Chapter 3 – The Plan That Was Not a Plan

Li Yichen did not panic.

This was important to establish.

His heart might have been racing, his thoughts colliding into each other like badly programmed NPCs, and his palms slightly sweaty—but internally, he was very calm.

Externally, however, he looked like someone who had just been informed that his name was trending for all the wrong reasons.

“You’re saying,” Yichen said slowly, staring at Lin Xinyue, “that people think you were the mysterious person.”

“Yes,” Xinyue replied.

“And that I—” he paused, choosing his words carefully, “—dramatically rejected you.”

“Yes.”

“In the rain.”

“Yes.”

“With emotional depth.”

Xinyue tilted her head. “Apparently.”

Yichen closed his eyes.

Behind them, the hallway had developed a strange atmosphere. Students were pretending to walk past while very obviously listening. One boy nearly walked into a wall.

Zhou Minghao appeared beside Yichen like a summoned creature. “Oh,” he said, eyes lighting up. “So this is the lead actress.”

“This is not a drama,” Yichen snapped.

Xinyue glanced at Minghao. “You must be Zhou Minghao.”

Minghao straightened. “Famous already?”

“For spreading rumors,” she said calmly.

Minghao coughed. “Allegedly.”

Yichen rubbed his face. “Okay. Okay. This has escalated, but it’s still fixable.”

Minghao raised an eyebrow. “Is it, though?”

“Yes,” Yichen said, forcing confidence into his voice. “We just need to clarify things.”

Xinyue looked at him. “Clarify how?”

Yichen opened his mouth.

Then he paused.

Then he realized something horrifying.

He had absolutely no idea.

Lunch break arrived like an unskippable cutscene.

The canteen was louder than usual, buzzing with energy that had nothing to do with food. Yichen felt like every step he took was being recorded by invisible cameras.

“This is like walking through enemy territory,” he muttered.

Minghao grinned. “You’re popular.”

“I’m infamous.”

They found a table near the corner. Xinyue sat across from Yichen, calm as ever, eating like she wasn’t accidentally part of the biggest rumor of the week.

Yichen stared at his tray. He had lost his appetite somewhere between panic and social collapse.

“Okay,” he said finally. “Let’s think logically.”

Minghao leaned back. “That’s a bad sign already.”

“We tell people the truth,” Yichen continued. “We never met. Nothing happened. End of story.”

Xinyue nodded. “That would be reasonable.”

Minghao winced. “Which is why it won’t work.”

Yichen frowned. “Why not?”

“Because,” Minghao said, lowering his voice, “you denying it sounds exactly like someone trying to hide it.”

Yichen slumped. “I hate society.”

They sat in silence for a moment.

Then Minghao snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it.”

Yichen and Xinyue both looked at him.

“We create a new story,” Minghao said confidently. “One so boring that it kills the rumor.”

Yichen was suspicious. “Go on.”

“You say you were waiting near the stairs for me,” Minghao continued. “Because I borrowed your charger.”

Yichen blinked. “That’s it?”

“Yes. No emotions. No rain. No rejection. Just technology problems.”

Xinyue considered it. “That… is boring.”

Yichen felt a spark of hope. “It might actually work.”

They put the plan into action immediately.

During the next class, Yichen casually mentioned—very casually—that he had been waiting near the stairwell because Minghao was late returning his charger.

He repeated it twice. Once loudly enough for others to hear.

Minghao nodded along dramatically.

For a brief, beautiful moment, Yichen believed it was over.

Then someone from the back said, “Wow. He’s covering for her.”

Another voice added, “That’s actually kind of sweet.”

The spark died instantly.

By the end of the class, the rumor had mutated again.

Now, according to the latest version, Yichen and Xinyue were secretly protecting each other.

“This is worse,” Yichen said, his head on the desk.

Xinyue sipped water calmly. “On the bright side, they think you’re considerate.”

“I would rather be boring.”

The final disaster arrived in the form of their homeroom teacher.

“Li Yichen,” she said, looking over her glasses. “Please come to the staff room after school.”

The class went silent.

Minghao mouthed, Good luck.

Yichen stood up like a condemned man.

The staff room smelled like chalk and judgment.

His teacher gestured for him to sit. “There are… discussions.”

Yichen nodded. “I’ve noticed.”

She studied him for a long moment. “Is there anything you’d like to say?”

This was it.

The moment.

Yichen straightened his back. “Yes, miss. There is a misunderstanding.”

She waited.

“I did not meet anyone secretly,” he continued. “I did not reject anyone. I was waiting for the rain to stop.”

There was a pause.

“…Rain?” she repeated.

“Yes.”

She sighed. “Li Yichen, next time, avoid standing near stairwells looking conflicted.”

Yichen stared. “That’s… advice?”

“Yes,” she said. “You may go.”

He left the staff room feeling oddly victorious and deeply confused.

Outside, Minghao and Xinyue waited.

“Well?” Minghao asked.

“I survived,” Yichen said. “Barely.”

As they walked home, the sky darkened. Clouds gathered. A familiar heaviness filled the air.

Yichen stopped walking.

“No,” he said.

Minghao squinted upward. “Is it going to—”

Rain began to fall.

Xinyue looked at Yichen.

Yichen looked at the stairs ahead.

Somewhere in the universe, fate was laughing.

“This,” Yichen said quietly, “is not over.”

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