Love Affairs in Melbourne-Chapter 76 - 73: Encountering Oddities Again

Yan Yan, clearly from Wenzhou High School, didn’t have much "fame" in his own school, but he somehow became a sensational figure at Wen Second Middle School, charming a whole lot of its female students.

Jiao Zhifei never received love letters from girls at Wenzhou High School, but every week, he would frequently get as many as ten or twenty letters from Second Middle.

Jiao Zhifei was extremely satisfied with the roundabout strategy he had adopted.

He was so famous at Second Middle; Zhou Yuan would have definitely noticed him.

Jiao Zhifei felt that he was only one step away from a successful confession.

But this time, Jiao Zhifei’s wishful thinking was off again.

If Zhou Yuan had a pretty good impression of the Jiao Zhifei from junior high, the high school Jiao Zhifei, who had suddenly become showy, had no appeal to Zhou Yuan whatsoever.

To win Zhou Yuan over, Jiao Zhifei made such grand moves that regular folks wouldn’t even dare to dream of.

But, however, and yet,

Zhou Yuan had no clue of Jiao Zhifei’s crush on her, not until she was about to graduate from high school.

In all aspects of life, people who could "put on such acts" to Jiao Zhifei’s extent were really rare.

However, whether to act or not was his own business. Yan Yan never meddled in these matters, except when she went out of her way to prevent Jiao Zhifei from taking part in the university entrance exam re-study program. She never thought there was anything wrong with being a little dramatic.

"Old Sister, are you planning to send me off to work in Shenzhen?" Jiao Zhifei asked, which was his first question after seeing Yan Yan again after several years.

"Are you a child? Do I need to send you off to work?" Yan Yan was somewhat speechless; Jiao Zhifei’s thought processes had always been unusual.

"I am your brother, isn’t it normal for you to send me off to work?" Jiao Zhifei asserted as if it were a given.

"Even if you think it’s normal for me to send you to work, you should ask about something else first." Yan Yan felt it her duty to correct Jiao Zhifei’s way of thinking.

"Such as what?" Jiao Zhifei asked, quite puzzled.

"For instance, your sister just got back from Xiamen, and you could ask whether I saw Zhou Yuan while I was there." Yan Yan gave an example of what a normal train of thought should entail.

"If you had run into her, even if I hadn’t asked, you would have told me," Jiao Zhifei felt there was no need to ask the sort of pointless question Yan Yan had just mentioned.

"You sure? Well, I’ve decided now. If you don’t ask me, I won’t say a word," Yan Yan believed the brother she acknowledged was getting to the point of being "past redemption."

"Didn’t mom teach you to respect the elderly and show love for the young?" Jiao Zhifei immediately challenged Yan Yan.

"With your age, how do you qualify as young?" Yan Yan looked skeptically at Jiao Zhifei.

"Once a brother, always a brother. It was you who made me call you Sister all those years," Jiao Zhifei spoke as if it were simply matter-of-fact.

Yan Yan’s university entrance exam results were mediocre, whereas Zhou Yuan performed exceptionally well.

Jiao Zhifei didn’t end up attending the same university as Zhou Yuan, but Yan Yan encountered Zhou Yuan at the campus of Xiamen University.

However, being in different majors and schools, Yan Yan and Zhou Yuan actually didn’t have much real interaction during their time at Xiamen University.

Furthermore, Yan Yan left Xiamen University after just one year, so even if Jiao Zhifei really did inquire, Yan Yan wouldn’t have much information to offer.

At the beginning of her freshman year, Zhou Yuan did take the initiative to seek out Yan Yan once.

After the college entrance examinations, Jiao Zhifei finally confessed to Zhou Yuan.

The result of the confession absolutely terrified Zhou Yuan.

Hardly anyone knew about Jiao Zhifei’s feelings for Zhou Yuan.

Jiao Zhifei approached Zhou Yuan to confess his feelings for the first time, claiming that since seventh grade, he had been deeply attracted to her and for six years, she was the only one he noticed.

He also spilled everything about how for Zhou Yuan’s sake, he had joined and meddled with every club at Wen Second Middle School.

No preparation, no method, no strategy.

Apart from being scared, Zhou Yuan wouldn’t believe a word Jiao Zhifei said during his confession.

But the thing is, Jiao Zhifei knew that he had waited six years to make his confession.

Maybe it was because he had waited too long that once Jiao Zhifei started confessing, he couldn’t seem to stop.

When Zhou Yuan started university, it was Jiao Zhifei’s overwhelming confession that drove her to seek out Yan Yan.

Zhou Yuan wanted to know what kind of state Jiao Zhifei was in during high school, what could have possibly prompted him to suddenly confess to her without any reason.

Yan Yan was the only person Zhou Yuan knew who had been classmates with Jiao Zhifei in high school, so despite not being close, Zhou Yuan had no choice but to approach Yan Yan for answers.

Actually, Zhou Yuan and Yan Yan only wanted to know when exactly Jiao Zhifei had developed this strange habit of doggedly pursuing someone.

Instead, Yan Yan ended up recounting the entire process of Jiao Zhifei’s affection for Zhou Yuan since seventh grade, even more in-depth than Jiao Zhifei himself.

If Jiao Zhifei hadn’t confessed, Yan Yan wouldn’t have anything to assist with, but since he had, Yan Yan was determined to fan the flames when it was time.

Truth be told, Jiao Zhifei and Zhou Yuan had a lot in common, both liked philosophy, reading, and music.

Zhou Yuan liked jazz, while Jiao Zhifei liked Leonard Cohen. One abstract, one concrete.

If Jiao Zhifei during his junior high years hadn’t been "dramatically undisciplined" and had properly confessed, he and Zhou Yuan might have been together long ago.

But Jiao Zhifei had to be "dramatic" up to the point that he would only confess after having liked her for six years.

When Jiao Zhifei confessed to her, Zhou Yuan simply didn’t believe it.

And when Yan Yan tried to help with the confession, Zhou Yuan still found it hard to believe.

Jiao Zhifei wasn’t some kind of introvert; the way he had all the girls from Wen Second Middle School head over heels proved that.

How could someone like him silently harbor feelings for someone for six years before deciding to confess?

Key point was, Zhou Yuan had never felt that Jiao Zhifei liked her in the past.

Back in high school, Zhou Yuan participated in a badminton tournament organized by Jiao Zhifei.

That was the only time Zhou Yuan ever saw Jiao Zhifei in her three years of high school.

Seeing someone from another school at your own school’s badminton match was odd enough in itself.

Aside from that, Zhou Yuan never had any particular impression of Jiao Zhifei throughout high school.

To organize that badminton tournament, Jiao Zhifei had actually put in an "extraordinarily arduous" effort.

His badminton skills were quite poor in junior high.

It was after being "crushed" by Zhou Yuan during P.E. class that he began to work hard, eventually earning a national second-level athlete certification in badminton.

In order to be with Zhou Yuan, Jiao Zhifei did a lot of things that normal people would deem impossible.

But Zhou Yuan knew nothing about all of this.

The way Jiao Zhifei loved was too strange, too well-hidden; even if Zhou Yuan had the intention to understand, she would find it difficult to pick up any clues from Jiao Zhifei’s actions and words.

Moreover, Zhou Yuan never once thought that someone as restless as Jiao Zhifei could have silently liked her since seventh grade.