I was born and listened to my neighbor's older sister talk about her family of origin.

From that day on, Jiang Ye's life took on a new fixed task—serving as Lin Youxun's private tutor.

Normally, Jiang Ye would help Lin Youxun reinforce the knowledge she learned in class after class. She wasn't embarrassed at all and would ask Jiang Ye questions whenever she didn't understand something.

Occasionally, they would linger in the classroom for a while after school.

Ji Xiaoxiao and Lin Xinghe could only wait for them, each sitting in their seats doing their homework.

"Look at this question..."

Jiang Ye looked at the math problem Lin Youxun handed him, his voice steady, and began to explain it step by step using the most common and easy-to-understand logic.

Lin Youxun wasn't stupid; it was just that her slight hearing impairment made it easy for her to miss some key information during class.

Forget about humanities, but once the knowledge chain in science is broken, it's very difficult to catch up.

For example, if you just bend down to pick up a pen, the math teacher might jump straight from the simplest formula to an advanced math problem, making it really hard to panic.

Now that Jiang Ye is so close, he patiently helps her fill in the gaps in her knowledge, reconnecting those broken points one by one. Her previously chaotic scientific thinking has become much clearer.

"So that's how it is!"

Lin Youxun looked at the complex math problem she had just solved independently, her eyes sparkling with an unprecedented brilliance. The joy of sudden enlightenment made her even more excited than if she had gotten first place in the exam.

She looked up at Jiang Ye, her face filled with barely suppressed gratitude.

The afterglow of the setting sun shone through the window, casting a warm golden halo on the boy's profile. His focused expression as he explained the story had a reassuring charm.

Lin Youxun's heart skipped a beat without her noticing.

This went on for a week.

Lin Youxun made rapid progress, from a page full of red crosses at the beginning to more and more red checkmarks on her homework later on, and she smiled more often.

She usually doesn't take up too much of Jiang Ye's time; she only needs him to answer one or two questions a day, and he can figure things out on his own the rest of the time.

That's how it is; over time, the improvement is significant.

That afternoon after school, Jiang Ye was explaining the last challenging math problem to Lin Youxun when his phone vibrated in his pocket.

It was a message from Xu Zhiyu.

Little Fish: [Ah Ye, I bought a new bicycle, so we can walk home together now... Have you finished school yet?]

Jiang Ye told Lin Youxun to wait a moment, smiled as he looked at his phone, and then quickly replied with his fingertips.

JY: [Okay, but you might have to wait a while, about ten minutes.]

Little Fish: [It's okay, I'll wait for you at your classroom door.]

Jiang Ye put away his phone and looked up to find Lin Youxun staring at him.

"What's wrong?"

Lin Youxun hesitated and asked, "Is it Senior Xu Zhiyu?"

"Yes, she also bought a bicycle, and we arranged to go home together today."

"I see..."

Jiang Ye didn't notice her expression and continued explaining the problem. Since the problem required drawing lines, he picked up his pen and naturally leaned towards her.

"Look here, you can't connect them directly. You need to draw a parallel line first to construct similar triangles..."

To give her a better view, he leaned forward slightly and lowered his head, almost touching hers.

The boy's breath brushed gently past her ear, carrying a refreshing minty scent.

Lin Youxun's expression remained unchanged. At first, she would be a little shy when Jiang Ye approached her, but now she was used to it.

Sometimes, she even felt that he was doing it on purpose.

But seeing how serious the other person was, I felt I shouldn't.

It's really wrong of her to doubt someone who has put so much effort into teaching her.

However, feeling the close proximity between them and smelling the faint sunlight on his school uniform, Lin Youxun was still somewhat dazed.

She held her breath slightly, trying her best to concentrate all her attention on the question, her expression focused.

However, this scene was seen without a doubt by the figure quietly standing at the back door of Class 1, Grade 7.

Xu Zhiyu was standing there.

She was wearing a clean school uniform, her figure was slender and upright, and she had a gentle smile on her face.

However, when her gaze passed through the glass and fell upon the two people sitting close together in the classroom, her smile, like a candle flame flickering in the cold wind, gradually froze and went out.

The setting sun cast long shadows of the two people, almost merging them into one.

The boy lowered his head, his profile was soft, and his voice was very low, as if he were whispering something only lovers would say.

The girl had her head down, looking very focused on the questions on the test paper, but I could clearly see a blush on her ears.

That mere blush of red, tinged by the setting sun, was so dazzling that Xu Zhiyu's breath caught in her throat for a moment.

The distance is too close.

So close that, in her eyes, their hair seemed to be intertwined.

For a moment, Xu Zhiyu's mind went completely blank.

The two men were positioned diagonally opposite her, allowing her to clearly see Jiang Ye's gaze.

It was an extreme tenderness and patience she had never seen before.

Even... in the depths of that gentle ocean, she saw a glimpse of something she had always longed for.

Do you like it?

Ah Ye... has fallen for this girl he's only known for a few months?

No, how could that be?

How could A-Ye possibly like someone else?

He was just a friend to Ji Xiaoxiao, and just a friend to her.

She thought he hadn't figured it out yet.

That's just how guys are; the older they get, the stronger their interest in girls becomes. At this age, it's normal not to like anyone.

She knows.

But why would he make that expression at another girl?!

That's clearly... liking someone!

In that corner where the girl couldn't see, Xu Zhiyu saw clearly how gentle his eyes were.

This thought was like a sharp knife piercing Xu Zhiyu's heart, then stirring it violently.

Intense pain and icy coldness instantly spread from my heart to every part of my body.

The sounds of the world faded away in an instant.

The warm orange twilight in her eyes quickly lost all color, leaving only two distinct black and white figures.

They were so harmonious, so well-matched.

Like a painting she could never fit into.

Xu Zhiyu stood still, her knuckles turning pale from gripping the phone so tightly.

The gentle light in those eyes, which were once as clear as autumn water, gradually faded and was swallowed by a bottomless, viscous darkness.

It's been two years.

She's back.

But it seems there's no place for her next to A-Ye.