Online Dating Fiasco with the Campus Heartthrob (DATING)
This was the second time G had asked if it was really him, so Ji Su decided to give a definite answer.
Disney Runaway Beauty: [Yes, I meant to send it to my best friend but accidentally sent it to you~]
Disney Runaway Beauty: [Shy cat emoji.jpg]
G: [Hmm.]
Ji Su pursed his lips then turned off his phone screen, and placed it back on the table.
Qiao Jin leaned over again. "Huh? Why’d you stop chatting?"
"I’ll get back to it later. I’m going to take a shower first." Ji Su stood up and planned to fetch his clean clothes from the balcony.
"I get it now! This move is called ‘retreating to advance’!" Qiao Jin had an epiphany and lunged forward to hug Ji Su’s leg. "Susu, please take me as your disciple!"
Ji Su dodged as he felt both amused and exasperated. "I swear, I really just want to take a shower first."
After his shower, Ji Su came out of the bathroom while drying his hair as he walked back to his desk.
Qiao Jin was lying on the bed playing with his phone. Hearing the noise, he lifted his head. "Susu, check if that sleazebag sent you any new messages."
"Hold on." Ji Su picked up his phone and opened the WeChat chat box he hadn’t exited yet.
G: [You said your name is Meng Meng. Is that your real name?]
Ji Su glanced up. "He’s asking for my real name."
"Real name?" Qiao Jin jumped off the bed. "That scumbag must’ve done so many shady things that he wants to investigate your real info now."
"Possibly." Ji Su put down the towel he was using to dry his hair. "Don’t worry, I’m not that stupid."
He first went to his WeChat profile and changed his nickname to "Meng Meng," then started typing a reply.
Meng Meng: [There’s a ‘Meng’ in my name, so people close to me call me that.]
G: [Hmm.]
Ji Su looked at the cold "Hmm" and thought for a moment then decided to probe a bit.
Meng Meng: [Senior, what’s your name?]
G: [You got my WeChat, but you don’t know my name?]
Ji Su: "..."
This sleazy senior seemed even more cunning than he had imagined.
No wonder he had tricked Senior Lin Yan so badly.
Meng Meng: [I asked around about the hottest guy on the court that day and got your WeChat.]
Meng Meng: [But I just wanted to confirm~]
This time, there was a long pause before the other side replied.
G: [You’re adding the right person.]
Ji Su raised an eyebrow while slightly shocked by the other person’s level of shamelessness.
How confident must this guy be to declare himself the hottest guy on the court?
As he thought this, a certain handsome yet aloof face and those deep, icy eyes inexplicably appeared in his mind.
He shook his head to banish the image of the cold campus heartthrob from his thoughts, and continued fishing for information.
Meng Meng: [So, what’s your name, Senior?]
G: [I’ll tell you later.]
Perhaps feeling the reply was a bit too blunt, the other side quickly added.
G: [When you’re ready to tell me your full name.]
Meng Meng: [Then… how should I call you, Senior?]
G: [Whatever you want.]
Meng Meng: [Anything?]
G: [Hmm.]
Ji Su figured the sleazebag was probably hoping Meng Meng would call him "brother," since all the guys around him seemed to love that.
Meng Meng: [Then I’ll just keep calling you Senior~]
Ji Su scrolled up a bit and realized he was getting pretty good at using cute tones with emoticons and tildes.
He nodded as he acknowledged his own learning ability.
Meng Meng: [Senior, I’m going to sleep now.]
G: [So early?]
Meng Meng: [Meng Meng is a girl, after all. Gotta get my beauty sleep~]
Meng Meng: [Goodnight cat emoji.jpg]
After sending that, Ji Su logged out of the side account without waiting for a reply and switched to his main account to update Senior Lin Yan on the progress.
Ji Su: [Senior, I’ve successfully started chatting with that sleazebag.]
Lin Yan: [Great! I knew you could do it!]
Lin Yan: [Little Susu, whether I can redeem myself depends entirely on you now!]
Ji Su: [If you ever feel like chatting recently, feel free to reach out to me anytime.]
Lin Yan: [Little Susu, you’re really too kind…]
Lin Yan: [If this keeps up, I might just fall for you one day!]
Ji Su: [Senior, stop teasing me.]
Lin Yan: [Alright, alright. I’m going out with my roommate to heal. Keep up the good work!]
Ji Su: [Got it. Stay safe.]
Ji Su put down his phone then sat at his desk, and opened his laptop to start working on his class assignments.
While the adorable Meng Meng was getting her beauty sleep, Ji Su had to keep working on his school work.
The next day was Monday.
After two morning English classes, Ji Su and Qiao Jin headed to the second cafeteria for lunch.
The cafeteria was bustling with activity.
Qiao Jin scanned the room and suddenly his eyes lit up. "Susu!"
Ji Su stopped walking. "What’s up?"
"Zhou Yang! I see Zhou Yang!" Qiao Jin exclaimed excitedly. "It must be fate bringing us together again!"
Ji Su followed his gaze, but the first person he noticed was someone else.
Gu Zhao was wearing a black hoodie and standing taller than everyone else in the crowd with one hand in his pocket and while his expression was cold and aloof.
Despite his icy demeanor, he couldn’t stop the waves of admiring glances around him.
Qiao Jin also shifted his gaze to him and couldn't help but exclaim, "Gu Zhao is seriously ridiculously handsome!"
Ji Su averted his eyes, "Control your drool."
"If it weren't for that outrageously handsome face of his, there's no way he would have been elected as the campus heartthrob with his personality," Qiao Jin pondered. "As far as I know, among the past campus heartthrobs of A University, only Lu Jinyan could compete with him."
Ji Su: "How do you know all this?"
"Of course, I do!" Qiao Jin chuckled. "And let me tell you, that Lu Jinyan is also gay. He came out publicly later, and his partner is from our A University's art department, I think his name is Jiang—"
Ji Su, afraid he would start recounting the man's life story, interrupted, "Are you going to say hi to Zhou Yang?"
"Well..." Qiao Jin hesitated, "Chatting online is one thing, but I don't know what to say in front of so many people."
"Forget it then," Ji Su started walking, "Wait until you're more familiar."
"Wait!" Qiao Jin changed his mind as he grabbed the latter's arm and rushed forward, "Never mind, let's just make our presence known!"
Over there, Gu Zhao and his group had just sat down when they heard a warm, cheerful voice.
"Hi, everyone!" Qiao Jin greeted them with a smile.
Gu Zhao looked up and his gaze landed on Ji Su's face for a brief moment before coldly looking away.
The glance was so quick that no one noticed.
"Hey! Aren't you the one—" Wang Mingzhe slapped the table, "The one from the gym that day!"
"My name's Qiao Jin," Qiao Jin introduced himself briefly, then asked, "Zhou Yang, do you remember me?"
"Of course, of course," Zhou Yang nodded repeatedly while standing up, "Are you here to eat at the second cafeteria too?"
"Why else would we be here if not to eat?" Wang Mingzhe quipped, then turned to Gu Zhao, "Gu, scoot over, let's share the table!"
Gu Zhao lifted his eyelids to give him a bland look.
Wang Mingzhe shrunk back, "Never mind, forget I said that."
"Oh, and we have two roommates waiting for us," Qiao Jin tactfully made an excuse, "Zhou Yang, next time I'll treat you to a meal, okay?"
"Sure," Zhou Yang nodded earnestly, "If you have any other questions, just message me on WeChat."
"Alright, bye!" Qiao Jin waved, then pulled the ever-silent Ji Su away.
Wang Mingzhe watched their retreating figures and his courage returned, "Hey Gu, do you have some issue with Ji Su?"
Gu Zhao pushed aside the bell peppers on his plate, "What issue?"
"I'm asking you!" Wang Mingzhe leaned in, "I just feel like you don't really like him."
Gu Zhao's tone remained unchanged, "You're overthinking it."
Wang Mingzhe wanted to dig deeper, but Zhou Yang chimed in, "I think you're overthinking it too. Isn't Gu just like that with everyone?"
"True," Wang Mingzhe nodded, "I thought Ji Su being so good-looking would be an advantage. But it seems like you're equally indifferent to everyone, so I feel balanced now."
Gu Zhao didn't bother replying as he reached into his pocket only to realize he hadn't brought his phone that morning.
"Eat up," he finally said, "Let's head back to the dorm after."
………..
After lunch, Ji Su returned to the dorm for a nap.
He sat at his desk then logged into his WeChat alt account, and checked for new messages.
Opening the chat, the latest message was still the "Good morning" sticker he sent earlier.
Ji Su leaned back in his chair, "Qiao, he's not replying to my messages again."
"Him? That guy?" Qiao Jin reacted quickly, "Ugh! As expected of a player, what a jerk!"
Ji Su looked up at the ceiling, "Online dating is hard."
Qiao Jin suggested, "Why don't you send him another leg pic?"
Ji Su: "..."
So, is this what he's going to start—a new form of online dating: the picture chat mode?
But practice makes perfect, and Ji Su didn't hesitate as he get up to change into the white shorts from last night.
"Try a different pair, Su." Qiao Jin advised thoughtfully, "Or else that jerk might think you don't shower at night."
"I don't have any other shorts," Ji Su paused, "You know I don't like wearing shorts."
Even in the scorching summer, he preferred loose long pants.
Qiao Jin: "Then... just wear underwear?"
Ji Su turned to him while incredulous, "What did you say?"
"Hey, he doesn't know it's you!" Qiao Jin quickly explained, "He's straight, and you're straight. It's not like you're losing anything by showing him your legs."
Ji Su couldn't refute that, and it actually made some sense.
Seeing his hesitation, Qiao Jin continued to persuade, "Besides, when he finds out later that he was getting off on a guy's leg pics, won't that just disgust him? That way, you'd be avenging the seniors and ridding the world of a pest."
Ji Su: "...Fine."
Qiao Jin covered his eyes, "I won't look!"
Luckily, the other two roommates hadn't returned for lunch.
Ji Su took a deep breath and took off his jeans.
Suppressing his inner shame, he adjusted his posture then grabbed the first-year English textbook from the desk and randomly flipped to a page then placed it on his lap to cover a certain bulge.
Finding the right angle, he pressed the shutter button then quickly put his pants back on, and said, "Done, help me check if there's anything wrong."
"Coming!" Qiao Jin scurried over, only to cover his nose after one glance, "Damn, I think I'm about to get a nosebleed!"
Ji Su was wearing black boxer briefs with white trim.
A neutral design that clung tightly to his pale, long legs.
The pressure from the chair squeezed out a handful of soft, smooth thigh flesh and tantalizing to the point where one couldn't help but want to grab and leave lasting marks.
Strangely, an English book was placed right on top and faintly obscured the key areas, making it seem even more alluring.
It was as if it was deliberately teasing and making you guess whether you should be looking at the book or those flawless, jade-like long legs.
Qiao Jin exclaimed, "No way, this is way too good for that scumbag!"
Ji Su: "..."
Despite his initial reluctance, Ji Su still sent the freshly taken photo to G.
Three seconds later, a new message popped up in the chat box.
G: [Wrong message again?]
Ji Su couldn’t help but roll his eyes. So, G had seen the message all along—he just hadn’t wanted to reply.
Meng Meng: [No mistake here, I meant to send it to you, senior.]
Meng Meng: [I had an English class today, it was so hard~]
G: [How hard?]
Meng Meng: [I’m a music student, so I’m not great at academic subjects.]
Meng Meng: [Crying cat emoji.jpg]
Ji Su planned to build a "clumsy" persona for Meng Meng.
On one hand, it would make the scumbag senior let his guard down, and on the other, it would create more topics for future conversations.
This kind of scumbag probably loved a pretty and gullible junior the most.
G: [Have you been studying music since you were a kid?]
Meng Meng: [Yes, so I never had much time for academic classes.]
It was true that Ji Su had been learning various instruments since childhood, but the part about not having time for academics was a lie—otherwise, he wouldn’t have been admitted to the top program at University A.
After sending this message, he timed it perfectly and deleted the leg photo he had just sent.
G: [Why did you delete it again?]
Meng Meng: [I sent you a "good morning" earlier, and you still haven’t replied.]
G: [I didn’t bring my phone to class this morning.]
G: [Just got back to the dorm.]
Ji Su didn’t buy this excuse for a second.
A player like G and managing a whole pond of fish, would never leave his phone behind.
He was probably busy chatting with other pretty girls this morning and only remembered to reply when he saw the leg photo.
Meng Meng: [Oh, okay~]
G: [Don’t believe me?]
Meng Meng: [No, I believe you wouldn’t lie to me.]
Meng Meng: [But I’ve been waiting for your reply for so long~]
After a brief silence, G suddenly changed the subject.
G: [It’s so cold these days, why are you always wearing shorts?]
Meng Meng: [No, I only take them off when I get back to the dorm.]
Meng Meng: [I wear a thick long skirt outside.]
G: [Show me.]
Ji Su: "?"
Help, he was a straight guy, straighter than a pen, and he didn’t have a girlfriend.
Where would he get a skirt?