“If you had turned on the light, you might have discovered that the girl you’ve loved for seven years already has… well, you couldn’t bear that kind of sadness…” Donggan sent a heartbroken chat emoji, and added sorrowfully, “Bro, believe me, this is an experience from my youth that’s even sadder than the sadness of my balls, and I can never forget it.”

“Shut up, all of you, shut your damn mouths!”

Brian Carter lost it and, in a fit of rage, closed the group chat.

He glanced nervously at the class beauty sitting next to him. Luckily, she was looking down at her phone and hadn’t seen his chat messages. Brian Carter breathed a sigh of relief, but his mind kept replaying his buddies’ not-so-pleasant advice, like warning bells echoing in his ears. He reminded himself, “One last time, just trust her one last time… Yeah, this is definitely the last time!”

After a while, the two of them walked into the short-term rental that Brian Carter had booked online.

Short-term rentals near the university are a magical place. Every weekend, the prices go up, making it hard to tell whether it’s a “short-term~rental” or a “short~term rental.” But for Brian Carter today, it didn’t matter which it was—either way, it was a place of significance, where he would end his twenty-two years of virginity.

What happened next in the room was pretty bizarre.

The class beauty sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at her phone, as if her phone was much more interesting than Brian Carter.

Meanwhile, Brian Carter was visibly uneasy. It wasn’t even dark yet, but he was already obsessively fiddling with the lights, turning them on and off… on and off… as if he had OCD.

The atmosphere in the room grew more and more awkward.

Half an hour later, Brian Carter suddenly had a revelation: “Damn, I’m such an idiot! Old Third said that girls always feel a bit embarrassed when they come out to get a room. If she’s not saying anything, she’s probably waiting for me to make the first move, right?”

With that thought, he mustered up his courage and sat down next to the class beauty, making a move to push her down onto the bed.

According to what he’d heard, this was the moment when the girl would put up a token resistance, and things would naturally progress.

But reality was the complete opposite of what Brian Carter imagined. The class beauty struggled violently, suddenly pushing Brian Carter away, and said with a hint of panic, “What are you doing?”

“No, I…,” Brian Carter was completely stunned, even more flustered than the girl, stammering, “Didn’t you say that tonight… tonight we’d stay together?”

“I said we’d stay together, but I never said we’d do anything.” The class beauty was angry, looking at Brian Carter with merciless disdain. “I really misjudged you. Last time at Nanwan Park, you were so nice to me, so gentlemanly. I thought you were a decent guy.”

Brian Carter was deeply confused, a giant question mark popping up in his mind: After just chatting on the bench at Nanwan Park last time, is he really going to spend this night lying on a short-term rental bed just chatting again?

Just then, the class beauty’s phone beeped—she’d clearly received a new message.

She looked down at her phone, and her previously angry, beautiful face blossomed into a radiant smile.

After a while, she put away her smile, looked a bit embarrassed at Brian Carter, and said something even more awkward: “A-actually… I… I’m only with you to make Jason jealous.”

Brian Carter felt his vision go black, the world spinning.

In the past few months, he’d heard the name Jason from her countless times. This so-called Jason was the ex-boyfriend the class beauty had mentioned before—“After spending time with him, I found he’s actually a good guy, and his family’s pretty well-off.”

“I’m sorry, I… you… you’re the one who said you’d do anything for me, so I…” The class beauty seemed a bit uneasy. “So these past few days, I deliberately held your hand in the cafeteria, in the library, and walked with you in crowded places… And… and today, I also made sure he saw us together.”

At this point, the class beauty perked up a bit, even handing her phone to Brian Carter, her tone unable to hide her excitement: “Look, Jason admitted he was wrong and begged me not to leave him…”

Brian Carter’s vision went black again. He didn’t even see how Jason apologized—instead, what caught his eye in their chat history was this line: “Babe, even if you want to piss me off, you don’t have to be with that idiot from Building 9, right?”

You’re the idiot, your whole family are idiots!

A voice inside Brian Carter was roaring furiously.

But that roar felt like it was directed at himself.

On this day, in this month and year, for the first time in his life, he felt like he was the biggest idiot in all of China.

Seeing the indescribable look on Brian Carter’s face, the class beauty seemed to feel a bit of pity: “Little Brian, you… you didn’t really think something would happen between us, did you?”

Her answer was met with Brian Carter’s bloodshot, furious gaze.

The class beauty instinctively took a step back, gently persuading, “Little Brian, be realistic, okay? I’m a senior, about to graduate. I have to think about my future. In two months, I’ll be starting work, and after this summer you’ll only be a junior. There’s no way we could work out.”