The Older Brother of My Student is My Secret Crush-Chapter 20: A Circle of Friends Visible Only to Him.
Chapter 20
It rained for a whole week.
It only really stopped on Friday.
When the rain stopped, the temperature suddenly dropped.
It was even lower than the weather forecast, probably only 10 something degrees.
Yu Na didn't blow dry her hair the night before, and she went out and got caught in the rain. On top of not getting enough rest, she still had to go to class.
She felt exhausted all day. When she got home at night, there was no improvement at all.
She carelessly threw her bag onto the sofa and went back to her room to sleep for a while.
When Yu Na woke up, her whole body felt cold, her hands and feet were icy, but her body felt burning hot.
This was a sign that she probably had a fever.
She took out the medicine Xiao Chen had bought for her, but there was no thermometer inside, so she didn't know how high her temperature was.
But she was too lazy to go buy one.
Yu Na forced herself up and went to the kitchen to boil some hot water. She sat quietly on the sofa waiting.
In the meantime, she browsed through her Moments feed.
And flipped through her own as well.
Yu Na rarely posted on Moments. She never had any real friends since she was young.
Lin Shu'an was one.
But now that they were adults, they wouldn't stick together like when they were younger. Everyone was busy.
They only occasionally contacted each other and went out to eat if they had time, then went back to their own homes.
Yu Na didn't tell her about her feelings for Xiao Chen.
Perhaps because they had grown up, some emotions were only suitable to be buried in one's heart, lacking the reckless gusto from before.
In the past, she dared to bravely pursue what she wanted, relying entirely on her well-off family background and pretty face. There were too many people chasing after her, most were children from wealthy families.
There were some from ordinary families too, but they generally didn't dare pursue her.
Those who dared were because they felt that being with her not only satisfied their vanity of having a beautiful girlfriend, but more so because their own destiny might be changed, even rising to the top.
Yu Na also lost herself among the admirers.
She felt that no matter who she liked, it would succeed, she didn't even need to confess, just crook her finger and they would come to her on their own.
She held this belief until she started liking Xiao Chen.
Only then did it shatter.
She thought he was just being coy, but later found out he had no intention of being with her at all.
Even when he finally made things clear with her, he still addressed himself as "brother".
Only then did she realize, it wasn't the case that as long as she liked someone she could obtain them.
After cutting ties with Xiao Chen, Yu Na believed she would definitely meet someone she liked even more.
But there wasn't.
She had rejected countless people. Even when she went to America for graduate studies and was surrounded by high quality prospects, there was never the fluttering heart she felt when she was with Xiao Chen.
Until they were reunited.
The emotions she had suppressed came bubbling back up little by little.
But this time, she didn't dare to blurt it out like she did before.
She could only hold it down in her heart, not telling anyone.
It was good enough to maintain their current relationship.
After the water finished boiling, Yu Na took some fever reducers from the bag. Her gaze happened to fall upon the sticky rice paper placed at the very bottom.
She put the sticky rice paper in her bedside table drawer.
She obediently swallowed the medicine.
After taking the medicine, Yu Na lay back in bed, the quilt wrapped tightly around herself, only half her head sticking out.
Holding her phone, some strange thoughts bubbled up from deep down.
Yu Na opened her feed on Moments, but anything she said felt overly dramatic. Once she made this decision, there was no going back.
Finally she posted three emojis and a line: [sad face][anguished face][pouting face] Feeling terrible ing
Before posting to Moments, Yu Na clicked the "Who can view" option, then "Partially visible", and at last found "1" in her contacts list.
- Only Xiao Chen could see it.
Clicking send.
In an instant, her phone became like a hot potato.
Yu Na threw her phone aside, not daring to check, only sneaking a peek every 10 minutes.
Back and forth, 5 or 6 times.
His feed remained quiet.
No comments, no active messages, not even a like.
Was he still at work this late?
Or was he hanging out with friends and just hadn't checked his phone?
Or perhaps he saw it but was too lazy to reply, too lazy to ask.
Just afraid to stir up trouble.
Xiao Chen used to be a nice guy who had a hard time refusing people. That was probably still the case.
So he simply pretended he didn't see it, saving himself quite some hassle.
Thinking this, Yu Na felt even more down. She flipped over and the medicine kicked in. Drowsiness washed over and she fell asleep.
...Yu Na awoke thirsty.
Her head was still hurting badly and her stomach rumbled empty.
Getting up to pour a glass of water from the kitchen then returning to her room, the intense discomfort made her temporarily forget what she posted on Moments the night before.
She only opened her phone to check the time.
But upon opening it she saw Xiao Chen's message.
Seeing "1", she gave a violent start.
Only then did she recall last night's thoughts and feelings—She posted on Moments hinting that she was sick, only visible to Xiao Chen. Then before falling asleep she never got a reply from him.
Next she indulged in wild speculations all by herself. She fell asleep in a huff. She even decided from then on to treat him just like a student's parent, never getting emotionally invested again.
But waking up she saw he had sent a message, just an hour after she fell asleep. 𝗳r𝐞𝐞w𝐞bn𝚘ve𝚕.co𝐦
She thought back to her own childish mental state last night and couldn't help finding it laughable. Didn't she also rarely check Moments herself? Indeed, people tended to be most dramatic late at night.
But just after Yu Na saw Xiao Chen's reply upon waking up, she sat straight up in anger.
1: What's wrong with you again
Again!! What's wrong.
What kind of straight guy response was this!
Sitting up too fast made her dizzy.
She coughed twice sitting on the bed before recovering.
She stared at this message for a long time, too angry to know how to reply.
Damn it, no reply.
As if she got sick on purpose!
Again what's wrong! Wasn't it to help you find your wretched cousin!!
The more Yu Na thought about it the angrier she got. She intended to ignore him at first.
But she was too pissed off.
Quite aloofly she replied with two words: Fever
By now it was already morning. Xiao Chen quickly replied back.
1: How high is the temperature?
Yu Na: Didn't measure
1: Did you take the medicine you bought?
Yu Na: Took it
1: ....You really need to drink more hot water
"......"
Yu Na was speechless: Mm
She was discontent, and sent another line: So uncomfortable [crying emoji]
It took Xiao Chen ten minutes to reply this time.
What he sent back was a voice message.
The background noise was messy. He was probably outside.