Chapter 12

Huo Wan knew very clearly what the three words “homosexuality” meant.

In society as it was now, having a label like that attached to oneself could not be considered anything good.

For a moment, all kinds of thoughts sprang up in her mind. But more than worrying or being afraid of those three words, what she was thinking about was things like how she should tell Lin Dang about this, or whether she should hide it and not say anything at all.

What kind of posture should she use to get along with the other girl in the future? What should she do if Lin Dang had a boy she liked in the future?

A series of questions came one after another. Her secret crush had not even begun, yet it had already run into all kinds of obstacles.

Her dejection and discouragement were not because she had discovered she was gay, but because the person she liked was actually the best friend she had always had—Lin Dang!

A person who was straight, straight, straight!

The person she liked had a ninety percent chance of not liking her back. Was there really any need to begin a secret crush that had such a high chance of going nowhere?

Huo Wan did not know what kind of reaction Lin Dang, who had always treated her as her best friend, would have after learning about this.

In any case, she felt that Lin Dang definitely would not accept it happily. Maybe she would even cut ties with her?

She could foresee just how difficult this road would be once she chose to start down it.

Should she be her best friend for life and stay with her forever, or should she stake everything on one throw and set foot on this road of no return?

The little cake on the desk was still sitting there, as if waving at Huo Wan.

Beside it was a photo frame. Inside it was a picture of her and Lin Dang together, taken by her mother when the two of them were still very little.

They had a dedicated photo album, filled with all kinds of photos the two of them had taken from childhood to now, from kindergarten until the present.

Huo Wan no longer had any mood to eat dessert.

She threw herself entirely onto the soft bed, burying her whole face in the blanket.

Her hands uncontrollably rubbed at the hair on her head, expressing the irritation in her heart right now.

How about liking someone else instead?

Or trying to distance herself and see? Maybe this kind of liking was only an illusion? Once they put some distance between them, maybe she would stop liking her?

The more she thought about this idea, the more possible it seemed. And so Huo Wan decided that while her young heart had only just begun to stir and had not yet brewed into a great mistake, she would cut off her own absurd thoughts.

She would try distancing herself.

…..

Huo Wan was someone who took action. When she said something, she did it.

And so, for a period of time after that, she very deliberately controlled her own behavior and did not let herself go over to find Lin Dang.

During Class One’s ten-minute breaks, that familiar figure no longer appeared.

Several times, the moment the bell rang after class, Huo Wan would reflexively stand up from her seat, her feet uncontrollably heading toward the front door. Then, halfway there, she would suddenly wake up and turn back.

Mm. She could not go find Lin Dang.

She had almost forgotten that they were supposed to keep their distance.

After this repeated once or twice, even Zhao Yangyang was about to wonder whether she had come down with some strange illness!

At first, Lin Dang did not take Huo Wan’s unusual behavior seriously. She only assumed Huo Wan had been tired lately and under a lot of pressure from studying. There was not much to talk about during the ten-minute breaks anyway.

It was not until her classmates came over one after another to ask whether she and Huo Wan had fought that Lin Dang belatedly realized it.

That was right. The other girl had not come to find her for a whole week.

Not even once.

Recently, when they went to and from school, the two of them were no longer as close as before. There had even been several times when Huo Wan directly made excuses and said she had something to do, then left first.

Huo Wan not looking for Lin Dang did not mean Lin Dang would not look for her.

After officially beginning to suspect that something was wrong, Lin Dang decided to find the person involved and ask properly what exactly was going on.

The twenty minutes of the long break should be enough, right?

After the exercises ended on the field, students from every class headed back to their classrooms in groups.

By the time Huo Wan returned to her own classroom, Lin Dang was already sitting in her seat, flipping through the test paper on her desk.

“Oh my! What a rare guest!”

After Zhao Yangyang saw Lin Dang, he was the first to shout. From behind, he pushed Huo Wan, who had frozen in place. Huo Wan staggered from his push, then turned back and glared at him.

He had probably also sensitively noticed that something unusual was going on between the two of them.

He thought the two girls were fighting.

The two of them came out of the classroom and walked to the stairwell outside the corridor. There were too many people and too many mouths inside the classroom, so it was not a good place to talk.

Huo Wan’s eyes flickered, and she did not dare look directly into Lin Dang’s eyes at all.

What if her eyes betrayed her?

People said the eyes were the windows to the soul. Huo Wan could not control the fondness and admiration hidden in her gaze.

“Are you still angry because of what happened last time?”

The “last time” Lin Dang was talking about referred to what had happened with Huang Xuan not long ago. But hadn’t she apologized immediately back then?

And at the time, the other girl had also accepted her apology very happily.

Huo Wan shook her head, denying it.

She was somewhat distressed. She also did not know what kind of excuse she should use to cover up her abnormal behavior.

“Pressure from studying?”

Shake of the head.

“Then did I provoke you again somehow?”

Shake of the head.

“So what exactly is wrong with you?”

“Open your mouth and talk!”

Lin Dang was a little frantic. Before, this person had always had plenty to say, but now she could not squeeze out a single word after half a day. Making her guess here and there—if there was something wrong, couldn’t she just say it directly?

Friendship between girls was just this complicated.

Lin Dang’s voice was a little loud, making her attitude sound rather bad, when in truth, she was only anxious.

She was actually this slow, so slow that she had not even known when the good friend beside her had started hiding something in her heart. Back then, they had clearly agreed that if anything happened, they would tell each other first thing!

Huo Wan opened her mouth and was just about to complain about this problem when Zhao Yangyang’s voice came from not far behind them.

The boy poked half his body out from the classroom doorway and shouted toward them.

“Huo Wan, hurry back. The teacher’s here. Our class is starting early!”

For key classes, starting class early and ending class late had already become routine, depending only on the teacher’s mood.

The two of them stared at each other with wide eyes. Huo Wan gave a faint sigh and prepared to turn around and go back to the classroom for class. She still had not thought of what excuse she should use to brush this matter off, and for the moment…

Who knew Lin Dang would suddenly reach out and grab her arm? Even through the thick school uniform jacket, Huo Wan could feel the strength in the other girl’s hand.

She stared at that pair of long, fair hands, then lifted her eyes.

A pair of hands like this was perfect for holding… Huo Wan’s thoughts began wandering wildly.

With a perfectly serious and solemn expression, Lin Dang asked a sentence that left her dumbfounded:

“Huo Wan, are you secretly dating Zhao Yangyang behind my back?”