The Male Classmate Who Wants Me

[A short campus story in my usual style] The whole thing will probably be a few tens of thousands of words. I'll post it once I've written ten thousand.

#HeHasACrushOnHim# -> #MutualCrush#

[The quiet, bespectacled top science student who sits in the last row and never stands out in class.

Silent and cautious, he only dares to watch the gentle, beautiful class belle

from the shadows.]

Chen Zhuo is a silent observer.

From an unnoticed corner, he steals glances at Xue Yizhen.

He watches her neatly stack her test papers, her slender, faintly pink fingertips tucking their edges into her folder.

He watches her stand by the podium, giving instructions while holding a stack of papers, smiling gently as she says things no one can refuse.

Whenever someone calls her, Xue Yizhen first tucks the hair beside her face behind her ear, then answers, "Hm?" Her eyes curve into an irresistibly charming smile.

She has a beautiful smile.

Gradually, his feelings took on another shape.

The slender waist faintly visible beneath her thin summer shirt; the half of her snowy-white ankle revealed when she rolled up her trouser legs on the sports field; and, come winter, her cheeks faintly reddened by the cold. Even when she merely passed by with her friends, bringing the chill of wind and snow with her,

it all made him realize how despicable he was.

No one noticed him watching her.

A thousand thousand silent shouts filled his chest, until one day his friend asked him to deliver a gift to Xue Yizhen.

The hallway,

Xue Yizhen struggled to carry a pile of homework, propping the classroom door open with her knee as she squeezed halfway inside.

All she could see from the corner of her eye were the creased spines of books.

As she passed the corner of the corridor, someone bumped into her. Her ulnar nerve went numb, and the exercise books in her arms scattered across the floor.

People nearby gasped. Xue Yizhen hurried to bend down and pick them up. A boy from her class crouched down beside her.

She didn't know him well. She only remembered his name: Chen Zhuo.

He was the quiet, unremarkable boy in their class. The only time anyone really noticed him was when the math scores came out and his name sat at the very top, reminding everyone, Wow, so there's someone in our class called Chen Zhuo.

But now, his fingers accidentally brushed the back of her hand. The warm touch was gone in an instant, but its lingering sensation spread up her entire numb arm.

And the look he gave her from beneath his glasses was like a knife slowly slicing through a pitch-black curtain.

Chen Zhuo had a secret he could never say aloud:

That night, he dreamed about her.

A beast was trapped inside him, but he kept it locked in its cage. All he dared to do was carefully breathe in that faint trace of life.

Then one day, spring set out on its journey and came to rest on the tip of its nose.

ps. This story has a sewer-like vibe (???).

This time, the heroine shines brighter than the hero. Of course, he's still tall and better-looking than most, but imagine the vibe of a bespectacled top science student.

The focus is on the tension between two people who barely know each other.

The heroine is a sweet, wholesome, pure-hearted girl, the teacher's right-hand helper, and dreams of becoming an official (). She makes the occasional wry comment. She'll think the hero is adorable, then tease him back in a gentle voice.

The hero looks gloomy, damp, and shadowy, but he's actually a wolf in sheep's clothing (pure-hearted, and convinced he's vile and depraved even as he can't control his instinct to get a little frisky). He's restrained and cautious in how he protects the heroine, proud yet humble, enduring his true unrequited love.

23/5/9

Theme: A tiger in the heart, a rose beneath its nose