OAS 2

Everyone in their class pretty much knew by now that He Ziwei and Tang Zhou did not get along. Ever since freshman year, He Ziwei had taken a dislike to Tang Zhou, and that dislike never faded, especially after Tang Zhou successfully chased down Song Shiyue.

In truth, no one besides He Ziwei himself knew that he liked Song Shiyue. At first, Tang Zhou still managed to smile through the inexplicable hostility. But after a few incidents, he gave up on the idea of peacefully coexisting. Even though they lived in the same dorm, running into each other in the hallway meant trading barbs instead of greetings.

The first time He Ziwei saw Song Shiyue was during military training. The neighboring company just happened to be the only all-girls squad in the area. Song Shiyue stood at the head of the third row. She was nearly 170 centimeters tall, graceful and slender, her hat pulled low to cover half her face, revealing only a delicate, pointed chin. When they practiced marching, their two formations crossed paths, putting He Ziwei almost directly across from her.

Once, zoning out during practice, He Ziwei accidentally moved his left foot and hand together and got pulled out of line by the instructor. It happened right in front of the girls’ unit. Song Shiyue, standing at the front, had a clear view of the whole thing. She laughed so hard her shoulders trembled slightly, showing two adorable little tiger teeth. He Ziwei suddenly felt like his heart was overloaded.

Female students were rare at their tech school. Within days, the names of the pretty ones had been passed around during late-night dorm chats. The two that came up the most were Song Shiyue and Xu Tongyue. The guys even nicknamed them the “Twin Moons,” and for a while, they became everyone’s unattainable ideal.

He Ziwei never took part in any talk about Song Shiyue. He always acted disinterested, but deep down his heart was pounding. He had a bit of a self-esteem issue. Song Shiyue was too bright, too perfect. He was scared people would say he was delusional, not worthy of her. Even his crush had to be hidden carefully.

When Li Shiye once asked him which of the “Twin Moons” he liked better, He Ziwei instinctively avoided saying Song Shiyue and casually mentioned the other one. “So you’re into the cute type, big eyes, petite frame, huh?”

He didn’t say anything, took the silence as default agreement. Truth be told, he barely even remembered what Xu Tongyue looked like.

But before he could finish calming his sensitive little teenage heart, Song Shiyue’s name became linked to Tang Zhou.

On the eighth day of military training, during a sing-off with the unit across from them, the girls coaxed the guys into performing something. Tang Zhou got up and sang half a song, then suddenly invited Song Shiyue from the girls’ unit to sing with him. Both sides erupted in cheers. He Ziwei watched them stand together, singing a duet. No matter how he looked at it, it was an eyesore. And that was just the beginning. The next day, Song Shiyue started greeting Tang Zhou. By the third day, Tang Zhou was buying her milk tea. On the fifth day, the two of them were eating together in the cafeteria. Once military training ended, they barely danced around it before making it official.

He Ziwei stood at 178 centimeters, skinny and wiry, with no real muscle to speak of. He didn’t have much presence, and when his face went cold, his expression even came off a bit mean. At first glance, he didn’t stand out in any way.

Tang Zhou was the complete opposite. He towered at 186, with a gym-trained body, chest and abs stacked neatly into place. He was calm and reliable, great at handling people, and a former class president and head of the student council. When he walked around campus, people greeted him left and right.

He Ziwei admitted that compared to Tang Zhou, he probably wasn’t worthy of someone as gorgeous and lovable as Song Shiyue. But that didn’t mean he was going to sit there and choke down that poisoned dog food. Why the hell did Tang Zhou get to flaunt his relationship in broad daylight, practically stinking of coupledom from miles away, while He Ziwei had to hide his crush like a crime? He couldn’t even figure out his own tangled feelings before someone swooped in and snatched her away.

Be best buds with Tang Zhou? Fuck that. In his dreams.

Too bad he had to live in the same dorm as Tang Zhou. Their beds were bunked across from each other. When Tang Zhou called Song Shiyue from the dorm, He Ziwei could hear every damn word. It felt like swallowing flies. So of course, he nitpicked the guy to death. Didn’t make his bed in the morning, let dirty laundry pile up for two weeks, lined his shoes up past the dividing line, left his instant noodle bowls to rot in the trash. Every petty offense got turned into a war crime. Even if Tang Zhou left a few drops of piss on the toilet seat, He Ziwei would bitch about it for two whole minutes. Tang Zhou thought he was a neurotic little freak and said he acted more like a girl than a guy.

He Ziwei also knew his mindset was completely fucked up. But he couldn’t stop trying to prove that Tang Zhou didn’t deserve Song Shiyue.

Problem was, reality didn’t give a shit. The two of them just kept going strong, stuck together like glue, all lovey-dovey every day.

So in the face of He Ziwei’s one-sided antagonism, Tang Zhou and Song Shiyue dated peacefully for over a year. By the time He Ziwei finally cooled off and started reflecting on how childish he’d been, it was already way too late. His relationship with Tang Zhou had completely soured. They couldn’t even look at each other without disgust.

He Ziwei behaved himself for a few days, hoping the tension might ease, but before that could happen, Tang Zhou and Song Shiyue broke up. No one knew the reason. Neither of them explained, and they both stuck to the same vague excuse, that they just weren’t compatible.

Right after the breakup, Song Shiyue still called Tang Zhou a few times. He either didn’t pick up or told her coldly not to call again. Eventually, he just changed his number.

He Ziwei should’ve been thrilled to see the two of them split. But from what he observed, Song Shiyue looked wrecked for days. It was obvious she’d taken a hard hit emotionally. Yet she never said a single bad word about Tang Zhou. The whole thing played out like a cliché. The goddess suffers silently while the scumbag walks away without a scratch. And it wasn’t like Tang Zhou lacked options. Girls at campus threw themselves at him. Even while he was still dating Song Shiyue, he was getting confessions left and right. He Ziwei had even seen one with his own eyes.

He started to feel like he’d seen through everything. Tang Zhou had fucked around and dumped her. Song Shiyue, perfect as she was, got wrecked by that bastard. The more He Ziwei thought about it, the more pissed he got. It was so fucking unfair. From then on, he didn’t even bother hiding how much he hated Tang Zhou.

They’d been together that long, and now that he thought about that box of condoms, He Ziwei felt sick to his stomach. Of course they’d fucked. And now they were broken up, just like that? No responsibility, no guilt, nothing. Buying that many condoms without a girlfriend? What else could it be but hookups. Fuck. Tang Zhou was a mess. If that wasn’t textbook scumbag behavior, what the hell was?

In his head, He Ziwei stamped one clear label on Tang Zhou. Total fucking scum. And the list of charges just kept piling up.