“…”

She handed the note to Yan Su. Yan Su’s outstretched hand froze in midair, and her heart broke. She had been his loyal spy all the while and said good things about him all the time. All she got in exchange was his note that indicated she was not allowed to share Luosang’s food.

“Ignore him, dig in. I can’t finish everything, anyway,” Luosang said.

“Wait, there’s another note down there.” Yan Su pulled out another slip of paper underneath. It said, If Yan Su eats this, she will bear the consequences of a ruined career. Yan Su put down her chopsticks begrudgingly. “Forget it, I’m not eating.”

Luosang was speechless. It was just lunch. Did he really have to threaten and scare her like that? She picked up a chicken wing and bit into the meat. It was delicious, but when she looked down, the chicken was still red in the middle, uncooked. She put down the wing and took a bite of the pork rib. Again, it was pink in the middle, uncooked. Alright, she could still eat the vegetables, she thought. She took a bite of the broccoli, and it was mushy, overcooked.

Yan Su looked at her sympathetically, relieved that she had decided not to try the food. “I’m sure he cooked this himself.”

Luosang was convinced, too. The food looked good, but if she really ate it all, she would probably get an upset tummy. Luckily, the cocktail shrimp was cooked and edible. It was just that it didn’t go well with rice.

Yan Su couldn’t bear to watch her and shared some of her food with her. “Do you think he will deliver this awful bento box to you every day if you still refuse to get back together with him?”

Luosang shuddered in horror just thinking about it. She didn’t care about what she wore or used, but she was particular about food. It was important to her that she ate well. After her unsatisfying lunch, she decided to buy some snacks at the school gate.

The two girls walked towards their destination, and suddenly, a female student stuffed a pink rose into her hands and grinned at her. “Luosang, please get back together with Mr. Nian.”

Luosang was stunned. She didn’t walk for long before a male classmate handed her another rose. “Mr. Nian is waiting for you!” And then someone else handed her yet another. “Hey, Mr. Nian is amazing. If you don’t want him, give him to me!” By the time she reached the school gate, she had received 33 long-stemmed pink roses.

Yan Su checked her phone quickly. “Wow, 33 roses stand for three lifetimes and three eternities.”

Luosang bent to smell the roses. She was really impressed with the entire romantic gig. He was making such a big deal out of the entire thing, Jiang Qifei must know about this. Although she was pleased, it wasn’t in line with her original plans.

“What are you going to do? Are you still holding out?” Yan Su sighed as she glanced over at Luosang’s blissful expression. She was beaming from the inside. Yan Su, on the other hand, wanted to cry. It was discouraging to compare her own relationship to her good friend’s, all in the middle of a breakup! The whole school was envious of Luosang, of course, so she wasn’t alone in this.

“I don’t know.” Luosang didn’t know what to say. It was only the second day after she brought it up. She didn’t know how she was going to last three months. If he continued down this path, there was no way she could stay away from him.

“It’s the holidays tomorrow. I’m not coming to school. I’m going to camp at home over the next two days. I’ll really break down if I continue seeing this.”

“Hang in there.” Yan Su encouraged her as she patted her back. She pitied her.

…

The next day when she woke up, the trending topic online was, “Shengting’s CEO broadcast a love poem to win back his ex-girlfriend.” Luosang clicked on the hyperlink. The article was about what Nian Junting had done in school the day before. She had no idea who had posted about his romantic bento box and the flowers.