The light in the room was cold and white, casting a sharp, clear outline on Duan Jiaxu's face. His eyes were lowered, their thick, long lashes accentuating the depth of his brown irises, which shimmered with fragmented light.
Duan Jiaxu was still staring at her, but without any sense of pressure. He had always been a patient man—never rushing, never showing impatience, quietly waiting for her response.
At this moment, Sang Zhi inexplicably recalled the first time she had seen him.
He had been lounging on the sofa, his expression aloof and playful. When faced with her utterly absurd speculation, he had merely chuckled and casually agreed, "As long as it looks good, isn’t that enough?"
So many years had passed, and he had grown so much older.
Yet, it seemed he hadn’t changed much.
He had simply matured a little, but he was still the person she had always liked.
For a fleeting moment, she felt as though time had actually waited for them.
One stood, the other sat.
After about ten seconds, Sang Zhi suddenly snapped back to reality. The end of her voice trembled slightly, but she still feigned calmness as she asked, "Is that sentence the meaning I think it is?"
"Hmm?" Duan Jiaxu withdrew his hand and lightly licked the chocolate sauce from his fingertip. "Can that sentence have any other meaning?"
Sang Zhi fell silent for a moment before softly asking, "Didn’t you say I was a child?"
"If you’re willing," Duan Jiaxu curved his lips, his words tinged with a faint smile, "I could still call you that when you’re ninety."
"..." Sang Zhi lowered her gaze and continued nibbling on her cake.
"It’s just a nickname." Duan Jiaxu chuckled, his tone unhurried. "Otherwise, if you call me 'brother,' do you really think of me as your actual brother?"
Feeling awkward, Sang Zhi deliberately contradicted him, "I do think of you as my actual brother."
"Is that so?" Duan Jiaxu glanced at her but didn’t expose her lie. Instead, he spoke in a negotiating tone, "Then, how about this brother reforms himself after 15 years and stops being a decent person? How does that sound?"
"..."
Duan Jiaxu added nonchalantly, "I’ll become a scoundrel instead."
Sang Zhi coughed twice and couldn’t help saying, "It’s not that serious."
"Then, can you give me an answer?" Duan Jiaxu tapped his fingers lightly on the table, his tone somewhat casual. "If you don’t say anything soon, I might start gasping for air from nervousness."
I don’t see you being nervous, Sang Zhi muttered inwardly.
"Who asks for permission before pursuing someone?" Sang Zhi thought for a moment but couldn’t resist complaining. "You even came to ask if you could chase me."
"If I didn’t ask," Duan Jiaxu pulled a chair over and sat beside her, "wouldn’t you just interpret all those things as concern from an elder?"
Three seconds of silence passed.
"Then do as you please." Sang Zhi averted her gaze, pretending not to care. "It’s your business, and I have no say in it."
Duan Jiaxu chuckled softly, "So, do you have any feelings for me?"
Thinking of Ning Wei’s words, Sang Zhi denied it very seriously, "No."
A few seconds later, worried she might dampen his enthusiasm, she deliberately added, "But if you chase me for a while, I might develop some."
After saying this, Sang Zhi lifted her head and glanced in Duan Jiaxu’s direction a few times.
"Alright." Duan Jiaxu propped his chin on one hand and asked, "But can you give me a little spoiler? About how long do you think I’ll have to chase you?""What spoilers?" Sang Zhi frowned, feeling a bit embarrassed. "The way you're talking makes it sound like I'm definitely going to be won over by you."
Duan Jiaxu raised an eyebrow: "Is there any reason I wouldn't succeed?"
Sang Zhi: "Of course! I'm very hard to get."
Duan Jiaxu: "Then let's sign a contract, set a time limit."
Sang Zhi felt somewhat aggrieved: "We need a contract for this?"
Duan Jiaxu hummed in agreement, his expression casual yet matter-of-fact: "People our age prefer to do things in a more secure way."
"..."
Sang Zhi swallowed the last bite of cake and stood up: "I'm not signing anything with you."
"Fine." Duan Jiaxu said lazily. "Then I'll be patient and chase you for eight to ten years. But if you run off with someone else by then, I'll go to your parents and complain."
Sang Zhi: "What would you even complain about?"
Duan Jiaxu thought for a moment, tilting his head, his tone as if asking a question: "How about... that time you asked me to pretend to be your brother for your parent-teacher meeting?"
Sang Zhi was speechless: "That was centuries ago."
She stopped paying attention to him and went to the bathroom to rinse her mouth. When she looked up at the mirror, she noticed chocolate sauce smeared on her cheek.
Sang Zhi immediately remembered Duan Jiaxu's earlier actions. She washed it off and quickly walked out: "Brother Jiaxu, why did you wipe that on my face?"
Duan Jiaxu was cleaning up the table: "What about it?"
"I was wearing makeup." Sang Zhi said unhappily. "You just ruined it."
Hearing this, Duan Jiaxu looked up and glanced at her, his eyebrows raising, his tone both cocky and flirtatious: "You even put on makeup to see me, and yet you say you're not interested?"
"..." Sang Zhi defended herself: "I wear makeup no matter who I'm meeting."
"Why do you always have to burst my bubble like this?" Duan Jiaxu put the cake back in its box and laughed. "Can't I at least imagine it and make myself happy, even if you're not interested?"
Sang Zhi was particular about this: "Then you shouldn't say it out loud."
Duan Jiaxu said casually: "If I don't say it out loud, how would you know?"
"..."
Sang Zhi walked over and picked up the two bags, hanging them from her wrist. She glanced at the cake Duan Jiaxu had made, which still had more than half left, and called him seriously: "Brother Jiaxu."
"Hmm?"
"It's just... you haven't actually confessed to me yet. You just asked if you could chase me, and I said yes, but I didn't reject you either." Sang Zhi said carefully, "So... can I take this cake home with me?"
Duan Jiaxu looked down at her, pretending to be puzzled: "If I confess to you right now, would you accept?"
Sang Zhi choked: "Of course not."
"Then forget it," Duan Jiaxu refused gently, "I'll keep it for myself."
Sang Zhi pointed at the one she bought: "Can't you just eat this one?"
Duan Jiaxu: "No."
Sang Zhi restrained herself: "But you don't even like sweet things."
"I do now."
Sang Zhi exploded, finally blurting out what she'd been holding back: "Why are you so petty! I didn't set the bar that high - you should at least try to chase me properly!"
Silence fell instantly.
Sang Zhi realized what she had just said and immediately became flustered, offering some excuses: "What I mean is, you need to chase me properly so I can figure out whether I have those kinds of feelings for you or not."
Duan Jiaxu cleared his throat, as if holding back laughter: "It's fine."Afraid of truly angering her, Duan Jiaxu knew when to stop and didn’t tease her further: "If you don’t have that intention, I’ll just have to chase you a bit more."
"……"
Duan Jiaxu reached out and pinched her cheek gently. "I’ll pack it in a box for you to share with your friends when you go back. If you like it, I’ll make it for you every day."
Sang Zhi took the things and returned to her dorm.
At that moment, Wang Ruolan hadn’t returned yet, and Yu Xin was standing next to Ning Wei, chatting about gossip. Seeing her come back, Ning Wei waved at her with a smile. "Little Sang Sang, did you have fun on your date?"
Sang Zhi placed the things in her hands on the table and asked seriously, "Is there a curfew today?"
"Yes," Yu Xin said. "Midnight."
Sang Zhi: "What time is it now?"
Yu Xin: "It’s only ten. Why?"
Sang Zhi opened her wardrobe. "I want to go out for a run."
"……" Ning Wei was a bit puzzled. "Aren’t you cold?"
"I’m a little," Sang Zhi looked at them, "a little excited."
Yu Xin: "You don’t look just a little."
Sang Zhi touched her face, trying to calm her emotions, then inexplicably started giggling. "I’ve been holding back my laughter all night. I feel like my face is about to cramp."
Ning Wei laughed along with her and guessed, "Did he confess to you?"
"It should count, right?" Sang Zhi said. "He said he’s going to start pursuing me."
Ning Wei asked curiously, "How long are you planning to let him chase you?"
Sang Zhi blinked, not quite sure. "How long is usually appropriate?"
Ning Wei: "With my boyfriend, it was about a month. But I kind of regret agreeing so soon. Men are at their best when they’re chasing you."
"Oh." Sang Zhi scratched her head. "Then how long is better?"
Yu Xin: "You decide for yourself. Whenever you feel it’s right, that’s fine."
Sang Zhi: "I think right now is quite appropriate…"
"……"
Suddenly feeling a bit melancholic, Sang Zhi sighed. "But I’m a little worried that his liking might just be a whim. Maybe he’s just been without a girlfriend, and then suddenly there’s someone around his age, so he feels like it’s a match."
Ning Wei: "But from what you’ve said, given your relationship, if he came to say something like that to you, he must have made up his mind, right?"
Sang Zhi was taken aback, thought about it seriously, and then smiled again.
"That’s true."
She shared the cake with her roommates, returned to her spot, and opened the bag Duan Jiaxu had given her. Inside was a portable, small camera, pure black with a retro style.
Sang Zhi turned it on and tried taking a photo.
Then, she opened the photo album to see how the picture turned out and instinctively swiped right.
She discovered there were other photos inside.
It was a selfie of Duan Jiaxu.
"……"
The photo was taken up close.
An extremely straightforward close-up of himself, clearly showing his features. In the photo, he seemed to have just taken a shower, his hair half-wet, his peach blossom eyes bright and sparkling, his lips glistening with moisture.
His gaze was fixed on the lens, his smile carrying a hint of roguishness.
The next moment, Sang Zhi’s phone rang.
The person on the other end seemed to have timed it perfectly, sending her two WeChat messages.
Brother No. 2: 【The photo inside is the real gift.】
Brother No. 2: 【Remember to set it as your wallpaper.】
Sang Zhi: "……"
Sang Zhi replied coolly: 【No.】Then, she opened Duan Jiaxu's profile, changed his nickname back to "Duan Jiaxu," and curled the corners of her lips upward. She glanced at the message he had just sent, suppressed the urge to roll around, thought for a moment, and changed it to "Suitor."
The next moment, her phone vibrated.
Sang Zhi exited the screen to check.
Sang Yan had transferred two thousand yuan to her on WeChat, along with a message: [Buy whatever you want yourself.]
Sang Zhi accepted the money. Thinking about the day's events, she inexplicably felt a looming sense of pressure. Hesitantly, she gradually sent him a message: [Bro, I might be getting into a relationship.]
Brother: [?]
Brother: [Did you go to university or a matchmaking session?]
Sang Zhi: [Isn’t it normal to date in college?]
Brother: [Do whatever you want, just be careful and don’t get scammed.]
Sang Zhi: [Oh.]
After a brief silence.
Sang Zhi added: [He’s a bit older.]
Brother: [?]
Brother: [He can’t be older than me.]
Sang Zhi: […]
This time, Sang Yan sent a voice message directly, his tone unpleasant: "He’s really older than me? Kid, where did you meet this person?"
Sang Zhi didn’t dare confess and made up a lie: [He’s a graduate student at our university.]
Sang Yan: "Focus on your studies. You’re still a kid trying to date. And let me tell you, even one day older than me is unacceptable. I can’t stand a man older than me calling me 'brother.'"
Sang Zhi retorted indignantly: [Why do you have so many issues?]
Sang Zhi: [Isn’t it good for him to call you brother?]
Brother: [?]
Brother: [Do you remember Duan Jiaxu?]
Sang Zhi: "..."
—
On the other side, Duan Jiaxu came out of the bathroom after showering.
He dried his hair with a towel, grabbed a bottle of cold water from the fridge, and glanced at his phone, noticing Sang Yan had sent him several messages.
Duan Jiaxu raised an eyebrow and opened them.
Sang Yan: [My little sister seems to have a boyfriend.]
Sang Yan: [She’s all alone out there. Keep an eye on her for me.]
Sang Yan: [Don’t let her get scammed.]
Duan Jiaxu let out a soft, unhurried laugh, his expression showing not a hint of guilt. He unscrewed the bottle cap, took a slow sip of water, and replied: [Sure.]
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