Chapter 12

Du Ruo sat in the stands, eyes drifting over the field.
He Huanhuan was munching her way through a king-sized bag of chips, crunching loudly as she held it out to Du Ruo, who took a piece but barely tasted it.
On the field, students were competing in long jump and high jump events.
He Huanhuan bit through half a chip, then let out a dramatic sigh. “Damn, sometimes I just really want to date someone.”
Du Ruo, half-distracted, snapped to: "Why the sudden mood, is it the fall weather?" But then she saw Huanhuan staring at the next section of bleachers.
Jing Ming was sitting in the bottom row with his class, long legs draped over the railing, head bent over his phone. Min Enzhu was right beside him, playfully tugging at his collar or ruffling his hair every so often, way too cozy.
He seemed to be gaming, barely reacting. She leaned in, wrapping an arm around his neck so she could peer at his screen, laughing at something there. Then, so fast you’d miss it, she brushed a kiss over his cheek, quick, light, gone without a trace.
Jing Ming didn’t even blink, still glued to his phone.
Du Ruo couldn’t take her eyes off them.
“Don’t you ever just want to try dating?” Huanhuan turned back, honest for once. “I get these moments, you know? Watching couples, I can’t help feeling a tiny bit envious…but it’s just sometimes. Haha.”
“There are way more guys than girls in this school. If you ever want a boyfriend, it should be easy.”
“Should it? Then how come none of our upper-year girls has a boyfriend?”
“…Hey, can’t you just take my encouragement instead of arguing?” Du Ruo shot her a side-eye.
Huanhuan burst out laughing, and Du Ruo found herself giggling too.
Down by the field, Jing Ming stood up, off to watch his class's girls compete in the three-legged race. Min Enzhu stayed put, tapping away at her phone.
Jing Ming left the stands and headed to the starting line.
Huanhuan crumpled the empty chip bag. “Three-legged race is up! Our class has two girls competing. Let’s go cheer for them.”
Du Ruo agreed, she was the only girl in their class and hadn't signed up for this event.
When they got to the track, Huanhuan darted off to pump up her classmates.
Du Ruo watched Chen Si and Wang Huaiyu, who shuffled around with one leg bound together. A whole group of their male classmates, Jing Ming, Zhu Tao, the usual suspects, were offering advice nearby:
Zhu Tao: "Link arms."
Zhang Lei: "Count it out, one, two, one!"
Jing Ming kept quiet, eyes on their tangled legs. He suddenly grinned: "You’re about to wipe out."
He’d barely finished when Chen Si and Wang Huaiyu did in fact trip, forcing Zhang Lei and the others to rush in and steady them.
Jing Ming stood back and watched, arms crossed.
Chen Si shot him a glare. "You jinxed it!"
Jing Ming laughed. "Maybe try cooperating instead of blaming me?"
"Says the guy who’s just spectating."
"Could you use your brains for once?" Jing Ming teased. "Your steps are too small and choppy. Too fast, too uneven, of course you’re going to trip. Take bigger strides, slow it down, match your pace."
Wang Huaiyu considered this. "Huh, true."
Nearby, Xia Nan piped up. "Got it, thanks for the cheat code."
Jing Ming gave her a glance, then shrugged at Chen Si and Wang Huaiyu: "Great, now the enemy knows too. Good luck with that."
Chen Si said, "We might still tie for first, you know."
Jing Ming smirked. "Xia Nan’s legs are longer than yours."
Chen Si laughed in outrage, waving her arm at him in mock fury.
All the girls burst out laughing.
But Du Ruo didn’t feel like part of the fun. She and Jing Ming could never just be "normal classmates", it just wasn’t in the cards.
The referee’s whistle blew everyone into position. The crowd dispersed.
At the signal, pairs of girls scrambled toward the finish line, tied together, while the boys jogged alongside cheering them on.
Xia Nan and Qiu Yuchen finished first, Chen Si and Wang Huaiyu took second.
Du Ruo went over to congratulate them.
Qiu Yuchen was untying the rope from her legs. She paused to squint at Du Ruo. "Hey, aren’t you running the four-hundred? Why are you still in your dress?"
"…Shit, I totally forgot!" Du Ruo broke out in cold sweat. "Be right back. I’ll go change, "
He Huanhuan grabbed her. "No time for that! The four-hundred’s about to start, everyone’s already gone to gather!"
Sure enough, the guys had vanished toward the other end of the field before the three-legged race even began.
Some volunteers came over to start clearing the track for the next heat.
The four of them barely made it off the field before the starter’s pistol cracked, the boys’ heat had already begun.
Du Ruo panicked. "What do I do now?"
He Huanhuan: "Just run in your dress! Who cares? No one’s expecting you to win first place, it’s all just for fun anyway."
"I can’t run in heels!"
Without missing a beat, Xia Nan kicked off her sneakers. "Swap with me."
"…"
"Why are you standing there like an idiot? Shoes off, quick!"
Du Ruo slid out of her shoes and into Xia Nan’s sneakers. Then she looked down at her elegant dress and palmed her face. "Am I going to look totally ridiculous?"
Qiu Yuchen snorted. "You’re worrying about ‘ridiculous’ now?"
He Huanhuan was practically gleeful. "Seriously, 'dress with sneakers' is peak fashion right now!"
Du Ruo groaned miserably. "I’m done for. If I run like this, the whole school is going to stare. I’ll die of embarrassment."
Xia Nan rolled her eyes. "Relax. I’ll make sure to get plenty of photos of you running in that tulle dress."
"…Don’t you dare," Du Ruo squeaked.
Qiu Yuchen shrugged. "I guarantee we won’t be the only ones taking pictures."
He Huanhuan whooped. "Exactly! This is going to be hilarious!"
"You guys, " Du Ruo sighed, but there wasn’t time to argue. The real emergency was getting to the four-hundred-meter starting line.
The three roommates dashed after her, ready to cheer her on.
The four girls tore across the lumpy field, running wild.
Du Ruo burst onto the track at the starting line, scanning around for roll call, when someone shouted to her, "Watch out!"
She froze. Suddenly everyone nearby was dodging and jumping out of the way, as if something dangerous was barreling toward them.
Footsteps thundered behind her.
Du Ruo turned,
Jing Ming exploded across the finish line of the boys’ four-hundred-meter dash and slammed right into her!
His face registered pure alarm, no time to swerve, no chance to stop. Instinctively, he grabbed her. They collided and went down hard. His chin cracked against her temple. She gasped in pain between her teeth.
Holy hell, he’s heavy!!!
He’s going to flatten me!
That wasn’t even the worst of it, he was hot, dripping with sweat, his body weight and his scent pressing down like a furnace, pinning her to the ground.
She couldn’t breathe, her heart pounding out of control, every inch of her aching underneath him.
Jing Ming froze, quickly braced himself on the ground, got to his feet, then pulled her up and gave her a once-over. "You okay?" he asked.
Du Ruo's heart was pounding out of control, her face flashing between red and white, her whole body aching. She couldn't get a word out, she just shook her head stiffly, like a robot.
Min Enzhu rushed over to grab Jing Ming's arm, anxiously asking, "Did you get hurt?"
"I'm fine," Jing Ming replied.
Min Enzhu turned her gaze to Du Ruo, her expression puzzled, with a hint of displeasure.
Honestly, any girlfriend would hate what just happened.
She asked Du Ruo, "Why were you standing right at the finish line?"
Jing Ming was already over it. "Let’s go," he said.
Min Enzhu dropped it and followed him away.
Du Ruo may have been shaken by that collision, but there was no time to deal with her racing heart. She quickly made her way to the starting line, and as soon as the starter's gun went off, she charged forward.
She tore down the track like the wind, as if running from some inescapable monster chasing her down.
Cramming her hands around the puffy skirt, she sprinted flat-out, all skinny arms and legs, but still outpacing everyone else.
"Check out that girl! She’s running in a dress!"
Everyone in the stands turned to stare, grinning, cheering her on, snapping photos on their phones.
So lively, so adorable, so free and reckless, now that’s what college should feel like! That’s what a sports day is supposed to be!
No one had a clue how frantic the girl clutching her dress really felt.
Ah, what a beautiful misunderstanding.
Jing Ming crossed the field center, slowly getting his heart to calm down after running that 400 meters.
Min Enzhu slipped her arm through his and said, "From now on, you’re not allowed to hug other girls. Got it?"
Jing Ming looked baffled. "Who did I hug?"
"Just now!" she pouted. "Aren’t you worried someone else will fall for you?"
Jing Ming rolled his eyes. "You’re nuts."
He walked toward the stands, just in time to see Du Ruo hauling her skirt as she shot past on the track. She looked so skinny and fragile, who knew she could run faster than a rabbit?
After four hundred meters, Du Ruo felt like a fish thrown onto dry land, her veins nearly bursting. The pretty dress was soaked through and hopelessly wrinkled.
Her classmates all crowded around, congratulating her for coming in first, but she could only bend over and gasp for breath, no energy for anything else.
After some water and a slow walk across the field, she finally started to recover.
She sat in the stands for ages, not even sure what she was doing there.
Gradually, the heat and chaos inside her faded away, sweat drying on her skin as a chill crept in.
Every last stray feeling slipped away and vanished, clean as an empty tide-washed beach.
As if nothing at all had happened.
Dusk crept in; the events were nearly over, and the stands were almost empty.
Du Ruo glanced unconsciously toward that spot, Chen Si and his class had left long ago.
Qiu Yuchen strolled over and said their class had finished for the day, then asked if Du Ruo was heading back to rest.
Du Ruo agreed.
The field was still littered with gold confetti and streamers from the morning’s opening ceremony. Now, with the setting sun, the place looked bleak and messy.
Du Ruo and her roommates walked back toward their dorm. The autumn breeze brushed their cheeks, the leaves overhead whispering as they went.
After a day of excitement, the music had ended and the crowd was gone.
A faint sense of emptiness swept through, like the sea returning at night after a carnival.
The four girls wandered quietly down the campus paths, all a little exhausted, too tired to speak.
Du Ruo walked for a bit, then looked up, taking a deep breath. She could see the sky, the sunset, the branches of trees, and, through a dorm window in the boys’ building, she spotted something else.
On a balcony on the third floor, a white dress shirt hung out to dry, a black silk ribbon draped across the back.
She recognized it instantly as Jing Ming’s. He wore it once in public English class.
The night wind picked up, and she felt a little cold, hugging her coat tighter. "Let’s head back before I freeze to death," she said.
"You didn’t wear enough," He Huanhuan remarked. "But seriously, you look amazing, Xiao Ruo, you were an actual fairy today, seriously!"
"Pfft." Du Ruo snorted a laugh. "Well, your fairy is headed back to earth, dorm, clean up, eat dinner, then off to the library!"
Qiu Yuchen sighed, barely dragging her feet. "You’re going to the library even today? I’ve got nothing left in the tank."
Xia Nan: "I’m skipping too, totally wiped out."
Huanhuan: "I’m going, group project’s still not done."
Du Ruo grinned. "Then let’s go together."