[Starlight Café — September 15, 6:45 AM]
Xiao Yue sat at the third table from the window.
The same spot as yesterday. The same time as the day before.
The same routine she had followed for five years without missing a single morning.
The coffee had gone cold ten minutes ago, but that didn't matter. She was never here for the coffee.
She was here for him.
The barista knew her by now. The weird quiet girl who came every morning at exactly 6:45 AM, ordered black coffee without variation, and stared out the window for hours without moving or speaking. They had stopped asking her questions months ago after receiving nothing but silence and empty stares in return.
She preferred it that way.
Invisibility was comfortable. Being invisible was safe.
Her notebook lay open beside her untouched textbook. Black cover, unmarked spine, completely anonymous to anyone who might glance at it.
But inside its pages were five years worth of observations, full to the brim, written in handwriting so tiny it required a magnifying glass to read properly.
A compilation of all of Lin Feng's activities in the past five years, documenting every detail of his existence.
Xiao Yue was eighteen years old, a freshman at Qinghua University enrolled in the same year as Lin Feng and assigned to the same department.
She possessed an intelligence that most people would never suspect existed behind her ghost-like appearance, a genius-level mind deliberately wasted on obsessive documentation of one man's daily routine, and looked hauntingly beautiful beneath her deliberate disguise.
Heroine number 3,000. Star rating: Seven Stars.
One of the only two seven-star heroines among three thousand women. A diamond buried so deep in the mud that no one knew to look for it.
But no one could see that now.
Not when she tried so hard to disappear.
Her long black hair fell past her shoulders like a dark waterfall, always partially covering her face like a curtain to hide behind.
Her skin was pale from rarely seeing sunlight, almost translucent in certain lighting, like white jade that had never known the warmth of day.
Her eyes were like deep pools that absorbed everything but reflected nothing back.
Her body was the kind most women would kill for — petite frame, soft curves, slender legs — but she buried all of it under baggy clothes meant to erase her existence. The oversized black hoodie drowned her silhouette. The shapeless jeans hid everything worth noticing.
She moved without making a sound, like a celestial being who had spent years perfecting the art of looking human.
She wore earbuds with no music playing, just another prop in her disguise. Her posture stayed hunched to shrink her presence.
Every single detail had been calculated to make herself look plain and unremarkable — a heavenly fairy putting on a convincing performance as a nobody.
She looked like a shadow pretending to be human.
And that was exactly what she wanted.
-----------------------------
Her pen moved across the notebook page with familiar devotion.
September 15th - Day 1,956 of watching him!
It's 6:45 AM and I'm at my usual spot. The weather is really nice today — clear skies, warm breeze.
His kitchen light came on around midnight again. He was cooking for HER again. I watched him moving around through the window for hours, preparing that elaborate lunchbox he makes every single morning.
The light finally turned off around 4 AM when he went back to bed. Four hours of cooking, then maybe three hours of sleep before class. He's going to ruin his health like this. All for a woman who doesn't appreciate him.
She paused, staring at the mansion door with a familiar ache in her chest.
But even exhausted, he never misses his schedule. He should come out around 7:15 AM like always.
That's one of the many things I love about him — even when he's tired, even when he's hurting, he's always so punctual. So reliable. I can even set my watch by his routines.
Her handwriting was neat and careful, filled with little hearts dotting the i's on certain words.
Yesterday he wore the navy blue shirt. The day before was the gray polo. Based on his rotation pattern, today should be either the black casual shirt or the white button-down. I hope it's the black one. He looks so handsome in black!
She paused, allowing herself a small smile before continuing.
He'll carry the lunchbox like always. The one he makes for HER every morning.
The smile faded.
Su Qingxue.
Even writing the name made her chest tighten with something bitter.
She never even says thank you properly.
She just takes and takes and takes. She uses his kindness. She strings him along with fake smiles and empty promises. She doesn't deserve him. She doesn't deserve ANY of what he gives her.
The pen pressed harder against the paper, nearly tearing through.
I would never treat him like that.
If he made breakfast for me, I would treasure every single bite. I would wake up extra early just to eat with him. I would tell him how delicious everything was. I would make him feel appreciated and loved and—
She stopped.
Her hand moved on its own, crossing out those lines with violent strokes until the words were completely illegible.
No. Stop it. Don't think like that.
Just watching is enough. Just being in the same world as him is more than someone like you deserves.
She had accepted this truth two years ago. The day he looked at her with disgust and told her to stay away. The day she learned that her kind of love was not the kind anyone wanted.
Some people were meant to be loved.
Others were meant to watch from the shadows.
She knew which category she belonged to.
-----------------------------
7:15 AM.
Xiao Yue's eyes fixed on the front door of the Lin family mansion.
He should emerge now. Any second. He always left at exactly 7:15, rushing toward campus with that desperate energy, clutching the lunchbox like it contained his entire reason for living.
The door remained closed.
Her pen began tapping against the notebook. A nervous rhythm she couldn't control.
7:18 AM.
He's still inside. That's three minutes past when he usually leaves. That's weird.
7:20 AM.
The tapping grew faster.
Five minutes late now. This is really unusual. In five years of watching, he's never been more than two minutes behind schedule. Something must have happened.
7:22 AM.
Her heart started pounding against her ribs.
Seven minutes late. Is he okay? Did something happen to him? Is he sick? Did he leave through another exit somehow?
She flipped through her notebook frantically, checking her records. No, that was impossible. She had arrived at 6:45 AM as always. She had maintained visual contact with all possible exits. He could not have left without her seeing him.
So why was he still inside?
7:25 AM.
Her handwriting grew jagged and uneven, panic bleeding through every stroke.
TEN MINUTES LATE! This has NEVER happened! Five years of watching and he has NEVER been this late! What changed? What happened last night? Did I miss something? Did Su Qingxue do something to upset him?
7:28 AM.
The door finally opened.
Xiao Yue's pen clattered to the table.
Lin Feng stepped out into the morning sunlight.
Thirteen minutes late.
But that wasn't what made her breath catch in her throat.
He looked different.
Not physically. He was still the same Lin Feng she had memorized down to the smallest detail. Same height, same build, same face she had sketched a hundred times from memory.
But something fundamental had shifted.
His shoulders were relaxed instead of carrying that constant desperate tension. He wore a black casual shirt and dark jeans, simple and understated, without the designer brands he usually chose to impress Su Qingxue. His stride was calm and measured rather than rushed and frantic.
And in his hand — the lunchbox. The one he made every single morning without fail.
Her pen moved automatically to document.
7:28 AM. Subject has emerged. Carrying lunchbox as expected. Now heading toward—
She stopped writing.
He wasn't heading toward campus.
That's strange. Did he forget something? Is he going back inside?
But he didn't turn back. He kept walking. Past the front gate. Onto the sidewalk.
He turned left.
Left? But campus is to the right. Su Qingxue's dormitory is to the right. Everything is to the right. Why would he—
Her pen froze mid-stroke.
Left led to the residential district. Left led to the small row of shops across from the Lin family estate.
Left led to the café.
Left led to her.
No. No, that's a coincidence. He's probably going somewhere else. There are other shops. Other destinations. He's not—
Lin Feng kept walking. Steady pace. Relaxed shoulders. Eyes fixed straight ahead.
Directly toward the café entrance.
He's coming here.
The thought hit her like ice water.
He's coming HERE. He's walking toward THIS café. Toward the table where I've been sitting every single morning for five years.
Her chair scraped against the floor as she shot to her feet. Her hands scrambled to gather her things — notebook, pen, bag, everything scattered in her panic.
She threw money on the table without counting it. Too much. Way too much. It didn't matter.
The side exit. She needed the side exit.
Her legs carried her through the narrow hallway and out into the alley before her mind could catch up with her body. She pressed herself against the wall, then moved quickly to the decorative hedge at the corner of the building.
Perfect line of sight to the café entrance. Completely hidden from view.
Her heart pounded so violently she could hear it in her ears.
Through the gaps in the hedge, she watched Lin Feng push open the café door and step inside.
-----------------------------
He walked directly to the third table from the window.
Her table.
Xiao Yue stopped breathing.
He stood there for a moment, looking down at what she had left behind. The empty chair still warm from her body. The coffee cold but untouched in its cup. The money scattered carelessly across the table surface.
He didn't look confused.
He didn't glance around the café searching for whoever had been sitting there.
He smiled.
Knowingly. Calmly. Like he had expected exactly this.
He knows.
The thought crashed through her mind like a thunderbolt.
He knows I was here. He knows this is my table. He knows I ran.
But how? How could he possibly know?
She had been so careful. Five years of watching from the shadows, five years of staying invisible, five years of never letting him catch even a glimpse of her observing him.
And yet he smiled like he knew everything.
Lin Feng turned and walked back out of the café. He didn't head toward campus. He didn't take any of his usual routes.
He walked toward the small neighborhood park three blocks away.
Xiao Yue's blood turned from ice to pure frozen terror.
That park. Her park. The one she went to during lunch breaks when she needed to feel close to him without being near him. The bench under the cherry blossom tree. The one where she had sketched his face from memory over a hundred times.
He can't know about that.
That's impossible.
There's no way he could know about the bench.
But he walked directly toward it without hesitation, like he had a destination already fixed in his mind.
She followed at a distance, staying hidden behind trees and bushes, her heart threatening to break through her ribs with every beat.
-----------------------------
Lin Feng entered the park.
He walked past the fountain, past the flower beds, past the small playground where children would gather in the afternoons.
He stopped directly in front of her bench.
The one under the cherry blossom tree. The one facing east so the morning light would illuminate his face perfectly when she imagined him sitting there. The one she had claimed as her secret sanctuary years ago.
He placed the lunchbox container on the bench. Gently. Carefully. Like he was leaving an offering.
Then he pulled out his phone, typed something, and put it back in his pocket.
Then he turned around and walked away.
Just like that. Calm and unhurried. Heading toward campus now, leaving the lunchbox sitting there like this was completely normal.
Xiao Yue stood frozen behind a large oak tree, her mind unable to process what she had just witnessed.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket.
She fumbled for it with trembling hands, nearly dropping it twice before managing to grip it properly.
Unknown number.
She stared at the screen.
Unknown number.
But she never gave out her number. Ever. No friends, no social contacts, no one who would have any reason to message her. The only place her number existed was in the university registration system, and even that required special access to retrieve.
How did anyone get her number?
How did HE get her number?
She opened the message with fingers that refused to stop shaking.
[You need to eat breakfast. I know you skip it every morning. This is for you. - Lin Feng]
The phone almost slipped from her hands.
-----------------------------
Her legs moved on autopilot.
Walking toward the bench like a ghost. Like a dreamer who wasn't sure if she was awake or asleep. Like someone approaching a mirage that might disappear the moment she got too close.
The container sat there on the wooden slats. Real and solid and impossible.
She reached out and touched it. Still warm beneath the cloth wrapping.
This is real.
This is actually real.
He left breakfast for me. He knows I skip breakfast. He knows I come to this park. He knows this is my bench.
How does he know everything?
She unwrapped the container with trembling hands.
Inside: Bird's nest congee with goji berries and red dates, still steaming gently in the morning air. Handmade xiaolongbao with premium wagyu beef filling, each dumpling folded with exactly eighteen pleats. Osmanthus honey glazed spare ribs that smelled like heaven. A small container of matsutake mushroom soup. Crystal shrimp dumplings with translucent wrappers so thin she could almost see through them.
This was not ordinary food.
This was the lunchbox he made for Su Qingxue. The one she had watched him prepare for four years. The one with ingredients that cost more than most people earned in a month.
And he had left it here. For her.
How?
Her mind raced through five years of observations.
She had watched him make this exact lunchbox hundreds of times. Midnight cooking sessions. Premium ingredients. Hours of effort. All for Su Qingxue. All for a woman who never appreciated any of it.
And today, for reasons she couldn't understand, he had given it to her instead.
He chose me.
He made this for Su Qingxue, but he gave it to me.
Two years ago, he told me to stay away. He called me insane. He looked at me like I was diseased.
And now he knows I'm still watching — and instead of being angry, instead of calling the police, he made me breakfast.
He even knows my phone number.
What changed? Why is today different?
She had been invisible for five years. A ghost. A shadow. She had perfected the art of watching without being seen, of existing without being noticed.
And somehow, he knew everything anyway.
Her phone buzzed again.
Another message from the unknown number.
[Also, you don't have to hide anymore. If you want to talk to me, you can. Anytime you want. I promise I don't think you're weird or creepy. I'm actually glad you've been watching. It means you care. - Lin Feng]
The words blurred as tears flooded her eyes.
"I'm glad you've been watching."
The exact opposite.
The exact opposite of what he said two years ago.
-----------------------------
The memories crashed through her mind without permission.
Two years ago. She was sixteen. He was sixteen.
She had finally worked up the courage to approach him after watching from the shadows for three years. She introduced herself properly, carefully, practicing her smile in the mirror for weeks beforehand.
They became friends.
For a few beautiful months, she had what she always wanted. She could talk to him, laugh with him, exist in the same space as him without hiding. She was so careful to act normal, to suppress her obsessive tendencies, to pretend she was just an ordinary girl who happened to enjoy his company.
She was happy. Genuinely happy for the first time in her life.
And that happiness made her stupid.
She started to feel guilty about the deception. Every time he smiled at her, every time he treated her like a normal friend, the lie between them grew heavier.
He thought she was just a classmate who happened to like the same books. That she liked the same thing he liked. He didn't know about the three years of watching. The following. The collecting.
She wanted him to know the real her. She wanted their friendship to be built on truth, not deception. She wanted to believe that he would understand, that he would see her devotion as love rather than obsession.
So she told him everything.
She confessed it all. The surveillance. The following. The garbage collection — keeping things he threw away because they had touched his hands. The way she had tracked his movements for three years before ever introducing herself. She laid her heart bare, hoping he would accept her completely.
He didn't.
She remembered the exact moment his expression changed. The way his eyes widened with shock, then narrowed with something worse. The way his face twisted with disgust and revulsion, like he was looking at something inhuman.
"This is insane." His voice had been cold. So cold. "You're insane. You've been stalking me this whole time? Following me? Collecting my garbage?"
"Lin Feng, please, I just—"
"Stay away from me." He stepped back from her like she was diseased. "I mean it. Don't talk to me. Don't follow me. Don't even look at me."
"I love you! Everything I did was because I love you!"
"That's not love. That's obsession. That's sickness." The disgust in his eyes burned into her memory forever. "Normal people don't do what you did. Normal people don't act like this."
"I'm not normal! I know I'm not normal! But my feelings are real! Please, just give me a chance to—"
"Do you have any idea what would happen if Su Qingxue found out?" His voice turned cold in a different way. Calculating. Worried. "If she heard that my 'friend' was actually some crazy stalker who's been following me for years? She'd never look at me the same way again."
The words cut deeper than the disgust ever could.
He wasn't just rejecting her because she was broken.
He was rejecting her to protect his chances with another woman.
"No." The word was final. Absolute. A door slamming shut forever. "Goodbye, Xiao Yue. Don't contact me again. And if you care about me at all, stay far away from Su Qingxue too."
He walked away.
She stood there in the empty hallway, tears streaming down her face, watching him leave without looking back.
After that day, he avoided her completely. Changed his routes so she couldn't predict his movements as easily. Sat on the opposite side of classrooms. Never made eye contact.
She went back to the shadows where she belonged.
She continued watching from a greater distance, accepting that she would never deserve him, resigning herself to loving him silently for the rest of her life without any hope of reciprocation.
Two years of suffering in the darkness.
Two years of telling herself that just watching was enough.
Two years of believing she was too broken, too obsessive, too insane to ever be loved.
-----------------------------
And now this.
"I'm glad you've been watching. It means you care."
The exact opposite.
The impossible words.
The same boy who had called her insane, who had looked at her with disgust, who had told her to stay away — he was now saying he was glad.
Glad she had been watching.
Glad she cared.
Xiao Yue pressed the phone against her chest and broke completely.
The tears came in violent waves. Full-body sobbing that shook her entire frame. Ugly crying that made it impossible to breathe properly. Five years of suppressed hope and accumulated pain pouring out all at once.
She didn't care if anyone saw her.
She didn't care about anything except the words burning on her phone screen.
Five years. 1,956 days. Over 46,920 hours of loving him from the shadows, convinced she would never be worthy of standing in his light.
And in one morning, everything changed.
She didn't understand why. She didn't know how he suddenly knew everything about her. She didn't comprehend what had shifted between yesterday and today.
But sitting there on that bench, clutching the breakfast he had made with his own hands, reading his message over and over until she had memorized every character — she didn't care about understanding.
She just cared that Lin Feng had finally looked in her direction.
And this time, he hadn't looked away in disgust.
-----------------------------
She ate the breakfast slowly.
Every bite was perfect. The congee was rich and nourishing, the goji berries adding subtle sweetness. The xiaolongbao burst with flavor when she bit into them, the wagyu filling melting on her tongue. The spare ribs were tender enough to fall off the bone. Even the mushroom soup tasted like something from a five-star restaurant.
He had left this for her.
Not for Su Qingxue. For her.
The breakfast he had prepared every morning for four years, the one he had always given to that ungrateful woman who didn't deserve him — today he gave it to Xiao Yue instead.
She savored every mouthful like it was the most precious meal she had ever eaten.
When she finished, she pulled out her notebook and opened to a fresh page.
Day 1,956 - EVERYTHING CHANGED TODAY
Two years ago, he rejected me. He called me insane. He told me to stay away forever.
Today, he made me breakfast. The breakfast he always made for HER. He chose me instead!
He knows I never stopped watching. He knows I've been following him this whole time. And instead of being disgusted, instead of hating me, he said he's GLAD.
He's GLAD I've been watching him!
He told me he doesn't think I'm weird. He told me he doesn't think I'm creepy. He said he's GLAD I've been watching him!
This is the happiest day of my entire life.
I'm going to learn how to talk to him properly. I'm going to become someone worthy of standing beside him instead of watching from the shadows.
Today I stop being just an observer.
Today I become something more.
She closed the notebook, wiped her tears, and stood up with the empty container clutched against her chest.
For a moment, she allowed herself to simply feel the happiness. Pure and overwhelming and more than she ever expected to experience.
But then another thought crept in. A colder thought. A realistic thought.
He saw me today. He chose me today.
But I'm not the only one who wants him.
-----------------------------
Lin Weiwei.
The name surfaced in her mind with bitter familiarity.
Of course Xiao Yue knew about her. She had been watching Lin Feng for five years, which meant she had been watching everyone around him for five years as well.
Lin Weiwei. The adopted sister. The computer science prodigy. The seven-star beauty hiding behind a cold goddess mask.
A stalker always recognized another stalker.
Xiao Yue had observed the signs for years. The way Lin Weiwei's eyes followed Lin Feng when she thought no one was watching. The way she cooked elaborate breakfasts for him every single morning. The way she positioned herself to "accidentally" brush against him in hallways.
And worse things. Things Xiao Yue had only partially glimpsed through windows and security footage she had hacked into.
The cameras hidden in his bedroom. Eight of them, if her count was correct. Positioned to capture every angle.
The way Lin Weiwei sometimes snuck into his room after he fell asleep. Just standing there in the darkness, watching him breathe, existing in his space.
That woman has been doing everything I wanted to do.
She lives with him. She sleeps down the hall from him. She has access to him every single day, every single night.
And she's beautiful too and also very intelligent, just like me. Maybe even more beautiful with that cold elegant face and those perfect curves she hides under loose clothing.
Xiao Yue's hands tightened on the empty container.
Lin Feng finally opened his eyes today. He finally stopped chasing that worthless Su Qingxue. He finally noticed someone who actually loves him.
But he might not have noticed just me.
What if he noticed her too?
What if she's already making her move? What if she's planning something right now while I sit here feeling happy?
The warmth in her chest began to curdle into something urgent and desperate.
That incestuous whore has been crawling into his bed for years. She's been watching him sleep, cooking him breakfast, playing the devoted little sister while hiding her true intentions.
She has proximity. She has access. She has five years of built-up familiarity working in her favor.
All I have is today.
One morning. One breakfast. One message.
If I wait even a single day, she'll sink her claws into him. She'll make him forget about this morning. She'll turn his attention back to her before I even have a chance to speak to him.
Xiao Yue stood up from the bench with new purpose burning in her eyes.
The tears had dried. The vulnerable girl who had sobbed over a text message was gone, replaced by something harder and more determined.
I won't let that happen.
I've waited five years. I've suffered two years of rejection. I've watched from the shadows while everyone else got to stand in his light.
Not anymore.
Before this day ends, I will press my claim.
I will make sure he knows that I'm the one who truly loves him. I will show him that my devotion is deeper, purer, more absolute than anything that incestuous whore could ever offer.
Lin Feng finally looked at me today.
And I will make damn sure he never looks away again.
She started walking toward campus, clutching the empty container like a trophy.
Lin Weiwei wants a war?
Fine.
She'll get one.