“You’re late again.”
By the time Chu Nguyệt arrived, the dress rehearsal was already halfway through.
The moment she arrived, everyone had to stop. Everyone’s faces were covered in sweat, looking quite a mess.
My deskmate, standing beside me, was the first to complain.
I wasn’t surprised by this.
Including today, Chu Nguyệt had been late five times since the teacher assigned her to this dance.
Today was the sixth practice session.
The other students, whose practice had been interrupted time and again, were already seething with anger, staring intently at me.
Since I was the head organizer and lead dancer for the school’s centennial anniversary performance, everyone was waiting for my decision.
This time, I still didn’t blame her.
I pointed to her spot in the corner: “Change and then come practice.”
But Chu Nguyệt bit her lower lip, clutching her pink bag, and stood still. She looked utterly humiliated and wronged.
She glared at me for a long moment before finally taking her costume backstage.
After she left, my deskmate came over to me, her face displeased.
“Kiều Kiều, she’s been late five times in a row. Why aren’t you angry?”
I stretched my limbs and replied casually, “She’s an honor student, why should I be angry with her?”
My deskmate scoffed, “I can’t stand her weak act! She’s reeking of ‘green tea,’ making it seem like we’re all bullying her!”
“She even brought her bag to change clothes. As if people don’t know she’s late because she’s attending extra classes with Jiang Zhào!”
“But most importantly, she stole Jiang Zhào from you! Everyone in school knows that you and Jiang Zhào were…”
At this, she suddenly fell silent, carefully observing my expression.
Seeing that I was still calm, she breathed a sigh of relief.
“Jiang Zhào and I were childhood sweethearts?” I replied with a smile.
She mumbled a reply.
I looked up at the tightly closed hall door. There was no one there.
Ever since Chu Nguyệt arrived, he no longer waited for our rehearsals to finish.
“Childhood sweethearts don’t always end up together.”
“If she wants to steal him, let her.”
Because she would definitely succeed.
There’s no need to fight for something that isn’t yours.
2.
Chu Nguyệt slowly changed and came out, still clutching her pink bag tightly.
I pretended not to notice.
“Chu Nguyệt, perform the moves by yourself once more.”
Immediately, everyone fell silent again.
Everyone turned to look at Chu Nguyệt, smirking.
All eyes were on her. Chu Nguyệt clutched her bag tighter, her eyes reddening.
Soon after, her eyes welled up with tears.
My deskmate, not one to shy away from making a scene, walked up to her and asked with feigned surprise, “Oh, honor student. Why are you crying?”
“You’ve been late so many times, haven’t you practiced it quite well by now? Can’t you perform it for us just once?”
“Or… were you late on purpose?”
Her voice suddenly grew louder.
Chu Nguyệt flinched, then shot a glance at me. She shook her head, refuting in a small voice, “I didn’t…”
Her eyelashes trembled, and a tear fell. She looked utterly pathetic.
“I… I’ll dance.”
With that, she put her bag down and performed her dance segment.
Because she was only a temporary addition and had no dance background, Chu Nguyệt’s part was very small.
Despite that, her segment was quite distinctive. Chu Nguyệt was the only one with a solo performance in the entire piece.
But what *was* that performance?
Her movements were uncoordinated, her limbs stiff.
She couldn't even manage the most basic move.
Moments later, she choked back a sob and sank to the floor, covering her face and weeping. She couldn't dance.
“This is terrible!”
“With such a low skill level, how can she have the nerve to be late repeatedly?”
“If you don't want to come, just say so. Don't steal someone else's spot.”
Everyone gathered around, looking down at the so-called 'elite student'.
Such an 'elite student' shouldn't exist in Mingde Private School.
But she was the female lead.
She could effortlessly snatch Jiang Zhao from me. Just because of one sentence, “I want to fit in with everyone,” the teacher gave her this solo dance.
“Chu Yue.”
My cold voice echoed throughout the hall.
“Can you please be more serious?”
I didn't care if she was late or not.
But she couldn't treat the work I painstakingly created with such an attitude.
This 'Offering' dance piece was incredibly important to everyone in our troupe.
If we performed well, it would be our chance to enter the country's top dance academy.
As the lead choreographer and principal dancer, I had to lead everyone to perform this piece flawlessly.
Looking at her, still squatting on the ground and sobbing, I took a deep breath, suppressing my anger, and extended my hand towards her:
“Stand up. I'll help you dance.”
3.
Chu Yue swatted my hand away.
She stood up, angrily tugging at her dance costume.
“I'm not dancing anymore!”
The exquisitely tailored dance costume was instantly ripped.
Chu Yue clutched her bag, standing alone, tears silently falling.
“You rich people don't consider us poor people human at all!”
I let out a laugh.
She was clearly late on her own. She clearly wanted to join the dance troupe but refused to focus on practice. How did she end up the victim?
I bent down to pick up the torn pieces of the costume, my gaze cold as I looked at her.
“Chu Yue, do you know that all these costumes were custom-made by a famous designer at my request?”
“You tore this outfit; the design fee alone was over twenty thousand.”
“You can't dance, but why did you have to ruin the costume?”
My question rendered Chu Yue speechless.
She clutched her bag, standing there dumbfounded.
I suddenly felt bored, only wanting her to quickly compensate me for the costume.
I didn't expect that as soon as I got close, she would fall backward, collapsing to the ground. Her schoolbag also tumbled down.
The contents of her bag scattered everywhere.
Although Chu Yue quickly gathered them, I still managed to catch sight of the bracelet I had given Jiang Zhao.
This was the bracelet I had spent an entire day off flying halfway across the world to obtain.
I clutched the bracelet, asking sharply, “Where did you get this?”
“I gave it to her.”
A cold voice suddenly echoed from the doorway.
Immediately after, a basketball flew past me, grazing my ear before landing in the crowd.
Everyone fell silent again.
Jiang Zhao stood silhouetted against the light, his lips pressed into a thin line, his face cold, as he walked slowly towards us.
He snatched the bracelet from my hand, carefully placed it on Chu Yue, then tidied up her schoolbag.
After doing all this, he tilted his head to look at me, his dark eyes devoid of any emotion.
“She liked it, so I gave it to her.”
“Song Qiaoqiao, do you have any more questions?”
4.
“No.”
I lowered my head, concealing the emotions in my eyes.
In front of me, Jiang Zhao always acted as if he didn't care about anyone else, always protecting Chu Yue behind his back.
Let alone the times I wasn't even aware of.
I had to admit, reality felt like a dream.
Jiang Zhao was truly attracted to her.
Perhaps seeing me so calm, Jiang Zhao frowned. Those dark eyes finally showed some emotion. The moment our eyes met, my heart gave a sudden pang.
A moment later, I slowly smiled.
Cold yet alluring.
His attitude instead made me even calmer, as if the sharp-tongued person from earlier wasn't me.
"I've already given it to you. Do whatever you want with it."
I said dismissively.
As if it wasn't a valuable item that I had spent time and money to acquire.
If he didn't want it, why should I bother clinging to a small bracelet?
No matter how precious an item is, if it's not cherished by others, it's as good as trash.
It's just a pity that I won't get to see him wear this bracelet to a competition.
Jiang Zhao stared at me intently, his brows and eyes furrowed.
"Really?"
He hesitated. I didn't bother looking at him anymore, my gaze turning towards the classmates who had been waiting.
"Let's go again. Once we're done, you can call it a day."
My shout brought everyone back to their senses, and they hastily adjusted their clothes and got into position.
Everyone, as if by unspoken agreement, avoided Jiang Zhao and Chu Yue, who was still wiping away tears.
"Start."
I signaled for a classmate to turn on the music.
Chu Yue struggled for a moment, seeing Jiang Zhao's gaze still fixed on me, then gritted her teeth and followed.
She was wearing the torn outfit and kept stumbling.
Before long, her knees were bruised.
Jiang Zhao frowned, watching her struggle to get up after falling, and couldn't bear it any longer, interrupting our practice.
He pulled Chu Yue behind him, looked me straight in the face and said, "Song Qiaoqiao, don't be so overbearing!"
"Alright, let's do this part again!" I panted, ignoring him, and signaled for a classmate to adjust the music.
"Song Qiaoqiao!"
"Is it so hard to admit you bullied her, and treated her unfairly?"
Jiang Zhao's stern voice rang out behind me, each word striking my heart.
I stopped, my back to him.
My vision was already a little blurry, but I stubbornly lifted my head to stop the tears from falling.
"Jiang Zhao."
"She's the one who knows best if I bullied her. Why don't you ask her?"
Out of the corner of my eye, Chu Yue, still in her tattered outfit, tugged at Jiang Zhao's sleeve, looking utterly pitiful.
"You say you didn't bully her, but you couldn't even give her a decent outfit?"
"That's right! I bullied her! I didn't give her new clothes, and deliberately made her wear ragged clothes to humiliate her! Jiang Zhao, are you satisfied now?"
I uttered these words with all my might.
The tears I couldn't hold back finally streamed down.
"That's not what I meant. Qiaoqiao, are you jealous..." Before he could finish the word 'jealous', Jiang Zhao saw me in floods of tears. He suddenly froze.
"No, that's not right. Song Qiaoqiao, why are you crying?"
No wonder he was surprised. In fifteen years of being childhood sweethearts, this was only the second time I had cried in front of him.
I looked into his bewildered eyes and said softly, "Jiang Zhao, this is the first time I've ever hated you."