The next morning, the school felt different.
Yesterday, the hallways were painfully silent....people avoiding my eyes, pretending I was invisible.
But today… the silence had shape. It had teeth.
Every step I took, whispers slithered behind me, brushing against my skin like cold fingers.
They're saying something again.
Someone must've spread more gossip.
"She's using Lin Yi."
"Obviously. After Li Xue stopped giving her attention, she grabbed the next guy."
"Such a pick-me."
"Tch, pathetic."
"Bad boys alway likes bad girls not fake girls"
"His taste is so bad"
I kept my head down, gripping my books tightly.
My throat tightened. I forced myself to breathe, even though the air tasted like dust and betrayal.
I just needed a minute.
Just one minute alone.
So I headed toward the bathroom...my safest escape.
But before I could turn the corner, I saw them.
Li Xue.
And her ,Xiao yin
I didn't want to listen. I didn't want to know.
But then…
My name slipped from her lips, dipped in venom.
..."running to Lin Yi so quickly? It makes her look like she just wants attention"
I froze.
"…don't be mad at her, Li Xue," she said in a soothing voice.
"She must feel terrible. Being humiliated like that, falling in front of everyone…"
My stomach dropped.
She was pretending to comfort him.
"You shouldn't feel guilty, Li Xue. You never promised her anything. And she always acted so… innocent. Maybe this breakup of your 'childhood friendship' is better for both of you."
Li Xue sighed, tired.
"That's not... I never said she wasn't important to me."
My heart stopped.
"But she's changed," he continued.
"She's not the Qin Yue I knew."
My chest burned.
Changed?
CHANGED?
Because I stopped smiling when he humiliated me?
Because I didn't let him pretend nothing happened?
Because I didn't stand still and let Xiao Yin shove me?
Li Xue didn't defend me.
He didn't deny anything.
He just stood there… agreeing..
Something inside me cracked. My vision blurred.
My palm grew wet with sweat. I couldn't tell if it was rage or heartbreak that made my knees tremble.
I turned to leave
And walked straight into someone's chest.
A warm, solid chest.
I looked up.
Lin Yi.
He raised one eyebrow at me, like he had been watching the whole time.
His hand reached out, firm and sure, wrapping around my wrist.
Before I could protest, he tugged me forward.
And suddenly..
I was standing right in front of them.
Li Xue's eyes widened.
The girl's smile faded.
Lin Yi's voice dropped, low and sharp:
"Now say it. Loudly. The things you were talking about."
The hallway fell silent.
The girl blinked rapidly, her voice trembling but pretending innocence,
"We… we didn't say anything. You misunderstood..."
He ignored her completely.
He stared straight at Li Xue, expression cold enough to freeze the hallway.
"You're right," he said calmly.
"She has changed."
The bathroom corridor fell silent.
Lin Yi continued:
"She's stopping people from walking all over her."
My breathing stuck.
Li Xue stiffened.
"And she doesn't need to explain herself to someone who believed rumors over her," Lin Yi added, voice low.
Xiao Yin's smile twitched.
Li Xue's voice dropped.
"What do you want, Lin Yi?"
"I want you," Lin Yi said, stepping closer,
"to stop acting like you have any right to judge her."
Something dark flickered across Li Xue's face.
"That's between me and her," he snapped.
Lin Yi's fist crashed into the wall beside him, the sound exploding like thunder.
Xiao yin wanted to say something but
her words died instantly.
She backed away, biting her lip, then grabbed Li Xue's sleeve .
Li Xue glared at Lin Yi.
"What are you doing? This isn't your fighting club, Lin Yi. Put your hands in your pocket."
Lin Yi's jaw twitched.
"I wish," he muttered. "Just leave..before I change my mind."
Li Xue clenched his jaw and
glanced sideways at me.
And finally walked away.
And then it was just me…
…standing beside Lin Yi and his bleeding knuckles.
My heart squeezed.
Why? Why does he keep doing this?
I swallowed hard and reached for his hand.
He didn't pull away.
He let me tug him toward the first-aid room.
Inside,
the nurse bandaged his hand silently. His mother wasn't there today.
And Lin Yi didn't say one word.
Not even one.
I replayed everything in my head...
the whispers, the stares, the wall-punch, the way Li Xue didn't defend me… and how Lin Yi stood there like some storm I didn't understand.
Finally, when the nurse left us alone, I inhaled sharply and said,
"Please don't do this for me. Not again."
My voice cracked, but I pushed through.
"We both know we're not boyfriend-girlfriend. Not even friends. These are my problems. I'll solve them."
He stared at the wall, jaw clenched so tight I thought it might shatter.
I continued, forcing steadiness into my voice:
"Why are you doing this? They're talking nonsense...not just about me, but about you. You helped me once… no..twice already. I'm grateful but—stop... Please...For God's sake, stop involving yourself. It's only making everything worse."
Silence.
Then slowly
Lin Yi turned.
His eyes were unreadable, a storm behind a locked window.
When he finally spoke, his voice was low, like a truth he didn't want to say:
"I didn't ask for your help either… back then.
In that hospital.
Fourteen years ago."
I blinked.
"What…?"
He grabbed his bag and walked out, not giving me a chance to understand.
I stood there, my chest tight, my thoughts spinning and then something flashed inside my mind.
A memory.
A small hospital corridor.
Rainy night.
A little boy crying alone, trembling, clutching a soaked shirt.
His parents… not breathing anymore.
Everyone avoided him, too busy, too scared to talk.
But a small girl...
me..
went to him, holding a tiny chocolate.
I knelt, tapped his shaking shoulder, and whispered:
"Don't cry….. God will definitely send you an angel… so don't be scared, okay?"
The crying boy looked up at me with wide, broken eyes.
That boy...
Was Lin Yi.
The air left my lungs.
So all this time…
all these years…
The boy I comforted
The boy who lost everything
was him.
And he remembered.
Even when I didn't.