Chapter 1
Two weeks.
That was all the time left before the inter-college debate competition.
Lili stared at the notice pinned to the wall outside the staff room of Westbridge College, mentally going through the same problem she had been trying to solve for the past three days.
She needed two partners.
And nobody wanted to debate.
Being the class representative of the Science Section A came with responsibilities she had never asked for but somehow always ended up taking seriously. Collecting assignments, informing classmates about schedules, coordinating with teachers, organizing class activities—and now, finding two students willing to represent their section in the upcoming debate competition.
The problem was simple.
Everyone had an excuse.
“I have practicals.”
“I’ve never done debate.”
“I’m too nervous to speak in front of people.”
“I’ll probably embarrass myself.”
Lili sighed.
She loved debating.
Standing behind a podium, arguing a point, finding flaws in an opponent’s reasoning—it was one of the few things that made her completely forget about everything else.
So she couldn’t understand how nobody else seemed interested.
She walked back toward Section A one more time and looked inside.
Nothing.
Then she remembered Section B.
Maybe someone there would be interested.
With her notebook tucked against her chest, Lili walked across the corridor and stopped outside the Section B classroom.
She was about to knock when she heard music.
Not loud music.
A voice.
A beautiful, soft melody floated through the half-open classroom door.
Lili froze.
For a moment, she forgot why she had come.
The voice was gentle but strangely captivating. It wasn’t the kind of singing that demanded attention. It simply made you want to keep listening.
Lili slowly looked through the doorway.
And that’s when she saw her.
A girl was sitting near the window, singing quietly.
Short, slightly messy boyish hair framed a pale face. Her lips were naturally red, contrasting against her fair skin. Her features were sharp enough to look almost unreal.
There was something androgynous about her appearance.
Beautiful—but handsome at the same time.
Lili stared for a few seconds longer than she should have.
Who is she?
Then the girl stopped singing.
She smiled.
Not at Lili.
At the girl sitting beside her.
“Mia, you seriously don’t know this song?”
The girl beside her laughed.
“Of course I don’t. You are the one who keeps singing it.”
Lili finally understood.
The beautiful girl wasn’t performing for the class.
She was singing for Mia.
And Mia was beautiful too.
Long hair, bright eyes, a naturally graceful face—she looked like someone who could walk into a room and immediately attract everyone’s attention.
Lili looked at the two of them.
Then at herself.
She suddenly felt very ordinary.
She pushed the thought away.
I’m here for the debate.
Taking a breath, she stepped inside.
“Excuse me.”
Both girls looked up.
The short-haired girl tilted her head.
“Yes?”
Lili suddenly became aware that she was standing directly in front of her.
Up close, she looked even more striking.
“I’m Lili. I’m the class representative of Science Section A.”
“Oh.”
The girl smiled politely.
“I’m Toma.”
Toma.
The name settled into Lili’s mind before she could stop it.
“I actually came here because of the debate competition.”
Toma raised an eyebrow.
“Debate?”
“Yes. It’s in two weeks, and I need two people from our science sections to participate.”
Mia glanced at Toma.
Toma shook her head almost immediately.
“Sorry. I don’t know how to debate.”
“You don’t have to be experienced,” Lili said quickly. “I can help you prepare. We still have two weeks.”
Toma smiled apologetically.
“No, really. It’s not for me.”
Lili paused.
“Oh.”
She had imagined herself walking into Section B, finding two perfect candidates, and walking out feeling relieved.
Instead, she had found exactly one person she couldn’t stop looking at—and that person had just rejected her.
“Okay,” Lili said quietly.
She gave them a small smile.
“Sorry for disturbing you.”
She turned and walked out.
Behind her, Toma returned to her conversation with Mia.
Lili didn’t look back.
At least, she told herself she didn’t.
That evening, Lili was sitting at the dining table when her mother suddenly said,
“I saw a unique girl today.”
Lili looked up from her phone.
“What girl?”
“She was riding a Scooty.”
Lili smiled.
“Okay?”
“No, you should have seen her! She was riding so perfectly. So confidently. I was thinking, how can a girl ride like that?"
Something about the description caught Lili’s attention.
“Where did you see her?”
Her mother replied,
“Near the college Field.”
Lili’s fingers stopped moving.
“Was she... short-haired?”
Her mother looked at her.
“Yes! How did you know?”
Lili stared at the table, thinking...
No way.
“Toma?”
“Yes! That’s her name, I think.”
Lili’s heart gave a strange little jump.
“You know her?”
“No. But I saw something else.”
“What?”
Her mother smiled.
“She was giving children rides on her Scooty.”
Lili blinked.
“Children?”
“Yes. There were some younger children nearby who were excited because they wanted to ride it. She let each of them have a little ride.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Just for a couple of minutes each. She was very patient with them.”
Lili didn’t say anything.
For some reason, that small detail stayed in her mind.
The girl who had refused her debate invitation.
The girl with the beautiful voice.
The girl who sang for her best friend.
The girl who rode a Scooty like she owned the road.
And apparently...
The girl who stopped to make little children happy.
Lili smiled without realizing it.
Maybe there was more to Toma than she had first noticed.
She picked up her phone again.
But she wasn’t reading anything anymore.
She was thinking about Section B.
About a beautiful voice.
About pale skin and short hair.
About a girl named Toma.
And about why, after meeting her only once, Lili couldn’t seem to get her out of her mind.
She didn’t know it yet.
But that brief moment in Section B would become the beginning of a story she would remember long after Westbridge College was nothing more than a memory.
And one day, years later, when all three of them had graduated and started university...
Lili would realize that the girl she thought was only a passing fascination had quietly become the most important person in her life.
