She fumbled to unsend it, but Jiang Wan’s reply popped up first.
Annoying Pest: Got it!
Well, no point now.
“I’m heading out.” Bei Huai shoved down her tangled feelings, called out to Cen Jin, packed her things, and left the coffee shop.
Cen Jin lounged back on the sofa, watching Bei Huai’s retreating figure. She steepled her fingers, one eyebrow quirked in thought.
“No wonder she’s been hitting the school so hard lately.”
So that’s it—she’s got a crush.
