Thinking this, Tong Ya sent a photo of the orientation she had just taken in the classroom to her group of friends.
She put her phone away, intending to follow the hallway back to the classroom.
Right then, Tong Ya noticed a scene that piqued her curiosity.
A boy emerged from the stairwell and placed a cup of bubble tea on the windowsill. He then looked down and sent a message on his phone.
The distance was a bit far, so Tong Ya couldn’t see the expression on his face clearly, but she could vaguely see that he seemed to be smiling.
‘Is he… messaging someone he likes?’
Soon, the boy returned to the classroom.
‘Is he in my class?’
Tong Ya shook her head, not thinking much of it.
Although the boy’s height was her ideal type, he wore black-rimmed glasses, kept his head hung low, and his long hair covered his forehead.
He was… far too ordinary.
However, after walking just a few steps, Tong Ya saw Luo Yueli come out of the classroom. Looking at her destination…
It seemed to be that cup of bubble tea?
Tong Ya’s breath hitched. It felt like she had discovered some incredible secret about her beautiful roommate.
Driven by a gossiping heart, Tong Ya reacted quickly and immediately hid behind the doorframe of the adjacent classroom.
She watched as Luo Yueli looked left and right, looking very much like a cat about to steal some food.
After confirming there was no one else in the hallway, Luo Yueli picked up the bubble tea and returned to the classroom.
This made Tong Ya even more interested. Without a doubt, the boy who left the tea and Luo Yueli were connected.
And by the looks of it, their relationship wasn’t shallow.
She had to find out what their relationship was!
With that thought in mind, Tong Ya jogged back to the classroom.
As soon as she entered, before she could even look for the boy, she saw Luo Yueli. She also saw the cup of bubble tea in her hand.
“Li, I’m back. What part are we at now?”
Tong Ya walked up to Luo Yueli, her eyes shimmering slightly. “Hey, bubble tea?”
“I can’t believe you secretly went to buy bubble tea.”
“Bubble tea?”
Hearing this, Shen Ran leaned over as well, surprised. “Yueli, weren’t you just with me?”
“When did you get bubble tea?”
“I ordered it earlier from the shop at the campus gate, but I hadn’t gone to pick it up because of the orientation,” Luo Yueli explained with a smile. “They just happened to be free at their shop.”
“I asked them to deliver it.”
“Oh, so that’s how it is. I thought you bought it secretly without telling me,” Shen Ran said, realizing, and didn’t think much more of it.
Tong Ya didn’t believe it. She pursed her lips, a faint, indiscernible smile playing on her face. “Is that so?”
“I thought… a boy who likes Yueli sent it?”
“A boy who likes Yueli?”
Shen Ran became interested. “If it’s a boy who likes Yueli, and Yueli even took his bubble tea…”
She and Tong Ya exchanged a look.
There was definitely something going on.
Accepting the bubble tea meant that, at the very least, she didn’t reject the other party.
“Oh my, our College Beauty from the College of Liberal Arts is about to be taken.” Shen Ran took Luo Yueli’s arm, looking at her with a giggle.
“Pfft, who’s a College Beauty? I’m not.”
“You are, Yueli. I’ve seen the situation in other classes; you’re the most beautiful girl in our year.”
Few girls dislike being praised for their beauty, and Luo Yueli was no exception. She bit her lip and said, “It really was delivered by the shop.”
“If I had a boyfriend, how could I not tell you? Look at Shubai.”
Shen Ran followed her gaze and looked at Zhao Shubai, who was leaning against the window. She was currently on the phone with her boyfriend, looking inseparable.
“True.”
Shen Ran understood again.
At their age, if they had a boyfriend, most would be in the honeymoon phase. How could they not talk to their boyfriend?
Luo Yueli hadn’t shown any behavior typical of someone in the honeymoon phase from beginning to end, and she hadn’t hidden anything while replying to messages on her phone.
“Yueli, you’re the most beautiful in our dorm,” Tong Ya said. Although she felt suspicious, she didn’t continue asking. Instead, she changed the subject. “If a boy pursues you…”
“If you don’t like him but he’s very outstanding, you can introduce him to us~”
“Or if you start dating, it’s fine if your boyfriend has reliable, good buddies.”
“Of course. We’re all good sisters in the same dorm from now on.” Luo Yueli’s eyes curved into crescents, her shallow smile causing the surrounding boys to constantly steal glances.
Seeing this, Tong Ya stopped talking to Luo Yueli and instead searched the classroom with her eyes for the boy who had delivered the bubble tea.
After searching for several minutes, she finally saw the boy’s back in the most inconspicuous corner.
He was hunched over the desk looking at his phone, appearing out of place in the lively crowd, as if the phone was his entire world.
Shy, introverted…
And maybe even a bit withdrawn?
Tong Ya bit her finger and didn’t go over to talk to him.
She had seen boys like this before; back in high school, there were some in her class. Or rather, every class always had a few.
They were ordinary and had low self-esteem, blushing whenever they saw a slightly pretty girl and stuttering when they spoke.
Tong Ya found it hard to imagine that Luo Yueli actually had contact with such a boy and had even accepted the bubble tea he sent.
A backup? A meal ticket?
No, that wasn’t right. The boy’s clothes were cheap street-market items. To put it bluntly, a boy like that didn’t even have the qualifications to be Luo Yueli’s meal ticket or backup.
Luo Yueli had the capital to have much better meal tickets and backups.
Was Luo Yueli a loose girl, a “fish farmer” with a vast sea of admirers?
Tong Ya glanced sideways at her roommate and saw that she had already opened the bubble tea and was drinking it.
Her tender pink lips bit the straw while her hands rested on the desk as she played with her phone.
She clearly wasn’t.
Tong Ya remembered clearly that when they came to the college in the afternoon, several boys had come to strike up a conversation with Luo Yueli.
Quite a few of them looked like they came from wealthy families and were reasonably handsome.
If she wanted to keep a backup or find a meal ticket, she would look for those kinds of rich boys. At least it wouldn’t be an eyesore when meeting and greeting them.
How could she possibly choose such a…
Ordinary person?
Tong Ya’s questions only grew.
She felt like there was a piece of gossip right in front of her that hadn’t been fully revealed, and she couldn’t see the whole picture.
Luo Yueli looked at the fifteen-yuan transfer on her phone that Su Yichen hadn’t accepted and could only sigh inwardly.
Regarding this childhood friend of hers, she didn’t know…
How she should face him now.
But there was one thing Luo Yueli knew: she had never felt an emotion like “like” toward him.
Ever since they started high school, the two had grown further and further apart. It seemed like they were in the same class, but they were actually as far apart as the sky and the sea.
People often spoke of childhood friends being inseparable.
But how could feelings be so simple and formulaic?
Liking or not liking, loving or not loving—it was often decided right from the start.
Moreover, the relationship between the two of them was fundamentally different from that of lovers.