WFY 1

Xu Ran stood in front of the dorm closet, organizing his stuff. He heard the door click open. That must be the new roommate. He turned around with a smile.

“Hey…”

His eyesight wasn’t great. Without glasses, all he could see was a tall, broad figure standing against the light. The face was impossible to make out.

Inwardly, he was already cursing the awkward moment. He still had a smile on his face, while the other guy didn’t say a damn word. Not even a greeting. How rude.

After a few seconds of silence, Xu Ran couldn’t keep the smile up. He dropped it, turned around, and went back to sorting his clothes.

“Tch, it’s you.” That voice came out of nowhere.

Huh. That tone sounded familiar. A little too familiar, and laced with contempt. Xu Ran’s patience snapped. What, already made enemies in just a few days on campus?

That didn’t make sense.

He grabbed his glasses from the desk and slid them on. Then he turned around.

Only one thing came to mind.

Enemies always cross paths.

“Heh. It’s you.”

As soon as he saw the guy’s face, Xu Ran pulled his glasses off and tossed them back on the desk. That look of disdain said everything. He might as well have said it straight to his face.

“Well, what a fucking coincidence. Pan Hao, still remember this little slut?”

His voice dripped with sarcasm. He shot Pan Hao a sideways glance. Pan Hao didn’t even flinch. He walked right in, tossed a black duffel bag under the desk, and said, “Hard to forget.”

Xu Ran gave a cold snort and turned his back on him. He had no intention of continuing the conversation.

The twenty-square-meter dorm fell into complete silence. After that one scoff, neither of them spoke. They both went about their own business, not even bothering to look at each other. Like sworn enemies forced into the same space.

No need to dig into some past life to explain their grudge. Just rewind to a week ago and everything would make sense.

It was the start of the semester. The sun was scorching. The campus was buzzing with new students, many of them arriving with their parents.

Xu Ran dragged a suitcase behind him, backpack slung over his shoulders, eyes fixed on the map in his hands as he searched for the freshman registration center. Along the way, he kept getting approached by clubs handing out flyers at makeshift booths.

He wasn’t interested. Just kept repeating “No thanks” and pushed forward.

He walk too fast and overshot the registration building by fifty meters before realizing.

“Shit…” he muttered, skidding to a stop and turning around. He dragged the suitcase with him, not watching the road, and slammed straight into someone. He even stepped on their foot in the process.

“Hey, what the hell…”

“Ah, crap, I’m so sorry… really sorry…”

Xu Ran apologized instantly. His eyes were fixed on the black T-shirt in front of him. He stared at the print for a long moment before slowly looking up. Then came the jawline, the nose bridge, and finally a pair of eyes glaring down at him with a clearly annoyed expression.

Xu Ran stood at 178 centimeters. Not exactly towering, but he had been the third tallest guy in his high school class. He had always felt pretty damn good about that.

Until now.

Looking at this guy, he realized just how wrong he’d been.

“Are you fucking blind? Watch where the hell you’re going. Thought those four eyes were supposed to help.”

Xu Ran’s face went cold instantly. Whatever guilt he had vanished. What kind of asshole still mocked people for wearing glasses?
He had already apologized.

He stepped back and stared at the guy.

“Is it me who can’t see, or is it you walking up people’s asses? Or maybe you just like sticking to someone’s ass.”

The guy clearly didn’t expect Xu Ran to be this feisty. He let out a laugh, flashing a set of pearly whites that nearly blinded the other person. Then he said, “New here?”

So what if he was new? That made him easy prey?

Xu Ran said, “Yeah, I’m new. So?”

The guy replied, “Perfect. So am I.”

Xu Ran blinked. What?

The guy didn’t care about the confusion plastered all over Xu Ran’s face. He simply said, “I’ll remember you.”

Xu Ran chuckled. That line sounded straight out of the cringy CEO romances his deskmate used to read back in middle school. Felt like arguing with a damn elementary schooler. He stepped aside, dragged his suitcase, and muttered, “Then I guess I’m taking up some space in that tiny brain of yours.”

At the registration counter, the staff processed his documents and casually said, “You’ll stay in the large dorm during military training. After school officially starts, you’ll be reassigned to a four-person room.”

Xu Ran thanked them without much thought. He wasn’t bothered. He’d stayed in dorms all through high school anyway. If anything, being able to cook eighty different kinds of instant noodles in a dorm was one of his top-tier life skills.

Then he arrived.

It really was a big dorm. Bunk beds packed wall to wall. Xu Ran gave it a quick scan. At least thirty guys were stuffed into the same room.

He found his bed, sat down for a bit, and finally started unpacking.

During that time, he got to know the people on the beds above, below, and beside him. But Xu Ran had face blindness. Everyone looked the same to him. Just a bunch of dudes.

Military training started the next day.

Five in the morning, a screeching alarm ripped through the sky like someone screaming bloody murder. Xu Ran jerked awake from the shock.

Some guys had already gotten up, grabbing their washbasins and heading out.

The training itself was boring. Just a bunch of running and standing like idiots under the blazing sun while the drill sergeant glared at them like they owed him five million. The whole thing felt like dog-walking, mixed with human rotisserie. All that was missing was flipping them over and sprinkling cumin on top.

By the time they got back to the dorm, they were soaked in sweat. The stench in the room was indescribable. Xu Ran grabbed his bucket, towel, and clean clothes, then made a beeline for the showers.

The second he walked in, he was stunned.

Living together was one thing. But this place didn’t even have dividers. Not a single one. All he saw were rows of naked guys laughing, chatting, scrubbing each other’s backs like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Xu Ran immediately regretted choosing a school up north.

He had only picked it for the central heating.

For the first time ever, he awkwardly undressed, using a towel to cover his junk. In a place like this, where everyone’s butt-ass naked, not comparing dick sizes felt like a waste of nudity. But Xu Ran wasn’t ready for that level of exposure yet. Especially not when dicks were swinging left and right like sausages at thigh level.

He kept his head down and walked to the sink.

Just as he got there, someone behind him said, “Little slut.”

Xu Ran froze but didn’t turn around. No way in hell that was aimed at him. Who the fuck was being slutty?

But that voice sounded familiar. Like he had just heard it recently.

He turned around.

The so-called CEO bastard from yesterday stood right behind him, grinning with that shit-eating smirk. His eyes ran up and down Xu Ran’s body and paused deliberately on his ass.

Then he said it again.

“Little slut.”

“Fuck your mother,” Xu Ran snapped. His temper exploded. First time in his life a guy had checked out his ass and said something that filthy.

Would you let that slide? Xu Ran sure as hell wouldn’t.

He turned around, kicked the bucket under the faucet, and started filling it with water.

The CEO bastard seemed surprised. He walked up, clearly confused, and said, “What a coincidence, huh?”

Xu Ran looked back with a smile. “Yeah. Super fucking lucky.”

He glanced at the bucket and said, “Back off. I’m about to rinse off.”

The guy was suspicious of Xu Ran’s sudden calm, but still took two steps back.

Xu Ran grabbed the bucket. Too bad the guy couldn’t see it from behind. The way he held it wasn’t exactly for washing himself. But by the time he realized it, it was already too late.

Xu Ran turned and flung the whole bucket of water at him.

“Here’s your fucking slut, you bastard.”

The so-called CEO looked like he had just finished his shower. Fresh clothes. Clean and dry. Now, however, he was soaking wet from head to toe. In front of everyone.

Definitely not what you’d call a proud moment.

“Fuck!”