CHAPTER 15

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Luna’s friends approached him as they saw him leaning against the wall not far from the bathroom. “Are you okay?” they asked. Luna glanced toward the bathroom, where he had just left Grumpy, and quickly looked away when he saw Grumpy exit.

“Let’s just go inside,” he urged Haoxuan and Jili. They looked at him as if asking. Are you serious? “Your face is still dirty” Jili pointed out. “Oh,” Luna said, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket.

...

In their classroom, the teacher was surprised by the announcements about how students with high exam scores could transfer to Room A. “Ma’am, when is our next exam?” Luna asked as he entered the room. “It hasn’t been discussed yet,” the teacher replied.

"Take your seats," the teacher instructed them... After a few hours of class, break time finally arrived, and Luna, Haoxuan, and Jili decided to head to the canteen to grab something to eat. As they sat in their usual spot, Luna noticed Yibo's group approaching, and a meaningful grin spread across his face, as if he'd forgotten about what had happened in the bathroom earlier.

He waved at them and was about to call out to Yibo. "Husband," when he felt a hand wrap around his neck. "Babe, why haven't you been answering my calls?" the girl asked in a dramatic tone. Luna removed the girl's hand and responded, "If I’m not answering your calls, you know what that means." But before he could say more, Haoxuan lightly nudged him. "Your husband's watching," he whispered. Luna slowly turned to where Yibo's group was, and he was slightly startled to see Grumpy looking directly at him.

From a distance, Grumpy had already noticed Zhan and his group, though he pretended not to remember their bathroom altercation from earlier. However, his eyebrow arched when he saw the girl hugging Zhan. "Who is that? She looks like a walking Christmas tree" Yibo said with a straight face, causing Jiyang and Woodz to burst out laughing at Yibo’s blunt observation. They laughed even harder when they saw Yibo’s serious expression while he stared at Zhan’s table.

Luna, noticing that Grumpy was still staring at him, came up with a mischievous idea. He grabbed the girl’s hand and slid it to her waist. Grumpy shot him a sharp glare, while Luna struggled to suppress his laughter. Jili and Haoxuan, meanwhile, exchanged glances. "What’s he up to this time?" Jili asked Haoxuan, though it was obvious who they were talking about. "Probably nothing good," Haoxuan replied dryly.

"Sit here" Luna said, putting his arm around the woman. At that moment, Grumpy turned around, ready to leave, but Woodz grabbed his hand.

Woodz: "Where are you going?"

"Back to the room," Yibo answered curtly.

"But didn’t you say you were hungry?" Jiyang teased, still glancing toward Zhan’s group.

"I’m not in the mood," Grumpy replied, pulling his hand away from Woodz. Woodz and Jiyang exchanged looks.

"If you leave now, he’ll think you’re jealous. He’s still looking over here," Woodz said before Grumpy could take another step. Yibo turned back to him. "Who’s jealous? Me? Even if he were the last person on Earth, I wouldn’t be interested in him," Grumpy said firmly.

"Got it on record," Jiyang chimed in. Yibo shot him a glare. "If you're not jealous, prove it. Let’s sit with them," Woodz challenged. Without saying a word, Yibo marched over to Zhan’s table. The four were surprised, but Zhan’s expression soon shifted into a grin.

"Oh my God! You’re Yibo, right?" the woman sitting next to Zhan asked, extending her hand for a handshake. Grumpy raised an eyebrow, eyeing her hand before looking at Zhan, who was trying to stifle a laugh.

"All I know is that you have a habit of ruining other people's lives. But what I didn't know is that you also have a habit of hanging out with the walking Christmas tree" Grumpy said, dead serious. At first, no one understood his comment except for Woodz and Jiyang, who were already trying not to laugh.

When Grumpy shifted his gaze to the woman sitting next to Luna, the rest finally got it. The woman had so many colorful hair clips in her hair that she resembled a Christmas tree.

Luna, Haoxuan, and Jili burst into laughter, with Luna nearly falling off his chair. Woodz and Jiyang, who had been holding back, couldn’t contain their laughter any longer, while Yibo watched them, as if wondering what was so funny about what he had said.

"Are you going to laugh or eat?" Yibo asked.

"Why are you angry?" Zhan asked while still holding his stomach from laughing.

"Am I angry?" Yibo said, pointing to himself. "There's no reason for me to be angry," he continued.

"Babe, let me feed you," the woman said, grabbing their attention.

"Okay," Zhan replied, opening his mouth while subtly smiling as he noticed Yibo’s reaction out of the corner of his eye.

"Thank you," Zhan said with a smile. "One more, babe," the woman said. Just before she could put the food into Zhan’s mouth, a piece of bread from Yibo’s hand arrived first. Zhan was momentarily confused, not realizing it was from Yibo.

"Don’t you have hands?" Yibo asked angrily, then shifted his gaze to the woman next to Zhan. "And you, Christmas tree, we’re here to eat, not to make out," he said, causing everyone to fall silent, including Zhan, who had just been teasing Yibo. Realizing he overreacted, Yibo stood up and began to walk away, but Zhan spoke up.

"Are you jealous?" Zhan asked. Yibo turned to look at him. "Why would I be jealous of someone like her? And I don’t like you enough to be jealous," he said defensively. Zhan couldn’t help but smile.

"Really?" Zhan asked, standing up from his seat. "There’s nothing wrong with admitting that you like me," he teased. "I bet something unpleasant is going to happen" Woodz said. "Who do you think will back out between the two of them?" he added. Jili put down his money. "Yibo" Haoxuan, Jiyang, and Woodz looked at him and took out their money. "Zhan" said Woodz, while Jiyang and Haoxuan bet on Yibo backing out.

"I’m not going to admit anything because I don’t like you, and I’ll never like you," Yibo said firmly. "Well, I don’t believe you," Zhan said, leaning closer to Yibo’s face. Despite being in the canteen with many students watching, the two seemed oblivious to their audience. Yibo grinned, and an idea crossed his mind. As Zhan’s face came closer, Yibo suddenly grabbed Zhan’s waist, startling him.

"Why are you blushing now?" Yibo whispered. "Isn’t this what you wanted?" he added, and Zhan's body seemed to stiffen, unable to speak.

"Ah, I’ll turn the question back to you. What do you lose by admitting you like me?" Yibo whispered again, and this time, Zhan’s entire face turned red. He didn’t understand why he lost his voice whenever Yibo flirted with him.

"You’re so boring," Yibo said, then kissed Zhan on the cheek, surprising everyone. Zhan, eyes wide, pushed Yibo away and ran out of the canteen. This made Yibo laugh, which surprised his two friends.

"He’s really changed a lot," Woodz whispered, not forgetting to grab the money he won. "I’m the winner," he said.

THANK YOU FOR READING IT ☺️

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