— FORTY SECOND FLOOR —
The report arrived at ten AM.
Standard campus incident documentation. Five pages.
Statements from the Dean, three faculty members, two student witnesses.
Si Xi read it in four minutes.
Turned to the last page.
One paragraph. Student witness account. A second year who had been in the hallway when the bathroom door opened.
He read it.
One line.— She was crying.
He thought about that face again and felt something stir in his heart, before he could catch what it was, it fleeted away and he continued working.
Lin Feng knocked, Entered.
Stood by the door with his tablet like he always did.
"Feng Zichen spoke to the new Yun girl this morning," he said. "Voluntarily. Four minutes in the courtyard."
Si Xi's pen stopped.
One second.
Then kept moving.
"That's all sir," Lin Feng said.
Si Xi said nothing.
Lin Feng left.
The office was quiet.
Si Xi looked at the page he was writing on.
Feng Zichen.
He put his pen down, frowned.
Picked it back up and Kept working.
—— THE SCHOOL GATE. 4PM. —
She was there.
Wei Xuan.
Not in uniform.
She couldn't wear the uniform anymore.
Just jeans and a jacket and her bag over one shoulder and that expression — stone faced, still, the expression of someone who had made a decision and was at peace with having made it.
She stood across the street from the main gate and watched students stream out.
Watched the groups form and break.
Watched Yunjinna emerge with her friends, laughing at something, coffee in hand, stepping into a waiting car.
Watched the car leave.
Then—Yun Jiao.
Coming through the gate alone.
Lollipop. Bag. Looking at her phone with a small frown like something was slightly confusing her.
Wei Xuan looked at her.
This girl.
Who she had gone into a bathroom to confront.
Who had looked at her with those eyes.
Who Young Master Si Xi had stood still in a hallway for.
She stood there and looked at her and tried to feel the hatred she'd felt last night.
It was still there.
But underneath it—Something else.
Something she didn't want to examine too closely yet.
Yun Jiao looked up from her phone.
Scanned the street.
Her eyes landed on Wei Xuan.
Stopped.
The two of them looked at each other across the street.Neither moved.
Neither spoke.
Then Yun Jiao took the lollipop out of her mouth.
Tilted her head slightly.
And did something Wei Xuan had not expected.
She nodded. Once. Small.
Acknowledging.
Not a smile. Not a wave. Not an attempt at warmth.
Just — I see you.Then she looked back down at her phone and walked to the waiting car.
Got in.The car pulled away.
Wei Xuan stood on the street.
Looked at the space where the car had been.
Her jaw was tight.
Her hands clenched in her pockets.
She stood there for a long moment.
Then she turned and walked away.
She had things to figure out.
And a lot of time to figure them out in.