Jealousy

"Thanks, got it." She smiled and nodded, taking her leave from the Student Council member who'd handed her the flyer. On the other end of the phone, Fu Haoyao remained silent.

No matter—she knew where he'd be.

Fu Liangxia pushed through the cafeteria doors, ignoring the curious looks cast her way, and made a beeline for a spot on the second floor.

Through the glass, their eyes met across the distance. Fu Haoyao looked down at her, and beside him, Fu Langshu sat with legs crossed, absorbed in his phone.

She wasn't surprised to find him there.

Upstairs, Fu Haoyao had been restless ever since he saw Fu Liangxia's "okay" reply. He had a vague sense that inviting her to lunch like this was moving a little too fast, but a voice in his head insisted that it was just friends eating together—not a date—so there was nothing to worry about.

A minute later, Fu Liangxia climbed to the second floor under many watchful eyes and stopped at Fu Haoyao's table. Fu Langshu was bent over whatever he was reading, his fine platinum-blond hair falling past his ears, black shirt sleeves rolled to his forearms, revealing the taut lines of muscle beneath.

Hearing her approach, he looked up, and a flicker of surprise crossed his face at the sight of her. "What a coincidence."

Fu Liangxia paused internally. *Not really*, she thought. *Your little brother asked me here.*

"That night, I'd meant to see you home," Fu Langshu said with a faint smile, "but I lost track of you. Glad you made it back safe."

He was different today than at the club—that nearly wicked edge was reined in, and he'd reverted to the man she'd first met: restrained, polite, with a hint of aloofness.

Fu Liangxia couldn't shake the feeling that he was bringing up that night on purpose.

Their eyes met, and the atmosphere seemed to snap back to that ambiguous evening—the brief, tentative kiss, the warmth, the scent of each other...

She cut off the thought and took the empty seat beside Xu Ke. "Thanks for the concern. A friend walked me home that night."

Fu Langshu's gaze lingered on her face for a few seconds before he asked, as if merely making conversation, "A friend—the boy with platinum-blond hair?"

His wording carefully swapped "host" for "boy."

But the two others at the table latched onto the hair color. Xu Ke darted a subtle glance at Fu Haoyao, while Fu Haoyao himself went completely blank.

His brain couldn't process this much information at once.

So the situation was: his brother had run into Fu Liangxia one night, his brother had wanted to take her home, but Fu Liangxia had been with another friend—a male friend with platinum-blond hair.

Fu Haoyao's gaze slowly hardened. The thought of some guy alone with her late at night stirred an unfamiliar, uneasy prickle in his chest.

That guy—

He rolled the phrase "platinum-blond hair" over in his mind.

Irritating.

Anyone who dyed their hair that color these days was probably some street thug, chasing trends and looking like a try-hard. Of course, he and his brother were different—they were born with it.

But why should some "thug" get to go out alone with Fu Liangxia and walk her home, when he himself had hesitated an entire class period just to ask her to a simple meal on campus?

While he stewed, Fu Liangxia answered Fu Langshu. "Mm, it was him."

There was no reason to hide it—Little A was Bai Xin, after all, someone Fu Langshu knew. And even if he'd been an ordinary host, she wouldn't have seen anything shameful in saying so.

Fu Langshu nodded at that, asked nothing more, and went back to his phone.

A fair number of dishes had already been ordered. A quick scan told Fu Liangxia that most of them were her favorites, and she raised an eyebrow in pleasant surprise.

Just as she was about to comment, she looked up and caught Fu Haoyao across the table staring at her without blinking.

Fu Liangxia: "..."

Fu Haoyao raised an eyebrow. "You went to a bar?"

A little thought—his brother's weekend socializing plans, and someone coming home reeking of alcohol—and he'd guessed where they'd run into each other.

Fu Liangxia nodded, smiling brightly. "What, surprised?"

His expression said he genuinely hadn't expected it.

The boy shook his head. "Not surprised. Regretful."

"Regretful?" she asked.

"Regretful you didn't call me," Fu Haoyao said, looking at her. "I thought we were friends—bonded for life, even."

In-game lives, sure.

Fu Liangxia found it amusing and tossed him a casual promise. "Next time, I'll bring you along."

A smile crept onto Fu Haoyao's lips, but then something occurred to him. "And the platinum-blond guy?"

Fu Liangxia: "Hm?"

"Would you invite him too?" He didn't know why he asked.

She gave it genuine thought, concluded she wouldn't want to shell out his hourly rate, and said firmly, "Probably not."

For reasons she couldn't fathom, he looked absolutely delighted at that answer.

Fu Langshu lifted his head, swept a glance over Fu Haoyao whose smile was barely contained, then gave Fu Liangxia a long, searching look. He said nothing, only let out a low chuckle.

All told, the meal could be called a roaring success. So when Xu Ke, prompted by a subtle cue from Fu Haoyao, asked Fu Langshu for a photo together, the man didn't object.

Xu Ke rubbed his hands in anticipation. "Just think—a picture with the legendary business prodigy. My feed's about to explode tonight."

Fu Haoyao deflated him. "That's just riding my brother's coattails. What's to brag about?"

"Tsk, Fu-ge, you'll never understand us mortals... Hey, Fu Liangxia, get in here too?" Xu Ke invited enthusiastically.

Fu Liangxia hadn't expected to be included and blinked. "Me too?"

"Come on, come on." Xu Ke thought, *Obviously. You're the one we need most.* For one lousy photo, his brother Fu had nearly sprained his eyelid with all that winking.

So she was ushered into the middle, seated next to Fu Haoyao, with Fu Langshu on her other side. Xu Ke, the one who'd proposed the photo, ended up on the far edge.

"One, two, three—say cheese!"

Xu Ke held up the phone, only half his face in frame, while the other three landed perfectly in the shot.

The two brothers—similar in features but worlds apart in bearing—flanked her. Fu Liangxia sat in the center, smiling lightly at the lens, while beside her, Fu Haoyao reached over with careful fingers to smooth down a stray strand of her hair.

The two young masters of the Fu family were handsome in their own ways, but anyone looking at the photo would still notice Fu Liangxia first. Not merely because of her striking looks, but because everyone in the frame seemed to have their attention subtly trained on her, drawing the viewer's eye along with theirs.

Xu Ke sent the photo to Fu Haoyao and offered one to Fu Liangxia, getting a "no need" in return. Fu Langshu, however, quietly asked him for the original before they headed downstairs.

Xu Ke looked at Fu Langshu's perfectly measured smile and a wild thought flickered through his mind.

But the guess was too insane. He didn't dare tell Fu Haoyao.

He was afraid the guy would lose his mind.

After lunch, Fu Liangxia returned to the class lounge as usual for a nap. Fu Haoyao, meanwhile, lay on the sofa in his private lounge, staring at the photo on his phone, zoomed in until only the two of them filled the screen. He was lost in it.

So lost, in fact, that he didn't notice someone entering from the adjoining room.

The F4's private lounges all shared a common sitting area. Cheng Xingzhou had come in to grab a bottle of water from the fridge when he caught sight of a pair of feet sticking out past the edge of the sofa. His brow twitched.

"You're here." He passed by Fu Haoyao, letting his gaze drift over him—and caught a glimpse of the screen.

His stride faltered. He doubled back, brow furrowing, a familiar face nagging at the back of his mind.

"What are you looking at, so absorbed?" he asked.

"Hm?" Fu Haoyao seemed to just notice him, lifting his eyes. "Student Council's not busy today? You actually have time for the lounge."

"It's fine. Everyone's handling your brother's lecture." Cheng Xingzhou shoved a hand in his pocket, the other holding a glass, and answered flatly.

But in his head, he kept circling that brief glimpse—the more he thought about it, the more familiar it seemed.

That profile, that smile... looked a lot like Fu Liangxia.

Then he dismissed it. From what he knew, she and Fu Haoyao were just in an ordinary tutor-student relationship—nothing beyond that.

And for reasons he couldn't quite name—confidence, perhaps—Cheng Xingzhou always felt Fu Liangxia held him in a special regard.

She acted cold, but not as if she'd fully let go.

He thought there must still be some lingering attachment to him on her part. With that being the case, how could she be that close to anyone else?

He must have been overthinking it.

With that, Cheng Xingzhou let Fu Haoyao's deflection slide, unbothered that the question had gone unanswered.

He took a bottle of cold water from the fridge and, as he poured it into his glass, something inexplicable made him open Moments for the first time in ages.

*Crash—* The glass hit the countertop.

Fu Haoyao looked up at the sound and found Cheng Xingzhou's face dark and grim.

The boy was staring down at the first post on his feed, posted just a minute ago. By Fu Haoyao.

Caption: a cheerful dog emoji.

Below it, a photo—not exactly intimate, but clearly showing two people who were more than passing acquaintances. The girl sat smiling beside the boy, who looked down at her with a focused gaze.

And that girl was none other than Fu Liangxia—the one he'd just insisted couldn't possibly be.

The background was familiar: the second floor of the cafeteria, Fu Haoyao's usual spot.

So they were at the stage of having lunch together at school.

Cheng Xingzhou stared at his phone, expression flat, and felt like an idiot for his confident assumptions moments ago.

A simple tutoring relationship? He thought there was something else entirely going on.

One small comfort: Fu Liangxia wasn't alone in the photo. A sliver of sleeve and hair showed beside her—platinum blond, the same shade as Fu Haoyao's. Fu Langshu.

Not a private meal.

But... Fu Langshu?

Cheng Xingzhou looked up at Fu Haoyao, who was staring back at him with a bewildered expression.

So they were already at the stage of meeting the family?