Delayed Answer

Luo Ze, the school bully, made a bet with his childhood friend that he would pluck me, the untouchable flower on the mountaintop, before the college entrance exam.

His pursuit was direct and blazing, and I accepted every bit of it.

Until the day he half-crouched in front of my desk and asked me pitifully, “Fang Xinian, will you be my girlfriend?”

I tossed him an English-Chinese dictionary and smiled.

“Memorize it. Then I’ll give you my answer.”

Everyone knew he hated English.

Luo Ze agreed through gritted teeth and spent six months memorizing the entire dictionary.

He raised his English score from 10 to 130, then came to me for his answer.

I opened the dictionary. “Page one, second entry.”

Luo Ze froze. “Abandon? As in, give up?”