The Perfect Skin Disguise

April breezes carried cherry blossom petals whirling wildly across campus. I stood beneath a cherry tree behind the biology lab building, my palm slick with sweat, nearly soaking the love letter I'd written, torn up, and written again. Xu Qingge stood right in front of me. She hadn't had time to take off her lab coat, and those gold-rimmed glasses still rested on her nose, a pink petal clinging to one lens. "I've organized all the experimental data. Is there anything else?" she asked, tilting her head. The motion made her ponytail sway gently, its ends brushing the pale neck visible above the collar of her lab coat. I opened my mouth, but my throat felt as if it had been