The Date (1)

What followed was an intense revision and study session.

After blowing Pei Ling off that one time at school, the girl still extended plenty of invites for Jun Yang to join their study group. Jun Yang felt sorry for rejecting her on such a short notice before so he agreed to go along most of time to humour her.

This meant that Jun Yang would follow Pei Ling to her study group in the afternoon and then focused on helping Feng Qi on the phone with his study at night. He would feel so tired after a long studying session at the library with Pei Ling and his other classmates but whenever he picked the phone and Feng Qi's voice came through the line, he would feel so reenergized and ready for work.

Through their semi-nightly revision session, Jun Yang noticed Feng Qi was actually quite a good student. Even though their phone calls were often punctured with teasing words from Feng Qi, Jun Yang realized Feng Qi would absorb most of the lessons at the end of the night. Perhaps the life at Xing Ming Academy had rubbed off on the young man… or perhaps Feng Qi was actually a genius student.

Thinking about how the young man would shake his legs in class, forget about bringing the necessary textbooks to school, and of course, skip classes on the daily basis, Jun Yang shook his head, throwing that preposterous idea out of his mind.

A good student was someone like Jun Yang or Pei Ling, someone with Feng Qi's appearance and attitude towards education definitely did not fit the bill.

In any case, the tuition went smoothly. Jun Yang had faith that Feng Qi would be able to at least pass the upcoming exam.

…

The result of the exam was posted on the notice board. The group of students bustled around the board like a group of mothers congregating around discounted items at the supermarket.

"Oh, I just barely skated by. Thank the Lord!"

"Hey, how much did you score?"

"Told you to study sooner, now you have to go plead with the teacher to give you some extra credit or you might risk expulsion!"

Jun Yang was squeezed at the front of the crowd. Someone next to him said cheerfully, "Jun Yang, you are the top student again. Of course, that is to be expected but your parents must be so proud of you!"

Jun Yang turned to look and saw Pei Ling smiling at him. He smiled back at her and thanked her for the kind words.

Then again, what she said was not one hundred percent true. His parents would be mildly happy but Jun Yang would not describe their emotions as pride. Jun Yang's parents had come to expect perfection from their son so being the top student at Xing Ming Academy was something that was par for the course. If anything, Jun Fang had a feeling if he scored worse than being the first, he might elicit a bigger response from his family.

Someone close by piped up to say, "Pei Ling, you have done quite well for yourself as well. Your score is just slightly lower than Jun Yang. You two are such a perfect match for each other!"

That observation was valid. Jun Yang's name was the first on the notice board and Pei Ling's name was right below his. In terms of academic result, they were indeed quite a matching couple.

Pei Ling turned her head away with something which appeared to be a blush rising to her face. She acted the role of a shy young lady perfectly but the whole thing was wasted because Jun Yang was not paying her any attention.

Jun Yang's eyes raced down the rows of names. Since the names were arranged in the descending order of their exam scores, the lower Jun Yang went, the more nervous and depressed he felt.

Finally, Jun Yang found the name he was looking for. Just at the cusp of moving to the part where the names of the students who failed were listed, there was Feng Qi's name. If he scored 1 less mark in the exam, then he would have failed.

Jun Yang knew the condition he gave was for Feng Qi to pass the exam but he did not expect the man to follow his order to the tee, passing the exam by the breath of one's hair.

Relief washed over him and it was soon replaced by a sense of exuberance.

"Jun Yang, we should go celebrate. I hear the international hotel near the city centre has just hired a 5 star chef from France. We can go there to have a celebration…" Pei Ling started to suggest but Jun Yang already pushed his way through the crowd and took off running, "Great, have fun at the party then. I'll see you around!"

"Jun Yang, wait!" Pei Ling tried to call after him but she was too late. She did not expect the man to suddenly turn around and run. When she realized what was happening, Jun Yang had already made his way through the crowd. She tried to chase after him but the crowd refused to budge. They were anxious to glance at their result as well.

When she finally pulled through with sweat sliding down her face, Jun Yang had already disappeared. Pei Ling stomped the ground angrily with a grimace on her face.

Jun Yang did not see Feng Qi at the notice board. The result was posted one hour before the class started and Jun Yang was sure he saw Feng Qi come to school that morning. He had a hunch and raced to the classroom.

There Feng Qi was, lounging leisurely at his seat. The classroom was mostly empty with a few students who had already seen their result and had no desire to mill about the notice board.

When Feng Qi saw Jun Yang, he greeted him with a cheery, "Good morning, my lovely boyfriend."

Thankfully, he was barely audible enough for the rest of the class to hear him. Jun Yang immediately rushed to his table before Feng Qi repeated himself. "Hush, what are you talking about?! Who are you calling your boyfriend?"

Feng Qi looked at the Jun Yang with a raised brow. "Well, you are my boyfriend now that I have satisfied your conditions."

"How can you be sure that you've passed the exam? How can you be so confident?" Jun Yang asked, trying to change the subject.

"That smile on your face has told me everything I need to know. Plus, I would never fail the exam if the prize is… you." Feng Qi looked at him and winked.

Before Jun Yang could formulate a response to that, Feng Qi added, "So what do you want to do this afternoon, dear boyfriend? Shall we go on our first official date?"

"Stop it!" Jun Yang urged in a hiss, "I never said I would be your boyfriend."

Feng Qi glanced at Jun Yang with a challenging glow in his eyes, as if saying, 'Are you trying to go back on your words? You do know that two can play that game, right?'

Jun Yang took a deep breath and said clearly and calmly, "I only said I would consider it. I never said I would do it."

"Oh?!" Feng Qi replied with an amused expression. The emotions in his eyes were complicated, like he was feeling regret and perhaps anger for falling for the simple trick but at the same time, he was tickled that Jun Yang would toy with him like that.

Jun Yang could see the gears in the man's brain turning as he tried to come up with a counter. That was the cue he needed to leave. "It's your fault for not listening to people's words closely."

Jun Yang scurried back to his seat and his heart felt weirdly nervous like he had just poked a bear.

His concern was not unfounded because he would come to regret his actions as in the art of shamelessness, Jun Yang was leagues behind Feng Qi.