Notes of Youth

The spring festival had ended, but its warmth lingered like fading light across the halls of Class 11A1. Laughter had softened into quiet focus, and the sound of pages turning replaced the music and cheer. Yet for Lin Keqing, something had shifted.

The note Gu Yuyan gave her during the festival was now carefully tucked inside her notebook. Sometimes, between classes or before bed, she would read it again—silently, secretly. And each time, her heart seemed to grow a little calmer.

Back in class, Mr. Ha began announcing the upcoming exam schedule. Final semester exams were approaching fast. "Group revision sessions are encouraged," he said, glancing around with a knowing smile. "But choose partners who'll help you learn, not distract you."

Soon, study groups began to form.

Keqing naturally found herself studying with Le Yahan, Gu Yuyan, and Chen Yuke. One afternoon, they agreed to meet for a group study session—not at the library this time, but at a cozy milk tea shop just outside the school gate.

To her surprise, Xu Yujin and Liu Tianxue, joined as well.

Yujin, bubbly and talkative, was the first to break the ice. "I call dibs on the seat by the power outlet. My tablet's dying!"

Everyone laughed.

Tianxue, on the other hand, remained composed and sharp-eyed. She corrected Keqing's English grammar with a calm tone, which made Keqing raise an eyebrow at first—but later, she realized Tianxue was just earnest, not unkind.

The shop's warm lighting and the scent of roasted tea leaves wrapped around them like a cocoon. While books lay open and highlighters danced across pages, Gu Yuyan quietly slid a book across the table to Keqing—an old literature volume she had once mentioned wanting to read.

Her fingers froze as she picked it up. "You remembered?"

He gave a slight nod. "It was in the library's archives."

She smiled softly. "Thank you."

"Is that the one with the poem about time?" he asked.

She blinked, surprised he even remembered that detail. "It is."

Their eyes met briefly, and in that glance, there was something tender—quiet, but undeniably there.

Meanwhile, in a corner booth, Le Yahan and Chen Yuke debated study majors. Yahan wanted to pursue design. Chen, leaning toward social sciences, shared how his family wished he'd take a more 'stable' path.

"I'm not sure I'll ever live up to that," he muttered.

Yahan looked at him for a moment. "Do you want to?"

Silence hung between them—not awkward, but thoughtful.

"I want to be seen," he admitted. "Not just… tolerated."

Yahan stirred her milk tea with her straw. "Then you better not disappear into someone else's dream."

Later, as everyone got up to leave, the group stood outside the shop in the golden hour light. Yujin and Tianxue waved goodbye, promising to share their notes later. The others slowly scattered, laughing, stretching, talking about cram schedules and weekend study slots.

Keqing lingered behind. Her fingers played with the edge of her coat sleeve.

Gu Yuyan waited beside her.

"Are you nervous?" he asked.

She tilted her head. "About the exams?"

He nodded.

"A little. I feel like... every moment counts now. And I've never been very good at racing against time."

"You don't have to race," he said quietly. "Just walk steadily."

She looked at him.

"And if I fall behind?"

"I'll walk slower."

Her throat tightened slightly, but she only said, "Then don't walk too fast."

"I won't."

They stood in silence as the sun dipped below the rooftops.

That night, Lin Keqing opened her notebook and flipped to a blank page.

She wrote a few short lines. Not quite a poem, not quite a diary entry:

"The quiet things are blooming again.

Soft roots in soft earth,

Growing louder beneath the silence."

She closed the notebook and placed it beside her pillow.

Some things didn't need to be said aloud. Not yet. But they were beginning to take root.

Before falling asleep, her phone buzzed once.

It was a message from Le Yahan: "Let's go to the bookstore this weekend. You and I. No boys. Just us and some new pens."

Keqing smiled, thumb hovering above the screen. Then she typed:

"Deal. I'll bring the bookmarks."

And somewhere across the city, in a small room with a half-finished sketch on his desk, Gu Yuyan stared at a new sticky note he'd written but hadn't sent:

"What's something you've never told anyone?"

He placed it beside the others. For now.

That night, Gu Yuyan stepped out onto the small balcony outside his room. The city lights blinked below, soft and distant.

He leaned against the railing, the cool breeze brushing his face. Inside his notebook, beside the page filled with notes and margins, he scribbled something absentmindedly:

"She smiles differently when she's thinking."

He paused, then drew a small pencil sketch beneath it. Just lines. An outline of a girl leaning forward, pencil between her fingers.

He didn't know what to name the sketch. Maybe he didn't need to.

He just knew he'd be thinking about her even after the lights went out.