The classroom of the seventeen-year-old always smelled of chalk dust. The first time Ji Qingshan noticed Gu Chengshu was on an afternoon that was heated by the sun. He was squatting by the playground, feeding milk to the stray cat that always rubbed his trousers. The side of his face was cut soft by the light, like cotton soaked in warm water.
Gu Chengshu always followed Ji Qingshan like a shadow, neither far nor near. She would silently hand him an ice-cold orange soda when he frowned and rubbed his temples; he would clearly mark the key points that Ji Qingshan missed in his notes with a red pen; he would even wait at the door of the teaching building with an umbrella on rainy days because he was "just on his way."
Ji Qingshan buried his face in the collar of his school uniform, but the tips of his ears were red and hot: "Gu Renshu, can you stay away from me?"
The young man stood in the backlight, the corners of his mouth curved slightly, and his voice was as soft as the wind: "But I want to follow you."
This is a secret love hidden in the morning light and sunset, a quietly approaching shoulder when we are side by side in the library, and a tacit understanding of mineral water on the basketball court. When the tenderness of a loyal dog pervades daily life, the duplicitous boy will eventually discover that those unspeakable loves have long been hidden in the panic of every glance.
Concept: My youthful era
