Chapter 38 – The Moment His Heart Discovered the Truth
Long before the nightmare of the outbreak...
Before the terrifying growls of zombies echoed through the streets...
Before blood stained the ground and the world collapsed into chaos...
There had once been a time when life was beautifully simple.
A time filled with dreams, laughter, innocent friendship... and a feeling that Adam himself had yet to understand.
---
Adam and Jinjin were recognized as two of the brightest students in their entire school.
That was why they were always placed together in Section A, the class reserved for the highest achievers.
Everyone knew that whenever the battle for first place began, it was never a competition between the whole class.
It was always between Adam and Jinjin.
Some years, Jinjin claimed first place.
Other years, Adam stood proudly at the top.
Whenever the annual examination results were announced, no one looked more anxious than the two of them.
The moment the rankings were posted, they would instinctively look at each other.
Sometimes with the smile of a victor...
Sometimes with playful disappointment after accepting defeat.
Their friendly rivalry had become something the entire class enjoyed watching.
Yet their competition wasn't limited to academics alone.
Over the years, they had created a tradition of their own.
At the beginning of every school year, they would make the same wager.
"If I finish first this year," Jinjin would say with a mischievous smile, "you'll have to buy me lunch every day for an entire week."
Adam would immediately grin and reply,
"And if I win..."
"Then you'll be the one bringing me burgers and juice from the cafeteria every day."
The two would burst into laughter before shaking hands to seal the challenge.
As time quietly passed...
Their rivalry became more intense.
But strangely enough...
So did their friendship.
They were no longer just classmates.
They had become each other's closest friends.
Whether it was studying together...
Working on school projects...
Preparing for examinations...
Or staying behind after school to solve practice questions in the library...
They were almost always seen side by side.
---
Even now, Adam remembered the very first day he transferred into the school as a sixth grader.
Everything had felt unfamiliar.
New classrooms.
New teachers.
New faces.
Yet among all those strangers was one girl who immediately caught his attention.
She carried herself with remarkable confidence.
That girl was Jinjin.
From the very beginning, they became rivals in the race for first place.
Neither of them could have imagined...
That this endless competition would one day blossom into such a beautiful friendship.
---
Time quietly continued its journey.
And somewhere along the way...
Something inside Adam began to change.
At first, he couldn't understand why simply being around Jinjin made him feel different.
He only knew one thing.
Whenever she was with him...
The entire world somehow became brighter.
The expectations placed upon him by his parents...
The endless pressure of maintaining perfect grades...
The burden of always being the best...
All of it simply disappeared whenever he spent time with her.
Laughing together.
Arguing over the smallest things.
Playfully teasing each other.
Those ordinary moments filled his heart with a peace he had never known before.
Perhaps...
For the very first time...
Someone had made him realize that life wasn't made only of responsibilities and pressure.
It also held happiness.
Smiles.
Warmth.
And sometimes...
The presence of one special person was enough to make every burden in the world disappear, even if only for a little while.
Yet Adam never realized when friendship quietly transformed into love.
It happened so naturally...
That even he failed to notice the moment his heart had changed.
---
Then came...
Sports Week.
The day that finally revealed the truth hidden inside his heart.
---
Sports Week
At the time, Adam was fourteen years old.
Jinjin was thirteen.
The entire school campus was decorated with colorful banners and flags.
The air was filled with the excited voices of students.
Teachers shouted instructions across the field.
Whistles echoed through the grounds.
Applause rang from every direction.
The atmosphere overflowed with excitement, energy, and youthful enthusiasm.
It was the very first sporting competition Adam had ever entered.
More than winning...
He was simply happy because Jinjin had practiced alongside him every single day before the race.
She corrected his running posture.
Taught him how to control his breathing.
And whenever exhaustion made him want to give up...
She would smile brightly and say,
"You can do this, Adam."
"Don't give up."
Those few simple words somehow gave him the strength to push beyond his limits every single time.
---
Finally...
The race began.
The starting whistle pierced the air.
All ten runners exploded off the starting line.
Adam started in third place.
His breathing grew heavier with every stride.
Yet his determination never faltered.
Running just outside the track, Jinjin matched his pace from the sidelines.
Her face was glowing with excitement.
Her eyes were filled with complete confidence in him.
At the top of her lungs, she shouted,
"Adam!"
"You can do it!"
"Run faster!"
"Don't stop!"
Every word she shouted breathed new strength into his exhausted body.
Adam clenched his teeth.
Summoned every ounce of strength he had left.
And one by one...
He overtook the runners ahead of him.
Within moments...
He had climbed into second place.
Only one runner remained ahead.
Ford.
He was incredibly fast.
The final stretch of the race had begun.
The entire field had risen to its feet.
Cheers erupted from every corner.
The two boys raced almost side by side.
Sometimes Ford pulled ahead by a single step.
Moments later, Adam caught up again.
The race had become so thrilling that the entire audience watched in breathless anticipation.
Then...
With only a few meters left before the finish line...
Ford unleashed one final burst of speed.
His pace increased dramatically.
An instant later...
He crossed the finish line first.
The whistle blew.
The race was over.
---
Adam came to a stop.
His chest rose and fell violently as he struggled to catch his breath.
Sweat streamed down his face.
But the weight pressing against his heart was far heavier than the exhaustion in his body.
It wasn't losing the race that hurt him the most.
It was knowing how much effort Jinjin had put into helping him prepare.
She had trained beside him every day.
Encouraged him.
Believed in him.
And despite all of that...
He still couldn't win.
He remained standing silently on the track.
Not far away, Ford was surrounded by a crowd of cheering friends.
Thunderous applause echoed across the sports ground.
Congratulations poured in from every direction.
Several boys lifted Ford onto their shoulders like a victorious champion.
The entire crowd roared his name.
"Ford!"
"Ford!"
"Ford!"
Meanwhile...
Adam stood in the middle of that very same crowd.
Yet he had never felt more alone.
His eyes searched desperately through the sea of faces.
He was looking for only one person.
Jinjin.
But she was nowhere to be seen.
At that moment...
It felt as though he had lost more than just a race.
Quietly, he lowered his head.
Then suddenly...
A familiar voice rose above the noise.
"Make way!"
"Please, let me through!"
Adam looked up in surprise.
There she was.
Jinjin was pushing her way through the crowd, squeezing between students as she desperately tried to reach him.
Her face was glowing with excitement...
As though she had been the one who had won the race.
She threw both hands high into the air and shouted at the top of her lungs,
"My friend won the race!"
"Woooooo!"
"Yeeeeeeah!"
"My friend is the champion!"
Adam froze where he stood.
For a single breathtaking moment...
Time itself seemed to stop.
The cheering crowd...
The roaring applause...
The endless noise...
Everything around him faded into the background.
The only person he could see...
Was Jinjin.
His only true friend.
And without even realizing it...
The first girl his heart had ever fallen in love with.
Suddenly, someone bumped into him from behind.
He stumbled slightly, snapping back to reality.
By then...
Jinjin had finally fought her way through the crowd and was standing right in front of him, breathing heavily but smiling more brightly than he had ever seen before.