Hidden Love-Secretly, secretly, but unable to hide it

Chapter 1

The sun burned fiercely overhead, its heat pressing down as cicadas screeched, slicing through the air like a chorus of static. In the stifling second-floor classroom of Xuri Middle School, Chen Mingxu stood on the podium, ruler in hand, beads of sweat rolling down his brow, his shirt clinging uncomfortably to his back.

The air shimmered with the kind of heat that seemed ready to combust. The ceiling fan spun overhead, a weak warrior against the sun’s onslaught, moving air that was more oven-hot than cooling. The students below sat languidly, their eyes heavy with fatigue and heat.

Chen Mingxu felt irritation build within him. His voice cut through the lethargy. “Look at the blackboard!” His gaze zeroed in on a girl seated in the third row, her attention miles away. He rapped the ruler against the blackboard with an extra snap. “Did you hear me? Look at the blackboard!”

The girl didn’t flinch. Her head remained bent, pencil gliding over her notebook as she doodled, oblivious to his presence. Her face was serene, exuding a quiet innocence and a trace of youthful softness. She sat with an aura of obedient grace, the kind teachers normally favored. But in this moment, she treated him as if he were invisible.

Chen Mingxu’s brow creased deeper, his tone sharper. “Angle one equals angle two, angle three is 108 degrees…” He continued through the geometry problem, only to find her gaze still unfocused, lost in her sketches. Frustration flared; his hand flew out, slamming the ruler down on her desk with a loud crack.

The ruler’s impact against the desk was like a gunshot. The class jerked, the sudden noise amplifying the tension.

“Sang Zhi!” His voice echoed.

The girl, Sang Zhi, raised her head, her gaze steady as she regarded him. She set her pencil down and rose, her expression unbothered.

“What did I just say?” Mingxu’s words were clipped, his patience stretched thin.

Sang Zhi cast a quick look at the board, her tone calm. “Angle four equals 72 degrees.”

Chen Mingxu was taken aback. How could she have known that? He wasn’t fooled, though. He rapped the desk again with the ruler, an edge of sarcasm seeping in. “I haven’t gotten to that part yet!”

Sang Zhi blinked, looking slightly troubled. “Then…why did you ask me to stand?”

“Why do you think?” His response was a sneer.

Sang Zhi paused, searching his face thoughtfully. “Because you don’t know the answer?”

Chen Mingxu’s jaw tensed. “…”

“So…you wanted me to teach you?” she asked with a genuinely puzzled look.

“I…”

She nodded as if coming to a conclusion. “Alright, then. Since angle one equals angle two, AB is parallel to CD, which means—”

“Enough!” Chen Mingxu could feel his composure slipping, his tone seething with exasperation. “If you’re so brilliant, why don’t you just take over as the teacher?”

Sang Zhi’s face took on a thoughtful look. She opened her mouth, hesitated, and then replied with unexpected sincerity, “But I can’t take away your livelihood.”

The silence that followed was broken by laughter, waves of it, rolling through the classroom.

Chen Mingxu’s face flushed with anger. “Quiet! Quiet!” he demanded.

But the students were too far gone, the class turned into a bustling marketplace of mirth. Mischievous cheers rose from the back.

“Teacher, I think it’s a good idea! Let Sang Zhi take over!”

“Maybe no homework from now on?”

“So, can we all just stop coming?”

“Enough!” Chen Mingxu’s command cut through the noise like a whip.

“Sang Zhi…” He exhaled deeply, trying to regain composure. But his patience was gone. “Bring your parents in tomorrow!”

The bell rang, an anticlimactic end to the showdown. Chen Mingxu left the classroom, his expression grim, not sparing a glance back.

It was the last period, and most students were already packing up to head home.

“Why’d you mess with Baldy Chen again?” Her friend, Yin Zhenru, dashed over as soon as the bell sounded. “You know he calls parents in at the drop of a hat! We’re barely halfway through the month, and your mom’s been here twice!”

Sang Zhi stowed her notebook in her backpack, pulling the zipper shut with more force than necessary. “I didn’t do anything.”

Yin Zhenru’s eyes widened. “You don’t know? You practically invited trouble!”

Sang Zhi frowned, muttering, “I answered his question, didn’t I?”

“But your answer—seriously, saying you can’t take away his job? I’d want to smack you for that.”

Sang Zhi scoffed. “Then you’re as unreasonable as he is.”

Yin Zhenru shook her head. “You don’t pay attention, you always get caught, and for what? Baldy Chen’s voice puts me to sleep.”

Sang Zhi shrugged, yawning. “If I listened without doing something else, I’d be asleep in minutes.”

“…”

That was fair. But before Yin Zhenru could continue, she caught sight of some boys hovering by the school gate and shifted topics. “Hey, are you coming to the bookstore?”

Sang Zhi raised a brow. “Why?”

“Fu Zhengchu invited you, plus a few from Class 6. We’re all going.”

Sang Zhi’s gaze turned suspicious. “Why?”

“He said… to buy Huanghou Xiong?”

“…”

What in the world was that? After a pause, Sang Zhi corrected her, “You mean Wang Houxiong?”

Yin Zhenru nodded sheepishly. “Yeah, are you coming?”

“No.”

“Why not?” Yin Zhenru nudged her. “You know, Fu Zhengchu is pretty handsome…”

The two strolled out of the classroom together, Yin Zhenru trying to gauge her friend’s reaction.

Sang Zhi’s face twisted with amusement. “You should get your eyes checked.”

“What’s wrong with my eyes? Plenty of girls think he’s cute!”

Sang Zhi smirked. “Then all of you should get checked.”

They reached the gate as Sang Zhi dug out her phone and opened her messaging app, composing a message to her brother, Sang Yan. [Brother, you haven’t been home in so long. Could you come tomorrow? I miss you,]

Unaware, Yin Zhenru sighed, “Are you really not coming?”

“Nope.”

“They’re all waiting…”

“Then you go,” Sang Zhi replied absently. “I’m not up for it.”

“Is it because Baldy Chen wants your parents? You could ask your dad to go this time…”

“They’re not coming.”

“Wait, what?”

Sang Zhi’s gaze remained on her phone. “I’m not going to tell them.”

“But if your parents don’t come, Baldy Chen will call them.”

“It’s fine,” she muttered under her breath, a plan forming. Her phone chimed.

[Sang Yan: I can’t.]

Her expression flickered, but she said nothing.

At the gate, Yin Zhenru waved goodbye and made her way to Fu Zhengchu and his group. Sang Zhi slipped her phone back into her pocket, her mind already elsewhere.

---

Fu Zhengchu’s face clouded as he watched Sang Zhi walk away. He asked, his tone loaded with understanding, “Sang Zhi isn’t coming?”

Yin Zhenru nodded. “She got scolded by the teacher—she’s in a bad mood.”

Fu Zhengchu raised an eyebrow. “Her parents being called in again?”

Yin Zhenru sighed. “Mmm.”

A moment passed in silence as Fu Zhengchu absorbed the news. He almost couldn’t believe it; the number of times Sang Zhi had been called to the principal’s office was catching up to his own tally. Could he, a so-called delinquent, let her outdo him? Determined, he hesitated only a second before turning back into the school.

Another boy, Liu Weiqi, called out after him, confused. “Hey, where are you going? Aren’t we supposed to buy *Wang Houxiong*?”

At that, Fu Zhengchu whipped around, reaching out to flick Liu Weiqi’s forehead with exaggerated frustration. “How many times have I told you? Read more books!”

Liu Weiqi reflexively rubbed his head, staring blankly. “What?”

“It’s *Huanghou Xiong,* you idiot.”

“…”

Meanwhile, Sang Zhi kept her attention on her phone, fingers flying across the screen as she texted her brother, Sang Yan, venting her frustration. She accused him of being cold-hearted, abandoning his thirteen-year-old sister just to chase his own dreams at university, and leaving her to fend for herself. After a few minutes of silence, she checked her messages again, waiting for a reply. None came.

Her heart sank. Sighing, Sang Zhi boarded the bus home, her mind churning over what she’d tell her parents about her third parent-teacher meeting of the month. How would she explain it?

Maybe she’d say that she was so exceptional, the teacher was jealous and called her parents out of envy. Or perhaps that she’d unintentionally said something that made the teacher insecure about his career. Or she could say the teacher had been driven mad by the heat and invited her parents over just for the thrill of it.

None of these options sounded convincing. Sang Zhi rubbed her temples in frustration, watching the cityscape pass by until her bus finally reached her stop. She stepped off, each step feeling heavier as she neared home.

The familiar sight of her house did nothing to ease her nerves. She opened the door cautiously, glancing around.

From the kitchen, her mother, Li Ping, called, “Zhizhi, is that you?”

“Yes, Mom,” she replied quietly, toeing off her shoes. Lost in thought, she failed to notice a pair of unfamiliar sports shoes on the rack.

“Zhizhi, come here for a second,” Li Ping called out again. “I need help with something.”

Still distracted, Sang Zhi mumbled, “What is it?”

“Bring this plate of fruit to your brother’s room,” Li Ping said, emerging from the kitchen with a warm smile. “Your brother is home.”

Sang Zhi stopped in her tracks, her tone rising in surprise. “Brother’s back?”

Li Ping nodded, a soft chuckle escaping. “Yes. But when you go in, just be mindful—he brought someone…”

“Got it!” Sang Zhi didn’t wait to hear more. She grabbed the plate and rushed toward Sang Yan’s room, a small grin tugging at her lips. Her brother, who had seemed so indifferent, suddenly appeared in her mind as the perfect sibling—aloof but warm-hearted, and back home to save her from another scolding.

Li Ping watched her daughter disappear down the hallway, a touch of bemusement in her expression. “What’s gotten into her today…?”

Relieved that she might escape her parents’ lecture, Sang Zhi smiled to herself as she pushed open the door to her brother’s room with a flourish.

Sunlight poured into the room, casting warm light across the spacious space. But no sooner had she stepped in than the sharp smell of cigarette smoke hit her, causing her to cough slightly.

She frowned, glancing around. 

In the shadowy corner by the computer desk, a slender young man lounged on the sofa, his posture relaxed as he scrolled through his phone. His back was to the window, his face half-hidden in shadows. One hand rested by his side, a cigarette held loosely between his fingers, its ember glowing red in the dimness.

Sang Zhi blinked. His frame looked somewhat like her brother’s, but there was something distinctly unfamiliar about him.

Her steps faltered, confusion creeping in. She was about to call out “Brother” when the young man lifted his head, his gaze meeting hers.

She froze, breath catching as she took in his face. His expression was cool, his features strikingly sharp and well-defined. A small, unreadable smile hovered on his lips—a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, lending him an air of mystery and distance.

His light brown eyes held a gentle yet unapproachable look, and his brows and the tilt of his eyes were striking, almost alluring. Everything about him was so different from her brother’s familiar dark-eyed gaze.

She had expected her brother. But this was someone else entirely.

For a moment, Sang Zhi’s mind went blank, her thoughts spinning as she struggled to process this unexpected stranger.

The silence stretched, both of them frozen in place.

After a long pause, the young man casually stubbed out his cigarette and rose, silently, moving to open the window to let fresh air in.

“…Brother?”

The word slipped out before Sang Zhi could think. She watched as his movements stilled and a faint smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He turned his gaze to her, his eyes glinting with a hint of playful intrigue.

His lips curved into an amused smile. “Hmmm?”

The sound struck Sang Zhi like a jolt of electricity, she finally saw her brother again, whom she hadn't seen for months, but he had turned into the person in front of her, 

snapping her out of her shock, as rrealization dawned, and her gaze fixed on him, her voice breaking slightly as she asked, “Y-you…”

She hesitated, gathering her thoughts, before finally blurting out, “You had plastic surgery?”