Addicted to You - Chapter 8

Since that day, rumors about her and Zhou Yiheng began to spread more and more throughout the school.

Some said she transferred schools because of Zhou Yiheng; some said she was the third party between Xu Xuan and Zhou Yiheng; others said she was pretending and clinging to him.

Everyone had a different story, but every rumor revolved around him. After a while, even Song Yuan couldn’t stop the gossip anymore.

Every time she went to the restroom, people passing by would glance at her. That look was hard to describe, but Xu Yu knew—it definitely wasn’t friendly.

For the next few days, she reduced her trips to the bathroom and drank less water—just two or three times a day.

She declined Song Yuan’s invitations with excuses like unfinished notes or homework.

Zhou Yiheng eventually noticed she was drinking less water and asked during a break between classes, “You haven’t been drinking much water lately, have you?”

Xu Yu was buried in her work and didn’t even look up, just gave a soft “Mm.”

“If you don’t get enough water daily, it’s bad for your health. And it’s still September—still really hot—be careful not to get heatstroke.” He nagged beside her.

Xu Yu was now avoiding any unnecessary interaction with him, afraid that even a little exchange would feed the rumors. She still replied flatly, “Mm.”

Zhou Yiheng clearly wasn’t happy with her indifference. “Is that how you respond when someone talks to you? That’s pretty rude, you know?”

Xu Yu thought he was being really annoying. She finished the math problem in a few strokes, slammed her pen down hard on her draft paper with a dull thud, looked at him with clear annoyance, almost said something—but held it in. Then she stood up and walked out.

Had he really made the kitten angry? She actually got mad.

She looked kind of cute when she was mad.

Zhou Yiheng was stunned for a second, then laughed out loud after she left.

He had thought she was the quiet type, but it only took a few words to get a reaction today. A strange sense of pride crept in.

Guan Xiao tried to sneak up on him to scare him, but was startled when he saw him grinning like an idiot alone at his desk. He rushed over, concerned.

“Bro, you got a fever?” he said, placing a hand on Zhou Yiheng’s forehead.

Zhou Yiheng swatted his hand away and started twirling his pen.

Guan Xiao, curious, asked, “What’s up with you? What are you laughing about?”

He didn’t answer.

Noticing Xu Yu wasn’t around, Guan Xiao added, “Man, your desk mate’s really catching heat lately. The whole grade’s gossiping about her now. You’ve really dragged her into it.”

Finally looking up, Zhou Yiheng asked, confused, “What do you mean?”

“Of course it’s about that thing with you and Xu Xuan. Now everyone’s saying she’s the third wheel.” Guan Xiao shook his head.

Zhou Yiheng had been focused on studying competition problems recently, skipping even his usual hangouts with Guan Xiao—let alone keeping up with gossip.

The warning bell rang. Xu Yu walked in from outside, and Guan Xiao returned to his seat.

She was holding a bottle of water. After drying her hands with a tissue, she crumpled it and placed it on the top right corner of her desk. Zhou Yiheng watched her go through this routine and finally asked, “There’ve been a lot of bad rumors lately, haven’t there?” Then added, “About you.”

Xu Yu didn’t deny it. She just replied in her usual calm tone, “Mm.”

Her coolness seemed innate—neither performed nor pretended.

For once, Zhou Yiheng apologized. “This whole thing had nothing to do with you, but it still dragged you into it. I’m sorry.”

She paused her page-turning slightly, hesitating for a moment at the apology.

Those rumors didn’t really seem to be caused by him—not directly, anyway—so there was no need for him to apologize.

She wanted to say something but didn’t.

“You’re not mad?” he asked.

Mad? Xu Yu found that question odd. Not everything could be solved by getting angry. Maybe that’s why she always seemed indifferent to everything.

She shook her head and answered.

Zhou Yiheng felt a bit annoyed—others could spread horrible rumors and she wasn’t mad, but when he said just a few words, she walked off. What kind of logic was that?

“Other people say nasty things about you and you’re fine, but I say a couple of things and you walk away? Xu Yu, am I spoiling you or what?”

She was about to respond when the teacher called his name.

“Zhou Yiheng, I don’t usually say anything when you sleep in class since you competition students are busy, but we’re in class right now. Are you trying to ignore my presence entirely?”

Guan Xiao snorted with laughter—it was the first time seeing his buddy get scolded.

“You, stand in the back for the rest of class—maybe it’ll wake you up.”

Guan Xiao was delighted.

But the teacher wasn’t done. “And you too, Guan Xiao. What are you so happy about? Go stand in the back as well.”

Guan Xiao wasn’t pleased anymore.

Two boys, both over 180cm tall, stood out in the back of the class—one looking listlessly out the window, the other staring intently at someone. Xu Yu sat up straight as ever, focused on taking notes, her head bobbing as she wrote.

Zhou Yiheng suddenly felt that she was a bit different from the other girls he knew. She reminded him of how he used to be.

The pool hall was filled with noise.

Zhou Yiheng sat in a corner on the couch, looking at his phone, his brows furrowed—he seemed deep in thought.

Someone asked Guan Xiao what was up with him.

Guan Xiao sighed. “Probably troubled over some girl.”

One guy gave a thumbs-up in admiration. “Damn, Ah Heng moves on fast!”

Guan Xiao jabbed him with a cue stick in disgust and walked over.

Zhou Yiheng was still looking down.

Guan Xiao was fed up. “Seriously, I didn’t invite you here to just play on your phone.”

“Get lost. Don’t bug me.”

Guan Xiao refused to believe he was being ignored for a phone.

“Come on, am I really less important than your phone?”

No answer. He kept looking at his screen.

Fine, I give up.

“You’ve been weird all day. Spill it—are you chatting with some girl again?”

Finally, Zhou Yiheng put down his phone. Guan Xiao thought he’d caught him red-handed and looked smug.

But Zhou Yiheng didn’t care what he said. He turned and asked, “Do you have any group chats from other classes?”

“Huh? Why?”

He didn’t answer—just asked again.

A few seconds later, Guan Xiao added him into a few groups.

Student groups rarely had teachers and were filled with gossip—which, ironically, was teenage lifeblood.

Within minutes, Zhou Yiheng stood up to leave. The self-proclaimed “king of the pool table” hadn’t even picked up a cue.

Guan Xiao asked where he was going.

“To handle something big.”

…

That night, all the private student group chats in the sophomore year exploded.

A new user with a profile photo of a boy’s silhouette and the username “Zz” stormed the chats.

Nearly every class group got the same three lines:

“Stop gossiping. Don’t drag other girls into my stuff with Xu Xuan.
If you’ve got the guts, say your rumors to my face.
You know why you suck at studying? Because you waste brainpower making up baseless crap. Honestly, it’s because you’ve got no brains.”

He not only defended someone, he flexed his academic dominance too.

As these messages went viral across chats and social media, Guan Xiao asked if he was crazy.

Zhou Yiheng replied, “I probably am.”

“Crazy enough to help her.”

After sending the messages, he checked their class group chat but couldn’t find Xu Yu’s account even after scrolling up and down a few times.

He messaged the group admin, Yang Xinyue:

[Xinyue, isn’t Xu Yu in this group?]

The reply came quickly:

[Nope. I don’t think she has an account.]

So she wouldn’t have seen any of it.

A few seconds later, another message popped up:

[Ah Heng, were those messages last night for her?]

He didn’t deny it and replied with a simple “Mm.” He rarely held back with Yang Xinyue.

After that, no more messages came.

—

The next morning on the way to school, the stares from others were even more frequent. Xu Yu quickened her pace back to the classroom.

When she walked in, the room suddenly went quiet.

Confused, she rushed to her seat and sat down, pretending nothing had happened.

Right after, another person walked in—all eyes turned toward him.

Someone joked, “Ah Heng’s really something—hero saving the damsel!”

Zhou Yiheng said nothing, but the corners of his mouth curled up ever so slightly.

Guan Xiao responded for him, “Dude, shut up already. Your mouth’s gonna get you in trouble one day.”

The boys around them burst into laughter.

With all eyes on him, Zhou Yiheng returned to his seat.

Neither of them said a word. They went back to what they were doing.

Song Yuan couldn’t hold it in and pulled Xu Yu aside. “Yuyu, come with me.”

As soon as she stood up, Song Yuan dragged her out.

“Last night was epic,” Song Yuan said, grinning from ear to ear.

Xu Yu was confused. “What happened?”

“Zhou Yiheng went into every class group chat and posted something.” She pulled out her phone to show her.

The lighting was just right, and the font was perfectly readable. Xu Yu read the lines one by one, and Zhou Yiheng’s figure appeared vividly in her mind. Her heart skipped a beat.

Song Yuan tugged at her sleeve excitedly. “Damn, that was so badass! No wonder he’s ranked first in the grade. You think maybe he likes you?”

Xu Yu blushed. She explained, “You’re overthinking it. Maybe he just didn’t want others getting dragged in because of him.”

“Really? But it’s not the first time he’s stood up for you.”

She didn’t know if it was real or not.

“Don’t think too much. We should head back—it’s almost class.”

They returned to the classroom. Xu Yu couldn’t help but glance at the boy beside her.

He was flipping through his textbook, one foot resting on the leg of her chair, leaning sideways—a posture that screamed nonchalance.

Xu Yu sat calmly, trying to pretend she hadn’t heard anything earlier, but the words kept replaying in her mind like a movie.

Suddenly, he asked, “What did you two talk about out there?”

Was he fishing for a reaction?

“Song Yuan told me…” she hesitated, then continued, “She said you clarified things for me in the group chats.” She expected him to accuse her of being narcissistic, but instead he asked, “That’s all she told you?”

Xu Yu replied softly, “Mm.”

“She didn’t show you what I said?”

“I saw it.”

Zhou Yiheng seemed satisfied. He straightened up and smiled slightly. “Good.”

Noticing him flipping through his book again, Xu Yu’s dimples showed as she whispered, “Thank you.”

He didn’t respond.

He was always like that. Why was she still hoping for something?

A few seconds later, the bell rang. The room fell silent.

She heard him say:

“Xu Yu, you didn’t do anything wrong. Don’t feel like you have to stay silent just because of others. When it’s time to fight back, fight back. Don’t let people think you’re easy to bully. You’re not anyone’s doormat.”

Xu Yu was a bit taken aback.

All her life, whenever someone else’s mistake landed her in trouble, people only said things like: “Why didn’t you behave better?” “Weren’t you also at fault?” “If you hadn’t said that, this wouldn’t have happened.” “Just let it go, don’t be so sensitive—learn to be more tolerant.”

Every rule taught her how to endure, never how to fight back. No wonder she’d been battered and bruised all these years.

But today, someone showed her how to protect herself.

A new version of Xu Yu was slowly growing.

She smiled. “Mm, I understand now.”

Zhou Yiheng paused in his page-turning, then continued—with the same smile on his face.