How I Accidentally Bent My Best Friend - Chapter 20

“Two classes this morning, don’t forget to bring all your textbooks,” Ye Chiwan reminded as usual.

It was their first day of university classes, and everyone was in high spirits, having woken up and gotten ready by seven in the morning.

“If high school had started at eight like this, I definitely wouldn’t have dozed off in class.”

“Exactly! College really is better!”

Once ready, the four of them headed to a nearby café for breakfast before leisurely making their way to class, utterly relaxed.

The first class was Advanced Mathematics, taught by a bespectacled old professor who walked in with a cheerful smile. After introducing himself, he spent the entire period chatting casually, only stopping when the bell rang.

“Alright, take a break, everyone. Next class, we’ll officially start learning Advanced Mathematics,” the professor said before leaving with his teacup in hand.

Chen Yushu pulled out her phone from her bag and unlocked it to find a flood of messages almost all from Lu Wei.

Glancing at the timestamps, she saw they spanned the entire duration of the class, sent intermittently from start to finish.

Didn’t she have class today too? Chen Yushu checked Lu Wei’s schedule and confirmed it was marked as Sketching both sessions, in fact.

Just then, another message from Lu Wei popped up:

[Class is over why are you still ignoring me?]

Chen Yushu: [Why were you on your phone during class?]

Lu Wei immediately sent back a defiant emoji.

[We haven’t started drawing yet.]

[Later, you won’t even get to see my messages. You have no idea how to cherish them!]

“Narcissist,” Chen Yushu muttered under her breath, her lips curling in disdain.

[Thanks. I’d be thrilled if that happened.]

Suddenly, she felt someone lean close to her ear it was Jiang Yuran.

“Are you texting Lu Wei?”

Chen Yushu nodded, inexplicably feeling a twinge of guilt, as if she might be found out.

Fortunately, the bell for the next class rang just then. Jiang Yuran gave a quiet “Oh” before returning to her seat.

Chen Yushu tucked her phone back into her desk, opened her textbook, and focused on the lecture.

Once class ended, everyone hurried to another building for their next lesson. The sight of swarming crowds moving between lecture halls was a novel experience for Chen Yushu.

The morning session ended at 11:40, and their next class was at 2:00 PM, leaving little free time. Glancing at her phone, Chen Yushu saw that, true to Lu Wei’s earlier words, there were no new messages.

After a moment’s thought, she decided to grab lunch with her roommates first.

They had just sat down with their food when Xiaoke whispered, “Hey, check the group chat.”

At once, they all pulled out their phones. Ye Chiwan was the first to swear, followed closely by Jiang Yuran.

“Seriously? What kind of university makes students attend evening self-study sessions?!”

“I’d heard before ” Jiang Yuran paused mid-sentence, as if remembering something, then added after a few seconds, “A friend mentioned freshmen have mandatory evening study. Didn’t think it was actually true!”

Chen Yushu glanced at her, realizing she must have heard it from her ex-girlfriend.

“I take back what I said this morning,” Ye Chiwan slammed her chopsticks down. “This damn university, I can’t do another day of this!”

“Seconded,” Jiang Yuran raised her hand. “Let’s drop out and retake the college entrance exams right now.”

“Shut up,” Ye Chiwan swatted at her. “Are you insane? It’s still a top-three university. Help me up this old servant can still endure.”

Chen Yushu chuckled and couldn’t resist sending Lu Wei a message: 【Our class just got notified about evening self-study. What about yours?】

Thinking Lu Wei probably wouldn’t see it right away, Chen Yushu was about to put her phone down when a voice message popped up the next second: 【Who told me again? I just left the art studio. Where are you? I’ll come find you.】

Biting her chopsticks, Chen Yushu suddenly had a bad feeling and guiltily typed out word by word: 【I’m in the cafeteria.】

Lu Wei quickly sent another voice message, followed by a second, a third,

The cafeteria was crowded, and the internet was slow, the text conversion kept lagging. Chen Yushu hurriedly fished her earphones out of her bag’s side pocket, put them on, and listened one by one.

After a brief loading time, Lu Wei’s furious voice suddenly blasted through the earphones, startling Chen Yushu so much her shoulders jerked, and the food in her mouth instantly became hard to swallow.

【You went to eat by yourself?】

【Why didn’t you wait for me?!】

【Chen Yushu, you abandoned me again!】

Chen Yushu took a sip of soup to steady herself, eating with one hand while typing a reply with the other: 【What do you mean “again”?】

【Last time you sneaked out at night to have fun, you didn’t take me with you. Knife emoji.】

Chen Yushu rolled her eyes in exasperation. Of all things to remember, this was what stuck?

If only she could apply that memory to her studies, she wouldn’t have ended up at this school.

Seeing everyone else focus on their meals, Chen Yushu sped up her eating, only opening Lu Wei’s messages to read without replying.

【Where did you go? Why aren’t you answering me?】

【I get it. You’re annoyed with me now, right? You’re starting to hate me, aren’t you?】

【Crying emoji.】

How had she never noticed before how clingy this girl could be?

After wolfing down the last few bites, Chen Yushu lowered her head and started replying in earnest.

“Shushu, what do you think? Shushu?”

“Stop calling her. Can’t you see Chen Yushu’s busy chatting with someone? Tsk tsk tsk, chatting all day, every day morning, noon, and night, during class and after. What’s there to talk about so much? Even if it’s with a significant other, this is too much!”

Chen Yushu snapped back to reality, blinking at them in confusion. Hearing Ye Chiwan’s words, she pursed her lips into a small smile but didn’t respond.

In that short time, Lu Wei’s messages had bombarded the screen like rapid-fire, flooding it faster than she could read them.

Ye Chiwan sighed and shook her head. “Got it. The body is here, but the heart is elsewhere.”

“Exactly! Can’t our dorm 4008 warm your heart? Eating with us while thinking about that wild woman?”

“Hahaha, Jiang Jiang, you’re speaking for me.”

Chen Yushu was completely defenseless, unable to deny it, and could only clasp her hands in mock surrender.

Jiang Yuran immediately teased, “Oh yeah? Then put your phone down and ignore her.”

“Huh?” Chen Yushu clutched her phone, glancing at the screen.

Ye Chiwan: “She hesitated! Look at her, she hesitated!”

“No!” Chen Yushu quickly denied. “Lu Wei hasn’t eaten yet. I’m just going to grab something for her.”

Ye Chiwan waved her off with an exaggerated eye-roll. “Go, go! I don’t get you and your bestie all that mushy, clingy nonsense.”

Jiang Yuran rested her chin on her hand, raising an eyebrow with a knowing smirk.

After buying food for Lu Wei, the group got up and headed back to the dorms.

Turning a corner, they spotted Lu Wei leaning against the wall outside her dorm building, staring longingly at a takeout bag on the ground. To an outsider, it might’ve looked like she was plotting to steal someone’s food.

Chen Yushu looked at her with a mix of amusement and heartache, unconsciously quickening her pace. “Wipe your drool.”

Hearing the voice, Lu Wei turned her head abruptly, her eyes bright like a puppy’s. Then, as if remembering something, she schooled her expression into one of aloofness and shot Chen Yushu a haughty glance. “Where’s my food?”

“Here.” Chen Yushu dangled the food in front of her. “Hurry up and take it back to eat.”

Lu Wei snorted and turned her head away with an air of arrogance.

Just then, Jiang Yuran and her group passed by and couldn’t help but laugh. “Hahaha, you kindly brought her food, but she won’t even acknowledge it!”

“Hahaha, Chen Yushu, so this is your comeuppance!”

Teased until her face flushed, Chen Yushu redirected her frustration at Lu Wei. “Are you eating or not? If not, I’m taking it away.”

Lu Wei stretched out a hand to block her path, still acting all tough. “What did you buy?”

“Open it and see for yourself.”

Lu Wei tilted her head to look at her, her expression pitiful and aggrieved, though her tone remained stiff. “Eat with me.”

Chen Yushu’s heart softened. “But I’ve already eaten.”

Lu Wei immediately pouted, lowered her head, and kicked at the small pebbles by her feet.

“Fine, fine, let’s go eat over there. Hurry up.”

To the left of the dormitory building was a small grove with a few stone tables. Chen Yushu pulled Lu Wei along, opened the food, and even set out the chopsticks practically ready to feed her.

Seeing this, Lu Wei’s mood improved slightly. She tossed her hair back and dug in without any pretense of restraint.

Yet, despite being ravenous, her picky habits remained unchanged. “There’s celery in here. What’s this? I don’t eat onions.”

“By the time I went to buy it, there wasn’t much left. You should be grateful you got anything at all.”

“You’re gaslighting me!”

“Then don’t eat it.” Chen Yushu made a move to take the food away.

Lu Wei hurriedly looked up, trying to stop her with her eyes. Unfortunately, her cheeks were stuffed full, making her look anything but intimidating just adorably round.

Chen Yushu sat across from her, leaned forward, and poked Lu Wei’s cheek with her index finger.

Lu Wei dodged to the side and mumbled, “You eat this celery.”

“Just pick it out if you don’t want it.”

“No, there’s too much. No place to put it.”

Chen Yushu clicked her tongue in exasperation. “Give me the chopsticks.”

“Ah.” Lu Wei picked up a piece of celery with her chopsticks and made an “open wide” gesture.

Chen Yushu instinctively glanced around. Couples were everywhere some sweetly feeding each other, others flirting after their meal. No matter how you looked at it, the two of them stood out like sore thumbs.

“Lu Wei, you’re seriously the worst.” Chen Yushu leaned over and quickly ate the celery from Lu Wei’s chopsticks.

“See? I knew you were getting tired of me.”

“If you know, then behave and stop being annoying.”

After a few more bites, Lu Wei looked up again. “Shushu, my hair’s getting in my mouth. Help me”

“Am I your mom?” Chen Yushu gritted her teeth, stood up, and walked behind Lu Wei to gather her hair.

“No.” Lu Wei smacked her lips. “You’re my first wife.”

Chen Yushu’s hands paused mid-twist around the hair tie. “Please, spare me. I couldn’t handle that.”

“We already sealed it. No take-backs.”

Chen Yushu sat back down beside her. “When did we ever seal anything?”

“Elementary school.” Lu Wei shook her head. “I asked if you wanted to sit with me, and you said yes.”

“Just because I sat with you means I’m yours?” Chen Yushu smoothed the stray hairs on her forehead and flicked her a light knock on the head, then glanced at the time. “Hurry up and eat. I have a class this afternoon.”

“What class?”

“I think it’s Ethics and Law.”

“I heard you can audit classes in college”

Before Lu Wei could finish, Chen Yushu already knew what she was scheming and gave her another flick on the head. “Thinking about skipping class on the very first day of school, huh?”

Lu Wei rubbed her head, swallowing the rest of her words in defeat.