Confession to You in Early Summer (GL) - Chapter 1

It’s winter again, and the Chinese New Year is approaching.

Yan Wei, as usual, chose to stay at school instead of going home. After leaving the school library, she returned to her dorm and changed her clothes.

Before leaving, she opened the diary on her desk, picked up a pen, and wrote the date at the top: “2020.1.17”.

“I’m going to my high school reunion today. Teacher Xu personally called me, so I thought I should go and take a look. But it’s been so long since we last met, I’m afraid I won’t recognize anyone. I hope everything goes well.”

The pen hesitated on the paper, leaving a small dot before falling heavily.

“If I could, I’d rather go with you.”

Yan Wei closed the notebook and pulled out another diary from the most visible place on her desk, putting it in her handbag.

The winter in the southern city is not so cold. Yan Wei wore a beige shirt paired with a light purple vine-patterned sweater, a pair of dark blue casual trousers, and a light gray long coat, making her look tall and slender, both steady and elegant.

Her naturally falling black hair had slight curls at the ends, scattered over her shoulders. Coupled with her distinctive face, she turned heads wherever she went.

She took a taxi to the city center and had just gotten out of the car when someone called her name: “Hey! Isn’t this Yan Wei? Yan, the goddess, is here too!”

Yan Wei turned around at the sound of the voice.

A man and a woman walked side by side. The woman who had called out to Yan Wei is only as tall as the man’s shoulders.

Yan Wei returned the woman a polite smile, casually closed the car door, and took two seconds to search her memory for a name that matched this woman. When the two of them came over, she also spoke naturally, “It’s rare to have time. We haven’t seen each other in a long time.”

Oh, search failed.

“It’s been a long time! You didn’t come to the last reunion either, but you don’t seem to have changed much, you’re still so beautiful!” The woman exclaimed, then introduced the man in a suit next to her to Yan Wei, “This is my husband, his surname is Fu.”

Mr. Fu nodded to Yan Wei and greeted her very gentlemanly, “Hello, Miss Yan, I’ve heard Xiaoxiao mention you.”

Yan Wei now remembered what the woman’s name was, Zhou Xiaoxiao. They had been her deskmate in high school and roommates in the same dormitory.

Of course, there was a lot to talk about when old classmates met. After exchanging pleasantries, Zhou Xiaoxiao abandoned her own husband and ran over to link arms with Yan Wei, chatting away as good friends. Mr. Fu was relegated to being a background figure carrying a bag.

“When did you get married?” Yan Wei asked casually.

“We got our marriage license last month and haven’t had the wedding yet. We’re planning to have a banquet next spring and I’ll send you an invitation then!” Zhou Xiaoxiao looked very happy, and then added, “Your time is too precious, goddess. I heard they said that you turned down every invitation to the reunion, we’re such good friends, you can’t refuse, you must come!”

Since she had said so much, even if they weren’t that close, Yan Wei couldn’t say no, “Okay, I will.”

As they were talking, they arrived at their destination. Wen Tan, the class monitor, was acting as a doorman downstairs. The 24 or 25 old man was dressed neatly in a crisp black suit, and his tie was impeccable. When he saw several people walking towards him, his eyes lit up, and they fixed on the woman in the gray coat on the far left and couldn’t move away.

“Oh, no! The class monitor still has a crush on the goddess after all these years!” Before they got close, Zhou Xiaoxiao was dazzled by the class monitor’s intense gaze, and jokingly leaned closer to Yan Wei, whispering, “Goddess Yan, why don’t you give him a chance?”

Everyone in their class knew that the class monitor would wait outside until the reunion started every time.

Yan Wei smiled at her and whispered back, “I’m too focused on my studies to think about romance.”

Zhou Xiaoxiao laughed loudly, “A scholar is a scholar, all she cares about is studying, and men are all pushed aside!”

Having ascertained Yan Wei’s attitude, Zhou Xiaoxiao gave Wen Tan a look of sympathy and helplessness.

“Yan, Yan Wei… you’re here too.” The man, who had been so mature and steady just a moment ago, suddenly couldn’t speak properly. The words he uttered were so meaningless, and he didn’t know whether it was embarrassment or shyness. A thin blush crept up his fair and clean face.

Yan Wei waited for a while without hearing him speak, and it was rather awkward to stay any longer, so she broke the silence, “Let’s go in.”

“Oh, okay.” The man’s face was clearly filled with frustration and regret, but Yan Wei ignored it and kept a distance of two steps from him, following him into the party venue.

Before opening the door, the man stopped, turned his back to Yan Wei, and said, “I didn’t expect you to come. I hope you have a good time today.”

“Um, thank you,” Yan Wei replied faintly. After saying that, she seemed to feel that her tone was too stiff, and she added, “You too.”

The door opened, and the noise hit her like a wave. Amidst the chaotic laughter and chatter, a few classmates were whispering something, and occasionally a name that caught Yan Wei’s attention was mixed in.

“It’s Yan Wei! Don’t talk about it! No one should mention this later!” Someone in the noise interrupted their topic, and Yan Wei pretended not to hear.

There were still more than 20 minutes before the agreed time, but there were already more than a dozen people gathered in the venue. Yan Wei walked in, and more than a dozen pairs of eyes looked at her at the same time, and a burst of exclamation immediately sounded.

Yan Wei actually didn’t like noisy gatherings. In the past, she would always try to avoid this kind of gathering. This time, she came because Wen Tan persuaded her high school head teacher to call her. She could refuse the invitations of her old classmates, but she always had to consider the teacher’s face. She wanted to say that she would come and sit for a while and then leave, but she didn’t expect that after so many years, these old classmates still remembered her.

Six years had passed since high school graduation. Many of her classmates at that time had already gotten married and brought their families to the reunion. Yan Wei had been the school belle in high school, and after a few years, she had become even more mature and beautiful, and she was still single, so she naturally attracted the attention of unmarried men. As soon as she entered, she became the center of discussion.

No matter whether it was a man or a woman who came to greet Yan Wei, she politely chatted with them for a few sentences, even though she couldn’t remember the names of many of them.

“You guys are so annoying, Yan, the goddess, hasn’t even sat down and you’re all crowding around her. No wonder she doesn’t like to talk to you!” Zhou Xiaoxiao pushed her husband aside and rescued Yan Wei from a group of greasy male classmates, and then joined the group of women. Yan Wei breathed a sigh of relief and quietly thanked Zhou Xiaoxiao.

The waiter brought over some drinks, and Zhou Xiaoxiao asked Yan Wei what she wanted to drink. Yan Wei took an orange juice from the tray. At this time, a girl asked, “Where does Yan Wei work now? Aren’t you thinking about finding a boyfriend?”

“The goddess is so focused on her studies that she doesn’t have time to date.” Before Yan Wei could speak, Zhou Xiaoxiao spoke first, then turned to look at Yan Wei, “What year of graduate school are you in now? According to the time, you should be a third-year graduate student, right? Are you going to continue your PhD?”

“Second year, I might work first,” Yan Wei replied calmly.

A girl suddenly interjected, “I remember, after the college entrance examination incident that year, didn’t Yan Wei repeat a year?”

As soon as she finished speaking, the female classmate next to her elbowed her, and she realized what she had said and quickly apologized to Yan Wei, “I’m sorry!”

“It’s okay,” Yan Wei shook her head, took a sip of orange juice, and smiled, “There’s nothing to hide. I did repeat for a year before I got into university. You’re all my seniors now.”

Yan Wei had always been an excellent student in high school, and she had never dropped out of the top three in her grade in any major exam. However, she had a disastrous performance in the college entrance examination, and she didn’t even reach the second-tier university line. She repeated for another year before she was admitted to university. This matter had made her parents and teachers very regretful at that time.

“If it wasn’t…” The girl who had spoken out of turn mumbled softly, but the second half of her sentence was interrupted by the male classmates’ shouts, “Let’s play Werewolf! Let’s call Yan, the goddess!”

Wen Tan came to invite the female classmate to join the game, and Zhou Xiaoxiao is the first to jump up, “I want to play! I want to play!” She grabbed Yan Wei’s arm and dragged her over. Yan Wei was absent-minded, and by the time the cards were dealt to her, it was too late to refuse.

Yan Wei was not good at this kind of game, and she was eliminated very quickly in the first two rounds. Her classmates laughed and joked, and Zhou Xiaoxiao was wide-eyed, “The goddess’s skill points are all used for studying!”

Everyone at the table burst into laughter.

After a while of noise and excitement, as per the schedule, they were going to sing karaoke all night. The private room had already been booked, and the class monitor said that it was about time to go. Yan Wei got up and prepared to go to the restroom.

Wen Tan walked past her with a half-full glass of beer in his hand. He wanted to toast to Yan Wei, but unexpectedly, she stood up suddenly and accidentally knocked off the bag that Yan Wei had hung on the back of the chair.

The clasp popped open, revealing a small, light blue, white-striped notebook with faded edges. It looked a bit familiar.

“I’m so sorry! Let me pick it up for you!” Wen Tan apologized repeatedly, quickly put down his beer, and bent down to pick up the bag that he had knocked over.

But Yan Wei reached for the diary before him, and Wen Tan’s fingertips touched the back of Yan Wei’s hand, retracting as if he had been electrocuted.

Yan Wei waved her hand to signal that she was fine, then quickly picked up the bag and said softly, “Excuse me,” and walked through the noisy crowd to lock herself in the restroom.

“Class monitor! You like Yan Wei so much, why don’t you just confess?” A classmate nearby teased, and Wen Tan retracted his lost gaze, shaking his head with a bitter smile.

Seeing him like this, his classmate was dissatisfied and stood up for him, “Yan Wei is too cold. Even though our class monitor is so excellent, she doesn’t even look at him.” Everyone could see that Wen Tan liked Yan Wei, from their student days until now, there was no reason why Yan Wei couldn’t see it.

“You can’t say that,” Wen Tan stopped him, remembering the diary in Yan Wei’s bag, his mood was very complicated, “When her best friend passed away, it was a big blow to her, and she has always been unwilling to face us classmates. After so many years, I don’t know if she has gotten over it… Oh, forget it, let’s not talk about this.”

••••

Finally, escaping the suffocating noise, Yan Wei took a deep breath against the washbasin.

She reapplied her lipstick in the mirror and saw the small notebook when she unfastened the clasp, so she took it out.

It was a very ordinary and common diary from her student days, the cover was mottled and had a strong sense of age. Even though it had been carefully preserved by someone, it inevitably left clear traces of the passage of time.

The side was written with a signature pen, the name of the diary’s owner: Jiang Youyi.

The handwriting was as rebellious as the person.

Yan Wei flipped through it casually and landed on the page she often looked at.

March 27, 2013

She said we could only be friends.