"I’m sorry, I didn’t expect things to turn out this way."

This was the first time Wayne Lane had lowered his head to apologize to someone.

Hannah was lying on the desk, not wanting to look at him.

The sun had set in the west, and there was no one in the classroom; everyone had gone to eat.

Wayne Lane sat in the seat in front of Hannah and turned around to look at her.

The afterglow of the setting sun fell on him, and that icy face which always kept people at a distance seemed to have signs of melting.

Tense and embarrassed.

"Hannah, I’m sorry."

He apologized again, bowing his head to try to see her expression.

Hannah turned her head away, looking at the wall instead of him.

The classroom was very quiet.

So quiet that Hannah felt Wayne Lane should say something like, "I’ve apologized already, what more do you want from me?" and then turn away and leave.

But he didn’t.

He just sat very honestly on the chair.

Because he knew he had done something wrong.

That night, Wayne Lane ate dinner alone.

He had bought one for Hannah, then went back to the cafeteria by himself.

Afterward, he no longer pestered her to "have a fight."

He thought that if he just kept his distance from Hannah, the rumors would stop.

But soon after, there were fresh rumors that they had "broken up."

"We didn’t break up, no, we never dated," he couldn’t explain.

Sheffield Benedict teased him, "Do you actually like her?"

Mecha Academy was a boarding institution, with students only allowed out once a month, such gossip was not commonly discussed by the students.

So, this didn’t get out.

Wayne Lane never mentioned Hannah’s name to anyone.

Not even to Sheffield Benedict.

This was the first time Wayne Lane was so distressed.

Yet Sheffield Benedict could always see right to the heart of the matter, "Have you noticed that you used to always talk to me about mechas, but now, the girl is all you ever talk about?"

He didn’t know her name, so he just referred to her as "the girl."

Wayne Lane paused, silent.

The next day at school, Wayne Lane threw himself back into mecha training.

He really didn’t go looking for Hannah.

And Hannah didn’t seek him out either.

Gossip is like the wind; it comes and churns things up, then it passes and things settle down.

Very quickly, the next gust arrived.

Everyone just took the incident between Hannah and Wayne Lane as a joke.

In the academy, studies were a priority.

Another half-month passed, and the results of the first mock battle for the new students were released.

Hannah was first.

There was nothing surprising about that; her enrollment scores were the highest.

According to the academy’s rules, the award presenter would be the previous year’s top student.

Which was Wayne Lane.

Half a month had gone by, and their second meeting had made them strangers to each other.

Wayne Lane instinctively wanted to avoid suspicion, but also worried about others misinterpreting, so he could only stand stiffly next to Hannah.

The instructor responsible for taking photos and videos asked them to stand closer together.

Wayne Lane didn’t dare move.

"Move a bit closer, it’s not like I’m asking you to fight; why so tense?"

Tense?

Was he really tense?

Wayne Lane felt he wasn’t tense at all, so he took a big step to the left.

Then he touched Hannah’s hand.

"Senior, do you really want to fight with me?"

Hannah turned her head to look at him, her eyes curved into a smile.

Wayne Lane stiffly turned his head, "No."

Their eyes met as the instructor shouted, "Alright."

The photo was taken.

Both of them were looking at each other, not at the camera.

In that photo, Hannah was smiling, and Wayne Lane still had his usual cold expression.

As if that was the only face he had all year round.

Much like how he was now.