The bell rang—class began.

Lu Yu entered what felt like an afternoon prison sentence.

Pretending to be a model student wasn’t actually that hard—  
all you had to do was look like you were paying attention.

It was the final semester of senior year, and there were essentially no new concepts to teach.  
Teachers would just drag a stool to the front of the class and sit, waiting for students to come up with questions.  
Besides routine homework, everything else relied entirely on self-discipline.

Lu Yu sat there, utterly bored out of his mind.  
Several times, he reached for the phone in his pocket—but held back each time.  
Thankfully, his self-control had always been decent. To maintain Lin Bei Xing’s image, playing on his phone during class was absolutely off-limits.

This period was physics—a subject Lu Yu had abandoned three years ago.  
At this point, physics problems looked like cryptic, wordless scripture to him.  
Forget solving them—he couldn’t even recognize half the symbols.

Fumbling under the desk for a while, Lu Yu pulled out a scratch notebook.

Honestly, even something as mundane as a girl’s scratch paper was absurdly cute.  
The hardcover notebook in his hands was plastered with tiny floral stickers—pink, delicate, and even lightly scented.

He flipped to a blank page and leaned on the desk, starting to doodle.  
From a distance, it looked exactly like he was working through calculations.

The physics teacher walked among the desks and paused beside “Lin Bei Xing,” curious.  
She wondered what kind of problem could possibly stump the school’s top student for so long.

But “Lin Bei Xing” suddenly covered the notebook tightly, refusing to let her see.

“Hm?” The teacher was thoroughly puzzled.

Meanwhile—

“Bro Lu! Bro Lu! What game are we playing today?”

Lu Yu’s desk partner had academic performance in science subjects that matched Lu Yu’s perfectly—  
two hopeless cases who’d been slacking off together since freshman year,  
loyal to each other through thick and thin… until now.

Just moments ago, Ren Jie thought he saw Lu Yu secretly solving a physics problem.

Wait—was he really “secretly” doing homework?

Because right now, “Lu Yu” had his forehead buried in his arms,  
his right hand hidden under the desk,  
a workbook propped open on his lap,  
gripping a pen and meticulously working through equations.

Holy crap—while others hid phones under their desks, this guy was hiding *homework*?!

Since when did doing homework in class become some kind of shameful secret?!

“Bro Lu??”

Ren Jie tapped “Lu Yu’s” shoulder.  
“Lu Yu” jumped in shock.

“…??!”

He flinched away, eyeing Ren Jie with sudden wariness.

That reaction felt strangely distant to Ren Jie—  
It stung a little.

They’d always been ride-or-die brothers, but now… there was a clear gap between them.

*Ah, of course…*  
*Love makes you forget your friends!*

“Bro Lu… what are you doing?”

Ren Jie leaned over curiously.

Under the desk, he saw a full page of detailed solution steps—  
Lu Yu was seriously doing homework!

Everything about him today was off:  
first, walking side-by-side with a girl in the hallway at lunch,  
now quietly grinding through physics problems.

Ren Jie felt like the sun must’ve risen in the west.

“Bro Lu… are you okay?!”

He stared at “Lu Yu” with genuine horror.

“Lu Yu” frowned, chewing on the cap of his pen,  
finally solving the last step of the problem.  
He wrote down the correct answer and exhaled in relief.

Turning his head, he caught his desk partner staring at him—  
mouth agape like he’d just witnessed a miracle.

“…Uh, what were you saying again?” Lin Bei Xing asked, pen hovering mid-air.

Ren Jie took a moment to process.

Instead of being shocked that his best friend actually finished a problem,  
he started wondering *why* he’d do it in the first place.

Ren Jie’s brain always worked in mysterious ways—  
and in that hazy moment, he thought he understood.

He straightened his back and declared gravely:  
“Bro Lu… you’re not trying to impress that evil woman, are you?”

“Evil woman…?” Lin Bei Xing tensed up.

“Yeah—you know, the school flower, Lin Bei Xing.”

Ren Jie jerked his chin toward Lin Bei Xing’s seat in the center of the classroom.

Lin Bei Xing herself: “….”

Ren Jie was dying to gossip.  
The scene he’d witnessed in the hallway at lunch left him hungry for more.

He hoped “Lu Yu” would spill some juicy details.

But “Lu Yu” just stayed silent.

That only emboldened Ren Jie further. He blurted out:  
“I actually approve of your taste, Bro Lu—you two would make a great couple…  
but, uh, about Lin Bei Xing…”

“What about Lin Bei Xing?” Lin Bei Xing herself asked urgently.

Her reaction was like that of a lovesick rookie—  
she couldn’t bear to hear a single bad word about “her wife.”

Ren Jie shrank back slightly, shoulders hunched.  
“I don’t mean anything bad! It’s just… as class rep, she’s always polite but distant.  
She smiles when she talks, but her actions keep people at arm’s length.  
There’s just… something unreal about her. I’m not saying your girlfriend’s bad or anything!”

“What do you mean, ‘unreal’?” Lin Bei Xing pressed.

Ren Jie, never good with words, floundered.  
“I can’t really explain it.”

“Then try.”

“I—I don’t know how to say it…”

He stammered helplessly.

He sighed inwardly—if he kept talking, his brotherhood with Lu Yu might end right here.  
Just this morning, Lu Yu had zero interest in girls.  
Now, after one lunch break, he was a completely different person.

Ren Jie stole a glance at “Lu Yu’s” expression.

“Lu Yu” was watching him quietly.

Lu Yu’s eyes were naturally bright—often soft and gentle, like a deer’s.  
But when serious, they carried an unexpected sharpness.

Ren Jie suddenly felt a chill down his neck. He sat up straight.  
“Ahem…”

Truthfully, Ren Jie just wanted to warn his bro not to get played by some “evil woman.”  
But clearly, Bro Lu was deep in the honeymoon phase of love—  
no advice would get through right now.

Unconsciously, Ren Jie had already accepted that Lu Yu and Lin Bei Xing were a thing.

“So… why’d you suddenly start studying? Seriously, is it for a girl?”

Ren Jie was equal parts nervous and nosy.

Lin Bei Xing carefully tucked the workbook away and replied airily,  
“Studying isn’t for anyone else.”

She adopted a very official tone, repeating the classic motto:  
“Studying is for yourself.” Lin Bei Xing said solemnly.

Ren Jie: “….”

“Forget it. Let’s just play games.”

Suddenly, Lin Bei Xing remembered the three agreements she’d made with Lu Yu at lunch.

She snuck a glance toward Lu Yu’s seat.

He was still hunched over, diligently drawing circles in her cute notebook.  
He was clearly trying his best.

So she had to try, too.

“What do you wanna play?”

Lin Bei Xing pulled out her phone.

Ren Jie’s eyes lit up. “You pick! Are we dropping into PUBG or diving into Summoner’s Rift today?”

Lin Bei Xing had no idea what he was talking about.  
The only games she’d ever played were “Happy Elimination” and “Carrot Defense.”

Under Ren Jie’s eager gaze, she unlocked her phone—  
its pink wallpaper made him pause for a second.

Then he watched in horror as “Lu Yu’s” finger hovered over a *girl’s dress-up game*.

“Let’s play this one.”

The 180-cm tall, broad-shouldered guy said it with absolute seriousness.

Ren Jie grabbed “Lu Yu’s” arm in panic:  
“Bro… maybe I should just take you to the nurse’s office instead.  
This is clearly academic stress trauma—but don’t worry, *it’s still treatable.*”