Futile Devices Scans

“Could it be that we’re rivals in love?”

Before the words had even fully landed, Fu Chun Shen’s gaze stabbed straight toward him, making Ren Yu’s scalp go numb.

He said nothing. After only a brief silence, he withdrew his gaze and turned his bicycle around.

“Sorry.” Ren Yu looked at his back, his tone full of sincerity. “I didn’t know you liked her too. We can compete fairly. If you win, I’ll back off.”

A long leg pressed to the ground, and the bicycle wheel that had just begun turning came to a stop.

Fu Chun Shen got off the bike and walked back toward him once more, asking in the most ordinary tone, “How are you planning to apologize?”

“I… I already apologized just now.”

“Just apologizing with your mouth?” Fu Chun Shen suddenly reached out and removed Ren Yu’s glasses, his palm covering Ren Yu’s eyes in one smooth motion.

The old alley was lined with rows of willow trees. In spring and summer, their green branches rolled like waves, but once winter arrived, only bare willow twigs remained.

The willow branches were slender and soft, swaying gracefully whenever the wind blew. At that moment, Ren Yu felt as though a willow branch had lightly brushed against his lips.

The touch was so faint it almost felt like an illusion. By the time Ren Yu pushed Fu Chun Shen’s hand away, the willow branch had already drifted aside.

“You… what are you doing?”

The glasses were steadily placed back onto his face, and Fu Chun Shen’s features became clear once more. In the dim light, the boy’s face looked especially cold and sharp, a faint trace of red hidden in his eyes.

“What do you think I did?” Fu Chun Shen countered instead of answering.

Ren Yu brushed aside the willow branches and stepped back, replying with another evasive answer of his own. “These willow branches are so annoying, always brushing around everywhere.”

After Fu Chun Shen left for the second time, he did not come back again.

From that day onward, Fu Chun Shen seemed to disappear completely from Ren Yu’s life. Not a single phone call came during winter break, and after school resumed, no one waited for him at the bike shed anymore. Those two weeks they had spent together felt like nothing more than a shallow dream—once awakened from, not even a trace remained.

Things continued like this until Ren Yu ranked first among the regular classes and was admitted into the elite class.

He moved to the top floor, started using the restroom filled with perfume fragrance, and naturally began seeing Fu Chun Shen often again. However, Ren Yu’s mind was entirely occupied by Qiu Wei, while Fu Chun Shen treated him like air, not even sparing him a glance.

Ren Yu was actually quite satisfied with this arrangement. Rivals in love keeping out of each other’s way—it was peaceful enough.

Occasionally, he would secretly compete with Fu Chun Shen. Their looks each had their own appeal. Ren Yu’s grades were slightly inferior, but his personality was a bit better than Fu Chun Shen’s. Although he was also labeled arrogant and overbearing, he still fell within the category of a “normal person.” He had close friends, participated in club activities, and overall felt like a living person with warmth and vitality.

Just when Ren Yu thought the two of them would continue coexisting peacefully, Fu Chun Shen suddenly placed a condom onto his desk in full view of the entire class.

The condom package had already been opened. It was cylindrical, with a protruding tip.

“You forgot this in the restroom.” Fu Chun Shen’s voice was flat and emotionless, yet the entire classroom instantly fell into dead silence.

Ren Yu’s finger was pierced by the compass needle. Only when blood welled out did he feel the pain. Snapping out of his shock, he hurriedly explained, “It’s not mine.”

“It isn’t?” Fu Chun Shen looked mildly surprised. “I just saw you holding it in the restroom.”

Ren Yu’s face flushed red, and he was momentarily speechless. Blood stained the pages of his textbook. Fu Chun Shen took out a bandage from his pocket and handed it over. “In the future, remember to keep things like this properly stored. Don’t lose them again.”

The more he spoke, the worse it sounded. Ren Yu hurriedly explained again, “I… picked it up in the restroom.”

That Fu Chun Shen—who never voluntarily interacted with anyone—slowly tore open the bandage in front of the entire class and gently stuck it onto Ren Yu’s fingertip. His voice was clear enough for everyone to hear: “This thing is dirty. Don’t pick up used ones from other people anymore.”

Sounds of sharp inhalations gathered from every direction. The entire classroom held its breath because of those words. Ren Yu’s face had turned ashen green, and it took him a long while to find his voice again. “It was still unopened when I picked it up. I only opened it to take a look.”

Smoothing down both sides of the bandage tape, Fu Chun Shen straightened his back. Sunlight streamed through the window, shining directly onto his somewhat indifferent face. His entire bearing was strikingly elegant and impossible to ignore.

His voice remained as calm as ever as he replied lightly, “Mm. Got it.”

That day, Ren Yu never got another chance to explain himself. The cylindrical rubber object was swept into the trash can by him. The moment he looked up, he met the gaze of the girl he liked. She was still young and had not yet learned to hide her feelings; the disgust and contempt on her face were painfully obvious.

And just like that, Ren Yu’s long-cherished first love ended without resolution, while the rumors spread like wildfire, growing more intense by the day.

“The condom was my teaching aid,” the physiology teacher later stepped in to explain. “That day I accidentally dropped it in the restroom. Ren Yu was just curious and picked it up to take a look. It’s no big deal.”

But the situation never improved. The girl Ren Yu liked still avoided him like the plague. Whenever girls saw him, they either pressed themselves against the walls or changed direction entirely, like flowers encountering a wild boar, or swans spotting a toad.

……..

Fu Chun Shen tapped his fingers lightly against the bar counter, pulling Ren Yu out of his memories.

“You were the one who pursued me first back then,” Fu Chun Shen said flatly.

“Yeah, I pursued you, and we dated for half a month.” Ren Yu sneered, his eyes full of ridicule. “Fu Chun Shen, what kind of couple doesn’t hold hands, hug, or kiss? Every day you walked me to my doorstep, said goodbye, and that counted as dating? Back then you were just fantasizing all by yourself!”

Fu Chun Shen did not refute him. He simply lowered his eyes to stare at his wristwatch, as though watching the traces of time passing by. “November 7th, Dove hazelnut chocolate; November 19th, hardcover edition of Norwegian Wood; December 6th…” With every date he recited, Ren Yu’s grip around his glass tightened further. “As for the last Polaroid, you wrote on the back: ‘I wish to become your Christmas gift.’”

The guitar strumming onstage suddenly intensified. Ren Yu abruptly downed half a glass of rum. The burning sensation spread from his throat to behind his ears as those long-buried details broke through the surface one after another. He really had marked every gift with a date and signed each one with the character “Yu.”

And Fu Chun Shen bringing this up now was simply his way of refuting him: you were the one who left the gifts, you were the one who pursued him—he had not been fantasizing.

“At the time, I really did mistake the person. But for revenge, you spread obscene rumors about me and made every girl in school avoid me. Fu Chun Shen, you’re a vicious person.”

“It wasn’t slander. It was the truth.”

“The truth is that I already threw the condom into the trash, yet you dug it back out and delivered it right to me!”

Fu Chun Shen fell silent for a moment before suddenly asking, “Ren Yu, do you still remember that kiss from ten years ago?”

Ren Yu’s pupils constricted violently, yet he still failed to stop Fu Chun Shen from removing his glasses.

“That time… you really kissed me?”

Beside Ren Yu, it seemed as though willow branches were once again swaying gently, carrying with them the biting cold wind of years past as they softly brushed across his lips. For ten whole years, he had repeatedly convinced himself it was nothing more than a ridiculous illusion. Only today did he learn it had merely been self-deception accumulated year after year.

“Mm.” Fu Chun Shen lowered his eyes halfway, his gaze falling onto Ren Yu’s lips. “Do you still remember how it felt?”

When no reply came, he continued speaking as though operating according to some prewritten program. “I don’t remember anymore either.”

Without any warning, Fu Chun Shen suddenly leaned forward and pulled Ren Yu tightly into his arms. One hand lifted Ren Yu’s chin, forcing him to tilt his head back and meet his gaze. There was not the slightest trace of gentleness or hesitation. The next second, his lips crashed down.

“Ren Yu, you’ve kept me on the hook for ten years. It’s time to reel the line in.”

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