After Saving My Possessive Best Friend, I Couldn't Escape (GL) - Chapter 7

The bustling gymnasium was filled with the sounds of young people laughing and playing, but the immediate area around the basketball court was silent, as if a pause button had been pressed.

Since Zhou Meize had told Sun Yangyang to go to the infirmary, the rest of the group looked at each other, held their basketballs, and remained quiet.

“You guys go on and play,” Zhou Meize said to them over her shoulder, then walked towards Ye Yu.

Ye Yu naturally took her backpack, which contained several bottles of water provided by her butler.

Every week she went home, the butler would prepare the necessities for the upcoming week.

Zhou Meize had approached very close to the two of them. Ye Yu pulled out a bottle of water and handed it to her, as naturally as one would eat or drink, showing this was a routine they had done many times. “Have some water and take a break.”

Zhou Meize took the bottle, gripping it in her palm. She looked down at the brand of water she was accustomed to, and her expression softened. Her usual self-assured, effortless control returned. She spoke with the patronizing tone of one lecturing an ignorant child: “Why are you getting into a huff with them?”

A look of obvious confusion crossed Ye Yu’s face, and the hand holding the bottle paused mid-air. She asked blankly, “With whom? Getting into a huff about what?”

Zhou Meize sighed. “I know you dislike that they’re always crowding around me, but didn’t we agree not to make our relationship public? Sun Yangyang is just a little clingy; she doesn’t have any bad intentions.”

It took this entire explanation for Ye Yu to understand what she was talking about.

“You’ve always been so sensible, haven’t you?” Zhou Meize added.

Ye Yu’s gaze dropped briefly, a quick, fleeting movement that made it impossible to discern the emotion in her eyes. “Alright.”

With that, Ye Yu returned to normal and turned to offer the other bottle of water in her hand to Fang Zhile.

Fang Zhile, who had been watching their interaction with simmering resentment, cracked a smile. When Zhou Meize frowned and looked her way, she tilted her head cheekily and smiled at Ye Yu. “Thank you for the water, Jie-jie (Big Sister).”

Zhou Meize’s eyes narrowed, her cold gaze landing on Fang Zhile like a knife.

What are you looking at? Trying to show off your big eyes?

Just now, you were still embracing Sun Yangyang. Did you think Ye Yu was blind!

Now, even if you stare a hole through her, Ye Yu won’t pay attention to you!

Fang Zhile acted completely oblivious, leaning closer to Ye Yu. She looked troubled and said, “But Jie-jie, I can’t twist the cap open.”

Zhou Meize: “…”

“Hand it over.” Ye Yu closed her backpack and looked up at Fang Zhile with a slight, gentle exasperation that made Fang Zhile feel refreshed and invigorated, as if warmed by a spring breeze.

Manipulative? Who is more manipulative than me!

Fang Zhile handed the bottle over, pointing at the complicated design on the cap. “It’s too tight. I can’t twist it.”

Zhou Meize scoffed. “That’s a buckle-cap.”

Fang Zhile ignored her and said pitifully, “Am I too useless to even open a bottle cap?”

Zhou Meize’s face darkened.

Ye Yu let out a soft laugh—an audible, musical laugh that made her eyes curve, her voice as clear as spring water, like the melting ice of early spring, revealing a soft warmth through the cracks.

After the laugh, Ye Yu subtly glanced at Fang Zhile, telling her to stop joking around.

However, the look carried little threat. Ye Yu’s smile hadn’t fully faded, giving a gentle impression when she looked over.

Fang Zhile took a sip from the bottle Ye Yu had opened. The water, which looked expensive just from the bottle, had been kept in a cool place. The low temperature was utterly refreshing; one sip cooled her down to her very core.

Fang Zhile’s eyes narrowed in contentment as she drank.

“Xiao Yu,” Zhou Meize, who had been ignored, spoke up, her tone defensive and disapproving. “I have something to tell you. Come here for a minute.”

“Fang Zhile didn’t mean any harm,” Ye Yu suddenly interjected, changing the subject completely. “She saw me and wanted to say hello, and that’s why the basketball went in the wrong direction.”

Ye Yu turned around, shielding Fang Zhile from Zhou Meize’s sight once more. She spoke softly, as if in the most ordinary conversation between friends, “Could you not hold a grudge against her, please?”

“Who is she to you?” Zhou Meize countered, instead of answering. “I’ve never seen her before.”

Fang Zhile was in the advanced class across the hall. To someone as condescending as Zhou Meize, she naturally made no impression.

“Just a friend I recently met.”

Ye Yu offered the explanation but did not intend to say more. She softened her voice again, sounding a little coaxing, and lowered her head.

“Don’t make this difficult for me, alright?”

This coaxing attitude was one Ye Yu only ever displayed toward her. Zhou Meize’s expression eased slightly. Though she felt uneasy, she could only tolerate it for the moment.

The class bell rang. Ye Yu and Zhou Meize headed back to their respective classes together. After walking a few steps, Zhou Meize turned to the person following them, her face devoid of emotion. “Why are you following us?”

Fang Zhile met Zhou Meize’s gaze, shrank back, and lowered her head, pointing to the class across the hall. “I have class here.”

“You?” Zhou Meize genuinely hadn’t realized that this person was an academically outstanding student, but what did it matter?

“Don’t follow us again,” Zhou Meize dismissed her with a final word, then put her arm around Ye Yu’s shoulder and walked away.

Ye Yu glanced back once. Compared to Fang Zhile, she was more familiar and accustomed to staying by Zhou Meize’s side.

After all, this was her fiancée.

Seeing that Zhou Meize was no longer bothering Fang Zhile, Ye Yu offered no further reaction.

Watching the two figures walk away in harmony, the expression on Fang Zhile’s face gradually became calm. She didn’t chase after them, didn’t argue, and didn’t utter another word.

In the eyes of a person like Zhou Meize, her social circle was strictly defined. Family background basically dictated the depth of her relationships.

People like Sun Li, Li Zi, and Liu Mei, who had a little money, would surround Zhou Meize and serve as her “spiritual fangirls.”

This was the baseline for friendship in Zhou Meize’s circle. Moving up, there were the “good sisters” who could play basketball with her.

Besides that, there was the group of “numbers” like Sun Yangyang, who served as her entertainment and could be loosely categorized as “pets.”

Fang Zhile twisted the cap off her bottle and drank all the water inside.

So, what role did Ye Yu play in Zhou Meize’s heart?

The Ye family was powerful. The identity of Ye Yu as the sole daughter of the Ye family alone meant she was not someone Zhou Meize could easily toy with.

Coupled with the childhood engagement and their lifelong friendship, their relationship was different from that of her other hangers-on.

If it were anyone else, they would naturally put Ye Yu in the position she deserved. Even if they had other interests, they would treat Ye Yu properly because of their feelings or her status.

But Zhou Meize was different.

She was immensely proud, regarded everyone else as beneath her, and permitted no one to be outside of her control.

In her eyes, Ye Yu was good, but she was the result of an arranged marriage forced upon her by her parents, not the “soulmate” she found through free love. Therefore, she constantly evaded the engagement, flirting and playing the field.

To get Ye Yu to leave Zhou Meize, Fang Zhile’s first step had to be to make her see Zhou Meize’s true face.

Ye Yu: She hides her background, never uses her power to bully, and when bullied, she doesn’t fight back fiercely but keeps a low profile and does her own thing with dignity.

Zhou Meize: She is a paper tiger, condescending, arrogant, outwardly beautiful but inwardly corrupt.

Once Ye Yu understood what kind of person Zhou Meize truly was, she would naturally make her own choice.