The Fleeting Youth of Those Years

“How can someone make their crush so obvious right from the start? No wonder he was out of the game before even stepping into it.” While silently mocking Zhu Xin for being such a fool, I said to Xiao Niao, “Yeah, I know. He made it way too obvious.”

“Exactly. Wang Bo is so annoyed with Zhu Xin,” Xiao Niao said to me with a cheerful grin.

“What could Wang Bo do? He can’t beat Zhu Xin anyway,” I replied as the two of us unknowingly reached the base of the school building.

“Wang Bo told me he’s going to chase after Wen Youhan,” Xiao Niao said with a smile, but there seemed to be something else behind that smile. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I could distinctly feel it piercing through me little by little.

“Yeah, he told me that too,” I said as we walked one behind the other up the stairs.

“Do you think Wang Bo has a chance with Wen Youhan this time? Honestly, I feel like Wen Youhan might actually like Wang Bo.” Then Xiao Niao began recounting bits and pieces of ambiguous interactions between Wen Youhan and Wang Bo.

I smiled faintly. Ambiguity isn’t love. It’s great if it transforms into love, but if it doesn’t, it becomes a tragedy for both people. Someone once said that the ambiguous phase is the most beautiful period in a love story. During this time, neither person knows how the other feels, and they tentatively draw closer to each other. Every little gesture can stir huge ripples in the heart, evoking a unique kind of sweetness. However, once the relationship becomes clear and you’re either confessing love or expressing resentment, that heart-tingling sweetness is gone.

As expected, we ended up winning the matches. Fortunately, our class wasn’t grouped with Class 5, the super-strong team. The only thrashing we got was from Class 3. The final match was against Class 16. If we won that game, our class would advance to the next round. If we lost, then we could finally settle down and focus on our studies. But none of us wanted to lose. The word “give up” doesn’t exist in our youth. On the path of pursuing someone like Wen Youhan, no one dared to back down or quit. Winning or losing the basketball game didn’t have much significance on its own, but giving up easily would speak volumes about us. That, we couldn’t accept.

At lunchtime, I forgot to grab my cup to fetch hot water. After finishing my meal, I went back to the classroom to get my cup before heading to the basketball court to wait for the game to start. But as soon as I walked into the classroom, I saw Wen Youhan sitting at her desk, pouring water from her thermos. To save time, Wen Youhan had brought the dormitory thermos to the classroom, which spared her the daily hassle of fetching water. However, in our class, there were plenty of shameless characters. Once they noticed someone had a thermos, they simply stopped making trips for water themselves and instead asked others for it whenever they needed a drink.

While I looked down on my classmates for this behavior, it also made me admire Wen Youhan even more. Her kindness felt so pure and transparent. Seeing someone’s true nature through these small acts always felt so genuine, devoid of any pretense or affectation. It made me fall for Wen Youhan even deeper.

When Wen Youhan saw me holding my cup, she turned her head and playfully stuck out her tongue at me. After setting down the thermos, she handed the cup in her hand to Zhu Xin, who was standing nearby.

It was then that I noticed the cup she was holding wasn’t her yellow space-themed cup. Wen Youhan was truly one of a kind. While others opted for blue cups, she had chosen yellow. Everyone in our class could instantly recognize that yellow cup as hers. Wen Youhan was unique in every way, and even her water cup reflected that.

“That little pest,” I muttered internally, feeling a surge of jealousy. This unlikely rival, someone I hadn’t even considered, was stooping to using such a petty tactic-borrowing water-to get close to our Wen Youhan.

There’s a kind of person in this world who does the cruelest thing: they take advantage of someone’s kindness to hurt them.

Zhu Xin, noticing Wen Youhan sticking her tongue out at me, blushed and awkwardly reached out to touch her hair. But Wen Youhan quickly dodged, leaving Zhu Xin flustered and standing there in embarrassment. Realizing the situation, he tactfully turned and returned to his seat.

I walked over to Wen Youhan and asked, “Is there any water left? I’d like some too.”

Wen Youhan adjusted her glasses resting on her delicate nose and said, “There’s plenty left, but you probably shouldn’t drink it. The water didn’t boil properly. I drank a sip earlier and realized it wasn’t fully boiled, so I stopped. It’s mostly for everyone else.”

“What about your medicine?” I asked, remembering her chronic colitis, which required her to take medication daily.

“I’ll just ask someone else for some water,” Wen Youhan replied with a slightly helpless expression.