Xin Yue was finally smiling again.
She had friends now, real ones, laughter during breaks, inside jokes, shared notes. For the first time in a long while, school didn't feel heavy. It felt… alive.
And then there was him.
His name was Lin Yichen.
A senior. Older. Calm. Charismatic. The kind of boy who walked past and made the corridor feel quieter, girls always around him, whispers following him like shadows. It felt unreal, like a scene pulled straight out of a drama.
Xin Yue told herself it was just a crush.
But curiosity has a way of growing teeth.
One night, out of impulse and excitement, she created a fake account. A different name, a different city, a different version of herself. Lin Yichen followed back. They talked. Laughed. Shared late-night conversations. It felt thrilling, harmless, almost magical.
She forgot one thing.
Every lie gets caught. No matter how late.
There was a girl in her circle, Han Meili, someone who smiled to her face but whispered behind her back. A backstabber disguised as a friend. Meili exposed everything. She told Lin Yichen the truth, that the girl behind the fake account was Xin Yue.
He was furious.
He hacked the account. Tracked the location. Read every message.
Fear replaced excitement. Xin Yue couldn't sleep. Her hands shook every time her phone buzzed. What started as fun now felt like a mistake she couldn't undo.
Then came the confrontation.
Xin Yue didn't go alone.
Zhao Xia, her seat partner, her quiet strength, stood beside her. When Lin Yichen scolded Xin Yue, Zhao Xia didn't stay silent. She protected her. She defended her. And when it was over, Zhao Xia scolded Xin Yue too, not with cruelty, but with honesty, the kind that hurts because it cares.
"Next time," she said, "don't hide who you are."
Xin Yue understood something that day.
Not all friends hurt you. Some pull you back when you're falling.
But the question remained,
was curiosity worth the fear it left behind?