Online Dating Fiasco with the Campus Heartthrob (DATING)
"Ding ding ding ding ding~"
The urgent video call ringtone sounded again—Gu Zhao was calling back.
Ji Su jolted and quickly pressed the reject button.
Still shaken from the shock, his heart was pounding wildly, and his fingers trembled slightly as he typed.
Meng Meng: [Sorry, senior. Something urgent came up. I’ll contact you later.]
After sending the message, Ji Su leaned back in his chair while looking utterly defeated: "Qiao Jin, am I really doomed..."
Qiao Jin thought seriously for a moment with his eyes filled with sympathy and say everything without words.
"I should just confess to Gu Zhao." Ji Su bit his lower lip. "Maybe he’ll understand. After all, it was all a misunderstanding."
People always have to pay for their actions, but he never expected the consequences to come so quickly...
"Maybe he won’t understand." Qiao Jin analyzed calmly. "Think about it. He bought you clothes, sent you photos of his abs, and if you suddenly tell him that Meng Meng is a guy, and that you’ve been tricking him from the start—"
Ji Su covered his face with his hands: "I really didn’t mean to..."
Qiao Jin changed his tone: "But I think things might not be as bad as you imagine."
Ji Su opened his eyes and peeked at him through his fingers: "How so?"
"Think about it. The scumbag doesn’t know who you are. He only saw your leg photos, so he must’ve been attracted by your looks." Qiao Jin shrugged. "How deep can that kind of feeling be?"
Ji Su lowered his hands while looking thoughtful.
Qiao Jin completely abandoned his earlier "true love" argument, and was speaking more and more confidently: "If he can flirt with you online, he can flirt with other pretty girls too. If you just disappear for a while, he’ll completely forget about Meng Meng."
Ji Su blinked slowly: "That seems to make sense..."
"But I really didn’t expect Brother Gu, who always seems so cold and serious, to be like this in private..." Qiao Jin clicked his tongue. "You really can’t judge a book by its cover!"
Ji Su couldn’t help but recall when he first added G, and the other person had dismissed him with a "?".
Now that he thought about it, it perfectly matched his impression of Gu Zhao.
And the other person’s sudden change in attitude had indeed started after he sent the leg photos.
"Qiao Jin, you’re right." Ji Su decided to handle it coldly for now. "I won’t reply to him these next few days. Maybe he’ll stop looking for Meng Meng after a while."
"Mm-hmm!" Qiao Jin nodded vigorously, then asked, "But can you send me Brother Gu’s abs photo? I’ll keep it as a memento!"
Ji Su: "...No."
......
For the next few days, Ji Su didn’t dare log into his alternate WeChat account.
On Thursday afternoon, Qiao Jin wanted to drag him to the gym to watch Zhou Yang play basketball, but he refused.
"Qiao Jin, I don’t think I can see Gu Zhao right now." Ji Su frowned slightly. "I’m afraid if I see him, I’ll just blurt out the truth."
"No, no, no!" Qiao Jin quickly stopped him. "I’ll go watch Zhou Yang by myself. You go read or something, and we’ll meet at the cafeteria later."
However, what was meant to come couldn’t be avoided.
That evening, Ji Su met Qiao Jin at the cafeteria. They had just sat down when a small commotion broke out.
He glanced towards the source of the noise then quickly turned his face away before lowering his head guiltily.
"What’s wrong?" Qiao Jin also looked over and let out a surprised cry. "Holy crap! Talk about bad luck!"
Ji Su covered the side of his face with his hand and whispered: "Didn’t you say they were going out for dinner tonight?"
Qiao Jin was also puzzled: "Zhou Yang said they were going out. Who knew they’d come to the cafeteria instead."
"Don’t look at them, Qiao Jin." Ji Su was a bit nervous. "Zhou Yang’s going to come over and say hi."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Yang spotted them and greeted them enthusiastically: "Qiao Jin, Ji Su!"
Ji Su: "..."
Qiao Jin had no choice but to wave: "Zhou Yang, what a coincidence!"
Ji Su sat up straight trying to act nonchalant, but then he met a pair of cold, dark eyes.
His heart skipped a beat, and he immediately lowered his gaze while silently praying that they wouldn’t come over.
Perhaps the heavens heard his plea, because a slim, good-looking guy suddenly stepped in front of Gu Zhao.
"Susu, Susu, a little cutie just appeared!" Qiao Jin’s gossipy spirit was burning brightly. "I bet he’s asking Gu Zhao for his WeChat!"
Ji Su couldn’t resist his curiosity and secretly peeked over.
Gu Zhao was tall and long-legged, while the guy in front of him only reached his shoulders with his face flushed red.
But Ji Su felt that the campus heartthrob’s expression was even colder than the last time he’d seen him, and even with a hint of gloominess between his brows.
He couldn’t help but admire the guy’s courage to approach Gu Zhao under such pressure.
Just then, Gu Zhao said something, and the guy’s face drained of color before he turned and ran away.
Qiao Jin: "Holy crap, that didn’t look good!"
Gu Zhao seemed to be in a bad mood after this little incident. He didn’t even finish his meal and strode out of the cafeteria with his long legs.
Though he felt a bit sorry for the guy, Ji Su secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhou Yang walked over: "Brother Gu went back to the dorm. I’ll eat with you guys!"
After he sat down, Qiao Jin tentatively asked: "What’s wrong with Gu Zhao? He seemed in a really bad mood."
"Ugh, don’t even mention it." Zhou Yang sighed. "Brother Gu’s been in a terrible mood these past few days. It’s like a dark cloud follows him wherever he goes."
Qiao Jin and Ji Su exchanged a glance: "What happened?"
"I’m not sure about the details, but it seems to have something to do with that online crush." Zhou Yang suddenly slammed the table. "Could it really be like you guys said? Did Brother Gu get scammed online?"
Ji Su’s heart skipped a beat, and he guiltily averted his eyes.
Qiao Jin forced a laugh: "No way, right?"
"Brother Gu’s been really off these past few days. He hasn’t put his phone down, and he keeps making calls, but they never seem to connect." Zhou Yang followed the faint trail of clues and vaguely pieced together the truth. "That’s it! The online crush must’ve suddenly disappeared!"
Ji Su pursed his lips and asked softly: "Do you think... Gu Zhao was serious about the online romance?"
"Of course he was serious!" Zhou Yang replied without hesitation. "This is Brother Gu’s first relationship. How could he not be serious?"
Ji Su: "..."
"No way?" Qiao Jin tried to steer the conversation. "Who even does online romance these days? Especially someone as handsome as Gu Zhao. He’s never short of beautiful girls around him. It must’ve just been for fun, right?"
Zhou Yang shook his head: "You guys don’t understand Brother Gu. He’s really not the type to just play around, and I’ve never seen him care so much about someone before."
Ji Su listened in silence as his guilt grew heavier, like a boulder pressing down on him.
His original intention was to do a good deed and to get revenge for his senior, but why had it ended up involving an innocent person?
Cheating someone’s feelings was the worst, and he was the worst kind of emotional scammer.
"Right, haha..." Qiao Jin forced another laugh and changed the subject. "By the way, what did that guy stop you for earlier?"
Zhou Yang didn’t think much of it: "Oh, that? He was asking Brother Gu for his WeChat."
Qiao Jin sympathized: "And he just happened to run into a bad mood, huh?"
"Yes, Brother Gu has always disliked gays," Zhou Yang said, then quickly added, "Of course, personally, I don't dislike them—I mean, I respect everyone's sexual orientation."
But Qiao Jin's focus wasn't on that: "Wait, are you saying Gu Zhao is homophobic?"
Ji Su suddenly looked up with his gaze fixed on Zhou Yang.
"Well..." Zhou Yang hesitated and chose his words carefully, "It might be because he was harassed by a guy before. Brother Gu is quite averse to male advances."
Qiao Jin exchanged a glance with Ji Su, with his eyes clearly spelling out five words: "You're beyond saving."
........
Back in the dorm, Ji Su sat at his desk while lost in thought.
After who knows how long, his fingers twitched at his side, and he pulled out his phone.
Qiao Jin noticed his movement: "Susu, you're not planning to confess to Gu Zhao, are you?"
"Yes," Ji Su replied softly. "I need to explain everything and apologize to him."
As for whether Gu Zhao would forgive him, that was beyond his control.
"Don't be stupid, Susu!" Qiao Jin panicked and rushed over to snatch the phone. "Didn't you hear what Zhou Yang said?"
"It's precisely because of what Zhou Yang said that I feel I can't handle it this way," Ji Su exhaled. "At worst, I'll let Gu Zhao take his anger out on me by hitting me."
Qiao Jin's eyes widened: "What? Hit you?"
Ji Su hesitated: "After all, we live in a society governed by law. He probably wouldn't go too far..."
"No, Susu, listen to me," Qiao Jin pleaded earnestly. "Think about it. Gu Zhao is a straight guy, and possibly a homophobic one. If he finds out he's been getting off to a guy's leg photos countless times, he might never recover!"
Ji Su: "..."
"But if he just got played by an online romance, he'd only be down for a while and soon forget about Meng Meng, then moving on with his life," Qiao Jin countered. "Which do you think is worse?"
Ji Su furrowed his brows as he sank into thought again.
After a long while, he reached out: "Qiao Jin, give me back my phone."
Qiao Jin: "What are you planning to do?"
"Like you said..." Ji Su took the phone and logged into his WeChat alt account, "I'll end everything as Meng Meng."
As soon as he opened WeChat, a flood of messages poured in.
Over the past three days, G had sent numerous messages, including voice and video calls, all of which had gone unanswered.
The latest two messages were from ten minutes ago—
G: [I'm really worried about you.]
G: [I'll come to your school to find you tomorrow.]
Ji Su's hand trembled but quickly steadied.
Meng Meng: [Senior, I'm fine.]
Meng Meng: [I've been busy these past few days and didn't see your messages. Sorry.]
Almost instantly, a reply popped up.
G: [Really? You're okay?]
Meng Meng: [Really, I'm fine.]
G: [That's good.]
Ji Su took a deep breath and began organizing his words.
Meng Meng: [Senior, after our video call that day, I realized I had the wrong person. You're not the one I meant to add.]
G: [What do you mean?]
Meng Meng: [The person I like isn't you.]
Almost immediately, a voice call came through.
Ji Su declined the call and continued typing.
Meng Meng: [Senior, I'm really sorry. I should have confirmed it properly from the start.]
Meng Meng: [I'm so sorry for wasting your time.]
G: [Answer the call.]
Meng Meng: [WeChat transfer: 10,000.00]
Meng Meng: [Senior, I can't return the dress you bought me. Please accept the transfer.]
This time, G sent a voice message.
"Do you think I need money?" The deep voice sounded icy and cold while obviously suppressing his anger. "Where are you right now?"
After disappearing for three days, the online romance partner suddenly reappeared only to draw a clear line. Anyone would find it hard to accept.
Meng Meng: [I know you must be angry, Senior. What can I do to make it up to you?]
Another voice message came through: "I'll ask one more time. Where are you?"
Meng Meng: [Senior, actually, I'm really ugly. The leg photos I sent you were photoshopped.]
G: [Seeing is believing.]
Ji Su thought it was hopeless.
He closed his eyes to steel himself, and directly blocked the other person.
He logged out of his WeChat alt account while silently thinking: I'm sorry, campus heartthrob. I'll try my best to make it up to you in real life...
At the same time, Gu Zhao gripped his phone so tightly it seemed like he might crush it.
He closed his eyes to force himself to calm down then deleted the text in the input box, and typed again.
G: [Meng Meng, I don't care if you added the wrong person. The person you've been chatting with every day is me.]
He clicked send, and in the next second, a bright red exclamation mark appeared on the screen.
Gu Zhao stared at that glaring exclamation mark for a long time, then a chilling smile spread across his handsome face.