Addicted to You - Chapter 5

The person who had been feeling smug suddenly changed expression when they heard themselves being called shameless. Beside him, Guan Xiao couldn’t help but laugh, “This is the first time I’ve heard a girl call you shameless.”

Xu Yu had only said it out of desperation—normally, she never cursed at anyone.

The class bell rang, and Guan Xiao walked away still chuckling.

The atmosphere was extremely awkward. Xu Yu pretended like nothing had happened and opened her book.

Zhou Yiheng gave a small snort of laughter, “Impressive—you’ve learned how to curse now.” He sounded a little amused, maybe even approving.

Xu Yu knew he was talking about her, but now wasn’t the time to speak. If she got emotional, she might say something wrong again.

A few seconds later, once she had calmed down, she remembered who had actually brought him breakfast. Normally, she wouldn’t bother explaining, especially to a guy, but this time, she felt it was necessary.

She carefully organized her thoughts in her head, ready to explain—when a bottle of milk appeared in her line of sight. It wasn’t the one Xu Xuan gave him.

The boy looked straight at the blackboard, his hand resting casually on his textbook, speaking with a relaxed tone: “A peace offering—I was just teasing you earlier.”

He… was apologizing?

Something in Xu Yu’s heart was struck like an arrow. The tension inside her dissipated.

Her tone softened. “Thanks. But I really didn’t bring you breakfast—it was your girlfriend.”

Saying the words “your girlfriend” was a bit difficult for her.

The boy just replied indifferently, “Oh.”

Xu Yu hadn’t expected much of a response. She just wanted to say her piece.

The bottle of milk still sat on the “demilitarized zone” between their desks.

Second City High School dismissed earlier than Nanjing High. Xu Yu stayed behind to wait for Song Yuan to finish her club activities. After completing the homework assigned by the teacher, she checked the time—still twenty minutes to go. She grabbed her thermos and went to fill it with water.

She passed a few classrooms and glanced inside.

There weren’t many students studying, but plenty were horsing around on the sports field. If this had been her old school, everyone would still be in the classroom doing self-study. Don’t students in big cities feel stressed about school?

Hot water gurgled into her thermos as she zoned out. Leaning near the staircase, she caught sight of two figures.

Xu Xuan was hanging onto a boy’s neck, acting coy: “Did you eat the breakfast I made for you this morning?”

The boy replied coolly, “Yeah.”

“I even hurt my hand.” She stretched it out for him to see.

Zhou Yiheng looked at her hand as if it was the most natural thing, took it, kissed it, and asked gently, “Still hurt?”

“Mm, a bit better.”

It was the first time Xu Yu had ever openly watched someone being intimate—especially someone who shared her desk.

Her heart was struck again and again.

She stood there stunned, forgetting that water was still pouring into the cup.

The water overflowed, spilling down the counter like a waterfall. She was so focused on what she was seeing, she didn’t notice until it was too late.

The two of them looked like they were about to kiss. Just as their lips were about to touch, Xu Yu whipped her head around—and realized she was standing in a puddle.

She reached to turn off the tap in a panic and forgot it was 100-degree boiling water. As soon as she touched the thermos, she got burned.

“Ah!” she cried. The cup dropped to the floor with a loud clang, hot water splashing over her leg and shoes, searing her skin like fire.

The sudden noise interrupted the two just as their lips were about to meet.

“Who’s there?” Xu Xuan’s voice held clear annoyance—obviously irritated that her kiss had been interrupted.

Xu Yu instantly regretted everything. She grabbed her thermos and tried to escape but heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

They were getting closer. She stood frozen in place, as if waiting to be sentenced.

Just as the footsteps reached the top of the stairs, she heard a familiar male voice: “Probably someone who got burned by hot water. Let’s go—I’ll walk you home.”

Hearing her boyfriend offer to take her home, Xu Xuan didn’t press the issue.

The footsteps faded. Xu Yu let out a breath of relief. She picked up her thermos, got a mop from the corner to clean up the mess, and quietly returned to the classroom.

Back at her desk, she rolled up her pant leg. Her white skin was covered with a large red patch. Her shoes were soaked, and the areas where the hot water touched felt swollen.

She dabbed her pants dry with tissues—feeling a little better. Checking the time, she saw Song Yuan should be done soon, so she packed up and left.

…

…

When Zhou Yiheng returned to the classroom, it was empty. Seeing that her schoolbag was gone and only some clean notebooks remained on her desk with her name boldly written on them, he gently placed a box of burn ointment labeled for external use on her desk. Alongside it was that same bottle of milk from the morning.

After taking a shower, Xu Yu looked at her increasingly red leg. She searched the medicine box and finally found a tube of ointment—only to discover it had expired months ago.

She had no choice but to wait for it to heal naturally.

The next day, not wanting a repeat of yesterday, she went to school a little later. When she arrived, the seat beside hers was already occupied—he was reading a book.

She wondered if he had realized it was her yesterday. Probably not.

Xu Yu placed her bag down and started taking out her books when she noticed the milk bottle was still on the desk border—along with a plastic pharmacy bag. Thinking it was his, she gently pushed it aside. The plastic crinkled.

Zhou Yiheng looked over.

“Your stuff,” she explained, meaning: don’t put your things on my side.

Zhou Yiheng glanced at it and kept reading. “It’s for you.”

Xu Yu pushed it back, “Thanks, but I don’t need it.”

“Your leg looks terrible—still trying to act tough?”

Her eye twitched. She froze. How did he know she was burned? Did that mean he knew it was her yesterday? She began to panic.

Forget it—she didn’t want to dwell on it anymore. She wouldn’t accept kindness from others easily. She was about to lie and say she already applied ointment when he beat her to it: “I just don’t want someone getting hurt because of me and not even getting medical compensation.”

Xu Yu wanted to deny she got hurt because of him—but the words that came out were: “I didn’t get hurt because I was eavesdropping on you.” Then she realized she’d said the wrong thing.

Hearing that, Zhou Yiheng looked up, amused: “Oh? Eavesdropping? I almost caught someone spying while I was being intimate yesterday. That was you?”

She wasn’t good at lying. She softly replied, “But I didn’t see you kiss.”

“Oh? So you wanted to see us kiss?”

That wasn’t what she meant! But he just ran with it.

“I didn’t mean that.”

“Then what did you mean?” Zhou Yiheng pressed on.

She couldn’t respond—his mouth was just too sharp. She lowered her head in defeat.

After a few seconds of silence, seeing her say nothing, Zhou Yiheng didn’t tease her further. “Just take it. Your leg’s super red.” When she sat down, a bit of her leg was exposed—he had seen it.

She hadn’t checked it this morning. Lifting her pant leg slightly, she saw it wasn’t as red as yesterday but still far from healed.

She did need the ointment.

“Thanks for the medicine, but I’ll pass on the milk. I don’t like it.”

Zhou Yiheng’s eyes shifted slightly. She looked soft but was actually quite picky. No wonder she was so thin.

…

…

After class, Xu Yu took the medicine to the restroom.

The package was still sealed. She recognized the brand—it had commercials on TV that Luo Jie had watched. It wasn’t cheap. But since he said it was for her, she assumed it didn’t need to be returned.

She opened it carefully, applied a bit to her leg, but could only apply to her calf—the top of her foot would have to wait until she got home.

When she returned, the milk bottle was gone.

“Thanks,” Xu Yu said again.

“You a broken record? And I’m not old—I can still hear.”

Xu Yu knew he could hear. And she wasn’t a broken record. She just felt good deeds deserved more thanks.

“Well, since you want to thank me—take notes for me in the next class.” He lay down on the desk as he said it.

Being a top student didn’t mean you could just boss classmates around to do your notes—that was a bit much.

But since she’d accepted his help, she felt obliged. So she agreed.

Math class—a nightmare for most high school students. Often, the teacher was already skipping slides before anyone could even understand the material. Many notes were missed. Now she had to take an extra set of notes—Xu Yu felt a bit annoyed.

The person next to her handed over his book and promptly fell asleep.

Xu Yu opened both books to the same page. The same kind of paper, but completely different styles—hers was filled with neat, straight lines, his with wild scrawls.

She didn’t look too closely and focused on the lesson.

By the end of the class, after constantly looking up and down, she hadn’t had time to copy his notes.

She glanced at the boy sleeping peacefully and felt a flicker of irritation—she wanted to curse him.

But she didn’t like owing people favors. So she used the break to copy his notes.

The blank space in his book was already filled with those wild scrawls. Was he seriously expecting her to take notes in this? It was like a challenge.

Curiosity got the better of her. She wanted to know what had filled his book.

“The necessary and sufficient conditions for vectors to be coplanar…” The more she read, the more familiar it sounded. She compared it to her own book—it was the exact same material the teacher had just covered. She’d missed parts because the PPT had gone too fast.

Maybe… his version was complete.

Reading line by line, she saw he had indeed jotted down everything, including difficult points the teacher only mentioned in passing. Xu Yu copied the missing parts into her own book.

The bell rang. The boy beside her woke up.

Zhou Yiheng stretched lazily and accidentally brushed her sleeve with his arm.

Her pen paused, then she finished writing the last two characters.

She gently slid the book over. “Your book.”

Zhou Yiheng asked lazily, “Finished?”

“Mm.”

“Pretty fast.” He rubbed his neck. “Then you can help me take notes for all science classes from now on.”

Xu Yu realized she was having trouble keeping up in science classes—her notes were always incomplete. If his were always this thorough, maybe it wasn’t a bad deal.

So she agreed.

In physics class, Zhou Yiheng gave her his book again. Just like in math, he had already taken full notes.

Xu Yu copied them in advance so she could focus on listening in class.

He, on the other hand, went back to sleep.

…

…

Halfway through class, Zhou Yiheng woke up.

He opened his eyes and saw the girl’s profile: defined features, quivering lashes, a small straight nose, soft lips, and a smooth jawline. Looking closely—she was kind of pretty.

Xu Yu noticed something he missed from the lecture and reached for his book to add it.

At the moment she turned her head—they locked eyes.

Both froze. And then, neither could look away.

Just a few dozen centimeters apart, their eyes met, cutting through the space and forming an invisible heat wave.

Was he really asleep? Or had he been watching her? Why was he looking at her? Within seconds, Xu Yu’s mind was in turmoil.

This time, it was Zhou Yiheng who looked away first.

He took his book from her hands, wrote down what he had missed, and passed it back to her.

His eyes landed on her book—she had copied the same notes. He smiled and praised, “You’re pretty sharp.”

Xu Yu blinked. “Huh?”