Lin Xingye always thought that Shen Qingci, the cool, quiet transfer student who did nothing but keep his head down and work through problems, belonged to a completely different world from him.
That was, until Lin kicked the leg of Shen's chair to ask for an eraser, took the half-worn one still warm from Shen's hand, and then invited him to get an orange soda.
After that, every evening study session, Lin Xingye couldn't help glancing toward the window. It turned out even a quiet top student would cover for him when the homeroom teacher made rounds, tuck his reddened, freezing hands into his own pocket, and quietly write Lin's name in the corner of his mistake notebook.
Theme: True courage isn't about fighting the world. It's about still daring, years later, to recognize that boy, then adding the unspoken "I choose you" from back then to the full stop at the end of your grown-up life with your own hand.
