Keep My First Kiss Safe For Me - Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Xie Yanyan never ultimately revealed the reason she met Yu Mingxuan alone, but she asked Fan Yue to trust her, so Fan Yue told herself not to overthink it.

Afterward, whenever she went for her night runs, Yu Mingxuan would still show up on time, just like before. Fan Yue tried her best to act as if nothing had happened and never mentioned Xie Yanyan in front of him.

“Decided not to slack off today?” As soon as Fan Yue reached the playground to start her run, Yu Mingxuan caught up, adjusting his speed to match her pace.

Fan Yue quickened her pace slightly and replied, “The key to weight loss is persistence.”

“You’re cute no matter what; you don’t need to lose weight,” Yu Mingxuan said with a smile, his tone blunt yet intimate. “But go ahead and run more—that way I can spend more time with you.” Having said this, he stopped and looked at Fan Yue.

What does that mean? Is that a confession? Fan Yue stopped as well, unsure how to respond, standing awkwardly on the spot.

“Haha, don’t feel pressured. I’ve always had a loose tongue.” Perhaps fearing the atmosphere was too awkward, Yu Mingxuan laughed it off and ran ahead a few steps. Fan Yue breathed a sigh of relief and started running again.

The next day, Fan Yue told Xiao Qian about the conversation. Xiao Qian was very displeased with Yu Mingxuan’s ambiguous, vague words: “Who confesses like that? This guy is totally unreliable. No way! I’m back to being against you two being together!”

“We aren’t together.” Fan Yue flipped through the notebook spread out in front of her, unable to muster any interest in reading. Whether he liked her or not, she wished he’d just say it clearly; this feeling of being strung along was truly unpleasant.

“Have you finished looking at the notes he lent you?” Xiao Qian glanced at the notebook on the desk.

One night while running, Fan Yue had mentioned the upcoming midterm exams to Yu Mingxuan. She sighed, saying she was no good at science, and Yu Mingxuan mentioned his grades were decent and offered to lend her his notes.

Fan Yue had agreed casually, but to her surprise, during the break the next morning, Yu Mingxuan came directly to her classroom to deliver the notebook in person. While Yu Mingxuan wasn’t exactly a “school hunk” or a famous figure, the sudden appearance of a new male face in the third-floor liberal arts hallway—where boys were scarce—specifically to deliver notes to a girl, caused rumors of him pursuing Fan Yue to spread like wildfire.

“I haven’t looked. I can’t focus on it,” Fan Yue said, her head aching just looking at the pages.

Xiao Qian helped her close the book and said dismissively, “If you can’t read it, then don’t. If you don’t like him, don’t force yourself.”

“I…” Fan Yue looked conflicted. “I don’t even know if I like him. And what if I’ve misunderstood? What if he doesn’t actually like me?”

“Then ask him to his face!” Xiao Qian couldn’t stand their hazy, “guess-what-I’m-thinking” game any longer. She grabbed the notebook, pulled Fan Yue up, and marched out.

Fan Yue gripped the corner of the desk tightly, but Xiao Qian’s small frame exerted a sudden burst of strength, practically hoisting her up.

The two of them scuffled through the hallway and arrived downstairs at Yu Mingxuan’s classroom. For her best friend’s happiness, the socially anxious Xiao Qian ignored the curious stares of the surrounding boys. Scanning the room and seeing no sign of him, she asked a boy at the door, “Where’s Yu Mingxuan?”

“Probably the small playground downstairs,” the boy replied. A few other boys saw Fan Yue and started jeering: “Hello, Sister-in-law!”

This scene made Fan Yue want to crawl into a hole. She hurriedly tried to push Xiao Qian away; Fan Yue tried to go up while Xiao Qian pulled down, like a game of tug-of-war. Fan Yue said helplessly, “What are you doing? Where are we going?”

Xiao Qian pulled her downstairs: “We’re already here; we can’t let it be a wasted trip. Let’s go to the small playground and get a clear answer.”

“I’m not going, I won’t ask, I don’t care…” Fan Yue struggled, but Xiao Qian ignored everything she said.

The small playground was right downstairs. It was actually just a patch of open ground next to the teaching building where boys often gathered during breaks to chat and brag.

It was their first time there. Fan Yue saw Yu Mingxuan talking to a few boys through the flowerbeds. Xiao Qian dragged her closer, but they suddenly heard the name “Fan Yue.” Both girls stopped and pricked up their ears.

“…Just you wait. It won’t be long before I’ve got her!” It was Yu Mingxuan’s voice.

A boy next to him teased, “You aren’t actually falling for Fan Yue, are you? I thought you said you liked Xie Yanyan?”

Hearing Xie Yanyan’s name, Xiao Qian and Fan Yue hid themselves even deeper.

“Who said I liked Fan Yue? She’s just the ‘next best thing.’ You guys have no idea—I haven’t even caught her yet, and Xie Yanyan has already come looking for me several times on her own initiative.” Yu Mingxuan bragged to his buddies, “That shows she cares about me.”

The boys burst into laughter: “Brother Xuan really knows how to play! Handling both sisters at once—two girls fighting over one man. Impressive! Impressive!”

Hearing this, Xiao Qian looked back at Fan Yue’s reaction, worried. Fan Yue’s face was as calm as still water; no emotion could be seen.

Over there, Yu Mingxuan grew even more boastful: “This Fan Yue is too easy to hook. I just have to keep her dangling until she throws herself into my arms…”

Slap!

Before anyone could react, Xie Yanyan appeared out of nowhere and delivered a vicious slap to Yu Mingxuan’s face. Not satisfied with just one, she raised her hand and slapped the other side, leaving two symmetrical palm prints on his face.

“Xie—Xie Yanyan!”

Yu Mingxuan was so flustered he could barely speak. The boys around him were also stunned by her aura. Immediately after, a notebook was slammed hard against Yu Mingxuan, making him wince in pain.

“Fan—Fan Yue!” Yu Mingxuan’s face stung with heat.

The crowd: “…”

What a massive “crematorium” scene! This is so melodramatic and exciting! The buddies surrounding Yu Mingxuan no longer cared about “brotherly loyalty”; they just wanted to be spectators to this grand drama of sisters uniting to tear apart a scumbag.

“You should look in a mirror—you think you’re worthy of pursuing my Yue’er?” Xiao Qian spat at Yu Mingxuan, cursing him without regard for her image: “You idiot! Your skin is thicker than a city wall! Our Yue’er has zero interest in you! Stop your bragging!”

“That’s enough. Let’s go.” Amidst the chaos, Fan Yue was surprisingly calm. She grabbed Xiao Qian with one hand and Xie Yanyan with the other, turning to walk away without giving Yu Mingxuan a single glance.

“Yue’er, are you okay?”

Xiao Qian was terrified by Fan Yue’s abnormal behavior. If Fan Yue had burst into tears, she would have known how to handle it, but the fact that she acted as if nothing happened made her uneasy. Xie Yanyan exchanged a look with her, but she couldn’t tell if Fan Yue was alright either.

It wasn’t until they reached the third-floor staircase that Fan Yue let go. She gave a smile to the two people looking at her with worry: “I’m fine. Don’t worry, both of you go back to class.” With that, she returned to her classroom first.

For the rest of the day, Fan Yue acted completely normal. Xie Yanyan came to the classroom window during every break to check on her. Fan Yue occasionally gave her a smile, and at other times ignored her entirely.

Today was Friday. After enduring the last self-study period of the afternoon, they could finally go home. Xiao Qian had kept a close eye on Fan Yue all day, but she never expected that a quick trip to the bathroom would result in trouble.

Fan Yue was gone!

Returning to find no sign of her and no answer on her cell phone, Xiao Qian was scared out of her wits. She rushed to find Xie Yanyan.

“How long has she been gone?” Xiao Qian heard the panic in Xie Yanyan’s voice and immediately replied, “I just went to the bathroom—ten minutes ago.”

She instinctively looked up at the roof. “Yue’er wouldn’t do something desperate, would she?”

“No!” Xie Yanyan replied firmly, but her legs were already striding toward the upper floors. Only after reaching the fourth floor and confirming the entrance to the rooftop was sealed did she breathe a sigh of relief. The two split up to search.

After scouring the entire school with no luck, a breathless Xiao Qian met up with Xie Yanyan, her voice bordering on tears: “Where could Yue’er be? Should we tell the teacher?”

Xie Yanyan frowned and didn’t answer.

The dismissal bell rang, and waves of students poured out of the classrooms. The two followed the flow out of the school. Just as they reached the gate, Xiao Qian let out a cry of surprise: “Yue’er!”

Xie Yanyan looked up and was also stunned—not far away, Fan Yue was waving at them with a smile, her shoulder-length hair now cut into a short bob reaching just past her ears.

“Where did you go!” Xiao Qian rushed over and started hitting her arms. Fan Yue laughed as she dodged, “I just went out to get a haircut.”

“Why didn’t you answer your phone? Do you know I was worried to death!”

“It was a last-minute decision. I was afraid they’d check my bag at the gate, so I didn’t bring my phone.” Fan Yue stopped dodging and let her hit her. A relieved Xiao Qian couldn’t bring herself to hit her anymore. She took her hand and whispered, “I thought you were going to do something reckless…”

“What do I have to be reckless about? Hey, can we talk somewhere else? So many people are watching.” The three of them were shouting and scuffling, and many students leaving the school were staring.

After picking up their bags from the classroom, Xiao Qian “interrogated” Fan Yue at a dessert shop outside the school: “Why did you cut your hair? It’s not worth it for a scumbag.”

Fan Yue actually had the heart to hum a tune: “I have cut my hair, cut my worries, cut away the split ends of unrequited love…”

The old song was quite fitting.

Xie Yanyan, who had been silent, finally spoke: “Don’t listen to the nonsense he said.”

“A snob who looks down on people,” Xiao Qian chimed in.

Fan Yue knew they were referring to the “next best thing” comment. However, they were worrying too much. Hearing that hadn’t actually made her feel very sad. She had always felt she couldn’t compare to Xie Yanyan anyway, and she didn’t want to try anymore. Fan Yue gave a light smile: “It’s nothing. I didn’t take it to heart. I didn’t really like him anyway; this doesn’t even count as a breakup. Honestly, I don’t feel much of anything.”

That was what she said, but no girl would suddenly cut off all her hair without being triggered. Xiao Qian said worriedly, “Yue’er, your hair…”

Fan Yue shook her spirited short hair and asked them both, “How is my new look?”

The two across from her nodded in unison. Fan Yue already had a cute face, and the short hair added a touch of quirky, playful charm.

Fan Yue was quite satisfied with the new hairstyle herself. “I didn’t cut it because of a broken heart. I want to succeed in the ‘exam field’ for once. I’ve figured it out!” Fan Yue slammed the table. “As a high school student, the most important thing right now is studying. I am determined not to date early. I’m going to put all my energy into my studies. This is my ‘hair-cutting vow’!”

The two across the table nodded supportively.