I Bet You Can't Catch Her

On the first day of her freshman year, Lin Zhixia overheard two boys talking in the dormitory hallway.

“You’ll never win her over. I bet you can’t.”

“What are we betting?”

“...Just a bet.”

Just a bet. They didn’t even have anything to wager. They simply had to prove a point.

And the person they were betting on was her.

Ji Xiangbei was a freshman in the finance department: confident, bold, and never one to explain himself.

Lin Zhixia was a freshman in the Chinese department. Quiet and artsy on the surface, she was fiercely stubborn underneath.

She found out about the bet, but didn’t call them out.

She wanted to see how long this guy would keep up the act.

But Ji Xiangbei wasn’t “acting.”

A “chance” encounter in the cafeteria, a “coincidental” meeting in the library, a “convenient” late-night walk back to her dorm...

He never admitted he was pursuing her, but he never denied the bet, either.

“They can make their bet. I’ll pursue you. Those are two different things,” he said.

When the truth came out, everyone thought Lin Zhixia would get angry, cry, and make a scene.

Instead, in front of the entire class, she made her position crystal clear:

“I don’t recognize the bet. I won’t be anyone’s substitute, and I don’t want to waste my time.

I’m not anyone’s wager. I’ll take my own chances with my life.”

Ji Xiangbei announced in front of everyone, “The bet doesn’t exist. Believe it or not.”

Pursuing her was his own decision.

From spite to sincerity, from testing the waters to drawing closer.

A bet with nothing at stake, and a youth that began with a refusal to back down.

“I bet I’ll still like you three years from now.”

“I’ll bet my whole life on you.”

[Campus romance · Sweet love · Anti-cliché · Uplifting]

You bet on the beginning, but I was the one who lost to myself.