After everything that happened, Lin Xinyue stopped noticing people who liked her.
Or maybe she noticed them too much and chose to look away.
Boys talked, laughed, tried.
She didn't respond.
Not because she thought she was above them, but because she didn't want to feel anything again.
At No.1 Minghe Middle School, things slowly changed.
The same classmates who once whispered behind her back now pulled chairs beside her desk.
They laughed with her, shared lunch with her, called her by name.
She let them in, carefully, quietly.
Having people around felt safer than being alone.
School felt warm.
Home didn't.
In Minghe City, the walls of her house were unfamiliar.
No childhood streets, no evening laughter, no one knocking on the door.
Her phone filled the silence.
Scrolling replaced conversations.
She told herself this was normal.
Summer came gently.
A family trip, unfamiliar places, temporary happiness.
Somewhere between packed bags and quiet nights, she forgot to miss anyone.
That summer, Su Fei messaged her.
Su Fei rarely attended school, her health fragile, her notes incomplete.
She asked Xinyue for classwork, homework, updates.
Xinyue agreed without hesitation.
Messages turned into conversations.
Conversations turned into trust.
Trust turned into something deeper.
By the time school reopened, they were best friends.
They met again in the classroom, smiling too brightly, sharing stories about vacations and dreams.
Xinyue was still childish, still learning herself.
Su Fei was calmer, more grounded, someone who understood silence better than words.
Xinyue changed.
She laughed louder.
She spoke more.
People noticed her.
Popularity followed her quietly, without asking permission.
But memories don't disappear.
After the diary incident, something inside her softened, and broke.
She reduced her world.
From many friends to three.
Three at school.
One waiting back home.
Every month, she returned to Yunbei Town for a few days.
Those days felt lighter.
She laughed freely there.
She breathed properly there.
Gu Anran, her childhood friend, stayed constant.
Unchanged.
Safe.
And then, once again, life shifted.
Her parents were transferred.
This time, back home.
She left Minghe City behind.
She left Su Fei, her classmates, her memories.
She missed them more than she expected.
Two years of friendship doesn't disappear quietly.
Back in Yunbei Town, Gu Anran became everything.
Comfort.
Familiarity.
Home.
But school had to change too.
She took admission in Yunbei Public School.
And it was worse.
Stricter.
Colder.
Lonelier.
Different students.
Different energy.
Different silence.
Xinyue realized something she hadn't admitted before.
Leaving a place is easy.
Leaving the version of yourself you built there is not.
Was this return a fresh start,
or the beginning of her quiet isolation?