I Fell In Love With My Rival (GL) - Chapter 1

The blazing summer sun showed no favoritism as it scorched every inch of land without a roof.

Su Chunyin stood at the entrance of a narrow alley, his face flushed from the heat.

She glanced at her phone. The latest message was from ten minutes ago—Xu Chang’s enthusiastic “On my way!!!” filled with three exclamation points. Lu Fang, on the other hand, still hadn’t replied at all.

Irritated, she brushed a few sweat-dampened strands of hair from her forehead and stomped her foot in frustration.

Five minutes later, a bright yellow taxi screeched to a halt beside him. The car door flung open, and Xu Chang’s booming voice came from inside.

“Oh my, my little princess! Look how the sun’s roasted you. Hop in, hop in!”

Su Chunyin instantly scowled. She hated being called “little princess” more than anything. Without a word, she slid into the backseat.

Xu Chang shot her a look and instantly understood her mood. Like coaxing a child, she patted her shoulder and said,

“Traffic jam near the Second Gate just now. Sorry for making you wait—totally my bad. I’ll treat you to milk tea to make up for it, yeah? Want anything in particular?”

Su Chunyin refreshed her WeChat feed in frustration, snapping,

“Whatever.”

Xu Chang burst out laughing.

“You’ve met your match then. There’s a new milk tea shop on Xin Street, and their newest flavor is literally called ‘Whatever’!”

Su Chunyin didn’t bother replying, staring moodily out the window instead.

That was when something caught her eye. She suddenly shouted,

“Driver! Wait! Stop—now!”

The driver hit the brakes hard, but it was already too late. Across the pedestrian crossing, Su Chunyin hollered,

“Lu Fang!”

Xu Chang, panting as she chased after her, wiped the sweat off her forehead.

“Forget it, princess. Lu Fang rides that bike like it’s an electric scooter. No way we’re catching him.”

Su Chunyin spun around sharply.

“So you saw it too, right?”

Xu Chang sighed.

“Yeah, yeah. She went to the math competition training with Fu Erqiu.”

Fu Erqiu?

That was the fourth time this month Su Chunyin had heard that name. She didn’t really care—except that the name always seemed to come up with Lu Fang.

She thought back to the glimpse she’d just caught—Fu Erqiu with her neatly tied ponytail, oversized school uniform that masked her figure… A ridiculous, uneasy thought crept into hers mind: What if Lu Fang doesn’t like a princess like me… and actually likes the plain, forgettable ugly duckling Fu Erqiu?

Su Chunyin shook the thought from her head and spat twice in annoyance. Damn Yang Yuxia and Song Rao, reading too many ugly duckling stories lately—brainwashing me into thinking every prince will fall for the most ordinary girl.

The driver rolled down the window and shouted,

“We can’t stop here for long! Are you getting back in or not?”

Su Chunyin shot him a glare and yanked the car door open, climbing back in without a word.

Xu Chang scratched her head and chuckled apologetically at the driver.

“Don’t mind her—just typical princess temper.”

From the rearview mirror, the driver took a second glance at Su Chunyin. Her youthful face flushed like a ripe peach under the sun, her long lashes curled, hair casually tied into two flowing strands over her shoulders. She wore the same plain school uniform as everyone else, yet somehow managed to exude effortless grace and vibrant energy. The nickname “princess” echoed in his mind—She really is one.

And sure enough, the new shop on Xin Street did have a milk tea flavor called “Whatever.” Xu Chang got her a pink peach-flavored one and even picked up a strawberry cake from the bakery next door.

The milk tea was surprisingly good, and the sweet taste of the cake mellowed her mood. Sitting in the shop, Su Chunyin muttered,

“If Lu Fang doesn’t want to come, then forget it. We’ll go decorate for Song Rao’s birthday ourselves.”

Xu Chang nodded,

“Sure, we’ll do it ourselves. But we’ve got Old Ban’s class tomorrow night. If we’re gonna decorate, it’s gotta be tonight—can we pull it off?”

Old Ban was their homeroom teacher, a cheerful, silver-haired old man who always wore a smile. But while he smiled easily, his punishments were never light. Even a bold girl like Su Chunyin didn’t dare mess around during his class.

Tonight…

Su Chunyin fell silent. She chewed on her straw and lowered her gaze.

“We’ll see.”

After finishing the milk tea, they headed to the amusement park to meet up with Yang Yuxia and Song Rao. They rode the Ferris wheel, braved the pirate ship, and Song Rao even nailed a massive lop-eared bunny in a shooting game. Petting the plush fur, Su Chunyin gradually felt her mood lighten.

But the price of playing hard all morning was paid in the afternoon—during physics class, while the teacher gave an impassioned lecture at the front, Su Chunyin was slumped on her desk, deep in sleep. The last class was history. Yang Yuxia tossed her a crumpled note. She opened it.

A single word, scrawled wildly: Go?

Su Chunyin nodded, glanced at Song Rao sitting obediently in the front row. Yang Yuxia waved a hand dismissively. Su Chunyin shrugged inwardly. Fine, Song Rao’s a model student after all.

When the history teacher turned to the blackboard, Su Chunyin and Yang Yuxia slipped out the back door.

Just outside the school gates, Yang Yuxia exhaled in relief.

“Finally out! Another second of Mr. Chen’s voice and I was going to headbutt my desk into a crater.” She slung an arm around Su Chunyin’s shoulder.

“Let’s hit the internet café—play a couple games?” She paused, scratching her head awkwardly. “Ah, right. You don’t do those places. Then… my place? My folks aren’t home tonight.”

My folks.

Those words stirred something in Su Chunyin. Her half-smile faded as she stared at the pavement.

“Forget it. I’m going home.”

“What?” Yang Yuxia blinked. “What’s fun about going home… alright, alright. You go. I’ll go run laps on the track.”

Su Chunyin headed home with her backpack slung over her shoulder.

The gates of the Su residence were wide open, and the garage light was on. She stepped in and saw a pair of men’s leather shoes at the entrance.

She hesitated, then called out,

“Dad?”

“Hey, Niaoniao!” Her father, Su Zhi, appeared wearing gold-rimmed glasses, smiling warmly with open arms.

“Daddy’s back from his trip! Miss me?”

Su Chunyin sidestepped his hug, peeking inside.

“Where’s Mom?”

No response from inside.

Su Zhi adjusted his glasses awkwardly.

“She just went into the bedroom to rest. Not feeling well, I think.”

Trying to change the subject, he added,

“I brought back something from Hawaii for you—look here…”

Su Chunyin walked upstairs without a word, locked her door, and shut him out completely.

She flopped on her bed. The quiet gloom settled in her chest. She pulled out her phone and typed a message to a familiar chat:

[My dad came home today.]

Still, no reply.

She scrolled upward. Years of messages, most of them one-sided. She had always messaged him when she was upset—after a bad grade, losing a game, even when bitten by a mosquito. And he had always replied, always comforting.

When had it changed? When had Lu Fang stopped walking home with them, stopped replying altogether?

She didn’t know. Just like she didn’t understand her parents anymore.

Downstairs, she heard some commotion and came down to find her father packing his suitcase. He looked up in surprise.

“Niaoniao?”

Her gaze moved from the open suitcase to his face—silent, but full of questions.

He gave a bitter smile and closed the suitcase.

“There’s a flight to Germany in a bit.”

Her face darkened.

“You’re staying two hours? That’s it?”

“There’s an urgent order in Germany. I wasn’t even supposed to return, but… I wanted to see you both.” He glanced at the bedroom door. Sadly, even with this rare return, he hadn’t seen the one he truly wanted to.

He rolled the suitcase toward the door. Su Chunyin followed a few steps behind. At the entrance, he turned and opened his arms again—but even after nearly ten minutes, she never moved to hug him.

Su Zhi looked at his watch and sighed. Just before stepping into the car, he hesitated and pulled a beautifully wrapped gift box from the suitcase, placing it on the grass by the gate.

“Niaoniao, I missed your birthday. I’m sorry. Happy belated birthday.”

…

The car was long gone, yet Su Chunyin still stood there at the gate. She had intended to go straight back to her room—but after a moment’s hesitation, she picked up the gift box.

It was delicately wrapped, pink ribbon, bunny stickers. Inside was a beautifully crafted meteorite bracelet, each stone uniquely shaped and polished, inlaid with metal flowers and leaves—equal parts collectible and ornamental. He must’ve brought it from Hawaii, just like he said.

She stared at it for a long time, then placed it in her keepsake box without putting it on.

Feeling conflicted, she sent another message to that silent chat:

[Why do people always change?]

As expected, no reply.

But then, just for a moment, the other user’s avatar lit up.

Did he just log in and go invisible again?

She tapped into Lu Fang’s game account. Still offline. On impulse, she logged into her dusty old forum account and checked the only user she followed.

A new post had just been published:

“Wutong Avenue is seriously creepy at night [photo]”

Timestamp: Just now.

Wutong Avenue was the path leading to Feihuang Building—a part of school reserved for the elite math training students.

Below the post, comments flooded in:

[Respect, master]

[Respect, master]

[Respect, master]

But Su Chunyin’s eyes were locked on the photo. The dim light of Wutong Avenue barely pierced the thick canopy. And in the corner of the photo—half of Lu Fang’s figure was caught in the frame.

But that wasn’t what made her heart stop.