Chapter Text
Class 2-3 was never quiet. Not even during self-study in the morning. There was always someone arguing over homework, someone playing games in a corner, or someone shouting across the room about the basketball teams scores. The noise of the classroom was a normal occurrence.
But today was different, when the door slid open everything stopped.
Chi-ming lifted his head from his textbook just as the classes' homeroom teacher Mrs. Huang stepped inside. Behind her was a boy that he's never seen before.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Straight-backed.
The boy wore the same uniform as everyone else, but it looked different on him. like it was perfectly tailored just for him. His sleeves were rolled up slightly, revealing his strong forearms. His hair was jet black, styled and trimmed to perfection. His expression was calm, to the point of arrogance.
“This is our new transfer student,” Mrs. Huang announced. “he's from Shanghai his name is Wang Yichen.”
Whispered erupted in the classroom instantly
“From Shanghai?”
“he's so tall”
Yichen bowed politely. “Hello. I hope we get along”
His Mandarin sounded different from theirs. It sounds sharper, deeper, and smoother. Chi-ming felt his jaw tighten without knowing the reason why.
Mrs. Huang pointed to the empty seat near the window “you can sit there. Next to Lin Chi-ming.”
Chi-ming freezes
Out of all seats
Yichen walked toward him, his footsteps slow and deliberate. Up close, he was even bigger than he thought. Not fat solid. He looked like someone who lived in the gym. Chi-ming on the other hand was lean and narrow, his wrists thin, his shoulders sloped slightly inward.
Yichen placed his bag down and gave him a nod. “Nice to meet you.”
Chi-ming took a few seconds to greet him
“...Yeah” he finally said before turning back to his textbook
That should've been the end of it. Right?
By lunch Yichen became the talk of the school
He confidently answered questions in class. He beat the math representative in history. He helped a girl with her math homework. When the basketball dragged him to the court during break, he scored three points shots like it was nothing.
People surrounded him
People laughed at his jokes
People wanted to sit next to him
Chi-ming watched all of this from his seat under the shade with a juice box in hand and as irritation set in.
“So unfair,” His best friend Chen Wei said “he's handsome, smart, and athletic. What's left for the rest of us”
Chi-mings problem wasn't the fact that Yichen was popular
It was the fact that he naturally fit in with no effort
Like he belonged there
That afternoon Chi-ming, couldn't find his history textbook
He searched everywhere the floor, his bag, his desk
“Looking for this” and standing right Infront of Chi-ming was Yichen holding his textbook book
Chi-mings eyes snapped up “Why do you have my textbook.”
“It fell under the desk” Yichen said.”I picked it up.”
Chi-ming snatched it back. “Don't touch my things”
Yichen blinked, not expecting that reaction. “.... Okay”
But something shifted between them
The next day, Yichen used Chi-mings eraser without asking. Chi-ming slammed his pencil on the desk in anger.
The day after, Yichen corrected one of his answers in reading class
Then came their group project for history
“Chi-ming and Yichen, you two will work together on this project.” Mrs. Huang said
Chi-ming stood up to protest but nothing came out of his mouth
Something strange hummed in the space between them, it wasn't anger. not yet at least.
It was more like tension
When they worked, though, they worked well. Yichen organized their presentation. Chi-ming wrote the script. Their grade ended up being the highest in the class.
After that people started purposefully pairing them up
“Golden duo,” Chen Wei joked.
Chi-ming hated the nickname
He hated the way Yichen voice sounded when he laughed.
He hated how Yichen leaned over to read his notes
He hated the way his chest felt tight when Yichen was close
He hated the way he started to notice every little thing about him.
Wang Yichen was loud, annoying. overconfident. And from the other side of the strait
And somehow...
He got tangled into Chi-ming’s life.
This was supposed to be a rivalry.
So why did it feel like the beginning of something worse.