Only later did Lin Xiao realize that the words hidden in those sheets of scratch paper had written the answer long before she thought they had.
On the first day of seventh grade, Lin Xiao and Lu Siwei were both chosen as math class representatives.
One didn't talk much, and the other talked even less. On their first day as desk mates, they exchanged only three words: “Move over.” “Thanks.” “Mm.”
Everyone thought that putting these two ice-cold people together meant even collecting homework would be awkward.
But no one knew
When her pen fell, he bent down before she could.
When he got stuck on a problem, she quietly slid her scratch paper over to him.
She said her stomach was delicate, and he remembered. The water he handed her was always warm.
They chatted on QQ late into the night. After wishing each other good night, neither of them wanted to be the first to fall asleep.
They went running together every day. She taught him how to swing his arms, and he counted her laps.
He kept a black pen just like hers in the very back of his desk drawer, never once daring to use it.
They were so close, yet neither dared to speak first.
A joking remark, “There's absolutely no way I'd ever like him,” made them miss each other for three whole years.
For all three years of high school, they were on the same floor and passed each other countless times, but only ever exchanged four words:
“Good luck.”
“You too.”
Until that seaside spot after the college entrance exams
Someone finally found the courage to say the words that had been hidden in scratch paper for six years.
This is a story about missed chances, waiting, and courage.
The feelings they never voiced had been there all along.
