Chapter 1
THE BEGINNING BEFORE HIM
After finishing middle school, I joined an integrated entrance prep academy for senior high. It meant leaving home, moving into the dormitory, and starting over with strangers.
At first, everything felt light.
Dorm life was chaotic in the best way — late-night whispers, instant noodles, borrowed snacks, and endless laughter over nothing. We gave each other nicknames and turned ordinary days into something memorable.
In the beginning, I talked the most to two girls. They were best friends, and I thought we clicked well. But within days, something felt off. Conversations didn’t feel real, and slowly it became clear that I didn’t belong in their circle.
My roommate,Liu Meilin, noticed it too. So we stepped back.
Things didn’t end peacefully.
Some of our belongings were messed with — small things at first, then enough to make the tension obvious. Eventually, something happened between them, and everything fell apart. One of them switched rooms, the other transferred branches.
And just like that, the noise disappeared.
After that, life became calmer. I finished my first year smoothly, and when the second year began, our dorm finally felt like home.
Around that time, two girls joined us for a short while— Zhao Yuning and Sun Qian. We connected instantly. It was easy, natural. For a month, our nights were filled with laughter, shared food, and conversations that didn’t need to make sense to anyone else.
Then they left.
Soon after, two seniors moved into our dorm —Xu An and Chen Lihua.
The first day was awkward. Quiet. Distant.
But I wasn’t the type to stay silent.
I started conversations, slowly breaking the ice, until the distance faded. Xu An, especially, became very close to me. She didn’t feel like just a senior — she felt like an older sister.
Before long, the four of us — me, Liu Meilin, Xu An, and Chen Lihua — became inseparable.
But it didn’t stop there.
We had four more friends from the room next door —Zhang Yuwei, Li Xinyu, Huang Zixuan, and Wu Qian. Somehow, all of us blended into one group.
Eight people.
Too loud. Too chaotic. Too close.
We studied together, ate together, walked around campus together. There was always someone talking, someone laughing, someone teasing. It felt like nothing could go wrong in that phase.
Life was… full.
Until one random day in class.
We were sitting together, laughing over something meaningless, completely unserious as always, when Zhang Yuwei, leaned over and said casually,
“There’s a guy here… with freckles.”
I frowned.
“Who?”
I had never noticed him before.
Then came August.
Rainy days. Damp air. And us, still roaming around campus without any reason, just enjoying everything.
That day, we were outside again, walking through the drizzle, when Liu Meilin suddenly pointed ahead. “Look… the one in the light green shirt. That’s him.”
I followed her gaze.
And for the first time, I saw him.
The boy with freckles.
At that moment, he was just another face in the crowd.
I didn’t know his name.
I didn’t know anything about him.
But somehow—
without me realizing it—
something had already begun.
