At six thirty in the morning, Chu Zihang arrived at the track and found that Susie was not there. He waited a few minutes, then checked the time again, deciding that if she still had not appeared by six thirty-six, he would message her.
At six thirty-five, Susie arrived in a workout tank top, her hair in a ponytail. "Sorry I'm late."
Chu Zihang nodded. "It's about time."
"Come on, let's run."
They ran side by side around the track at a slow pace, lap after lap, without speaking.
"Beep beep." "Beep beep." The alarm sounded. It was seven o'clock. They finished their last lap and returned to their respective dorms.
Chu Zihang turned on the shower. Cold water poured down, clearing his head further. He thought of the bombshell that had broken on the Nightwatch Forum a few days earlier: Caesar had announced that he and Nono had parted amicably. They had simply realized they were not suited to being lovers, but remained friends.
They had come together and parted on good terms. It seemed like a good breakup.
Half a year earlier, when Lu Mingfei had just begun stirring things up at school, Chu Zihang had privately warned Caesar. Caesar had replied with easy confidence, "Nono can judge for herself. She chose me because I'm worth it. If she decides one day that I'm not, I'll respect that too."
Caesar had indeed handled it gracefully, making a clean break with Nono without any unpleasantness.
After his shower, Chu Zihang dressed and stepped out of the bathroom. Lancelot was looking at him with a story in his eyes.
"What is it?" Chu Zihang asked.
"President, check the forum. Zero has locked herself and Lu Mingfei inside his room, and they're feeding each other." Lancelot turned his laptop around. "There's