Chapter 42

Staring at Shen Hua’s text, Su Xiaoxiao was at a total loss for words.
It seemed that from the moment she’d decided to hide in the girls’ bathroom, she’d set foot on a road of no return.
She wanted to cry but could only smile instead, helpless yet resigned.
If heaven ever gave Su Xiaoxiao another chance, she swore she would never go walking around the track with that idiot Jin Qishan again.
A good student should focus on studying, not on, dating!
And look what happened, she didn’t even get to start her “romance” before nearly being caught by the discipline director as a public example.
And now? She was hiding in a stinking bathroom stall.
Her intestines felt twisted with regret.
Just then, the sound of click-clack, click-clack high heels drew closer.
Teacher Chen was coming in.
Su Xiaoxiao’s nerves tightened. Her breathing quickened, and she instinctively pressed closer to Jin Qishan.
In the dark, Jin Qishan’s senses were completely overwhelmed by the warmth and softness pressed against him.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly against his, and the sensation made his mind go completely blank.
One by one, the stall doors banged open, bang, bang,, then slammed shut again.
Su Xiaoxiao stood on tiptoe, hands braced on Jin Qishan’s shoulders, face to face, eyes locking.
She pouted her lips slightly and mouthed a silent, “Shh.”
Her rosy lips were so close to his that Jin Qishan’s throat bobbed as he swallowed, quickly turning his head away.
At the worst possible time, Su Xiaoxiao found herself shamefully distracted, by the movement of his Adam’s apple.
By the time she came back to her senses, Teacher Chen had reached their stall.
The handle rattled, then came a sharp knock knock. “Is someone in there?”
Silence.
Did they hide in this one?
Teacher Chen knocked again, voice stern. “Is anyone in there? If no one answers, I’ll call the security guard to unlock the door!”
After a few seconds of tense silence, Su Xiaoxiao bit her lip, turned slightly, and said softly, “There is.”
Jin Qishan glanced down at her just as she turned her head back, their faces nearly brushed, her lips grazing the tip of his nose.
He froze.
Su Xiaoxiao froze too.
The small space seemed to shrink around them. Her breath came faster, hotter; he could feel every slight shift of her body, sometimes close, sometimes brushing, sometimes pressing too tightly against him.
Then, absurdly, Su Xiaoxiao realized something else: from this angle, he could probably see straight up her nose.
Mortified, she covered her nose and shifted back.
Outside, Teacher Chen frowned. A couple hiding in the girls’ bathroom? Her tone sharpened. “If there’s someone inside, open the door. Both of you, come out.”
But then she hesitated. What if it was just an ordinary student using the toilet? She didn’t want to terrify them for no reason.
“I’m the teacher on duty,” she added, softening her voice. “Just checking the bathrooms, that’s all.”
Then she moved on, pushing open another door, until she reached the last stall, also locked.
Could they be hiding separately? One boy, one girl?
She knocked. “Is anyone in there?”
A small voice answered, trembling, “Yes.”
???
Another girl?
Maybe those students hadn’t hidden here after all,
Thinking she’d overreacted, Teacher Chen nodded. “Alright, then you two come out together.”
That one line yanked Su Xiaoxiao’s soul straight back to reality.
Right. Now what about Jin Qishan?
She whispered, “Teacher, I’m, um, using the toilet. Could you wait outside a minute?”
Teacher Chen grimaced at the smell and pinched her nose. “Fine, hurry up.”
Her heels clicked away.
When they were Sure she was gone, Su Xiaoxiao slowly climbed down from Jin Qishan, letting him stand to one side.
She cracked the stall door and peeked out, empty.
At the same time, the next stall flushed, and Shen Hua stepped out, head ducked low.
Remembering to keep up appearances, Su Xiaoxiao quickly turned and flushed her own toilet, too.
Shen Hua still refused to look at Jin Qishan.
After washing their hands, Su Xiaoxiao grabbed Shen Hua’s arm and walked out together.
Teacher Chen spotted them immediately. “Ah, it’s you two, Su Xiaoxiao and Shen Hua from Class 2-1.”
She’d taught them music for a semester, two of the prettiest, most polite, top-scoring students in school. The kind every teacher liked.
Both girls bowed slightly. “Director Xu, Teacher Chen.”
Teacher Chen turned to Xu Zeyian. “Director, there were only these two in the restroom.”
“Just them?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
Xu cleared his throat. “And what exactly were you doing in there?”
What do you think you do in a bathroom?
Shen Hua’s face turned crimson, head dropping.
Su Xiaoxiao answered without missing a beat. “Pooping!”
Director Xu caught the faint odor lingering around them and grimaced, clearly, they’d been in there a while.
“Why are you using the art building bathroom during class hours?”
Because you were chasing us, she thought bitterly.
Before Su Xiaoxiao could think of an answer, Shen jumped in softly, “We came during the break, not class. The main bathrooms were full, and my stomach hurt, so we came here.”
Su Xiaoxiao nodded rapidly. “Yeah, yeah, and, um, it took longer than expected.”
The image apparently hit too vividly in Xu’s mind; he waved his hand in disgust. “Enough, enough. Go back to study hall.”
Both girls lowered their heads obediently. “Yes, sir.”
As the two teachers climbed the stairs, Xu muttered, “Strange, I could’ve sworn I saw two students run in here. Maybe they went up?”
Teacher Chen nodded. “Possibly, we might’ve missed them crossing paths.”
“Kids these days,” Xu grumbled, “don’t focus on studying, just sneaking off to the track to flirt,”
Only when their voices faded completely did Su Xiaoxiao pull Jin Qishan out of the stall.
He gave Shen Hua a brief glance, face stiff, then strode off so fast he was practically flying.
Tonight had been, a unique experience, to say the least. Both mortifying and unforgettable.
Su Xiaoxiao trailed behind with Shen Hua, hand in hand, whispering her thanks. “You totally saved us back there.”
Blushing, Shen Hua asked, “Why were you even being chased by Director Xu? And why on earth did you hide in the girls’ bathroom?”
“Jin Qishan texted me, said to meet him at the track, he had something to tell me. We’d just started walking when Director Xu showed up and started chasing us.”
“He chased us all the way to the art building.”
“Then Teacher Chen came down from the third floor, he came up from the first, there was nowhere left to hide except the bathroom. It looked empty, so I pulled him in, I didn’t know you were there too.”
Su Xiaoxiao sighed, genuinely relieved. “Good thing you were.”
Shen Hua frowned. “But if you two weren’t doing anything wrong, why run?”
Su Xiaoxiao gave a half-laugh, half-groan. “If I say nothing happened, would anyone believe me? Late at night, walking on the track, just the two of us, not even talking, you’d believe that?”
Shen Hua shook her head. “No way. Definitely sounds like a date.”
“Exactly! So yeah, who goes to the track at night if it’s not for a date?”
“Mhm.” Shen nodded thoughtfully. “So, it was a date.”
Fine. Su Xiaoxiao admitted it silently to herself, she had been hoping for a date. Director Xu just didn’t give her the chance.
Then Shen Hua added, “You seriously didn’t know? Director Xu’s on duty every Friday night. He’s infamous for catching couples, patrols the school a dozen times looking for anyone sneaking around. And you two picked his shift to go on a date?”
“It wasn’t a date,” Su Xiaoxiao protested weakly. “Not early romance!”
After class, Shen Hua decided Jin Qishan also needed to hear the warning.
Blushing, she approached him. “I don’t know what you asked Xiaoxiao to do at the track, but listen, never on Monday or Friday. Monday’s Miss Extinction, Friday’s Director Xu. Those two catch everyone. They check every corner of campus.”
Jin Qishan frowned, confused. Wait, how did it become that I asked her out?
Could it be, embarrassment?
Even now, Jin Qishan still didn’t know why Su Xiaoxiao had asked him to meet her at the track, or why she’d been so mysterious about it.
Of course, Su Xiaoxiao was equally confused.
On the way home, she tried probing carefully. “So, was there something you wanted to tell me today?”
“No.” Jin Qishan frowned. “Wasn’t you the one who had something to say to me?”
If she hadn’t been on her bike, Su Xiaoxiao would’ve jumped in outrage.
“When did I ever say that? You’re the one who texted me, ‘Come to the track, I’ve got something to tell you!’”
“I texted you?” Jin Qishan’s brows knitted. The realization hit him, they’d both been tricked. “I got a message too. Said you wanted to meet me there.”
They both braked by the roadside and pulled out their phones. Sure enough, they each had identical messages.
“Was it a prank?” Su Xiaoxiao asked.
Jin Qishan shook his head. “No idea.”
Su Xiaoxiao tried calling the number, but the line was dead, the phone had been turned off.
Back then, phone cards didn’t require ID. Anyone could buy one, use it up, then toss it and get another.
Her shoulders slumped. “So, it wasn’t you after all.”
For the rest of the ride, her mood stayed flat. The confession she’d been expecting never came.
When they climbed the stairs to their apartments, she trudged behind him silently, lips pressed tight.
Jin Qishan didn’t speak either. Their steps were so light that the motion sensor lights never even turned on.
Near their doors, he finally broke the silence. “Why are you so down all of a sudden?”
“I’m not.”
“You are. You’ve said ‘So it wasn’t you’ about ten times now.” His gaze locked on hers, sharp and unrelenting. “You wanted it to be from me, didn’t you?”
He’d hit the mark perfectly. Flustered, Su Xiaoxiao blushed hard and denied it in a panic. “No!”
Then she spun away and darted up the remaining steps.
“I do have something I’ve wanted to tell you.” Jin Qishan grabbed her hand, his grip firm, as if making a huge decision. “Something I’ve wanted to say for a long time.”