I Fell in Love With My Cold-Hearted, Flirtatious Roommate (GL) - Chapter 1

The chill of early spring was biting, the air dry and cold, but inside the Xing-Le Qun Canteen of U University, the lights were bright, the aroma of food wafted around, and the tables on the fourth floor were packed with students deep in discussion.

Rong Ting and her group arrived late and sat near the staircase.

At the stairwell, the cold air mingled with the stuffiness, making people inexplicably irritable.

Chen Saiyu nudged her: “Rong Ting, zoning out?”

“No.” She pinched the bridge of her nose, her nasal passages just felt hot and a little uncomfortable when breathing.

The professor had assigned a task some time ago to create a mock textbook based on the SOLO structure. The others were arguing fiercely over which poems to include in the poetry unit, having already flipped through five large volumes of modern and classical poetry anthologies.

Wan Sang’s voice was extremely loud and sharp from within the group, “Borges’ poetry can absolutely be included, all his poems are excellent, and what about ‘Ode to the West Wind,’ why not include such a classic poem?”

Rong Ting somehow heard a client-like tone in her voice.

Someone immediately retorted, “The content of the poems in the textbook needs to be easy to teach. If the teachers can’t fully understand Borges’ poems, how can you expect the students to?”

Wan Sang was aggressive, “That depends on the type of teacher, and your class hour settings, and your teaching objectives!”

Rong Ting’s voice was a bit nasal, but she tried to use a gentle tone: “Borges’ work is slightly obscure, and ‘Ode to the West Wind’ is too long. Besides, this is an assignment given by the professor, who probably doesn’t want us to use poems that have already been selected.”

But she was met with a look of annoyance from Wan Sang.

Rong Ting fell silent. Wan Sang’s temper flared up, and she spoke even less courteously.

Amidst the clamor, they settled on a few modern poems. Rong Ting tried to interject twice but couldn’t, and later simply kept quiet.

When they got to classical poetry, the arguing was even more intense. Rong Ting’s nose felt worse, and she had to inhale heavily several times to clear her nasal passages.

After they had argued for a long time, her voice finally cut through, “Are we still missing a narrative poem?”

The air was silent for a moment.

This was immediately followed by Wan Sang’s louder voice, “Just now you said ‘Ode to the West Wind’ was too long, aren’t narrative poems long? How come when I say it’s long, it’s long, but when you say it, it’s short…”

When people feel challenged and seek revenge, they launch indiscriminate attacks in subsequent discussions. Rong Ting knew that Wan Sang’s passive-aggressiveness was settling scores with her too.

Rong Ting did not reply, but she found it increasingly difficult to breathe, and her respiration became much heavier.

Later, feeling tired from the discussion, they all adopted a somewhat defeatist attitude and stopped arguing. They collectively voted to select a few poems and agreed to discuss again if problems arose.

But everyone knew clearly that unless they wanted to argue again, no one wanted to go through another group discussion.

University group assignments were equivalent to group misery.

Rong Ting’s forehead felt warm. She had just put on the hood of her coat when she saw Wan Sang glance at her from ahead, then put her arms around the other roommates and walked back with them.

Chen Saiyu had planned to wait for her but was also pushed forward and walked away.

Watching the three people walk into the distance, Rong Ting stood alone in the cold wind. People continuously streamed out of the canteen, all paired up and heading out together. No one looked her way.

Earlier, when they had to form groups for the textbook compilation class, Wan Sang had already agreed to group up with a few other classmates. Yet, Wan Sang insisted on calling out in the dorm group chat.

【We have a lot of group activities this semester, let’s stick together as a dorm, teaming up with others causes more trouble, it’s safer with your own people.】

Two people in the chat immediately raised their hands. Rong Ting hesitated for a moment and finally compromised to “fit in,” apologizing many times to the other people she had previously intended to work with.

However, trusting her roommates too much led to the current situation.

She wasn’t sure when it started, but she had become the one being excluded. Wan Sang would retort to her at the slightest provocation. Her silence was seen by them as aloofness, and Wan Sang called every one of her suggestions “nitpicking.” Two group assignments in a row had ended badly.

It seemed to be the case this time as well.

Sighing, Rong Ting didn’t want to go back to the dorm immediately, so she walked towards the track and field stadium and scanned her ID to enter.

There were very few people inside; even the facial recognition machine was covered with a layer of dust. Only a few scattered people were running on the track.

She walked in the outermost lane, putting on her headphones, and strolled aimlessly around the track.

After four laps, soft light music was playing in her headphones, but her mind felt increasingly swollen and clamorous.

Suddenly, she felt a heavy object hit her ankle. She groaned and crouched down. It didn’t hurt much, but it left her whole leg numb.

A boy’s voice came from a distance, “Excuse me, could you kick the ball back for us?”

Kick it back?

Her leg was numb, how could she kick it?

She was really fed up with these boys, who were always kicking their ball outside the field.

Rong Ting didn’t want to speak and didn’t move for a while.

The people over there would probably come to pick up the ball themselves if they realized she wasn’t bothering to respond.

She waited a moment, and indeed, no more shouting came. She was about to get up.

A hand suddenly reached down in front of her. The skin was cool white, the fingers long and slender, yet the veins were distinct, making the bones look strong and powerful.

Rong Ting froze for a moment and looked up. The girl in front of her was wearing a dark green retro halter top in the cold weather, with two thin straps crisscrossing her narrow waist, and a tiny, millet-sized red mole flashed past.

Apart from that, she only wore a belted leather skirt, with a short black jacket thrown over it, making for a distinctly cool outfit in the biting early spring.

Her hair was just shoulder-length, her features were cool, yet she had applied a moist, reddish lipstick, like thick ink splashed onto pale jade.

Both aloof and cool.

She raised a thin, long eyebrow, “Are you alright, little sister?”

Despite the smile, her distinctly cool voice stood out from the background noise, and the texture was unique.

Rong Ting, who had been full of suppressed irritation, felt like she had been electrified and stood up without touching the hand.

The person didn’t seem to mind, smiled, and withdrew her long, white wrist.

Rong Ting had no intention of faking an injury, “I’m fine.”

But her foot was indeed too numb to walk, so she could only stand there awkwardly, the two of them staring at each other.

Rong Ting noticed she was holding a gray windbreaker, which looked like a men’s style, and guessed that her boyfriend must be playing soccer there, and she was watching his clothes.

Sure enough, a boy shouted, “Xiao Jiu, help us kick the ball back.”

Rong Ting took a moment to register.

Xiao Jiu (Little Nine)?

Xiao Jiu (Little Long)?

It was quite an intimate address, further confirming her guess.

Ran Jiu, wearing Doc Martens boots, kicked the ball back cleanly, then casually tossed the clothes in her hand onto the plastic turf, ignoring them afterward.

Her movements were so simple and quick that by the time Rong Ting registered it, she suddenly realized the other person was also observing her.

Her heart gave a sudden leap.

Everyone in life has to face a situation where they are alone and in peril to force out a strong inner strength.

Rong Ting was usually socially anxious; if a stranger asked her for directions, she would be so nervous she might give the wrong ones.

Not understanding the other person’s intent now made her even more nervous.

She pretended to be calm and rubbed her leg, “It’s fine, just a bit numb, I’ll be able to walk back after a little rest.”

She heard the girl ‘tsk’ softly, and a cool, sharp aura swept over her. Without asking, the girl took hold of her arm, “Let’s go, I’ll help you out.”

Rong Ting truly hadn’t expected someone who looked so thin to have such strong grip, lifting her with such ease.

Rong Ting was wearing quite a few layers—a student-style shirt underneath and a wool coat over it. She could feel the person’s fingers and bones even through the two layers of fabric.

Plus, this person only had a leather jacket on the outside. Rong Ting’s crossbody bag occasionally bumped against the girl’s side.

If she had a temperature, it should have been warm.

Eventually, Rong Ting herself couldn’t stand it and asked her to wait a moment, then switched the position of her bag. The two of them maintained a certain distance and continued walking.

Ran Jiu seemed pensive, glancing at her from time to time, sensing that she often zoned out.

When they reached the stadium exit, Rong Ting’s foot was no longer numb. She pulled her arm out, “Thanks, you guys go on playing, I’m heading back.”

Ran Jiu was also graceful, crossing her arms over her chest: “Are you really okay?”

Rong Ting shook her head, “I’m fine.”

“If you twisted your ankle, you should say so. Go to the infirmary to get it checked,” she said. “What if it’s a fracture?”

Rong Ting couldn’t help but smile wryly, “It’s not that serious.”

Besides, if it were a fracture, she would probably be in excruciating pain right now.

Unexpectedly, this person insisted on following her out. Rong Ting, who was almost at the entrance of her dorm area, was still confused and was about to tell her not to bother escorting her anymore.

But then she saw the girl quickly walk towards the fruit store.

“Hey, wait, what are you doing?” Rong Ting instinctively followed.

Ran Jiu expertly picked up a fruit box from the fridge and pulled out a candied hawthorn skewer, paying for both at the counter.

Coming out with the items, she tucked them into Rong Ting’s hand, “They weren’t looking where they were kicking the ball. These are for you to eat.”

Rong Ting felt awkward looking at the items, as if she had faked an injury to get them. She couldn’t even refuse and insincerely said, “Eating sweets at night can easily cause cavities.”

The person across from her chuckled softly, took the candied hawthorn skewer from her hand, and put it inside her hood: “Then save it for tomorrow.”

Rong Ting: “…”

Not needing to hold the candied hawthorn, Rong Ting naturally slipped her hands into her coat pockets, feeling much warmer.

The other person didn’t seem ready to leave. Her long, slender fingers played with her phone. The dark green nail tapping the phone case made a crisp sound, and Rong Ting was momentarily worried that her nail might break.

Ran Jiu: “Want to exchange numbers? You can observe it for one night, and then decide?”

Rong Ting didn’t understand her thought process; what could possibly happen after being hit by a ball?

Rong Ting waved her hand, “No need, you should go back and be with your boyfriend.”

Ran Jiu paused her hand movement for a moment, and a very obvious smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

It seemed she had encountered a misconception, and after thinking about it, she chose not to correct the mistake.

“Okay.”