After the Class Reunion

1. Zhou Yicheng wanted to write a good entertainment-industry novel, so she joined a fan group for a top-tier star. She checked in every day without fail, spent big on merch and endorsements, and finally earned her way up to becoming one of the star's top fans. She hit it off with the other big fans, and one of them sold her the star's private schedule. Together, they went to follow him in person, giving her the full fan experience. She didn't realize she'd become a sasaeng fan.

She followed a few other sasaengs and cornered the top-tier star in a parking garage. The sasaengs snapped away with their long-lens cameras, but Zhou Yicheng had no idea that following a star in person meant you were supposed to get good photos of him. She hadn't brought a camera, so she squeezed right beside the bodyguards, just one step from the star, pulled out her phone, and called out sincerely, "Zhou Xuchen, could we take a photo together?"

As soon as she spoke, the flashes seemed to stop for a second. Even the top-tier star, who'd been walking forward with an arrogant, aloof expression and his eyes straight ahead, turned to look at her.

Then he stopped in his tracks, his whole body seeming to stiffen.

Two seconds later, he stopped completely, took off his sunglasses, and revealed his strikingly handsome face. He casually took the phone from Zhou Yicheng, leaned his whole body toward her, and brought his face within an inch of hers. Their faces appeared together in the phone camera, and he quickly snapped more than a dozen pictures.

As it happened, the shutter clicks, camera flashes, and screams rose and fell in a frenzy, faster than before, as if something earth-shattering had just happened.

After taking their picture, Zhou Xuchen tossed the phone back to her, then casually took another fan's phone and snapped two pictures. He left under the bodyguards' protection, hurrying onto his van without stopping, seemingly afraid of being mobbed.

But the screams and gasps in the parking garage still didn't stop.

Zhou Yicheng was perfectly satisfied with her in-person fan experience. Only when she got home and checked the photos did she realize that, thanks to the camera angle, her face and Zhou Xuchen's looked pressed together like an intimate couple. She couldn't help thinking that a top-tier star really was a top-tier star: his fan service was truly top-tier.

Then she opened Weibo and saw that the number-one trending topic had exploded.

#ZhouXuchenTakesPhotoWithSasaeng #GoddessOfEntertainmentIndustry

It was only after studying hard that Zhou Yicheng learned this wasn't how you followed stars in person. What she'd done was the kind of sasaeng behavior everyone condemned.

That's why Zhou Xuchen taking a photo with a sasaeng got him praised as such a kind person, earning him the title of the entertainment industry's goddess.

Zhou Yicheng was stunned to realize she'd mistaken herself for a fan when she'd really been a sasaeng.

To make it up to him, she enthusiastically bought two huge boxes of products endorsed by the top-tier star, the goddess.

Much later,

Zhou Yicheng finally realized the top-tier star wasn't a goddess.

He was her high school classmate.

2. Their high school class group chat was organizing a reunion, and everyone was eagerly saying they would attend.

"What about Zhou Yicheng? Is she coming?"

"She transferred schools in her senior year. Why would she come? Forget it."

Having read mountains of trashy romance novels, Zhou Yicheng knew that reunions were prime settings for dramatic, clichéd twists. Maybe she could even find some inspiration.

"I'm coming!" Zhou Yicheng solemnly dropped three characters into the chat.

Nobody paid her much attention.

The conversation had already moved on to the big shot from their class: the top-tier star Zhou Xuchen, now famous across the country and dubbed by the media "the Sexiest Man in the Galaxy."

Someone said, "Don't get your hopes up. He's a huge star, always flying from one engagement to another. How would he have time for a high school reunion?"

Zhou Yicheng thought so too.

At one in the morning, the group chat had gone quiet. She kept scratching her head, trying to come up with a plot for her novel.

Her phone suddenly rang.

Zhou Yicheng opened WeChat and saw that a user with a black profile picture had mentioned her in the high school group chat.

Zhou Xuchen: I'm coming too! @Zhou Chengzi.

#Help, I Mistook My High School Classmate For A Sasaeng

#Wait, The Top-Tier Star Is My Sasaeng Too!

#Now We're Even

Slow-Witted Little Author X Arrogant, Brooding Top-Tier Star

Theme: Meeting better versions of ourselves.