"There's no way Meng Chenzhou and I have a future together."

Her denial only made her friends more suspicious. To them, it looked like she was purposely withholding information.

"Oh, come on! We've followed you all the way here, and you're still keeping secrets from us? Do you not consider us your closest friends?" one teased.

Zhan Yuxi quickly shook her head. "It's not that—"

"Well then, spill the truth! Don't try to fool us. Meng Chenzhou's feelings for you are so obvious! If you keep denying your relationship, you're letting us down after we've been rooting for you two as a couple for so long!"

This was the first time Zhan Yuxi learned that her cheerleader friends had been secretly rooting for her and Meng Chenzhou as a couple.

She was so exasperated that she almost laughed. "Me and Meng Chenzhou? Together? He likes me?" she asked incredulously.

"Where did you even hear such ridiculous gossip?" she added.

"That's absurd!"

At this moment, the group of girls realized that Zhan Yuxi still had no intention of coming clean.

"Looks like we'll have to show you the evidence. Here!" one of them declared. They pulled out a phone, opened the school forum, navigated to the "Popular Pairings" section, and entered a password.

Then, with an air of confidence, they handed the phone to Zhan Yuxi and said coldly, "See for yourself."

Zhan Yuxi took the phone and began scrolling through the posts.

The entire section was filled with words and candid photos documenting every interaction between her and Meng Chenzhou.

From the very first post, there were snapshots of moments she hadn't even noticed before. The first photo was of her on the track, preparing for a race, with Meng Chenzhou standing nearby, watching her intently.Then came pictures from various school events, award ceremonies, and even casual moments like her eating in the cafeteria or answering questions in class.

In every single image, his attention was unmistakably focused on her. His expression held an intensity that went beyond the casual familiarity of childhood friends.

The girls explained, a little guiltily, "Yuxi, we didn't mean to invade your privacy. Look, most of these pictures were saved from our class group chat or clipped from promotional videos.Only a small number were taken accidentally. This thread is locked and only accessible to a select group of classmates. We'd never use it for anything else. If you're uncomfortable, we'll delete it right away. But honestly, we spent so much time putting this together-it'd be a shame to lose it."

Zhan Yuxi wasn't listening to a word they were saying.

For the first time, she was seeing her relationship with Meng Chenzhou from someone else's perspective.

From the first photo of him standing by her side on the track to the countless moments caught on camera— how he always seemed to focus on her, the way he looked at her—it was all undeniable.

This wasn't the behavior of someone who treated her as just a childhood friend.

She didn't know how they had managed to capture all of this, but in that moment, Zhan Yuxi felt an unexpected gratitude toward these girls for showing her what she had been blind to.

"There's no need to delete it, she said finally, her voice calm. "But.. we're not together."

"What?"