The bell echoed across the courtyard, signaling the end of the lunch break. Students shuffled back to class, still chatting about who said what and who embarrassed themselves in the cafeteria. Yan Xiyan, however, walked with a different rhythm, measured, quiet, and almost too composed. Her textbooks were clutched to her chest like a makeshift shield.
"Hey, you dropped this," Qiao Zeyan's voice cut through the air like a well-aimed dart.
She turned slowly, her eyes narrowing as she spotted her pen in his hand, the pen she never dropped. He smirked, already seeing the flicker of suspicion in her gaze.
"Funny," she said smoothly, "I didn't know you were into picking up girls' pens now."
"Only the mysterious ones who dodge questions and flinch at every loud noise." He held the pen up like it was evidence in a trial. "Relax, Yan. You act like I'm accusing you of something."
"You always are." Her voice stayed light, but her fingers twitched slightly.
They stood in the hallway just outside Class 3-A, tension simmering like a kettle on the verge of boiling. A couple of students walked past and exchanged glances at the odd duo, ice and fire constantly at war. A very eye-catching duo.
"Seriously," Qiao Zeyan said, stepping closer, voice dropping. "Who are you really?"
Before she could come up with a clean deflection, the lights flickered. A loud pop cracked from above then the hallway dimmed for a moment before the power stabilized.
Yan Xiyan's eyes darted, not up at the lights, but towards the stairwell where a silhouette had appeared for half a second before vanishing.
She sucked in a breath, gripping her books tighter.
Not now. Not here.
Qiao Zeyan noticed.
"You just looked like you saw a ghost."
"I didn't," she snapped too quickly.
"I didn't say it was a ghost." He leaned in, curious now, playful smirk gone. "So what did you see?"
Yan Xiyan's voice lowered to a whisper. "If you don't stop poking your nose where it doesn't belong, you're going to find something you can't unsee."
"You promise?" he grinned, clearly unfazed.
She stared at him for a moment. He was annoying. Persistent. Too damn clever. And yet... there was something about his presence, infuriatingly grounding.
Before she could say more, a shriek rang out from the science lab two floors above. A moment later, a teacher's panicked voice echoed: "Who was in the storage room?! Who opened the back window?!"
Yan Xiyan's stomach dropped.
No one was supposed to know about that window. Not unless...
"Let's go," she muttered and took off too fast, too direct.
Zeyan followed, catching up effortlessly. "Why are we running? Is this another one of your not-so-secret hobbies?"
They reached the lab just as a teacher barred the door. "Back to class, both of you. This is under control."
Yan Xiyan's gaze flicked past the teacher's shoulder. The window was wide open, the wind fluttering the papers inside.
Just then, something dropped from above, light and soundless. Her eyes snapped upward just in time to catch the blur of a shadow retreating across the rooftop, black coat snapping in the wind.
The Shadow again.
Too close.
Too soon.
Qiao Zeyan tilted his head at her. "You see something again?"
She forced a smile. "No. Just déjà vu."
Later that evening, she sat behind the school gym, peeling off her blazer in the shadows. Her phone buzzed once.
"He's watching. Again." The message sent from an Unknown number.
She deleted it instantly.
"Everything okay?" Zeyan's voice popped up again, this time from behind the bleachers.
She nearly elbowed him in the face. "Do you ever stop sneaking up on people?"
"I could ask you the same thing." He plopped down beside her like this was their normal after-school hangout.
"…Don't you have a life?"
"I do. But you're way more interesting."
She gave him a side glance. "You're going to get yourself hurt."
"And yet I keep coming back." He grinned, teasing. "Maybe I like danger."
Maybe he really was a fool. Or worse, maybe he was getting close to something real.