"Huh? Xiaoli! What are you doing here?"After Ma Xiaoli had lent him her own pillow, he felt indebted to her. He returned the pillow to her, and they started talking with each other from that day on, albeit in short moments.
Once, she had requested him to call her Xiaoli, and of course, Zhou Lei was surprised at her request. He had no problem with it though, and he started calling her Xiaoli from that day onward. Well, it had only been four days since then...
Upon hearing Zhou Lei"s pleasant voice call her by her first name so casually, Ma Xiaoli blushed as per usual. Even though he had already called her like that many times, she still couldn"t get used to it.
Meanwhile, the previously happy Lin Guiying felt a slight pull at her heartstrings when she saw the redfaced Ma Xiaoli. It was clear to anyone that she had a crush on Zhou Lei.
As her mind was full of these thoughts, an open hand appeared in front of her.
"Cla.s.smate Lin, I believe we haven"t talked yet, at least not properly." With a confident tone in her voice, she extended her hand to shake her rival"s.
Lin Guiying raised one of her eyebrows. "Is this a challenge?"
A challenge between ladies...
These types of challenges would usually end up destroying one"s relationship with another. By casually making one unaffiliated remark, the one being challenged would end up overthinking, causing a cold war to happen between the both of them.
It would be even worse if they were cla.s.smates – they could destroy the harmonious atmosphere that everyone worked oh-so-hard for! The cla.s.s would be divided into factions, supporting either of the two challengers.
Lin Guiying stared at the hand in front of her. A stark difference from her anxiety and panic before, she emitted a cold and haughty atmosphere, similar to that of a queen looking down on a concubine!
Of course, Ma Xiaoli didn"t back down either. Her expression, which contained a hint of respect and politeness, changed into that of one which a scheming vixen would make. Her tongue licked her lips seductively, giving off the impression of a snake playing with a rat – its natural prey – as the latter barely hung on its last thin thread.
Zhou Lei, at the side, felt incredibly awkward. He acted oblivious to Ma Xiaoli"s feelings since System told him to be modense. How could he have known that it would ignite a flame between two of his friends! He wasn"t even sure if Lin Hanying had feelings for him, all he knew was that she treated him as a dear friend.
"I need to extinguish this fire before it spreads and burns everyone involved!"
These challenges never ended in a mutual win. Worst case scenario, both would end up losing, and best case, one would get a pyrrhic win. There was no complete win for either side. Why girls still partic.i.p.ated in these kinds of matches, no one knew.
The waiter by the side shuddered as he felt the malicious intent coming from both of the girls. "I-is this the start of a challenge? In our café, seriously?!"
As his mind rushed through viable options, the boy who came with the two girls suddenly talked.
"So... are we going to order...?"
That simple question defused the ticking time bomb. Ma Xiaoli and Lin Guiying formed a temporary truce, both having Zhou Lei as their reason. They exchanged gazes with each other before sitting down on their seats.
The chairs were arranged in a way so that two people would sit on each long side of the table, not counting the short sides.
Zhou Lei and Lin Guiying were supposed to be alone together, so they sat on opposite sides. Now that Ma Xiaoli appeared out of nowhere, the seating positions were already not suitable.
The quiet honor student looked at the empty spot beside Zhou Lei, aiming to sit there.
However, Lin Guiying noticed her pupil movement. "Cla.s.smate Ma, would you like to sit beside me?"
With a docile smile, she gestured with her arms to sit beside her.
Ma Xiaoli wasn"t fazed by this. "No thank you, I"d rather sit here."
Right after that declaration, she sat beside Zhou Lei, who got startled given the situation.
Lin Guiying silently clicked her tongue, but nothing showed on her expression. "Hmm, that doesn"t mean anything. Child"s play."
The waiter beside them wiped sweat off his forehead. "Thank goodness, they didn"t continue staring off. If they did, who knows when this café will become a frozen wasteland?"
Zhou Lei forced a smile to appear on his face despite the inner turmoil he was going through.
"Ying, you should order now..."
Lin Guiying snapped out of her blinding anger and irritation, looking towards the waiter.
He had a small notepad on his hand, and a black ink ballpen on the other. "Uh, may I take your order?"
At that moment, she remembered that she didn"t know anything about ordering coffee... "Screw it, I"ll just order those on my blacklist."
"One b-"
Before she could continue speaking, yet another girl approached the three person group.
Zhou Lei saw the dark-skinned girl examining the group and interrupted Lin Hanying. "Cla.s.smate Fan, you"re here as well!"
Unlike the three of them, Fan Xinyue wore casual clothes. It seemed that she changed her clothes at home then came to this place.
"Ah, mm." Fan Xinyue walked towards the group with a wry smile on her face.
Even from that distance, she could feel the tension around the group rising because Ma Xiaoli shamelessly challenged Lin Hanying.
At first, she thought that the three were in good terms with one another. However, she thought otherwise once the two girls" gazes sparked right in front of her eyes.
As she grew closer to the three"s table, she saw an expression that screamed "I don"t care" on Lin Hanying and a triumphant one on Ma Xiaoli.
She identified the only empty seat and decisively placed herself beside Lin Hanying.