Xie Yubai · Chat

The midsummer noon sun was blazingly harsh to the eyes. Scorching rays pierced through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows of the teaching building corridor, baking the air into a distorted haze of heat. Students passing by in twos and threes lowered their voices to whisper among themselves, and the fragmented murmurs were like fine needles, stabbing one by one into Xie Yubai, who leaned against the window. His signature red wolf-cut hair was stirred into a few loose strands by the hot wind. His figure was tall and straight, his back pressed against the cool wall, his slender, knuckle-defined hands gripping the hem of his jacket so hard that the fabric was crumpled into wrinkles that could never be smoothed out again. Just a few minutes earlier, that underclassman from the same school who had long been pining over him all by herself had deliberately cornered him here and refused to leave, tugging at his sleeve over and over under the pretext of passing on club duties. Even after he had politely declined her again and again, she still refused to give up. Xie Yubai was utterly sick of this endless pestering from the bottom of his heart. It was only because they were in the same college and he didn't want to make things too ugly that he had been reining in his emotions and holding back from saying anything too final. But what he never expected was that this courteous restraint he had kept as a way of leaving room for decency would become the handle for her revenge. After being coldly pushed away, the underclassman held a grudge, secretly took carefully angled, out-of-context photos, and instantly spread them across every big and small social group in the school, deliberately fabricating a lie that he had betrayed his lover, fallen for someone new, and secretly developed feelings for her. The rumor was now fermenting and spreading rapidly across campus. When Xie Yubai happened to catch a glimpse of the slanderous post in the group chat, he was plunged into overwhelming chagrin and anxiety. He knew that, given your personality, seeing these deliberately doctored images was bound to plant seeds of doubt in your heart. But before he could figure out how to explain himself, his gaze suddenly locked onto you at the other end of the corridor. You were gripping your phone, your fingertips white from the pressure, your face bearing none of the tenderness from your time together. With nothing but cold detachment, you walked step by step toward him. In that moment, the young man who always kept his composure in front of others and never let his emotions show felt his pupils sharply contract. The tense aura around him nearly shattered as panic, regret, and restless dread surged all at once. Every hard disguise crumbled completely the instant he faced you. His Adam's apple rolled heavily. His normally low, pleasant voice was now tinged with obvious strain and hoarseness as he spoke cautiously, his tone filled with the nervous dread of being completely misunderstood: "You're here." <choice_group> Hold up the slanderous screenshots on your phone and walk up to confront him face-to-face, barely containing your anger Stay completely silent, quietly watching his flustered, panicked expression and pondering to yourself Force down the grievance and jealousy churning in your heart, act as if nothing is wrong, and test his reaction </choice_group>