Soon after lunch, the bell rang and the boys all scrambled up and ran back to class. Ya Tou and Gui Gui walked back in silence.

On the way, Ya Tou suddenly asked her a question.

“Gui Gui, are you really Aaron’s girlfriend?”

Gui Gui looked at her in surprise. Why was Ya Tou suddenly asking her questions like these? She took a deep breath.

“Well, I don’t know,” She replied. “I guess I’m not really. After all, we’re just pretending.” She let out a little laugh. Ya Tou widened her eyes.

“You guys are just pretending?” She asked. Gui Gui looked at her and told her the whole story.

“...I see now,” Ya Tou said after Gui Gui had finished. “So you guys were just going out for the sake of everyone not bullying you? Don’t you think that’s just a bit cowardly of you?” Gui Gui blinked at her.

“C-Cowardly?”

Ya Tou nodded.

“It’s like....having a marriage without love!” She explained. “It’s like you guys are forced to love each other!” Gui Gui stopped walking and thought for a while.

“That’s true...” She said slowly. Ya Tou nodded. Gui Gui smiled at her.

“Alright then, I’ll tell him we should stop faking,” She declared. Ya Tou smiled.

~~~

“What? We should stop pretending?” Aaron asked. “Why?” Gui Gui looked around uncomfortably. They were both alone in the classroom after school. Mrs. Yu had hitched her glasses further up her nose and told them to close the door before leaving.

“I think we shouldn’t force ourselves to go out with each other,” She replied. “Besides, Calvin and the others already think that we’re boyfriend and girlfriend so we don’t really need to act anymore. Plus we don’t even like each other that way.”

Aaron’s heart somehow kept beating really fast as she said this. What was wrong with him? She was right, after all, they didn’t really like each other in a boyfriend girlfriend way, right? But why did he feel so.....

“I-I guess you’re right,” He said, trying to sound calm. “I guess we can stop pretending now. Just one more thing, watch out for yourself.” He said the last part softly but firmly, picked up his bag and left. Gui Gui frowned, confused at what he had said. “Watch out for yourself”? What did that mean?

She took her bag and closed the classroom door. As she walked home, she felt somewhat uncertain of her decision. Her heart kept beating hard each step she took as she walked.

After a while, Gui Gui stopped and looked up.

“It mustn’t be...” She whispered and gripped her cheeks with her hands in horror. “It can’t be that I like him, right? Right?? A-After all, we don’t even know each other that well!!”

She rapidly thought about the drama she used to watch and nodded to herself.

“Yeah, usually the main characters have to know each other very well to like each other. That’s right!” She gripped her bag and marched on.

~~~

“Chang kai xin xiong, qu zhui xun kuai le de chu kou. Bie pa ji mo, ying wei you wo men zai bei hou. Jia ru yi hou, wo men quan dou ge ben xi dong, yao yong yuan ji zhu zui chu de meng*”

Gui Gui picked up her phone.

“Hello?”

“Gui Gui! It’s me! Ya Tou!” The voice at the other end said.

“Ah, Ya Tou! Hello!” Gui Gui greeted. “Guess what? We’re not pretending to be boyfriend girlfriend anymore. We’re just acquaintances now.”

“Hahaha! That’s good! Now you can go find someone that you really love! I’ll be encouraging you and supporting you both all the way!” Ya Tou cheered.

“Thank you!” Gui Gui said, happy that she had a friend like Ya Tou.

“Ah! I have to go now!” Ya Tou said. “Bye bye! See you tomorrow at school!”

“Alright, bye then!” Ya Tou hung up and Gui Gui rolled around her bed.

“That’s right,” She murmured to herself. “I have to find someone I really love!”

~~~

“Ya Lun, ni bu chi fan ah?” Mrs. Yan asked. (Translation: “Ya Lun, you’re not going to eat?”)

“Wo bu e,” Aaron muttered, resting his cheek on his hand while staring down at the table. (Translation: “I’m not hungry”)

“Zen me le, ge ge?” Aaron’s little brother, Xiao Bu teased. “Shi lian le?” (Translation: “What’s wrong, big brother? You broke up?”)

“Shui shuo de?” Aaron said, standing up and walking to his room. (Translation: “Who said?”) He slammed the door shut before his little brother could bug him further.

“What is this?” He muttered. “We didn’t even have a real relationship so why am I feeling like this?” After all, they had only one date and many fights. He grabbed his towel and went off to shower. That weird feeling he kept having was probably fatigue anyway.

~~

Author’s Note:

GASP! Break up? :O Ya Lun and Gui Gui?

*By the way, can you guess what song Gui Gui’s ring tone was playing and who sang it? Guess and if you get it correct, you’ll get...well, a picture request! XD

THANKSFORREADING! X3