I liked him, but I didn’t know if that was love.
Was it related to the love between a man and a woman?
Su Qi and I had gradually grown closer.
Perhaps, deep in my heart, I was hoping that someone would replace Dongyu.
After all, I should not rely on him too much.
“I thought that perhaps, my world was too small, so that other than my family, there was only him. Because all my obsessions were related to only him, I found myself unable to relate to the bigger world beyond.
What about trying to reach others?
…
“Xiachun!”
Whenever school ended, Su Qi, with his handsome and smiling face, would always make a timely appearance.
I got used to dumping my school bag into his bicycle basket, then hopping onto the little backseat and having him cycle me home.
However, on that particular day, I failed my exam and was reprimanded. It put me in a foul mood when I thought about how I was going to explain myself when I got home. I furrowed my brow.
“It’s Saturday tomorrow. You don’t have to rush home today, right? Come with me, let’s have fun.”
“It’s getting late. I have to go home.” I clutched the exam paper and turned around to leave. My attitude was rather cold as I walked around him to head home.
Sensing that something was wrong from my expression, Su Qi caught up with me on his bicycle. “What’s wrong? Are you in a bad mood?”
I glared at him, on the verge of tears.
Some people are born to excel academically, such as Dongyu and Su Qi. Even if they didn’t pay much attention in class and just flipped through the books, they were able to learn without the help of a teacher.
But it appeared that I was not born to be this sort of genius.
Therefore, a few days later, during the monthly exam, I managed a “placing” in my class. I failed three out of five subjects. I was placed in the bottom few of course.
The bottom students had to face an announcement. Hence for all the wrong reasons, I was made to go up to the podium. I was reprimanded, along with other students who failed the examinations. I returned to my seat, shamed and ashamed. I almost cried.
So I wasn’t in the mood to talk to Su Qi when I saw him bearing his bright smile at the school gate.
He walked up to me and, taking advantage of my distraction, snatched the exam paper from me. He stared at it. It was a huge and glaring “58” inscribed on it.
“58 only for Mathematics?”
“What does that have to do with you?” I snapped. “Give it back!”
Su Qi dodged and looked at the Chinese paper. “67? It’s so easy to memorize junior high language, how did you end up scoring so low?!”
“Su Qi!” I stomp my feet, my face reddening.
He took my school bag from me and said, “Hop on!”
“Where are we going?”
“To give you tuition.”
He added, “I’ve made arrangements to meet with Dongyu.”
I was stunned for a moment. But having been told that Dongyu was going to be there, I got onto the bicycle.
Ever since the time I went home late, Dongyu and Su Qi, unexpectedly, became friends. My guess was Dongyu probably thought that since he couldn’t keep Su Qi away from me, the next best form of protecting me would be to become friends with the guy.
The two of them got along considerably well. One was passionate, like a burning fire; the other was calm and cool as ice. They usually played basketball together after class.
After I failed my monthly examination, Dongyu and Su Qi took turns tutoring me. The tuition location was at the reading hall at first, but for some reason, whenever Dongyu and Su Qi made an appearance together, the library became noisy.
Being sandwiched between the two school hunks, I felt like there were many pairs of eyes staring at me from behind. It was especially uncomfortable.
