Hidden Love

Sang Zhi fell silent for three seconds. "I don't even remember my account anymore."

Duan Jiaxu also stood up, picking up the luggage beside him. Hearing this, his eyebrows lifted slightly. After a moment of contemplation, he gently and slowly said, "Then try to remember."

"..."

After speaking, Duan Jiaxu took her hand and led her toward the back of the line.

Truthfully, Sang Zhi hadn't played this game much. Back in middle school, Yin Zhenru had persuaded her to register an account. After playing a few times, she realized she wasn't really interested and uninstalled the game.

She hadn't even properly grasped the gameplay or rules.

Sang Zhi glanced up at him, then quickly lowered her head, pretending not to have heard.

Duan Jiaxu took both their boarding passes from his pocket and reminded her, "Did you hear me?"

Sang Zhi replied perfunctorily, "Oh."

Duan Jiaxu handed her the boarding pass and continued, persistent like an extremely stubborn adhesive plaster, "After you're done, send your boyfriend a screenshot as proof."

"..." Sang Zhi felt her scalp tingle and immediately changed her tune. "I really can't remember my account."

Upon hearing this, Duan Jiaxu lifted his gaze and stared at her for a long while before letting out a noncommittal "Hmm."

"What's wrong?" Sang Zhi couldn't tell if he was upset and whispered, "The fact that I don't even remember my account shows I don't care about that person at all."

"..."

"If you hadn't brought it up, I wouldn't even have remembered."

"Little kid," Duan Jiaxu called out to her, his tone even and unemotional, "bigamy is illegal."

They entered the boarding bridge.

Sang Zhi blinked, thinking his remark was a bit silly, yet inexplicably finding him adorable. She raised her hand and lightly poked the corner of his straight lips, smiling. "What bigamy?"

Duan Jiaxu glanced at her. "How old were you back then?"

"What?"

"During the online romance."

"..." Sang Zhi muttered, "I don't remember."

Duan Jiaxu, however, began piecing together the timeline himself, as if contemplating a matter of great importance. "The first time I heard about it was when I was tutoring you, when your brother mentioned it. That would be during the winter break of my junior year, which was the end of your first semester of eighth grade..."

Sang Zhi pinched his cheek to interrupt him. "Stop talking about it."

"You flew to Yihe during the second semester of tenth grade," Duan Jiaxu continued, unaffected and speaking leisurely. "So, by that count, this online romance lasted two years."

"..."

"Two years." Emphasizing the two words, Duan Jiaxu repeated them, the corners of his lips curling into a faint, gentle, and calm smile. "Quite impressive."

"..."

They found their seats.

Sang Zhi sat by the window, fastening her seatbelt while watching Duan Jiaxu place their bags in the overhead compartment. She lowered her gaze, thinking about what Duan Jiaxu had said in the waiting lounge, and sent a WeChat message to Sang Yan: [Brother, why did you call Brother Jiaxu yesterday?]

After sending it, she didn't wait for a reply and turned off her phone.

At the same time, Duan Jiaxu finished storing the luggage and sat down beside her. His eyes lowered, and he didn't initiate conversation. Instead, he leaned over to check her seatbelt before settling back into his seat properly.

Unlike usual, when he would often lean in to tease her or play around with her.

Sang Zhi found this feeling rather intriguing.The displeasure welling up in his heart at this moment was all because of someone who didn't actually exist—or, one could say, it was actually himself, though he remained completely unaware of it.

Sang Zhi rarely saw him jealous, so his reaction still felt novel and delightful to her. Her eyes curved into crescents as she reached out to hook her fingers with his, as if coaxing him.

Duan Jiaxu leaned back in his chair, slowly lifting his eyelids. Soon after, his palm closed, capturing two of her fingers and idly toying with them.

"Although it lasted two years," Sang Zhi blinked, starting to weave a story based on that timeframe, "I hardly ever spoke to him. Only occasionally when playing on the computer, we'd exchange a few words in the game."

Duan Jiaxu remained silent.

Sang Zhi emphasized, "So I didn't invest any real feelings."

"It's fine," Duan Jiaxu clearly didn't believe her, smiling faintly, "There's nothing wrong with a young girl experiencing love a few times."

"..."

Sang Zhi instantly recalled her first time coming to Yihe, crying for half a day at the airport.

That certainly didn't look like someone who hadn't invested any feelings.

She fell silent, scrambling for reasons in her mind before speaking again: "Actually, the reason I cried back then wasn't because my online crush rejected me or anything."

Duan Jiaxu: "Hmm?"

"Meeting disaster," at this point, Sang Zhi looked at him, "Have you heard this term before?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"The real reason I cried was," Sang Zhi said with a serious expression, full of sincerity, "this online crush of mine was really too ugly."

"..."

Right in front of this unaware person involved, Sang Zhi continued adding insult to injury.

"Old and ugly."-

Duan Jiaxu wasn't actually angry. Although he did feel somewhat jealous, most of his behavior was just playing around with her.

Seeing how she would stoop to any level to belittle someone she once liked in her youth just to coax him, without even batting an eye—though such psychology wasn't admirable, Duan Jiaxu's mood instantly became extremely pleased because of it.

With laughter in his eyes, Duan Jiaxu leaned close to her ear and asked: "Really that ugly?"

Sang Zhi nodded.

"Ugly enough to make our Zhizhi cry?"

"...Yeah."

"Then you should look at me more," Duan Jiaxu ruffled her hair, drawing out his words, "guaranteed to only laugh, never cry."

At this moment, for the first time, Sang Zhi felt like she was outsmarting him. She pressed her lips together, controlling the curve of her mouth, pretending not to understand his meaning as she asked seriously: "Why?"

Duan Jiaxu repeated: "Look at me."

Sang Zhi obediently raised her eyes, staring at his face.

The next second, Duan Jiaxu laughed and pinched her dimple.

"See, you're smiling now."-

Several hours later, the plane arrived at Yihe Airport.

Sang Zhi checked her phone and saw that Sang Yan still hadn't replied to her. She didn't pay much attention to it, boarding the airport shuttle bus with Duan Jiaxu before transferring to the subway, getting off at the station near Yihe University.

After having dinner out with Duan Jiaxu, Sang Zhi didn't linger around and went straight back to her dorm.

During this holiday, three people in the dorm had gone home, leaving only Yu Xin who hadn't returned. Sang Zhi came back early, so only Yu Xin was in the dorm at this time—the other two hadn't returned yet.

Sang Zhi greeted her, then opened her backpack and took out everything inside.Yu Xin was watching a drama while chatting with her: "If I'd known, I would've gone back home too. Being alone in the dorm for a whole week is so boring. How did you survive your summer vacation?"

"Just exhausted," Sang Zhi wiped the sweat from her forehead casually, "After getting off work every day, I didn't want to do anything except lie in bed. I didn't even have time to feel bored."

Yu Xin: "Your internship makes me scared of internships."

Sang Zhi sat down at her spot and took out her phone to check: "Actually, it's not that bad. It was just uncomfortable at first, but it got much better later."

Duan Jiaxu didn't message her, but Sang Yan replied to one of her messages.

As usual, it was a voice message.

Sang Zhi casually opened it.

Sang Yan: "Didn't say anything, couldn't be bothered, don't have the time for that."

Sang Zhi was confused: [Didn't say what?]

After a while, Sang Yan sent another voice message: "I know, it was Duan Jiaxu who pursued you."

"......"

Were they even on the same wavelength?

Since Sang Yan didn't specify what he was talking about, it probably wasn't anything serious.

Sang Zhi stopped paying attention to him and directly put the matter aside.

After the long holiday, Duan Jiaxu returned to the company and began dealing with the work that had piled up over time, working overtime continuously for quite a while.

Besides attending classes, Sang Zhi continued preparing for the competition.

Since they each had their own things to do, the frequency of their meetings decreased somewhat. They would occasionally go out for meals together, but only on weekends could they spend longer periods of time together.

When Duan Jiaxu had free time, he would come to accompany her to classes and attend some gatherings with her. He would pretend to be a university student from another school and greet her classmates.

When she had fewer classes, Sang Zhi would wait for Duan Jiaxu to finish work at the café downstairs from his company.

Whether by coincidence or deliberate intention, Sang Zhi saw Jiang Ying several times in the area. But she seemed to just be passing by and didn't come over to speak with Sang Zhi. After that, the encounters became less frequent.

As time passed and she visited this café to wait for Duan Jiaxu more often, Sang Zhi's timing became precise. She could finish her coffee and look up to see him appearing at the entrance.

They usually returned to the Yihe University area and randomly found a place to have dinner.

Occasionally, they would buy snacks from roadside stalls. Duan Jiaxu would take advantage of her inattention to suddenly bite the food she had picked up with her chopsticks, then laugh and cheer her up.

There were moments when Duan Jiaxu felt like he had returned to several years ago, when he was still on campus.

But unlike back then, his life no longer consisted solely of making money and studying, along with overwhelming pressure. He no longer had to think every day about how to cover his tuition and living expenses, or the monthly medical fees for his father lying in a hospital two thousand kilometers away.

No longer feeling like he could barely breathe under the weight of it all.

Having graduated for so long, Duan Jiaxu had long forgotten what it felt like to be a student. Yet inexplicably, he felt that this time, it seemed like a normal, anticipated university life.

Time passed day by day.

The seasons shifted from summer to autumn, then into winter.

At the end of December, following her advisor's suggestion, Sang Zhi sent the final version of her draft to her teacher's email. She stretched and breathed a sigh of relief, then went with her three roommates to eat off-campus.Duan Jiaxu was working overtime today, so Sang Zhi didn’t bother him and only sent him her location.

None of the others had brought their boyfriends either, making it a dormitory gathering. The topics of conversation revolved around boyfriends, gossip from their class or departments, or the latest popular male celebrities.

Sang Zhi found their discussions quite interesting and listened with keen interest.

After a while, as Sang Zhi was almost finished with her meal, her phone screen lit up on the table. She glanced at it and saw a WeChat message from Li Ping, asking when she would be returning home for the winter break.

Sang Zhi picked up her phone and gave an approximate time.

A simple "Okay" came in reply.

Sang Zhi thought for a moment and, as usual, casually mentioned a few things that had happened that day.

Yu Xin, sitting beside her, noticed her actions and leaned in with a grin. "Chatting with your Duan-gege again?"

Sang Zhi shook her head. "It’s my mom."

Wang Ruolan chimed in, "Is it still about your parents not approving of you and Duan Jiaxu?"

Since Sang Zhi called Li Ping every night and often shared updates about her life here, including her relationship with Duan Jiaxu, her roommates had picked up on it. When they asked, Sang Zhi had mentioned it once in the dorm but didn’t go into specifics, simply brushing it off as her parents disapproving due to the age gap.

"No," Sang Zhi said. "She was asking when I’m going home."

"I don’t think you need to worry too much about it," Wang Ruolan continued with the earlier topic. "After all, you’re only a sophomore. There’s no point in overthinking it now—it’s not like you’re getting married anytime soon. Besides, you’re here in Yihe. If they really don’t like it, you can just keep it from them since you’re so far away."

Sang Zhi let out a soft "Ah" and replied seriously, "Even if I’m far away, I still need to tell them about my life here, or they’ll worry. And hiding things won’t help anyway…"

She paused, licking her lips. "I’m definitely going to marry him someday."

Yu Xin laughed. "That’s still a long way off."

Wang Ruolan rested her chin on her hand and sighed. "Yeah, I feel like it’s way too far in the future. There are too many uncertainties."

"..." Sang Zhi was taken aback and muttered, "But isn’t the point of dating to eventually get married?"

"You can also just date for the sake of dating," Yu Xin said. "I don’t think I’ll stay with my current boyfriend forever. Once, when I was bored, I mentioned to him that I wanted to go back to my hometown after graduation and asked if he’d be willing to come with me. He went silent."

Ning Wei said, "You can always discuss it further."

"It’s just that there are too many uncertainties. No need to overthink it—just live in the moment," Wang Ruolan said, pulling out a tissue to wipe her mouth. "Otherwise, it’s just exhausting."

The four of them chatted for a while longer.

Just as they were about to leave and head back to the dorm together, Duan Jiaxu arrived at the restaurant entrance, having followed her location. Sang Zhi blinked, said goodbye to her roommates, and walked over to him.

Catching a whiff of her scent, Duan Jiaxu raised an eyebrow. "Did you drink again?"

Sang Zhi admitted honestly, "Just a little."

"Little drinker," Duan Jiaxu said softly as he adjusted the scarf around her neck. "Why do you always drink?""I ordered a large pitcher, and if I didn't drink any, we wouldn't finish it," Sang Zhi said cautiously, tugging at his coat. "That would be wasteful. Besides, all my roommates were drinking, so it wouldn't be good if I didn't join in. I only had a little."

Guessing her thoughts, Duan Jiaxu chuckled, "I'm not going to scold you."

Sang Zhi let him lead her forward.

After a moment of silence, she mulled over the conversation from the dinner table and suddenly blurted out, "Duan Jiaxu, I'll be twenty in three months."

Duan Jiaxu turned his head to look at her. "Hmm?"

Sang Zhi didn't continue. "It's nothing."

Duan Jiaxu stopped walking, bent down to meet her gaze, and stared at her flushed face from the alcohol. The corners of his eyes crinkled as he chuckled softly, "Why is it nothing? Finish what you were saying."

Sang Zhi insisted, "Really, it's nothing."

"Finish it."

"I won't."

Duan Jiaxu stayed quiet for a while, pretending to listen attentively, then leaned in and kissed the tip of her nose. "Alright, I agree."

"..." Sang Zhi said, "What did I say for you to agree?"

"Hmm? Did I misunderstand?"

Sang Zhi nodded, counting on her fingers. "I just wanted to tell you that in three months, I'll be barely twenty—I'll be the youngest among twenty-year-olds."

Looking at her silly expression, Duan Jiaxu couldn't help but laugh. "And then?"

"And then, you'll be twenty-seven in four months—"

"..."

Sang Zhi let out a tipsy burp, feeling quite superior. "You're so old."