My Ex-Boyfriend is Chasing Me Again - Chapter 2

After realizing that Ji Ran genuinely disliked him, Xu Yan felt a sliver of panic about his current social approach for the first time.

He had always believed that aside from his parents, everyone would love a warm, sunny personality like his. But reality didn’t seem to align with that belief.

At the very least, Ji Ran didn’t like him.

So, Xu Yan felt somewhat intimidated by Ji Ran and instinctively avoided him whenever they crossed paths.

That’s why, during the recent basketball grouping in P.E. class, when Xu Yan was supposed to be in the same group as Ji Ran based on their student numbers, he immediately switched places with someone else.

“Xu Yan, do you and the top student not get along at all?” After P.E. class, Qiu Muyang, who had just returned from buying water, nudged Xu Yan’s shoulder with his elbow and asked curiously.

Qiu Muyang was one of Xu Yan’s closest buddies since the class reshuffle. Hearing his question, Xu Yan couldn’t help but wonder—was his strained relationship with Ji Ran already that obvious?

It had only been two weeks since the semester started.

“Not at all, the top student and I get along just fine,” Xu Yan insisted.

Qiu Muyang: “Yeah, right. During the P.E. class grouping earlier, the top student practically had ‘I can’t stand you’ written all over his face.”

Was it that obvious?

It seemed he needed to work on improving his relationship with Ji Ran.

“Hey, man, it’s really no big deal. The top student is pretty aloof with everyone. You’re just the social butterfly who keeps buzzing around him all day,” Qiu Muyang said, taking a sip of water and noticing Xu Yan’s slightly dejected expression, trying to comfort him.

He actually admired Xu Yan quite a bit. In just two weeks, Xu Yan had managed to get along with almost everyone in the class. He was genuinely warm and friendly—just a bit too enthusiastic at times. When it came to the top student, it felt a bit like trying to warm up to someone who wasn’t interested.

Returning to the classroom from the playground, Xu Yan was called to the teacher’s office by the homeroom teacher.

The homeroom teacher, Du Bo, was a young male teacher who had only taught two graduating classes. With a plump face full of kindness and a humorous, engaging teaching style, he was already well-liked by most of the students in the class.

“Xu Yan, is your family facing any difficulties? Part of your tuition fee has been overdue for two weeks. If it’s really tough, I can advance the money for you.”

Xu Yan bit his lip and remained silent, his hands tightly gripping his school uniform. He didn’t want the teacher to know about his family situation and kept shaking his head, saying, “Teacher, my parents probably just forgot to pay. I’ll remind them as soon as I get home tonight.”

“Report.” Just then, Ji Ran entered the office after announcing himself. Xu Yan felt an inexplicable sense of embarrassment and stiffened up completely.

“Math homework,” Ji Ran said expressionlessly, placing the collected assignments on Du Bo’s desk before turning to leave.

“Alright, Xu Yan, make sure you submit it tomorrow. The school’s payment system is about to close. You can go back to class now,” Du Bo said with a smile.

Xu Yan immediately looked up and flashed Du Bo a bright smile. “Got it,  Lao Du Bo. Don’t worry.” Then, he dashed off like a gust of wind.

Du Bo watched the boy’s retreating figure and glanced at the student file he had just pulled out, letting out a soft sigh. He hoped he was just overthinking things.

“Yanzi, what did Lao Du Bo want with you?” As soon as Xu Yan returned to his seat, Qiu Muyang darted over to his side.

Almost instantly, a small crowd gathered around Xu Yan’s desk, forming a circle with him at the center.

They were all there for the gossip.

Don’t underestimate the boys in the science class—when it comes to gossip, they’re top-notch. Especially in their class, all the juicy tidbits come from Xu Yan’s insider sources.

“Yeah, does Xu Yan have any new gossip?”

“Ah—” Xu Yan lifted his head, dragging out the sound before finally saying, “No. No gossip. Old Du gave me a task.”

Qiu Muyang immediately picked up the thread, “What task?”

“Confidential.” As soon as Xu Yan said this, the boys around him scoffed and immediately scattered.

Faintly, he seemed to hear a derisive laugh from his desk mate in front of him. Probably just his imagination.

After evening self-study ended, Xu Yan smiled and said goodbye to Qiu Muyang at the school gate.

He then crossed several narrow alleys, winding his way through twists and turns until he arrived at an unlicensed internet café.

He often came to this café during summer vacation to take on paid gaming gigs, and the owner was familiar with him. Seeing him enter, the owner straightforwardly said, “Your usual spot, saved for you.”

“Thanks.”

“All-nighter again?”

Xu Yan nodded and walked straight to the corner of the café, taking a seat.

He was still 300 yuan short for this semester’s tuition and miscellaneous fees.

He knew his nominal father, Xu Guodong, wouldn’t pay a single cent for his education. It had been like this since he started ninth grade—whenever money needed to be spent on him, his father would come up with all sorts of excuses to brush off him and his mother.

The worst part was, his mother actually believed it.

Maybe she knew something was off, but she wouldn’t say anything. What mattered more—a harmonious family or Xu Yan alone? Naturally, his mother would choose the family.

Actually, scraping together the tuition wasn’t too hard. Xu Yan had managed to earn enough during half a month of paid gaming over the summer. It’s just… he hadn’t expected that after entering the advanced class in his second year of high school, he’d still have to pay for those damn printing fees for study materials.

Xu Yan kept taking orders until 10:30 p.m., barely managing to scrape together the remaining tuition before the school’s payment system closed.

Exhausted, the soreness in his shoulders and hands made Xu Yan let out a muffled groan.

He leaned back in the gaming chair and reached for his phone.

[Mom]: Not coming home again tonight?

[Mom]: Whatever, do as you please. You could die out there for all I care.

Immediately after, a 100-yuan WeChat transfer followed.

Xu Yan was momentarily stunned by the transfer. So, his mother still cared about him after all.

Just as he hesitated whether to accept it, the next message instantly dimmed the light in his eyes.

[Mom]: This month’s living expenses. Don’t go around saying your dad and I aren’t supporting you.

He had never said anything like that. Why did so many things always get blamed on him?

Under the dim lights of the internet café, Xu Yan felt suffocated, struggling to breathe. Even standing up made him dizzy and disoriented.

Staggering to the restroom, he intended to splash some water on his face, only to find a familiar figure standing in front of the sink.

For a moment, Xu Yan felt disoriented. Why did this person look so much like Ji Ran?

No way, why would a top student come to an unlicensed internet café?

“Ji Ran?” Xu Yan tentatively called out.

The person in front of him immediately turned sideways, his gaze sharp and hostile as he stared at Xu Yan.

It really was Ji Ran.

His bangs were still dripping with water, the corners of his eyes slightly red as if he had been crying. Beneath his pale skin, faint blue veins were visible, and his colorless lips trembled slightly. Xu Yan heard a voice, strained with effort, utter a single word: “Get lost.”

The aura around Ji Ran was sharp and intense, like a hedgehog covered in spikes, warning everyone to stay away.

Xu Yan was momentarily stunned, his gaze slowly shifting to Ji Ran’s left arm where the school uniform had been pushed up.

Cuts of various sizes, some deep and some shallow, came into view, with one fresh slash particularly conspicuous, blood steadily oozing out.

Seriously, what kind of decent person goes to a cybercafe bathroom to self-harm?

Adhering to his principle of not inviting trouble, Xu Yan turned to leave, but as soon as one foot stepped out of the bathroom, he retracted it, turned back, and grabbed Ji Ran’s hand, pulling him along.

“You can harm yourself, but not here,” Xu Yan sighed softly. “The owner here is quite familiar with me, and I don’t want him getting tangled up in any messy lawsuits.”

Ji Ran was pulled along in a daze as they headed out of the cybercafe. He couldn’t understand why, ever since the start of the semester, he seemed to run into Xu Yan no matter where he went. For the first time, he realized that his once silent world could become so noisy.

Even the colors around him seemed to grow richer.

Even the streetlights, which he had always perceived as grayish-white, now took on a warm, orange-yellow hue.

How strange.

“Tell me, what is it that you can’t get past?” Xu Yan grew increasingly frustrated as he pondered, holding Ji Ran’s hand and pressing for answers.

“Is it because of money? Or something else?”

After asking, Xu Yan immediately felt he had overstepped. His questions were too intrusive, lacking boundaries.

Ji Ran lowered his head, remaining silent.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked you that,” Xu Yan pointed to a clinic across the street, its lights glowing faintly, and smiled. “Good thing I remembered the way. I’ll take you to that clinic to get bandaged.”

Ji Ran actually wanted to say it wasn’t necessary. He had never bandaged his wounds before—he just left them to heal on their own over a few days.

He enjoyed watching the wounds heal and then reopening them. He had been repeating this cycle for years, and his father had never noticed.

But he still followed Xu Yan into the clinic.

As soon as Xu Yan entered, he acted like a natural charmer, calling the clinic’s female owner “sister” repeatedly, making her beam with delight. She smiled at Ji Ran and said, “Roll up your sleeve, let me take a look.”

The wound wasn’t deep—it just looked alarming at first. By now, the blood had already clotted.

“Oh, it’s just a minor cut. I’ll disinfect it, and that’ll be enough. You made it sound like a huge gash,” the owner chuckled as she retrieved disinfectant supplies from the medicine cabinet.

The sting from the alcohol spray wasn’t particularly painful, but when Ji Ran glanced up and saw Xu Yan turning his head away, unable to watch, he suddenly felt like teasing him.

“Hiss—” Ji Ran suddenly sucked in a sharp breath. Xu Yan immediately turned back, concerned. “Does it hurt a lot? Sister, could you please be gentler?”

“I’m being gentle enough,” the clinic owner said, somewhat exasperated. “I only lightly touched it with a cotton swab.”

“Using iodine now,” she announced, spraying the wound several times with iodine.

The iodine didn’t sting as much as the alcohol, but Ji Ran still lowered his lashes and muttered, “It hurts.”

The owner sighed, “Young man, if you can’t even handle the sting of iodine, why did you cut your hand like this?”

“Sister, I already told you, it was an accident,” Xu Yan quickly chimed in to cover for him.

The owner scoffed, then issued a dismissal. “Alright, that’ll be five yuan. It’s eleven o’clock now—I need to close up.”

Xu Yan asked, “Sister, shouldn’t we wrap it with gauze?”

“It’s just a minor scratch, nowhere near the intestines. No need for bandages.”

“Oh, right, right,” Xu Yan said as he handed over the payment. “Sorry to trouble you tonight, sis.”

By the time Xu Yan left the clinic with Ji Ran, it was almost half past eleven.

At this hour, Ji Ran didn’t seem in a hurry to go home. Weren’t his family worried?

“Did you tell your family what time you’d be back tonight?”

As soon as he asked, Xu Yan felt he’d overstepped. Why did he always meddle in other people’s business? What did it matter to him when Ji Ran went home?

The summer night breeze carried a wave of sweltering heat. Xu Yan stood under the streetlight, turning to look at Ji Ran beside him. The light fell on him, casting a long shadow.

His sharp features stood out clearly in the glow—so handsome, even the light seemed to favor him.

If only he weren’t so cold, Xu Yan thought. He figured his question would probably go unanswered and silently started walking ahead.

At the corner of the road, Xu Yan heard a cool reply: “No one’s home.”

“Oh.” No one waiting meant he could go back anytime. Nice.

“I have to go this way.”

“Oh, so we’re splitting up here.” Xu Yan’s tone carried a hint of regret he hadn’t even noticed himself.

Ji Ran nodded.

Suddenly remembering something, Xu Yan looked up at Ji Ran with a bright smile. “Ji Ran, we’re even now.”

“You found out my secret, and I found out yours. Don’t go telling anyone.”

Ji Ran lowered his head, recalling what Xu Yan meant by “secret.” He remembered overhearing him in the morning when handing in math homework—something about not having paid his tuition in full.

What kind of secret was that?

If anything, he was the one at a disadvantage.

“See you tomorrow!” Xu Yan waved goodbye loudly, his dimples showing clearly as he smiled. The breeze picked up just then, ruffling his oversized school uniform, making him look lively and innocent.

Watching Xu Yan bounce away into the distance, Ji Ran was suddenly reminded of a rabbit his family had kept a long time ago.

Kind of cute.

He stood on the sloping road leading home, staring into the distance for a long while before quietly replying to where Xu Yan had disappeared:

“See you tomorrow.”

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