I Was Afraid You'd Dislike Me... Not At A

"This teaching building has a very hidden spot."

"I haven't even brought Mu Feng or Xiang Guan here. I learned about this secret from a senior student."

Senior student? (The girl grew wary.)

Thinking of the scene after class where all the girls flocked to him, Hua Xin couldn't help but scoff inwardly.

If my little brother were still here, how could Xia Yan be so popular!

With a ding, the elevator doors opened.

"Follow me." Xia Yan winked at the girl holding her helmet, then took the lead.

The girl quietly stared at the food in his hands.

Want to eat.

Want Xia Yan to buy lots of delicious food to fill my little stomach.

Turning left, turning right, turning left, turning right.

Since the top floor was often used for faculty activities, there wasn't a soul around. The empty corridor was filled only with the sound of footsteps and plastic bags.

Xia Yan walked to the far right and went up a flight of stairs.

These were the stairs leading to the rooftop of the teaching building. Because the door on the right side of the floor was broken, they could easily get here.

It sounded a lot like the kind of place where protagonists meet or their feelings deepen in an anime.

But after all, they were two grown men, and perhaps they would become good brothers in the future.

The door wasn't locked and opened easily.

"Here, classmate Hua, look up?"

After Hua Xin came up, Xia Yan gently closed the door and said with a smile.

"Huh? Where is this..."

The girl suddenly came to her senses, and her pupils constricted.

She involuntarily took two steps towards the front, where there was a mesh guardrail.

The sports field, the roads, the trees, the blue sky, the white clouds, the endless city buildings, and the faintly visible traffic.

The ancients often said, "It is good to climb high and look far."

This was the first time Hua Xin understood the meaning of that phrase.

(So beautiful...)

(Is the outside world really like this...)

The girl couldn't tear her eyes away. She walked to the edge of the guardrail, placed her helmet on the ground, then extended her fair little hands from her sleeves to grip the mesh, staring blankly ahead.

The accelerated heartbeat and suffocation from looking down from a height made Hua Xin feel a bit breathless.

Her brain kept generating the illusion that she was about to fall from the rooftop to the ground.

She was very afraid of heights.

But her eyes still sparkled as she looked at the world.

This was the first time Hua Xin had seen such a scene with her own eyes. It was completely different from being in a dark, windowless room or seeing it on a video.

"Our school's teaching building is very tall, so you can see most of the view in this area."

"Isn't it breathtaking?"

"We won't be disturbed eating here, and we can enjoy the scenery. I've always considered this my secret base."

Xia Yan sat down, leaning against the guardrail, and opened the food. A fragrance immediately wafted into Hua Xin's nose with the wind.

"Here, this portion is bigger."

He smiled and handed the food to the girl.

"Thank you."

Hua Xin came back to her senses and replied softly.

So polite.

The emotion of being shocked by the scene before her slowly receded. She carefully held the food and walked to a spot a little further from Xia Yan, imitating him by leaning against the guardrail and placing the food on the ground.

(Eat, eat...)

The girl, with her back to Xia Yan, took off her mask, revealing her exceptionally delicate and beautiful face. Her eyes were filled with happiness.

To see such a scene and to eat delicious food...

This was practically a pie falling from the sky!

Because she had been wearing her hood the whole time, her long hair was already damp with sweat. A small strand of hair near her ear was stuck to her face.

"Awooo..."

Hua Xin solemnly picked up a piece of Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs and put it in her mouth, chewing.

The sweet and sour sauce and the firm meat burst in the mouth, the satisfaction unique to meat, coupled with the fluffy, distinct grains of steamed rice...

Drip, drip.

Tears unconsciously fell from her eyes.

The girl spat out the bone and gently wiped away her tears.

Delicious...

Truly delicious.

This is Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs, tastes just like it did back then.

For some reason, the tears she wiped away didn't stop; instead, they increased, slowly sliding down her cheeks, some even dripping into the rice.

Hua Xin continued to eat other dishes while crying, but didn't touch another bite of the Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs.

"Hey, classmate Hua, what should I call you?"

"Huahua? Xinxin?"

"But I feel like those don't sound very good for a guy, so I wanted to ask your thoughts."

Xia Yan looked at the girl's back and put down his chopsticks, speaking very seriously, without a hint of teasing in his tone.

"..."

Hua Xin's mouth was stuffed full, his cheeks puffed out like a hamster's. After hastily swallowing the food in his mouth, he licked his lips with lingering satisfaction.

Hearing Xia Yan's question, he hesitated slightly, then said softly:

"Xin."

"Just call me Xin."

"Okay, Brother Xin."

"?"

Hearing Xia Yan blurt out "Brother," the girl almost lost her composure.

This guy, so forward...

That's right, us guys are naturally capable of loving people. It's normal to call each other 'brother' between friends, who can resist my immense personal charm (tsundere).

Hua Xin stuffed another large mouthful of rice and the marbled Braised Pork Belly into his mouth, and simply brushed aside the issue of the name.

Right now, eating was more important.

With that thought, the girl picked up her chopsticks again and continued eating.

"Mmm..."

"Xin Xin, you can't always call me Class Monitor either..."

"?"

Chew, chew, chew.

Didn't you say calling me Xinxin wasn't manly enough! You even told me to call you Brother Xin, and you're still calling me that!

I'm going to bite you to death.

The girl resentfully bit into a piece of Guo Bao Rou, as if treating it as little Xia Yan.

But clearly, the crispiness and sweetness of the Guo Bao Rou were no match for Xia Yan.

"When there are a lot of people, just call me Xia Yan."

"Privately... how about calling me Xiao Shui?"

As if recalling something amusing, Xia Yan said with a smile.

"That's a nickname my grandpa gave me. It sounds strange, doesn't it? That someone whose name implies fire would have a nickname related to water..."

"This name is only known to you and my grandparents."

Xia Yan wasn't lying; it was the truth.

But his goal was to establish a "secret known only to the two of them" with Hua Xin, to solidify the friendship that seemed fragile at the moment.

Many friendships start with a shared secret.

"Xiao Shui?"

Hua Xin put down the plastic lunchbox, which was now completely empty except for the Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs, and softly repeated the name.

There was that Shrimp Head Man online... who also went by Shui?

The confusion brought by the name flashed by. There were too many people with the same name in this world, and what about the millions named Zhang Wei? Besides, how could this sunny, popular, warm guy be like that perverted Shrimp Head?

The girl put on her mask and returned to Xia Yan's side, carrying the box.

"Finished already? It's only been a few minutes..."

"Uh, then shall we go to the activity hall..."

Xia Yan got up hesitantly, actually startled by the girl's eating speed.

His gaze swept over her thin frame... It was hard to imagine a child like this could instantly devour the amount of food a person working a full day on a construction site would eat.

"Aren't you eating anymore?"

Surprisingly, Hua Xin wasn't scared. Instead, she looked at the large amount of food left on the ground and said seriously.

"I'm not very hungry... so... I've already eaten my fill."

Xia Yan suppressed the sourness welling up in his heart and said softly.

He understood what the girl was trying to do, and he understood the meaning behind her question.

Hua Xin silently picked up the food from the ground, then covered it and placed it into the black plastic bag in her hands.

Feeling the weight in her hands, she looked at Xia Yan and said with a hint of happiness, "Can I have this?"

"I don't mind."

Xia Yan turned his head away for a moment, looking to the side to prevent his emotions from showing, his eyes faintly glistening.

Why was there joy and anticipation in her eyes when she was eating his leftovers?

After a long while, he finally spoke, half-jokingly, trying to keep his voice calm:

"I was afraid you'd mind."

"Never, this food is delicious."