Somewhere in Plain Sight (2)

Ji Yi was really hungry. After she came out of the bathroom, she pulled out a chair, sat down and started to eat the dinner Tang Huahua brought for her.

From the looks of it, the food was from the First Canteen, but it didn't quite taste the same; it tasted far better than usual.

Confused, Ji Yi couldn't help but turn her head and ask Tang Huahua, "Did you get this from the First Canteen?"

"Yeah..." Tang Huahua stared at her phone screen as her fingers swiped quickly.

"Why does it taste a little different than usual?"

"Really?" Tang Huahua's eyes flickered for a moment. She didn't say anything for a while, then she put down her phone presumably because her game ended. Then she said to Ji Yi, "Are you just imagining things because you're too hungry?"

Ji Yi thought Tang Huahua made a good point and she nodded. "Probably."

Tang Huahua then scrambled out of bed as if she wanted to share an important secret with Ji Yi. She dragged a chair next to Ji Yi, sat down, and said with complete seriousness, "Xiao Yi, guess what? I discovered something unbelievable this afternoon!"

Ji Yi turned and glanced at Tang Huahua. Since she still had food in her mouth, her voice was a little muffled, "What is it?"

"It's about Lin Ya. I found out He Xuezhang wasn't actually her boyfriend!"

He Xuezhang... When Ji Yi heard those three words, she thought about what happened at He Jichen's house that afternoon. Her fingers gently trembled as she held the spoon. She wore a calm expression on her face, lowered her eyes and didn't say a word.

Tang Huahua continued on her own tangent, elaborating on the unbelievable news. "Or so to speak, she never was He Xuezhang's girlfriend! It's true that she really did get a new boyfriend recently though. Actually, he's from our class—it's that playboy Yang Shuo, who changes girlfriends like he changes clothes. He thinks he can act this way just because his family has a little money... I think Yang Shuo's just messing around with Lin Ya."

As Tang Huahua continued, she suddenly looked like she just figured something out. She let out an "Aha!" then said in realization, "I did think there was something strange about Lin Ya and He Xuezhang being together! Now I get it—Lin Ya only said she was He Dage's friend in front of all her friends. One time, I was tempted to call He Dage Lin Ya's boyfriend, but Lin Ya smacked me before I could. At the time, I didn't understand why but didn't really ask her about it. Now that I think about it, Lin Ya was the only one in love all along; she called herself He Dage's girlfriend..."

So, Lin Ya and He Jichen were never together? But whether they were together or not has nothing to do with me anyway... Ji Yi paused for a moment then continued to finish her dinner in silence.

-

The fifth time Zhang Sao reappeared at the doors of the study room, He Jichen was still standing motionless in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.

Illuminated by the billions of lights outside the window, his gentle manner and handsomeness looked picture-perfect.

"Mr. He, would you like to have dinner?"

Just like the first four attempts, Zhang Sao was again met with silence.

Xhang Sao stood there for a while. She planned to leave and come back again around eleven to check on him.

Zhang Sao hadn't yet left when He Jichen's phone suddenly went off.

Zhang Sao instinctively turned her head to see that he brought the phone to his face reflexively. From his actions, it looked like he had been standing there just waiting for the phone to ring.