I Fell In Love With My Rival (GL) - Chapter 25.2

Su Chunyin’s heart skipped a beat. She’d been so focused on Fu Erqiu that she hadn’t even noticed Lu Fang was in the same class—and seated just behind her to the right.

At that moment, Lu Fang turned around. He had just been talking to his desk partner, and from the expression on his face, the exchange hadn’t gone well. He looked a little upset.

Facing away from his partner and avoiding her gaze entirely, he turned—and met Su Chunyin’s eyes. His expression froze for a beat before a faint smile appeared, and in that moment, he looked like the sunny, cheerful boy she remembered—someone who never got angry or upset.

Curious, Su Chunyin tried to peer past him to see who his deskmate was. But before she could, someone acted faster.

There was a loud scraping of a chair, and Lin Zhizhi picked up her books and walked over to Su Chunyin.

She still looked exactly as Su Chunyin remembered—plain black-rimmed glasses and a gentle demeanor. Softly, she asked, “Su Chunyin, would you mind switching seats with me?”

Su Chunyin blurted out without thinking, “No.”

It was only after the words left her mouth that she realized Lin Zhizhi was Lu Fang’s desk partner. If they switched seats, she would become Lu Fang’s deskmate.

Lu Fang’s deskmate…

She hesitated. “Why do you want to switch?”

Lin Zhizhi smiled gently, the kind of smile that didn’t carry any threat. “Fu Erqiu is good at math and physics—my weakest subjects. If I sit next to her, I’ll have more opportunities to ask questions.”

Su Chunyin’s eyes flicked over to her, then glanced at Lu Fang behind her, confused. “Isn’t Lu Fang also good at math and physics? Couldn’t you just ask him for help?”

Lin Zhizhi followed her gaze, briefly meeting Lu Fang’s eyes before quickly looking away. After a pause, she mumbled, “No. Sitting next to him distracts me from studying.”

Distracts her? Why would sitting next to Lu Fang affect her studies?

Su Chunyin couldn’t quite understand. She looked toward Lu Fang again, then abruptly slumped down at her desk. “No thanks. Fu Erqiu is tutoring me—I still need her help too.”

Rejected, Lin Zhizhi didn’t argue. She just smiled and walked away to ask someone else.

Su Chunyin replayed what she’d just seen in her mind. For some reason, something about the way Lin Zhizhi and Lu Fang interacted seemed off. What had they been arguing about?

Fu Erqiu still hadn’t returned. Unable to hold back, Su Chunyin pulled out her phone and messaged Qiu Ye:

[You there?]

She heard a faint vibration nearby but didn’t think much of it. She sent another message:

[I think something weird is going on between my childhood friend and the class monitor.]

Oh wait—Lin Zhizhi had been the class monitor in Class 1. Now that they’d reshuffled the classes, new monitors hadn’t been assigned yet.

Just as she was about to clarify that in another message, she heard the vibration again.

This time, she couldn’t ignore it. The familiar buzz of WeChat notifications came from close by—specifically, from the right.

From Fu Erqiu’s desk?

Su Chunyin turned her head. The sound was definitely coming from under Fu Erqiu’s desk.

Was someone else messaging her?

What a coincidence?

Her curiosity spiked. She reached out, wanting to peek inside Fu Erqiu’s desk.

At that moment, footsteps behind her made her pause—Fu Erqiu had returned.

Su Chunyin casually pulled her hand back. “I thought I heard your desk buzzing.”

“Mm.” Fu Erqiu brushed past her and retrieved her phone from the desk, glanced at the screen, then flipped it face-down without replying.

Su Chunyin tried to sneak a peek, but Fu Erqiu read the messages too quickly—she couldn’t see anything and had to give up.

Still, even as she let it go, her mind spun with questions. She remembered how Song Rao had insisted she was messaging Fu Erqiu that day at the hospital… the familiar vibrations at the laundromat… how similar

Fu Erqiu and Qiu Ye’s profile photos and names were…

Su Chunyin itched to send a few more messages to test her theory, but just then, the bell rang.

An elderly man with white hair and a warm smile walked into the classroom to introduce himself. It was the homeroom teacher. Su Chunyin didn’t dare act up in his class and had to abandon her experiment.

________________________________________

Fu Erqiu didn’t stay through the final class that day. During evening self-study, the teacher on duty came in and said a parent was asking for her. Fu Erqiu nodded and left with the teacher.

By the time the last period ended, she still hadn’t returned.

Classmates began packing up in twos and threes. Su Chunyin declined Song Rao’s offer to walk home together and looked at the empty seat beside her.

Su Chunyin sat in her seat for a while, reviewing the notes Fu Erqiu had written for her while occasionally glancing outside. Fu Erqiu still hadn’t returned. Her backpack and phone remained untouched on the desk, just as she had left them. Su Chunyin wasn’t sure if she was still talking with her family and would be back later, or if she had already left for the day and wasn’t planning to return at all.

Su Chunyin stared at the phone on the desk. After a moment of hesitation, she stood up and headed out, planning to use the restroom.

Most of the classroom lights in the academic building had already been turned off. The new semester had only just begun, and with the recent class reshuffling, there weren’t many students staying late to study.

Only a few classrooms were still lit. The restroom nearest Class One was under maintenance, so Su Chunyin had to walk in the opposite direction, passing several other classrooms to reach the alternate one.

The other classrooms were already empty. The light from Class One wasn’t enough to illuminate Su Chunyin’s path, so she turned on her phone’s flashlight and headed down the corridor toward the restroom.

The hallway was silent, and the night swallowed the surroundings like a beast devouring light. Her flashlight only lit the ground at her feet, with everything beyond quickly fading into darkness.

Su Chunyin walked quietly down the long corridor. Just as she was about to reach the restroom, she suddenly heard two low voices arguing.

One male voice said, “Why won’t you sit with me? I went through the trouble of asking the teacher to make the change!”

The female voice responded, “Sitting together would affect both of our grades. Think about the future—we both have to…”

Have to what?

The voices sounded oddly familiar, but Su Chunyin couldn’t immediately place them. Her body, however, reacted faster than her brain. She quickly turned off her flashlight and moved her phone behind her back, trying not to alert the people ahead.

But she had misjudged the distance. Though she switched it off quickly, the beam of light from her flashlight had still briefly illuminated their faces—and hers in turn had been spotted.

“Su Chunyin?”

“Lu Fang? Lin Zhizhi?”

They all spoke at once. Seeing no point in hiding, Su Chunyin turned the flashlight back on and said openly, “I came to use the restroom. What are you two doing here? It sounded like you were arguing.”

With the light now revealing everything clearly, Su Chunyin saw Lu Fang and Lin Zhizhi exchange a subtle glance.

“No,” Lu Fang said quickly. “We were just discussing a tough problem in our supplemental materials and got a little too into it.”

Lin Zhizhi stepped aside and gently added, “Sorry, were we blocking your way?”

Su Chunyin opened her mouth but said nothing. She passed silently by Lin Zhizhi and walked into the restroom.

She wasn’t a fool—she knew perfectly well that the two of them were brushing her off. Since they clearly didn’t want anyone else overhearing their conversation, she saw no reason to press the issue.

But… what exactly did they mean?

Just before entering the restroom, her eyes swept over the two of them. As she walked past, Lin Zhizhi naturally stepped aside again, putting even more distance between her and Lu Fang—though the space between them was already far too narrow for just casual conversation.

They were standing unusually close. And yet Lu Fang didn’t seem to notice anything odd, casually watching Su Chunyin as she entered the restroom.

Su Chunyin frowned ever so slightly.

When she came back out, Lu Fang and Lin Zhizhi were gone. The girl who had been sitting in the front row reading had also left. The classroom was now empty except for Su Chunyin. She looked to the side. Fu

Erqiu’s bag and phone were still untouched.

She’s not coming back?

Su Chunyin glanced at the phone again and opened her own WeChat. Before she went to the restroom, she had been prepared to wait and confront Fu Erqiu directly to ask her questions. But after what just happened in the hallway, her heart was unsettled and restless. She just wanted to confirm her suspicions quickly.

She scrolled to [Qiu Ye] and opened their chat. The last message was still the other person’s reply. That morning, Su Chunyin had messaged Qiu Ye to vent about Lu Fang and Lin Zhizhi acting strangely. Qiu Ye hadn’t replied immediately but had responded 45 minutes later.

That timing was oddly specific—45 minutes, the exact length of one class period. And around that same time, Fu Erqiu had been holding her phone and seemingly typing something.

Could Qiu Ye… be Fu Erqiu?

The possibility made Su ChunyIn feel oddly resistant. Even though she had occasionally suspected they might be the same person during their chats at the hospital, she had always reassured herself that Qiu Ye was

Qiu Ye and Fu Erqiu was Fu Erqiu. They weren’t the same. But now, the idea that the knowledgeable, kindred-spirit Qiu Ye could be the cold, aloof girl she had feelings for—it was something Su Chunyin wasn’t ready to accept.

That was why, even though the suspicion had arisen that morning, she had hesitated to verify it. But now, her curiosity was overwhelming her resistance. She quickly typed a message into Qiu Ye’s chat and hit send.

A familiar notification sound rang out almost instantly. Su Chunyin turned toward Fu Erqiu’s phone—its screen lit up with a new message alert.

Taking a deep breath, she bent down to get a closer look, trying to confirm whether the message on the screen matched the one she had just sent.

At that moment, the classroom door opened again. Fu Erqiu stepped inside.

She hadn’t gone home with her family after all—she had come back to retrieve her things!

Su Chunyin looked up at the doorway, panic spreading in her chest. Fu Erqiu’s phone was still in her hand, and her guilty expression was probably obvious. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead. How was she going to explain this so that Fu Erqiu would believe her?

While Su Chunyin frantically searched for a way to explain, Fu Erqiu had already walked up to her, her eyes landing squarely on her phone in Su Chunyin’s hand.

Su Chunyin’s mind had never worked so fast. She suddenly remembered Song Rao’s advice—to just come clean and tell Fu Erqiu she was pursuing her. Rather than struggle to explain why she was holding her phone, why not drop something bigger to shift her attention?

And so, that’s what she did.

She swallowed hard, looked up at the girl in front of her, and said, “Fu Erqiu, did you know… I’ve been pursuing you?”