"Jiaxin, the food is here! Dig in, I got you a big chicken leg!"
Zhou Lin walked over with a cheerful grin, holding the food tray, fully expecting Yu Jiaxin to be touched by his gesture!
"Chicken leg your head! I hate chicken legs the most! Take that away right now!"
Yu Jiaxin was in a terrible mood.
Just moments ago, she had seen Lin Xuan and Ling Yinluo offering chicken legs to each other; the very sight of a chicken leg now made her blood boil!
Hearing this, Zhou Lin was dumbfounded. Since when did Yu Jiaxin dislike chicken legs? How come he never knew?
"Then what would you like to eat, Jiaxin? I'll go buy you something else."
Zhou Lin said with a flattering smile.
"Buy your head! Eat it yourself, I'm leaving!"
Yu Jiaxin couldn't swallow a single bite right now. Lin Xuan had made her so furious she was already stuffed, and she had no appetite left for food.
That left Zhou Lin standing alone in place, holding the food with a blank expression.
"Lin Xuan, what's wrong with Yu Jiaxin?"
Ling Yinluo had also noticed the commotion over at Yu Jiaxin's table. She had been fine just a moment ago—why did she suddenly get angry and leave?
"She's always like that. Don't worry about her, let's eat!"
Lin Xuan wasn't wrong; in the past, the one left standing blankly in place would have been him.
Yu Jiaxin used to throw tantrums over the smallest things, and Lin Xuan never knew what to do to make her happy. No matter how hard he tried, Yu Jiaxin had never once smiled at him.
Now that he had let go, Lin Xuan felt an extraordinary sense of relief.
He no longer had to try to please her, no longer had to endure her cold glares, and would no longer be yelled at by her in public.
How foolish he must have been back then to chase after her!
Zhou Lin also noticed Lin Xuan and shot him a vicious glare.
He was also curious as to why Lin Xuan wasn't trailing behind Yu Jiaxin's coattails today, but upon second thought, he figured this was a good thing.
After all, with one less rival in the way, wouldn't his chances of winning over Yu Jiaxin be higher?
Meanwhile, Lin Xuan wore an expression of pity as he looked at him.
He knew very well that Yu Jiaxin simply enjoyed the way others treated her well; she loved the feeling of being the center of attention, rather than the people themselves.
When you truly start to detest someone, you find yourself unconsciously loathing everything about them, to the point where you don't even want to have anything to do with them.
In his past life, he had given almost everything for Yu Jiaxin—he had nearly drowned, and he had jumped from a building to his death, all because of her!
His entire life had been ruined by her! Yet she had simply treated him like an annoying fly!
As he lay in his hospital bed, Lin Xuan had countless times bitterly regretted his own actions. How wonderful it would have been if he had never pursued Yu Jiaxin in the first place...
Loving someone and giving your all for them is right, but loving the wrong person is nothing short of a disaster!
Fortunately, the heavens had given him a second chance at life!
Chatting and laughing with Ling Yinluo, Lin Xuan finished his meal shortly after and returned to the classroom.
Seeing Lin Xuan walk back in,
Wang Xiaoyan hurried forward and said to him:
"Lin Xuan, I saw Yu Jiaxin come back earlier without eating. She even buried her head on her desk and cried for a bit. When I asked her what was wrong, she wouldn't say, and she even asked the teacher for a leave of absence for the afternoon. You should go check on her!"
Wang Xiaoyan was Yu Jiaxin's desk mate and also her best friend.
"Why should I go check on her? What does that have to do with me?"
Lin Xuan replied indifferently.
No relation?
Wang Xiaoyan doubted whether her ears were playing tricks on her.
She knew that previously, he used to beg her to leak news about Yu Jiaxin to him. Why was he acting like a completely different person now?
"Didn't you used to like her the most? She's upset and you're not even going to comfort her?"
"That was in the past. The current her isn't worthy of my affection, and don't ever talk to me about her again. She has nothing to do with me."
With that, Lin Xuan walked straight back to his seat without looking back.What has gotten into him today? Wang Xiaoyan would rather believe there was something wrong with her ears than believe those words had come out of Lin Xuan's mouth.
Could it be because Yu Jiaxin rejected Lin Xuan's confession yesterday?
That still didn't make sense. Yu Jiaxin had rejected him so many times before, yet Lin Xuan had always eagerly kept coming back to fawn over her. Why would he suddenly change now?
Wang Xiaoyan found it hard to believe.
All afternoon, Yu Jiaxin had not come to class. She had taken the afternoon off and was now locked in her room, feeling miserable.
At home, seeing that her daughter was not quite herself, Ran Yunyu opened the bedroom door and stepped forward to comfort her.
"What's wrong with Jiaxin today? Were you bullied at school? Tell Mom, and Mom will stand up for you!"
"Who would dare bully me? Everyone knows my dad is the mayor! It's already something that I don't bully them!"
Yu Jiaxin's father, Yu Hong, was the mayor of Donghai City. Because of this background, coupled with her own good looks, not only did a large crowd pursue her at school, but even various wealthy scions frequently sent her gifts.
Growing up in such an environment for so long naturally fostered Yu Jiaxin's haughty personality.
Today, after being repeatedly ignored by Lin Xuan, she experienced an unprecedented feeling. Instead, she now felt that Lin Xuan possessed a unique sort of attraction!
One had to admit that women's minds were truly strange.
When someone treated you well, you didn't take it seriously; the moment they stopped paying attention to you, you found yourself missing them.
"Then what on earth is the matter? Tell Mom, don't bottle things up inside!"
"Mom, let me ask you: if someone is good to you for a very long time, but suddenly starts treating someone else well instead, is that normal?"
"The person you're talking about couldn't be Lin Xuan, could it?"
Ran Yunyu immediately thought of him. Lin Xuan and Yu Jiaxin had been classmates since childhood.
Moreover, Lin Xuan was always trailing behind Yu Jiaxin, and on several occasions had even peeked at her from outside their front door. Naturally, Ran Yunyu had a deep impression of him.
"Ah? Mom, how did you know?!"
Yu Jiaxin looked completely shocked; she hadn't even mentioned who it was yet.
"Who else could it be? I've watched him trail behind you since he was little. I heard you guys even gave him a nickname—what was it, Number One Simp?"
Yu Jiaxin nodded.
"Lin Xuan seemed like a completely different person today. He didn't pay any attention to me the entire day. I feel like he's not the same as before—even the way he looked at me was completely ice-cold!"
"Did something happen between the two of you?"
Ran Yunyu actually had a fairly good impression of Lin Xuan. Sometimes he would even brave the rain with an umbrella to walk Yu Jiaxin home, and the boy seemed quite polite. He shouldn't act like this for no reason.
"Well... yesterday he brought me flowers, and I said his flowers were tacky... I don't really know."
"Besides, I used to do that kind of thing all the time, and he never got mad! So why is he treating me like this today? Mom, don't you think he's in the wrong?"
After hearing this, Ran Yunyu sighed and said,
"Jiaxin, it's not that Mom wants to scold you, but how could you say something like that? How has Mom raised you since you were little? A person needs to be polite. If someone means well, and you don't want it, you can just refuse—there's no need to say such hurtful things. Anyone would find that unbearable."
"Besides, the only reason he was always good to you was because he liked you. But you also have to realize that he has the right to stop liking you!"
"Jiaxin, whether you like him is your freedom, but how he treats you is also his freedom."