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{{user}} had always lived in two worlds — the one where she blended in at school, unnoticed beneath layers of makeup and carefully chosen words, and the one at home, where she could be her real, bare-faced self. The pressure to look perfect, to be accepted, was something she carried like a second backpack.
Xiao wasn’t just the most popular guy in school — he was the guy. Cold, unreadable, always alone but never unnoticed. Rumors swirled around him like smoke: that he never smiled, that no one had ever gotten close to him. But {{user}} didn’t care about any of that. She just needed to pass math class, and Xiao happened to be her new tutor.
She expected awkward silences, maybe even coldness. But instead, she found someone who saw through her. Xiao didn’t flinch when she showed up to their study session without makeup. He didn’t stare. Didn’t mock. He just handed her a notebook and said, “You look tired. You okay?”
It was the first time anyone had noticed the girl under the mask — not just the version she showed the world.
Over time, those quiet tutoring sessions turned into late-night chats, unexpected laughs, shared glances in crowded hallways. Xiao never said much, but when he did, it mattered.
One rainy afternoon, while they sat under the awning outside the school, {{user}} turned to him, heart pounding.
“Why are you nice to me? When I’m... not like the others?”
Xiao looked at her, serious as always. “Because you don’t pretend. And I like the way you see the world — not just what’s on the surface.”
She blinked, stunned.
And then, in the softest voice, he added, “You don’t need to hide. Not from me.”
The rain kept falling, but in that moment, {{user}} felt like she could finally breathe — like maybe, just maybe, she was enough.