Give Me Heartthrobs 17

Chapter 17: Sulking

“I promise you, this is truly the last time.”

Given that she had indeed taken Wen Yu away during the basketball game last time, after considering it, Ye Qizhen told Tang Xiao that she would ask Wen Yu to go night running tomorrow evening. Her period was over, and she had planned to ask Wen Yu to run anyway, so she figured she’d just treat it as leaking some insider information to Tang Xiao.

After finishing the call with Tang Xiao, Ye Qizhen sent a WeChat message to Wen Yu. About ten minutes later, she received Wen Yu’s reply, consisting of only one word: Okay.

Running had always been a nightmare for Ye Qizhen. The last time she ran was in her senior year of high school; she came in dead last in the 800 meters, completing it at practically a walking pace.

She agreed to meet Wen Yu at 8:00 PM. Ye Qizhen arrived at the playground early at 7:50 PM, having prepared two bottles of mineral water. She sat on the familiar stands, waiting.

The air was a bit stifling tonight.

It seemed like it would rain tomorrow.

Ye Qizhen rested her chin on her hand and gazed into the distance. A few minutes later, she saw Wen Yu walking towards her. She immediately stood up and walked towards Wen Yu too, handing over the water with a beaming smile. “Here.”

“Thanks.” While accepting the water, Wen Yu’s gaze subconsciously swept the area around Ye Qizhen, but she didn’t see anyone else.

Ye Qizhen also glanced casually around from her peripheral vision. Not seeing Tang Xiao approach, she privately hoped it would be best if he didn’t come. But given Tang Xiao’s personality, having missed several opportunities, he would definitely come tonight no matter what.

“Shall we start?” Ye Qizhen asked Wen Yu.

“Mn.” Looking at the clean, beautiful smile on Ye Qizhen’s face, Wen Yu wondered if she was overthinking things.

Just then.

A flurry of footsteps came from behind them.

Tang Xiao jogged up to Ye Qizhen and Wen Yu, letting out an “exclamation”: “What a coincidence, you two are here to run too?”

Seeing Tang Xiao, Ye Qizhen had to bite the bullet and endure the awkwardness, playing along with his act. She chimed in, “You’re here to run too… want to join us?”

Helping him only this far.

Won’t say anything more.

Tang Xiao looked at Wen Yu and agreed lightning fast, “Sure!”

Wen Yu listened silently to their chat, her expression flat. She smiled when appropriate. She glanced at Tang Xiao, and then her gaze landed straight between Ye Qizhen’s brows. In a tone of zero surprise, she said softly, “Such a coincidence?”

“Really such a coincidence.” Tang Xiao picked up the conversation incredibly fast.

Ye Qizhen, however, heard the hidden meaning in her words and suddenly felt a bit guilty. Moreover, she could tell Wen Yu seemed to mind a third person joining. True, they had agreed to run just the two of them, and now she had invited Tang Xiao along.

Wen Yu glanced indifferently at Tang Xiao, a faint smile on her face that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “You run first.”

“Huh?” Tang Xiao didn’t catch on immediately, but hearing Wen Yu say this, he could only respond heartily: “Okay.”

Ye Qizhen sensed something.

Tang Xiao left. Wen Yu tilted her head slightly, looking at the person in front of her for a long time without speaking.

Just as Ye Qizhen was about to speak.

Wen Yu asked directly, “You called him over. You’re helping him chase me?”

Seen through at a glance. Was our acting that bad? Ye Qizhen couldn’t deny it; she had called Tang Xiao over tonight, and she was indeed indirectly helping him chase Wen Yu.

So it is like this. Wen Yu turned her head and thought: the dinner, the basketball game, asking her to run—whenever Ye Qizhen took the initiative to find her, it was to get her involved with Tang Xiao. Ye Qizhen had been so resistant to her before; how could she suddenly be willing to interact with her like this?

“When you usually seek me out, is it also to help him?” Wen Yu asked again.

“No.” Ye Qizhen shook her head in denial. Wen Yu obviously misunderstood even more.

“Not because you’re willing to pay attention to someone like me?” Wen Yu said with a cold smile, touching on her own most sensitive spot.

Ye Qizhen was a bit confused; she never expected Wen Yu to think this way. Hearing Wen Yu mock herself as “someone like me,” her heart ached a little. Slightly flustered, she tried hard to explain: “Really not, it’s because Tang Xiao saw we were getting close that he asked me to invite you out… I’m sorry.”

Wen Yu tried her best not to reveal any other emotions, maintaining a faint smile of indifference to everything. But she knew she was angry with Ye Qizhen tonight; she had thought Ye Qizhen would be different.

But thinking about it, how easy was it for someone to sincerely interact with her?

She knew better than anyone how rotten and foul her reputation was. Green tea bitch? Whore? Slut?

When rumors spread enough, they become like the truth. So what kind of person could she be in Ye Qizhen’s eyes? How good could the impression be?

“I don’t like Tang Xiao, tell him to stop wasting his effort. And you too, from now on, don’t deliberately try to get close to me,” Wen Yu said briefly and calmly.

Ye Qizhen got anxious. “I’m not getting close to you because of Tang Xiao.”

Wen Yu turned a deaf ear, simply shoved the water back into Ye Qizhen’s hand, turned, and left. Ye Qizhen froze in place watching Wen Yu’s back, the water bottle in her hand squeezed out of shape.

Tang Xiao ran a little over a lap and found Wen Yu had left again. Almost in despair, he went up and asked Ye Qizhen, “Why did Wen Yu leave again? Didn’t you say we were running together tonight?”

Ye Qizhen was mute, still thinking about the conversation with Wen Yu just now.

So uncomfortable she wanted to cry.

But with Tang Xiao there, she held it back.

“What did you guys say just now? Wasn’t it fine before?” Tang Xiao was still asking.

“You are so annoying.” Ye Qizhen looked up at Tang Xiao and blurted out. She actually really wanted to ask Tang Xiao what exactly he liked about Wen Yu—did he just like Wen Yu’s face?

Wen Yu was different from other girls, not someone you could see through at a glance. He didn’t even understand Wen Yu, so what right did he have to keep saying he wanted to chase her?

Thinking about this, Tang Xiao became even more of an eyesore to her.

Tang Xiao quickly shut his mouth. Although Ye Qizhen’s tone wasn’t heavy and didn’t sound like she was throwing a tantrum, he knew clearly that for Ye Qizhen, this level was throwing a tantrum.

“She said she doesn’t like you, and told you not to bother her in the future. That’s it.” Ye Qizhen finished speaking expressionlessly, and threw the water in her hand at Tang Xiao to vent. “Don’t come bother me in the future either.”

Tang Xiao was very confused. Logically speaking, he should be the sad one. He didn’t understand why Ye Qizhen’s reaction was bigger than his.

Lying in bed after showering that night.

Ye Qizhen couldn’t sleep no matter what.

Thinking about every word Wen Yu said on the playground, especially when Wen Yu blurted out “willing to pay attention to someone like me”… She realized Wen Yu wasn’t as indifferent as she appeared on the surface, and was even more sensitive than the average person.

She had hurt Wen Yu.

Her roommates were all asleep now, and Ye Qizhen didn’t dare turn over. She grabbed her phone and looked; it was past midnight. The “I’m sorry” she sent Wen Yu two hours ago still hadn’t received a reply.

Wen Yu had said that; she definitely didn’t want to talk to her anymore.

She shouldn’t have agreed to help Tang Xiao.

Not even once.

…

For the next few days, Ye Qizhen went to the playground every night.

She still wanted to find Wen Yu and explain things clearly to her face to face again.

Going every day, hard work eventually paid off. On the third day, she happened to run into Wen Yu on the track.

Wen Yu glanced at Ye Qizhen and brushed past her.

Ye Qizhen turned around, chasing after Wen Yu’s steps hurriedly. “Wen Yu—”

As if she hadn’t heard anything, Wen Yu continued running her own pace without even turning her head. Ye Qizhen followed alongside her. She planned to run with Wen Yu like this until Wen Yu was willing to talk to her. She didn’t believe Wen Yu would ignore her forever.

After following Wen Yu for only two hundred meters, Ye Qizhen started losing her breath, but she gritted her teeth and persisted. It seemed special circumstances really could stimulate human potential; step by step, she actually managed to run two laps.

If she could do this during the physical fitness test, she wouldn’t have failed.

But after running two laps, she reached her limit. Her legs felt like they were filled with lead and couldn’t move anymore, and her heart felt like it was going to jump out of her chest. Fortunately, Wen Yu stopped at this moment, allowing her to save her life.

Wen Yu turned around and looked at Ye Qizhen from half a meter away. Only 800 meters, yet her face had turned white from running.

Ye Qizhen hunched over, hands on her knees, gasping for big mouthfuls of air, unable to speak. Her breathing wouldn’t return to normal anytime soon, and her throat tasted of blood, feeling terrible.

She saw Wen Yu looking at her, but the other party didn’t speak.

People kept jogging past them, one after another. After a long time, Wen Yu finally spoke, “I said don’t come looking for me anymore.”

Ye Qizhen straightened up. After chasing for so long, hearing Wen Yu coldly drop such a sentence made her feel even worse. Still out of breath, she said to Wen Yu, “I want to explain clearly to you, it’s not what you think…”

“It’s fine, doesn’t matter.” Facing Ye Qizhen, Wen Yu smiled, replying with a breezy sentence.

A phrase “doesn’t matter” rendered all explanations meaningless. Looking at Wen Yu’s disdainful smile, Ye Qizhen pursed her lips, her eyes turning red and hot. She frowned, holding back tears. After a moment, she smiled at Wen Yu with red eyes and said, “I already told Tang Xiao not to bother you anymore.”

Wen Yu remained silent, seeing that Ye Qizhen was about to cry. She knew Ye Qizhen’s habits by now; when she wanted to cry, she would purse her lips—a very iconic movement.

Standing quietly for a while, waiting for her breathing to calm down slightly. Even though Wen Yu said it didn’t matter, Ye Qizhen stubbornly and persistently explained, “Tang Xiao did ask me to invite you out for the basketball game, only that one time. I shouldn’t have told Tang Xiao about the night run that day. I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable.”

Ye Qizhen spoke with some difficulty, her voice trembling with the effort of holding back tears, but she was sincere. However, halfway through, her tears fell disappointingly. It was strange; she couldn’t hold back her tears in front of Wen Yu.

Wen Yu stared at Ye Qizhen’s red eyes. Really a crybaby. I didn’t even scold her, and she’s crying like this.

Seeing Wen Yu still refusing to talk to her, Ye Qizhen’s tears flowed even fiercer. She sucked in a breath, wiped the tear stains from her cheeks, and choked out another apology as she left: “I’m sorry.”

She was very afraid of being disliked.

For some reason, being disliked by Wen Yu made her even sadder. Besides, Wen Yu saying “doesn’t matter” to her made her want to cry more than being scolded.

After Ye Qizhen left, Wen Yu ran several more laps in one go, but she was distracted the whole time, her mind filled with the image of Ye Qizhen crying while explaining. If it was just to help Tang Xiao, she absolutely didn’t need to do this today.

Her heart was chaotic.

Running however many laps couldn’t calm it down.

So in Ye Qizhen’s eyes, what kind of person was she exactly?

Why worry about this? I clearly never care about others’ opinions…

***

The charity club had volunteer tutoring activities on weekends, serving mostly poor children aged 7 to 12. Ye Qizhen only realized later that the person she thought she saw wrongly at the meeting that night was actually Wen Yu.

She and Wen Yu were assigned to the same community.

That community was some distance from the school, and transportation wasn’t convenient; it took an hour by bus.

Saturday morning at 7:00 AM, just as the morning sun was rising. As usual, the group gathered at the North Gate of the school, and those going to the same community would travel to the destination together.

When she bumped into Wen Yu at the bus stop, Ye Qizhen smiled at her. Wen Yu remained lukewarm. Ye Qizhen felt wilted; it seemed Wen Yu was still angry with her.

There weren’t many people on the 216 bus because their school was near the starting station. Ye Qizhen followed closely behind Wen Yu onto the bus. Wen Yu walked to the back row seats, and she followed, finally sitting down silently in the seat next to Wen Yu.

Wen Yu leaned against the window, turned her head, and saw Ye Qizhen shamelessly sitting next to her. She couldn’t help but recall the scene of Ye Qizhen running behind her the night before last, like sticky candy… She simply looked at Ye Qizhen, said nothing, and continued looking out the window.

Ye Qizhen swore she had never been this thick-skinned before. These past few days, her mind had been full of thoughts on how to make Wen Yu stop being angry.

The bus moved forward, starting and stopping, swaying past several stops. When it was about to go on the cross-river bridge, traffic started to jam. It barely moved for seven or eight minutes. This was normal; if it were a workday, it could be even more congested.

Wen Yu felt dizzy and stifled, somewhat uncomfortable.

“Did you eat breakfast?” Ye Qizhen observed this. She guessed Wen Yu probably hadn’t eaten, and her complexion wasn’t good. Riding a vehicle without eating breakfast could easily lead to low blood sugar. She found a pack of biscuits in her bag and handed it to Wen Yu. “Eat some biscuits.”

Wen Yu didn’t take it immediately.

Ye Qizhen tore open the biscuit package and offered it again, looking at Wen Yu’s eyes eagerly, her voice very small and a bit aggrieved: “Don’t be angry with me anymore, okay?”