Romance in Words

[School life, healing, growth, ensemble cast] [A distant, taciturn, prickly shou vs. a haughty young master pretending to be rebellious gong] Su Yanzhi never expected that he’d run into his new deskmate when he came with a friend to grab a late-night bite at the little restaurant on the corner. The person by the kitchen entrance wore an oil-stained apron, sleeves rolled up to his elbows as he deftly carried a crate of beer. Sweat trickled from his temple along the line of his jaw. The boy’s sharp features and unyielding grit made him seem like a completely different person from the one who always kept his head down doing practice problems in class. Sitting by the window, Su Yanzhi watched him, unconsciously rubbing his fingers along the rim of his cup. Lin Yan hadn’t expected to run into Su Yanzhi here either, but the indifference in the other boy’s eyes was like a sheet of ice, unmistakably keeping him at a distance. If he didn’t want him around, Lin Yan wasn’t about to go out of his way to be friendly. They only really crossed paths after school, when Lin Yan saw a few people cornering the transfer student in an alley. Thinking he was the kind of rich kid who could only study, Lin Yan grabbed a mop and stepped in to help. It didn’t take long for him to realize that his deskmate could fight, and was more ruthless than anyone. Then one day, the boy everyone said had already transferred away appeared at the back door of the restaurant where Lin Yan worked, covered in injuries. When they met again, the boy had grown noticeably thinner, and a bloodstained bandage was wrapped around his wrist. Lin Yan wiped a plate and watched him for a long while before finally asking in a hoarse voice, “Why are you back again?”