If you don't want anyone finding out what happened today]
Lu Yuanqiu was now absolutely certain: the person who had quietly supported him for PE representative last semester was Bai Qingxia, not Hu Caiwei.
Damn it. All this time, Lu Yuanqiu had thought it was that two-faced girl.
He had even deliberately brought it up once afterward, and Hu Caiwei had neither confirmed nor denied it, intentionally keeping him guessing.
Lu Yuanqiu had thought she was just shy, which only made him more excited and even more determined to fawn over her.
Meanwhile, Hu Caiwei had kept enjoying her lapdog's attention. Since Lu Yuanqiu's family ran a supermarket, that two-faced girl had helped herself to freebies time and again: bottled water, drinks, chewing gum, even sanitary pads.
What made Lu Yuanqiu's scalp crawl even more was that when he had given her those pads, he had secretly celebrated, thinking his relationship with Hu Caiwei had progressed another step.
Thank goodness he had a chance to live his life over.
Bai Qingxia looked at the IOU on the floor and silently picked it up. Bracing herself for the worst, she asked in a subdued voice, "How do you want to settle this?"
"I was joking." Lu Yuanqiu waved a hand, opened the storeroom door, then glanced back. "Come with me first."
"I tore your backpack just now. I'll replace it."
Bai Qingxia froze, then hurriedly shook her head. "There's no need. I can sew up the tear."
Lu Yuanqiu said, "I get the final say on this. I don't like owing people anything."
With that, he led Bai Qingxia to the backpack section. Her gaze immediately settled on a pink backpack, her eyes lingering on it.
Lu Yuanqiu also found the pink backpack strangely familiar. Looking beside it, he saw a blue one.
Right, wasn't that blue one the same style as my high school backpack?
The blue and pink ones were a matching couple's set.
But Bai Qingxia only stole one glance at the pink backpack before quickly looking away.
Lu Yuanqiu simply picked it up and pushed it into her arms. "This one's yours."
Bai Qingxia seemed surprised that he had chosen that one. After staring blankly for a few seconds, she hurriedly spoke:
"I don't want it. My backpack was already damaged."
She stubbornly put it back.
Lu Yuanqiu said, "Put it back if you want everyone at school to hear about what happened today."
Bai Qingxia's hands stopped. She silently took the backpack down again, but quickly pulled out the IOU from earlier and added another item.
[One backpack]
Once again, she solemnly held the IOU up with both hands for Lu Yuanqiu to see. Then she glanced back at the backpack's price. Her gaze suddenly froze, and her expression turned a little bitter.
I don't think I can afford to pay this back...
Noticing the subtle change in her expression, Lu Yuanqiu couldn't help smiling.
Of course, he had never intended to make her repay him.
"Since you've already written an IOU, perfect. Come with me again."
Bai Qingxia lowered her head dejectedly and followed him in silence.
Lu Yuanqiu stopped in the stationery section, only to feel something bump into his back. He turned around and found Bai Qingxia backing away with a hand over her forehead, her lovely eyes looking rather innocent.
"Watch where you're going. Do you like bumping your forehead into me that much? Next time, I'll let you do it all you want!"
Hearing him tease her, Bai Qingxia bit her lip, looking deeply embarrassed.
Lu Yuanqiu placed a pink pencil case in her arms.
Bai Qingxia turned to check the price, then firmly refused. "I don't want it!"
Lu Yuanqiu said, "If you don't want what happened today-"
"I don't have that much money to pay you back!" Bai Qingxia interrupted, embarrassed and annoyed, even instinctively stamping her foot.
It was such a girlish gesture that it once again shattered Lu Yuanqiu's old impression of her as cold and aloof.
Folding his arms, Lu Yuanqiu raised his eyebrows. "I wasn't planning to make you pay me back. Or you could think of some other way to repay me?"
Some other way? Bai Qingxia tilted her head slightly. Whatever occurred to her made her expression turn strange. Seeing Lu Yuanqiu watching her with a smile, she quickly looked away, but her earlobes betrayed her by turning rosy again.
I bet those earlobes would taste like cherries.
Lu Yuanqiu kept wandering around the supermarket with Bai Qingxia as the thought crossed his mind.
In fact, he had imagined this scene for more than a decade.
He had often thought that if he had stopped Bai Qingxia that day, even taking her around the supermarket and letting her eat and drink to her heart's content would have been enough.
Although his old man might have strung him up and beaten him for it...
He hadn't expected his wish to come true today. Lu Yuanqiu raised his arms, clasped his hands behind his head, and happily hummed a tune.
Bai Qingxia didn't understand why he was so happy.
But she seemed to feel less sad herself.
Soon, they reached another section. Bai Qingxia froze, then turned to leave in embarrassment.
"Stop!"
Lu Yuanqiu called her back and said sternly, "If you don't want everyone at school hearing about today... I'm telling you, I'm a bad student. Bad students are capable of anything."
Bai Qingxia slowly turned around, her cheeks bright red. "I don't want sanitary pads!"
"You don't? Let me do a little fortune-telling. One in your bag, one between your legs. You've only got two left."
Seeing Bai Qingxia clench her little fists in anger yet have no comeback, Lu Yuanqiu curled his lips into a smile. He grabbed a pack of pads from the shelf and tossed it toward her. "Catch!"
The girl hurriedly gave a little hop and raised her hands to catch it.
Lu Yuanqiu's head bobbed as he watched, his gaze startled. He had forgotten to turn off his auto-aim again.
No wonder he remembered Bai Qingxia rarely wearing just a short-sleeved top. So that was why.
After adding the items she owed to the IOU, Bai Qingxia took advantage of Lu Yuanqiu turning away to quietly lift the prettily packaged pads to her nose and sniff them.
Her eyes held a mixture of wonder and surprise.
So these really are scented?
The ones she had used before were always sold loose and had no fragrance. Sometimes she even found dead little bugs in them and had to pick them out one by one.
Just then, Lu Yuanqiu turned around. Startled, Bai Qingxia hurriedly dropped everything into her backpack, and her delicate face regained its cool, distant expression.
"Is someone knocking?"
Lu Yuanqiu strained his ears and asked uncertainly.
Bai Qingxia took a few steps back and looked toward the supermarket entrance. Sure enough, she saw figures moving outside.
She nodded lightly.
Lu Yuanqiu came over, and they walked toward the entrance one behind the other. Suddenly, he stopped and turned to look at her seriously.
"Watch where you're walking, look out for cars, get home safely, and go to school as usual tomorrow. As long as you do as I say, we'll act like today never
happened. Got it?"
Bai Qingxia didn't understand why Lu Yuanqiu was saying all this, but she could tell the boy meant her no harm.
How bad could someone be if he was thoughtful enough to notice her damaged pencil case?
Bai Qingxia nodded lightly, then raised her arms at a forty-five-degree angle and solemnly offered the IOU with both hands. "Here."
Lu Yuanqiu suddenly found her habit of always handing things over with both hands adorable. For a moment, he forgot to reach for it, so Bai Qingxia tucked the IOU into his pocket with a serious expression.
"This IOU will always be valid."
"Okay."
Their eyes met, and Bai Qingxia was the first to look away.
Lu Yuanqiu opened the supermarket door for her, but the people standing outside made them both freeze.
Three pretty, youthful girls stood at the entrance.
The girl in front had a sweet face and wore her hair in two braids. With her short floral skirt, white socks, and leather shoes, she was dressed in an adorably girlish style.
Hu Caiwei?
Lu Yuanqiu was a little stunned.
Right. Only now did he remember that on August 30, about half an hour after Bai Qingxia had left, Hu Caiwei had come over with her friends.
Hu Caiwei was just as stunned. She was actually seeing Bai Qingxia and Lu Yuanqiu together-two people who seemingly had nothing whatsoever to do with each other.
This was bizarre.
Lu Yuanqiu couldn't help sneering inwardly.
Well, since everyone involved in the "PE Representative Voting Mix-Up" is here, it's time to settle this today.
He said to Bai Qingxia, "Bai Qingxia, wait a moment. Don't leave yet."
Please keep reading through to the latest chapter every day. It's really important. Thank you! I promise there's plenty of sweetness ahead!