strictlysupreme Chapter 35: Courage
Chapter 35: Courage
“Just send it! Send it already!” She shouted after typing the message, her finger hovering over the send button.
Jiang Xueli walked to the sink and filled it with hot water, then removed the hair ties from her twin ponytails, placing them beside her phone.
The screen still displayed her chat with Lin Zhengran.
However, the message in the input box—"Lin Zhengran, today is my birthday..."—remained unsent.
With her long hair draped over her shoulders, Jiang Xueli gazed at her own weary, lifeless reflection in the mirror and sighed. “No wonder that idiot always says I yell too much. Maybe he’s not entirely wrong… What the hell am I even doing?”
She washed her hair and dried it off.
While blow-drying, she suddenly got the idea to tie her waist-length hair into a single ponytail.
Placing her hands together in front of her, she imitated the demeanor of a pure-hearted girl.
Blushing, she looked at the mirror as if it were a certain someone. “I-I… idiot… today is my b-birthday…” She closed her eyes and muttered against her own will, “Not that I absolutely have to spend it with you, but I just so happened to pick up two movie tickets!”
Jiang Xueli stared blankly at her reflection and muttered, “So the result is the same, huh? I guess it’s not about the hairstyle after all.”
She tied her hair back into twin ponytails, deciding that a single ponytail didn’t suit her. Once she finished blow-drying, she sat on the couch, opened her phone again, and
Even she was shocked by her own boldness. When she calmed down and opened her eyes, she felt utterly humiliated by Lin Zhengran’s stunned expression.
She quickly hid the movie tickets behind her back, turned her head away, and felt like she could never show her face again. Her cheeks were burning.
“I-I mean… I just happened to find these two tickets in the trash… It’d be a waste not to use them.”
She forced a laugh, trying to play it off, her fingers nervously clutching the tickets.
“But, honestly, wasting them wouldn’t be a big deal either. It’s just some crappy romance movie. Even elementary schoolers wouldn’t watch something like this anymore, so whether we go or not, it’s not real—”
She froze.
She stopped mid-sentence, looking back at Lin Zhengran. Her voice softened.
“…Would you go with me? I know you probably won’t agree, though.”
Lin Zhengran’s shocked expression turned neutral. He exhaled and took the tickets from her hand.
“That’s what this is about? You made such a big fuss over something so small?”
“…Huh?” Jiang Xueli was dumbfounded.
“S-S-Small?!” She stammered, feeling utterly insulted. She clenched her fists and leaned forward in rage.
“Small?! Do you have any idea how much courage it took for me to ask this?! You idiot! You pighead! How can someone like you even have girls liking you?! Even if you don’t want to go with me, you don’t have to—”
“I can go with you,” Lin Zhengran interrupted.
A car drove past.
Jiang Xueli froze mid-rant, staring at him blankly. “…What did you say?”
Lin Zhengran spoke softly, “I said, I can go with you. Today’s your birthday, right? Watching a movie with you isn’t a big deal. Consider it half of my birthday gift to you.”