Chapter 5 — The Ice-Cold Senior and the Fated Nickname

As soon as we ran close enough, she blurted out, "Did you guys know?! Ray and Lynn broke up! I heard Ray got furious when he saw a screenshot of a chat on the forum, and apparently, he was texting Lynn at that exact moment too!"

If we remembered correctly... the two of them had only been dating for... two weeks? Today's gossip was truly rolling in one wave after another, but gossiping about other people's drama was always entertaining! I grabbed Moon's hand and pulled her along, "Don't rush, let's get to the table and we can dish while we eat."

At a table meant for eight, six of us were meeting for the very first time. Yet, we chatted away as lively as a bustling market square. Moon and two others immediately exchanged contact information right there at the table. They even created a group chat on the spot: "Speed-of-Light Breaking News Society."

I was utterly speechless: "... ..."

Well, honestly, who doesn't love a good gossip session?

As the atmosphere reached its peak, Moon suddenly jumped up, holding high a bottle of 1982 soda: "Let's all toast to Ray's utter downfall and misery!"

I: "... ..."

Girl, this is not a melodramatic romance movie, you walked onto the wrong set!

Partying all the way until midnight, the eight of us swaggered back to campus in a long line, looking precisely like a gang of street thugs owning the pavement. The guys all thumped their chests, loudly promising to walk the girls safely back to their dormitories.

And right there, directly beneath the women's dormitory...

We spotted Ray—his face haggard, looking utterly devastated and in profound agony.

Moon leaned close to my ear and whispered, "He looks like he's been drinking. Could he be trying to win you back while he's slightly buzzed?"

I was speechless, desperately wishing to remind my dear friend: My sister, your "whisper" is loud enough for anyone within a three-mile radius to hear crystal clear.

Consequently, the passing students immediately lit up, like a pack of wolves catching the scent of blood on a full-moon night.

Ray stumbled unsteadily toward us, looking as though he had been cornered by the eight of us in a tight circle. I even noticed the dormitory supervisor standing not far away, her expression anxious, phone in hand and ready to dial—she probably thought a pre-dorm gang fight was about to break out.

Ray certainly had a natural talent—even while looking like he was apologizing, his demeanor remained that of a "victim," as if someone else had cruelly abandoned him. It was truly a waste of talent that he had never been cast in one of those tear-jerking romance dramas.

To be honest, I felt a little... smug.

Oh Ray, Ray, you finally got what was coming to you!

I glanced at the "campus boss" standing beside me, and he seemed to immediately grasp what I was thinking. He chuckled softly and murmured, "It's fine, I can handle anything."

The six people standing around us collectively gasped, drawing in a sharp breath. The boss's loyal sidekicks unhesitatingly gave him a simultaneous thumbs-up. "As expected of our supreme leader! The nerve, the poise, the chest muscles—all top tier!"

I couldn't help myself, stealing a glance at his chest. Hmm... it really was quite broad. I was thoroughly satisfied.

Even my three roommates tightly grabbed my hands. "Ying, your good fortune has only just begun!"

"Damn right, he's a handsome man of absolute virtue!"

"Does he have any single guy friends left? Make sure to set us up with them!"

The three loyal sidekicks standing nearby reacted instantly upon hearing that, thumping their chests proudly like strutting peacocks showing off their tail feathers: "Look right over here, we aren't shabby either!"

As for Ray—who never looked particularly handsome to begin with—his expression turned even uglier after being mocked by our group.

I hurriedly tried to appease him: "Come on, Ray, don't get so upset. Your face is literally the only thing you have left going for you, and getting angry just makes it look worse."

I said this straight from the bottom of my heart, every single word entirely sincere.

Obviously, Ray did not see it that way. He offered a bitter laugh: "I know you hate me, you're just taking revenge on me." He pointed a shaking finger. "Did you orchestrate all of that?"

My eyes widened in surprise.

Thinking back to the time I actually asked the campus boss to beat him up, I felt a slight pang of guilt. I cleared my throat softly: "You can't really put it that way..."

Before I could finish, Ray cut me off: "The man Lynn was talking to... that was you disguising yourself, wasn't it?"

"Huh???" I was dumbfounded!

Taking the blame like this was both laughable and infuriating. "If I had known about that beforehand, I would have dumped you—you absolute idiot—a long time ago!"

Ray shook his head: "You don't have to admit to it, it's already in the past anyway. But it was precisely because of that incident that I finally saw her true colors."

Ray's tone carried a hint of lingering bitterness: "Lynn is not the cold goddess I imagined her to be at all. Ying, can you give me a chance to start over?"

The campus boss standing right beside me instantly grew displeased: "I'm still standing right here, Ray. Are you looking to get beaten up again?"

Unexpectedly, Ray suddenly flared up with sudden passion: "Ying never liked a brute like you anyway, she's only staying with you to spite me!"

I stopped the boss and chuckled, "Ray, I've realized your mind is entirely trapped in your own delusional little scenarios. Do you really think you can just shamelessly shift the blame onto everyone else?"

No matter what Lynn had done, she hadn't crossed the line of truly wronging Ray; at worst, she was just a standard player playing the field. Morally speaking, she was still a few steps above an outright two-timing cheat like him.

"You were clearly pursuing Lynn for ages, and only came running back to break up with me when things were almost official between you two."

"And right now, you actually have the nerve to show up here playing the saintly romantic lead?"

Ray opened his mouth, but couldn't squeeze out a single word for the longest time. I knew it!

I couldn't help but continue: "If it weren't for high school, when you used to sneak me my favorite snacks and white gardenias... and most importantly... that Friday afternoon when I was completely overwhelmed, and you quietly lent a helping hand..."

"If not for all of those things, I wouldn't have liked you in the slightest."

Ray stood frozen in sheer shock, utterly uncomprehending.

Meanwhile, the person standing right beside me—the campus boss—suddenly whipped his head around to stare at me, his eyes shining brilliantly.

I didn't notice it, but right at that moment—

Beneath the dim, flickering streetlights of the night, Terry stood quietly in the shadows, his gaze complex and deep. He moved his lips as if wanting to say something, but in the end, no words escaped.

Interrupted so abruptly by Ray, I didn't even get to properly say goodbye to Terry before Moon dragged me sprinting toward the dormitory just before the housemother locked the doors.

Terry and his friends stood there, watching our retreating backsides before finally turning to leave.

I anxiously texted him: "How on earth are you guys getting back into your dorm later?"

Terry maintained the effortless demeanor of a school boss: "Don't worry about it, just flash a friendly greeting, the housemothers adore us anyway."

I replied: "..."

Damn it, he was showing off again!

Moon sneered beside me, clicking her tongue: "Ying, you're smiling so stupidly... you better watch out or you'll be dreaming about—"

I lunged forward to clamp my hand over her mouth, terrified that this endlessly chatty girl would blurt out some ambiguous nonsense that would let people's imaginations run wild, ruining my pristine image in Terry's eyes.

Well... what little was left of that image anyway.

Not long after, I drifted off to sleep.

This time, I dreamt of high school again—something that hadn't happened in a very long time.

In the dream, I clearly saw myself walking to and from school day after day. I bent down to tease the stray cats along the pathway. I stopped by the bookstore to ask the owner if the magazine I wanted had finally arrived. Every tiny detail was a slice of my ordinary daily life.

Strangely enough, I used to dream of these exact scenes back in high school. But after I started dating Ray, those dreams completely vanished.

It might be a bit narcissistic to say, but the version of me in that dream was truly carefree and untroubled, her smile brilliantly radiant. The entire dream was suffused with a warm, golden light.

I even dreamt of gardenias.

In the small town where I lived, springtime was always overflowing with the rich fragrance of gardenias. I saw a pair of fair, slender hands with distinct knuckles gently receiving a bouquet of flowers from an elderly woman selling them on the sidewalk.

The owner of those hands tenderly cradled the flowers all the way down the street, and then quietly tucked them into the second-row desk on the left side of Class 10-6 at North South High School.

That was precisely my seat.

"Ying, you..."

Vaguely, I heard a man's soft, murmured voice...