Being "Crushed" - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Although the process had some twists and turns, the two of them finally sat on the same long bench, eating the same kind of crab roe noodles.

Even while sitting, there was still some height difference between them. Two silhouettes, one tall and one short, sat side by side. Their clothes happened to be one dark and one light color—clashing yet somehow oddly harmonious.

Song Yuhan unfolded the tissue she carried with her and carefully tucked it into her collar before starting to enjoy the delicacy she had been longing for a long time.

Lu Sifang snapped out of his scattered thoughts and looked toward the table. The strong contrast between the two bowls of noodles—one red, one white—was simply too striking. He was so shocked that he couldn’t speak, blinking his eyes in disbelief several times.

Then, he watched in stunned silence as the person beside him swallowed the first bite of the red soup noodles. Not only did Song Yuhan’s expression remain unchanged, but she seemed even happier… This made the boy’s gaze toward her add a layer of awe.

“Ahem.” Just looking at it, his throat seemed to choke a little.

Hearing his cough, Song Yuhan turned her head to look. In front of Lu Sifang was a bland bowl of plain noodles, which he had already eaten more than half of. She couldn’t help but think silently:

Hmm, this person really likes mushy noodles.

But… even so plain, he still got choked? How fast must he have been eating?

Sensing the gaze from the person next to him, Lu Sifang became more embarrassed, faking a cough that soon turned real, coughing intermittently for quite a while.

Until a clean napkin appeared in his line of sight. His fingers holding the paper looked pale and delicate—especially pretty. He was so distracted that his coughing stopped.

Seeing him so anxious, Song Yuhan glanced at her wristwatch and gave him a comforting smile, “No rush, we still have some time before the meeting.”

Lu Sifang stared into her eyes for a few seconds before reaching out to take the tissue. Perhaps due to the static electricity common in winter, when their fingertips touched, a strange electric current slipped into their hearts, causing Song Yuhan to instinctively pull her hand back.

“Thank you.” Catching the redness on the girl’s ear, Lu Sifang suddenly felt that the already mushy noodles in his bowl were not so hard to swallow after all. Feeling good, he quickly finished the entire bowl of mushy crab roe noodles in a few mouthfuls.

But after finishing, tidying himself up, and noticing how slowly she was eating, he suddenly felt a little regretful, frowning as if caught in a dilemma.

Why did he eat so fast??

What should he do next—leave or… wait for her?

The girl enjoying her noodles chewed slowly and carefully, her chubby cheeks glowing with happiness, seemingly unaware of the boy’s predicament. She glanced at the empty bowl beside her and dove back into her own world of delicious food.

About five or six minutes passed; she was almost done. Seeing the person next to her still firmly sitting without a hint of leaving, Song Yuhan finally looked at him in confusion, blinking unconsciously. Before her brain could process, she blurted out a silly question:

“Are you… waiting for me?”

Lu Sifang stiffened, startled by the sudden blunt question. He immediately felt flustered, making several awkward gestures in a second, stammering, “W-what do you mean waiting for you? We don’t even know each other…”

He denied it but didn’t dare to meet her eyes while speaking.

“…I see.” Realizing how silly her question was, Song Yuhan wished she could immediately dig a hole and bury herself. Her face flamed with embarrassment as she scolded herself silently.

Song Yuhan, Song Yuhan, are you still half-asleep? How could you say something like that? So embarrassing…

While she was sulking, the clear yet awkward young voice came again from beside her:

“But since we’re this far, how about… we get to know each other?”

She was slightly stunned, reflexively turning to look. Her slightly upturned eyes were full of surprise and nervousness, and she didn’t know how to respond.

Until a piece of white paper with words appeared in front of her. While she was lost in thought, the handsome boy had taken the pen and paper from the shop’s order and written down his name.

“Lu Sifang, that’s my name.”

To be polite, Song Yuhan hesitated but took the paper with his name written on it. His handwriting matched his personality, with a wild and rebellious flavor.

She instinctively introduced herself: “I, I’m Song…” but stopped halfway, looking troubled as if she suddenly remembered something.

Seeing this, Lu Sifang didn’t push further, smiling with a hint of amusement, “Got it, Song classmate.” He pretended to glance at a nonexistent watch and leaned forward slightly to remind her, “We should get going.”

“…Mm.” She replied softly.

On the way back, small snowflakes unexpectedly began to fall in the street.

The flakes fluttered down from the sky, melting on her delicate pale cheek. The slight chill surprised Song Yuhan, “It’s snowing.”

She stopped, habitually reaching out a hand to catch the snow, holding it and feeling it slowly warm in her palm. Her expression was immersed and enjoying, childlike and innocent.

“Do you like the snow? Don’t you think it’s cold?”

The boy watched her sweet smile and couldn’t help but grin. His usually careless eyes suddenly grew serious.

“Snow is cold by nature, but because it meets someone willing to catch it, it gradually becomes warm.”

Song Yuhan was still focused on catching the snow, perhaps not fully hearing his question, and without much thought, she blurted out the answer.

Upon hearing this, a trace of surprise appeared in Lu Sifang’s eyes. His question had been casual, but unexpectedly received such a meaningful answer… He lowered his gaze and pondered its meaning seriously.

After a moment, he blinked and smiled. In his pupils, only her figure was reflected clearly.

“Is that so.”

His voice was extremely light, as if questioning her, yet also seemed like a quiet affirmation—not about the snow, though.

However, Song Yuhan was busy watching the snow and did not hear him; Lu Sifang was busy watching her and didn’t intend to get an answer.

Thus, the boy, holding his skateboard with one hand, walked side by side with the girl, smiling softly. Though they spoke only a few words the entire way, the atmosphere was inexplicably harmonious…

The closer they got to the meeting place, the more gazes fixed on them.

As both were undisputed prominent figures of Yunsheng High School, their joint appearance naturally attracted many stares and whispers.

This made Lu Sifang, who had been walking confidently with head held high, mutter to himself.

The little white rabbit seems really famous—famous in a good way… I wonder if walking with someone with a bad reputation like mine will affect her negatively?

On the other hand, Song Yuhan was very calm, silent, and indifferent, looking as if nothing anyone said could affect her.

The truth was—her reaction time was slow. By the time she realized what others were saying, she and Lu Sifang had already walked into the museum, one after the other.

Inside was temporarily empty. The sudden rush of embarrassment hit her, and she started silently screaming for help in her heart.

What to do? What to do?? They just met, really nothing between them yet!! Susu, come save me!!!

While she lowered her head, panicking inwardly, Lu Sifang seemed to hear her thoughts. Suddenly, he leaned over her and studied her expression carefully. His slightly squinted eyes held a teasing smile.

“Song classmate, are you… shy?”

For some reason, seeing her expressionless face but her fingers fidgeting nervously, he suddenly wanted to peel off that cold shell and see what she was really thinking inside.

He had always been casual and did whatever he thought. The moment the words came out, the proud white fox was so flustered she immediately showed her rabbit tail.

Song Yuhan instinctively stopped walking, looking at the face magnified several times in front of her. Alarm bells rang loudly in her heart.

Not far behind, obvious inhales and teasing voices mingled in a noisy chorus, pushing her embarrassment to its peak. She clenched her fists and mustered courage to retort:

“No, stop talking nonsense.”

“Then why are you blushing? You get all shy and awkward whenever I come close, like… a shy plant.”

“…It’s cold, freezing cold.”

“Oh, so you’re that afraid of cold?” He laughed low, as if recalling something, but quickly stopped himself.

They had finally managed to talk; he didn’t want to scare her away.

They still had a long way to go.

After gathering, they spent the whole afternoon visiting and learning inside the museum. It was fulfilling.

Although this outing was an extracurricular activity, even in high school, such enjoyable activities still couldn’t avoid homework…

“Class, how’s your study progress? Prepare well, after the activity you’ll need to submit a Chinese material assignment~” The team leader smiled as he assigned the task, as if he had planned it all along, causing an uproar of groans.

“What groaning? You’re in 11th grade. If you don’t work hard now, when will you cram for the college entrance exam? Be serious!” The teacher put on a serious face, sounding as if repeating something for the 800th time, then reminded:

“By the way, after astronomy class, tomorrow’s survival project and the day after’s skating event will be done in pairs. Form your teams yourselves and submit the lists later.”

Hearing this, Song Yuhan’s heart skipped a beat.

This… with Susu gone, will anyone really want to team up with her?

She glanced around. Other classmates were either happily pairing with friends or boys with boys, girls with girls.

A few lonely girls stood there hesitating.

Just as she wanted to seize the chance and approach, a girl who made eye contact with her immediately looked away as if frightened. Receiving such a clear rejection signal, Song Yuhan didn’t want to embarrass herself further.

She could only stand there confused, watching those lonely girls successfully team up and feeling happy for them.

“…Seems Song the genius is left alone. Why isn’t anyone picking her for a team?”

“I wonder too, does no one want to hitch on her coattails?”

“She’s a genius though, if we just rush over, it might be like a hot face meeting an ice block…”

“Yeah, what if she thinks we’ll hold her back? Better to rely on ourselves.”

“…”

Listening to the whispers, Song Yuhan slowly lowered her head, staring blankly at her shoes.

She should have gotten used to this a long time ago. What was she even hoping for?

Maybe she should just ask the teacher if she could do it alone…

Thinking that made her feel a bit better. She forced a smile and looked up—unexpectedly seeing a particularly tall figure stride toward her.

The museum lighting seemed to favor the boy, bathing him in a golden-white glow.

The boy looked straight ahead and stopped right in front of her. His black messy hair fluttered slightly in the breeze, and his obsidian eyes shimmered brilliantly under the light—radiant and deep.

Seeing her still dazed and slow to react, Lu Sifang raised an eyebrow and smiled lightly, speaking in a relaxed tone:

“Song classmate, what a coincidence.”