Time was like yellowed pages left out in the autumn sun, and they flipped by one after another.
The hype from the basketball game got washed out fast once monthly exams and heavy schoolwork piled on again.
Everything seemed to fall back into place.
"Have you noticed that Luke from Class 3… he's actually kind of cute lately."
In Class 1's classroom, a few girls leaned together during lunch break and whispered gossip.
Runa held a stack of homework notebooks she had just picked up from the teachers' office, and she quietly walked back to her seat while she happened to catch what they were saying.
"Which little chubby guy?" a girl asked without looking up as she painted her nails.
"Not chubby. Luke Lin."
The first girl corrected her, and there was a bit of excitement in her voice.
"He's the guy from last Friday's PE class, the one who blocked that insane dunk in the Class 3 vs Class 8 game."
"Oh… him. Yeah, I remember now."
The nail-painting girl paused and spoke while she tried to picture it.
"Isn't he the nerd with black-framed glasses and bangs so long they almost poke his eyes, and always looks dead tired like he could fall asleep anywhere?"
"Yeah! But when he played that day and he got serious… his eyes and his vibe totally changed!"
"And that last block was so cool."
"Right. Normally he looks half-dead, but his explosiveness is crazy."
"Did you notice his legs are long? People say the longer the legs, the bigger the D…"
Runa stood by her desk and listened quietly while she held the thick stack of notebooks.
When she heard that word, a quick blank moment flashed in her clear eyes.
The girls kept going, and the topic got louder and hotter while it slowly slid into something they didn't dare say too clearly.
The focus also shifted from the huge block to details that made their faces burn.
"Also, did you guys notice? When he jumped for that block, his shirt hem got pulled up, and I think… I think I saw his abs."
A short-haired girl lowered her voice and pushed it first.
"I'm serious, the lines were really clear. It wasn't like a bodybuilder, but it looked… smooth and strong."
"I saw it too."
Another girl jumped in with red cheeks.
"And his skin is so pale."
"Yeah, that kind of pale, cool-toned skin, and the sunlight hit him and it looked like he was glowing… you get it?"
"Honestly, he's paler than me. I wear sunscreen every day and I still can't get that tone. It's not fair."
"Good skin and a good body, and he looks sickly all the time, but under the clothes he's got that much going on…"
Their flushed words mixed with giggles.
Runa didn't interrupt them. She sat down at her seat instead, and then she pulled out her open notebook and pen from the desk drawer so she could organize her notes for the afternoon.
The pen tip moved lightly over the page, and her soft face didn't show anything extra.
Her neat, quiet posture stayed the same, and it was like an invisible wall separated her from everyone else.
But only she knew the truth.
Those chattering lines felt like tiny feather hooks, and they brushed the calm surface in her chest again and again.
Her ears kept catching bits and pieces about Luke, and her thoughts drifted off the dense vocabulary on the page.
Luke in middle school wasn't that different from Luke now.
He still looked lazy and easygoing.
He wore his loose uniform, carried a backpack stuffed full, and walked with his eyes lowered while he never drew attention.
Behind the black-framed glasses, his eyes were often half-closed, and that tired look made it seem like he stayed up doing homework and then got up early anyway.
He kept a faint smile for everyone.
Calling him "a cloud floating in the sky" fit him well.
He never fought for anything, and he never pushed himself forward.
Whether it was answering questions in class or doing sports on the field…
He always stood on the edge of the crowd and watched people fool around while he smiled.
If someone dragged him into it, he'd only reply slowly with, "Whatever," and then he'd go back to his own thing.
He was different.
He wasn't like the loud boys who sprinted out of the classroom the second the bell rang, and he wasn't like the cold bookworms who didn't care about anything outside textbooks.
He did study at his desk too, but when someone talked to him, he'd stop right away and answer politely.
He was easy to get along with.
Whether it was the top students or the troublemakers, he could joke with them a little in that slow, relaxed tone.
Maybe that was why people called him something as cute as "Lilu."
But that same easygoing nature also made him seem like he was missing something.
Something that could make teenage girls' hearts race hard.
Something sharp and bold.
A glass of warm water can only stop thirst, and it can never hit like strong liquor that makes you dizzy.
He could be a great classmate, and he could be a great friend.
But he was never the guy girls would think about late at night while they hugged a pillow and couldn't sleep.
Back then, he was harmless.
But last Friday was different.
On that basketball court soaked in sweat and sunlight, Leo finally got his chance. He jumped and tried to end the whole fight with a humiliating dunk.
And when everyone thought it was over and the mood dropped to the floor…
The guy who had been drifting around like he was just filling a spot moved.
It wasn't just a jump.
It was clean and decisive, and it carried real force as it cut off that ball that stood for humiliation and failure.
That sloppy vibe he always carried got ripped apart in that instant.
That block didn't just stop Leo's dunk.
It also crushed everyone's old image of Luke.
Warm water and strong liquor.
A house cat and a black panther.
It was the same person, but it didn't feel like the same person.
And that was why the hit was worse than simple strength or simple kindness.
It was like a depth charge thrown into someone's chest, and it blew up when they were least prepared.
That sharp rush from the contrast was exactly like that.
At her desk, Runa's pen traced the outline of a last name along the blank edge of the page without her noticing.
"Huh? Runa, when did you get back?"
A girl noticed her and waved with a smile, and then she pulled her into the topic.
"We're talking about Luke from Class 3. We were both his middle school classmates, right? What do you think of him?"
What did she think…
Runa got pulled back into the moment.
"I'm not really sure," she said softly.
"That day, I just passed by, and I didn't watch that closely."
If a book cover looks plain enough and boring enough, almost nobody wants to open it and see what's inside.
But…
Her face still looked gentle and clean.
"Still, if he helped win the game… then he probably is pretty good."
That one-of-a-kind collection was starting to look like something other people wanted to open up and check out.