Bai Qingxia, you have me this time. Don't be afraid [please keep reading]]
If someone on the sports field needed the restroom, the quickest option was the ground floor of the classroom buildings across from it.
But all the ground-floor classrooms were empty, so those restrooms mostly served the people on the sports field.
Lu Yuanqiu wasn't sure which building Bai Qingxia had gone to. He chose the nearest one, the second-year classroom building.
When he reached the restrooms, he saw a "Cleaning in progress" sign standing outside the girls' restroom.
Probably not this building... Lu Yuanqiu immediately headed back, but after just one step, he hesitated. To be safe, he turned toward the girls' restroom and called, "Bai Qingxia?!"
"Lu Yuanqiu!!"
An almost tearful voice immediately came from inside.
Fuck!
Lu Yuanqiu's brows knitted at once. Furious, he kicked the "Cleaning in progress" sign aside, instantly realizing someone had deliberately placed it there.
And they had put it there afterward.
He didn't need to guess. Bai Qingxia must have been the only person inside. The sign was there to keep anyone else from entering and discovering her.
Lu Yuanqiu rushed into the restroom and found a row of closed stalls. Bai Qingxia's voice had come from the one at the very end.
That stall was a little different. Its latch was on the outside, and once it was fastened, anyone inside couldn't get out. Lu Yuanqiu knew it was the broom closet. The boys' restroom had one too.
He immediately slid the latch open and pulled open the door. Only then did he see Bai Qingxia huddled in a corner, crying miserably. Her eyes were red, and her hair was a mess, as though someone had pulled it.
Lu Yuanqiu had never seen her this upset.
He looked her over from head to toe. Seeing no visible injuries, he let out a brief breath, then steadied his emotions and asked, "What happened? Are you hurt?"
Bai Qingxia shook her head. "...No."
But she was still crying so hard that Lu Yuanqiu couldn't help remembering her last birthday celebration.
Yet the two situations were completely different.
All Lu Yuanqiu could see on Bai Qingxia's face now was grief and despair. Something was very wrong.
"Then you..." Lu Yuanqiu started to ask, but his voice abruptly stopped. He saw the girl shakily extend her right hand. Several badly twisted fragments of a pink hair clip lay in her pale palm.
They were filthy, as though someone had deliberately ground them beneath a shoe.
Biting her lip, Bai Qingxia said through her tears, "They broke it. The hair clip broke... The hair clip you gave me broke. I tried putting... I can't put it back together. I tried for so long, but I can't. Lu Yuanqiu, I can't put it back together..."
As she kept choking out the words "I can't put it back together," she carefully touched the pink fragments in her palm with her fingertips.
It was as though the girl had lost the most precious, most meaningful thing in her life, something she could never have again once it was broken.
No matter how stubborn or strong she was, she couldn't withstand the devastation and despair of that moment.
Lu Yuanqiu didn't quite understand.
It's just a hair clip. It wasn't even expensive. Does it really matter that much?
Still, his brows tightened, and he quickly took her arm. "Let's get out of here first. This isn't a good place to talk. Tell me everything once we're outside."
But the moment he finished speaking, girls' voices came from the restroom entrance. Lu Yuanqiu froze. Reacting quickly, he hurried back into the stall and gently closed the door.
Then he turned to Bai Qingxia and whispered, "Shh."
Bai Qingxia had stood out so much today that everyone recognized her. If those girls found her in the restroom with a boy, who knew what rumors would spread?
Rumors were terrifying. Rather than come out and explain, Lu Yuanqiu chose to avoid the risk altogether. He would take Bai Qingxia out after the girls finished and left.
Besides, he knew that even if he explained to them that Bai Qingxia had been bullied, the truth would never reach other people's ears in its original form.
That was how complicated the world was.
"Class 26's uniforms are so revealing. Their legs show all the way up there. How did they even get their homeroom teacher to approve them?"
"But none of the girls in their class are much to look at."
"Did you guys see that upperclassman, Bai Qingxia, today? She's gorgeous!"
"I did! I did! What I don't get is how I never heard anything about her before getting into No. 7 Middle School."
"Maybe she keeps a really low profile."
Lu Yuanqiu frowned. These girls seemed to have come in to chat, not to use the restroom at all.
Can't you chat somewhere else?
"Quick, quick! Someone's coming. Put the cigarettes away!"
One of the girls gave a quiet warning, and Lu Yuanqiu finally understood.
The cleaning lady's voice rang out. "What's that smell?"
"No idea."
"Don't know. It was already here when we came in."
Lu Yuanqiu heard the cleaning lady approaching the broom closet, which made him freeze. A shadow appeared beneath the gap in the door. Just as he thought she was about to open it, the outside latch merely gave a metallic clank.
"I remember closing this..."
Muttering to herself, the cleaning lady walked away, then told the girls, "If you're not using the restroom, don't hang around here getting up to no good."
"We weren't doing anything."
"Yeah, we weren't doing anything."
The girls muttered as they left the restroom, and the cleaning lady's voice gradually faded too.
Inside the stall, Lu Yuanqiu stood frozen.
Staring dumbfounded at the door, he raised a hand and gently pushed it. It wouldn't budge.
He pushed harder. Same result.
Fuck.
He was stunned.
That lady latched it from the outside?!
What the fuck... Lu Yuanqiu shoved the door twice more, but it still wouldn't open.
The fucking door didn't budge an inch.
He had even prepared a foolproof explanation for the cleaning lady, but things had taken a turn he hadn't anticipated at all-
"Um... I think someone locked the door from outside."
In the end, Lu Yuanqiu turned around and told Bai Qingxia helplessly.
Standing in the corner, Bai Qingxia didn't respond.
The girl didn't seem to care whether the door was locked. She simply kept her head lowered, completely absorbed in fitting together the fragments in her palm, seemingly thinking that if she could put them back together, perhaps she could glue them with superglue.
Even if she couldn't wear it anymore, the hair clip would still be there. As long as it still existed, as long as it was whole, that was enough.
Lu Yuanqiu watched for a while before saying, "I think there's a piece missing."
"I remember picking them all up..." Bai Qingxia looked up as she spoke, her voice filled with hurt. Tears fell like pearls from a broken string, splashing one after another onto the broom closet floor.
"Why is there still a piece missing..."
"I clearly saw where every single piece fell..."
She choked out the words, her lips drawn into an aggrieved pout, her arms and shoulders trembling.
Lu Yuanqiu had never seen grief and despair written so plainly across Bai Qingxia's face.
This was the first time.
He couldn't bear it anymore. Stepping forward, he gently closed the girl's hand, then placed one hand against the back of her head and wrapped the other around her back, tenderly drawing her slender body into his arms.
"It's okay. It's okay..."
"It's okay. It's okay..."
"If it's broken, I'll give you another one. If one's not enough, then two. If two aren't enough, then three. If three aren't enough, then ten."
Lu Yuanqiu spoke as though soothing a child.
The girl let out a muffled sob, all her hurt spilling out. She immediately wrapped her arms tightly around Lu Yuanqiu and buried her face in his chest.
Warm dampness seeped through his shirt. It felt as though the girl's sorrow had burned a hole in his chest.
Gently stroking her hair, he slowly said, "Trust me, Bai Qingxia. You have me this time. With me here, everything will be different from before."
"Do you believe me?"
How about some monthly votes? (Ahem.)