What to Do if I Am Noticed by the Straight Guy Next Door?

The dog-walking job had expanded Su Bin’s understanding of part-time student jobs, but after scanning through the options, he didn’t find many suitable choices. Nevertheless, Su Bin decided to give it a try and sent a simple job application to the email provided in the job posting.

Later, he also applied for another “one-time job” that required no specific skills, just availability and willingness to work – picking up trash. However, Su Bin didn’t think he had much chance of getting it due to the intense competition.

That’s because the job posting was from a stadium in City M. Football was a popular sport in Country B and an important part of its sports and entertainment industry. City M was known for its football culture and had two globally renowned teams named after the city. One of the world’s most famous football players, “Da Bei,” had previously played for City M’s team.

Therefore, City M’s reputation as a city was probably overshadowed by the fame of its football teams. Many Chinese people had heard of this city because of its football culture, and quite a few Chinese student fans would come to the city just to be in the same place as their favorite team and experience live matches.

Su Bin was aware of all this, and he had many classmates who were football fans. He used to watch matches with his friends before, but he wasn’t particularly fanatic himself.

Since the stadium in City M would host a match on Saturday, they needed part-time workers to help with the cleaning afterward. The job posting clearly stated that they needed people to “pick up trash” manually, and the hourly wage was much higher compared to other similar jobs.

However, for many applicants, the desire to work there might stem more from the opportunity to visit the famous stadium for free than from the job itself.

Despite knowing the intense competition, Su Bin still submitted his resume because opportunities had to be fought for, right?

The next morning, Su Bin called Chen Xiaotian without revealing that he was going to work. Since he wanted to surprise her, Su Bin didn’t want to leave any clues. Chen Xiaotian was a clever girl, and if she guessed it, there wouldn’t be any fun!

“Hey, isn’t Chestnut with you?” Su Bin seemed to hear Guo Li’s voice. “Chestnut” was his nickname.

Chen Xiaotian paused for a moment and said, “Yes, they’re here.” Chen Xiaotian meant that Huang Zhengming was also present.

Su Bin laughed and said, “Haha, are they doing fine? I haven’t contacted them.”

Chen Xiaotian replied, “They’re doing well… They often come to see me.”

Su Bin said, “Of course! They’re my good buddies. Since I’m not with you, they’ll surely accompany and take care of you.”

Chen Xiaotian chuckled softly, but before she could say anything, Su Bin enthusiastically said, “Pass the phone to Huang Zhengming, I want to talk to him!”

A few seconds later, a familiar voice came from the phone…

“…Bun?”

“Big Huang!” Su Bin exclaimed excitedly. “How have you been lately?”

“Well, how could it be? Just the usual.” Huang Zhengming chuckled lightly. His voice was deeper than Su Bin’s, giving off a mature and stable vibe. “And what about you? Are you doing fine?”

Hearing his friend’s voice, Su Bin almost burst into tears. Despite experiencing many joyful events after going abroad, making new friends, and learning many new things… when he thought about the unfamiliar environments (graveyards) that scared him, the lonely scenery (sunset) he unexpectedly encountered, the difficult-to-deal-with mysterious roommate (Allen), and the inexplicable disdain (Cheng Ang Group)… Su Bin felt particularly wronged, particularly… sigh!

“Windy winds and cold waters, alone overseas…” He muttered for a moment, “I wish I hadn’t gone abroad.” Then he quickly added, “Don’t let Xiaotian hear that.”

“Mhm,” Huang Zhengming, who wasn’t as articulate or versatile as Guo Li, and wasn’t as outgoing and cheerful as Su Bin, responded calmly. However, Su Bin had known Huang Zhengming’s character for over eight years since middle school. Although he didn’t talk much, he was an absolutely amazing person.

Su Bin recounted his experience of “conquering foreigners with instant noodles” to Huang Zhengming, who chuckled and said, “Chen Xiaotian already told me.”

It made sense since Su Bin would share almost everything that happened in Country B with Chen Xiaotian. She would definitely pass on the information to their friends. Thinking that his experiences would become a topic of conversation among his friends, Su Bin felt delighted, feeling the warmth of being remembered.

After chatting for a while, Su Bin had to go to school.

“…Bun, take care of yourself,” Huang Zhengming said before hanging up the phone.

Hearing these warm words from his emotionally reserved friend, Su Bin was almost moved to tears. “Yes, you guys too.”

Su Bin felt melancholic for a while but then cheered up and left the house. Life had to be looked forward to, after all…

But why did he encounter an expressionless person as soon as he stepped out? Sigh!

“Morning,” Allen’s cold greeting finally broke the awkwardness that had persisted since yesterday afternoon.

“Good morning,” Su Bin forced a smile in response, and that was it.

Allen descended the stairs ahead of him, showing impatience and not bothering to say a second word to Su Bin.

…Well, it seemed quite awkward after all.

When he arrived at school, Su Bin faced another test that life threw at him…

As mentioned before, the finance courses had two formats: lectures and group projects, with the latter not requiring a final exam but being evaluated based on continuous assessment.

In the previous class, Su Bin learned that today they would announce the group assignments, and their case study would be a “cross-year assignment.” Each group consisted of twelve people, usually with two senior students as mentors to guide them.

The instructor displayed the group assignments on the screen and informed the students, “The group list has been uploaded to the M University Finance Department’s online learning platform. Those who couldn’t see it clearly can log in using their student accounts, download the file, and find their respective groups to start working as soon as possible.”

Then, Su Bin saw his name on the screen… in the same group as Cheng Ang.

GROUP A-1.

Ang Cheng（Leo）—-Year 3

Bin Su（Micheal）—-Year 2

……

Upon seeing the group assignments, Su Bin’s mind was instantly filled with four blood-red characters: “Enemies on a narrow road.”

But this was not a coincidence. The groups were arranged in alphabetical order by first name, and both “Ang” and “Bin” were at the forefront.

Moreover, probably due to Cheng Ang’s good grades, his name was in bold and positioned first, meaning he was the leader of their group. The other members of Su Bin’s group were all names like Andy, Amy, Bob… A group of AABB people…

After class, students went their separate ways to find their groups.

Upon learning that Su Bin and Cheng Ang were in the same group, Sun Yujie couldn’t hide his envy. He wished he could replace Su Bin and be assigned to Cheng Ang’s side.

Su Bin couldn’t help but say, “He treats you like that, and you still like him?”

Sun Yujie wore a bitter expression and said, “I can’t help it, I just do.”

Su Bin, who had initially found Sun Yujie very annoying, couldn’t help but be moved by his words. Yes, Su Bin himself had a girlfriend and understood how emotions worked. Liking someone was not something that could be switched off with a single statement of dislike.

Su Bin was a bit at a loss as to what to do next. Having experienced group assignments before, Sun Yujie explained, “Just wait for an email from the group leader. They will notify the members of the meeting place. Usually, it’s in the library’s Discussion Room.”

Su Bin asked, “Won’t there be a teacher?”

Sun Yujie replied, “Well, technically there is, but they don’t really interfere. The group leader is usually in charge of leading the project, and then they report the members’ assignments and contributions to the supervisor. The final grade is based on the leader’s report…”

Su Bin realized, “…So, Cheng Ang holds the fate of this course in his hands?”

Thinking that this year of studying would be so easy, Su Bin suddenly felt the urge to tilt his head 45 degrees and say, “Interesting~!”

Sun Yujie didn’t answer. He had already immersed himself in the fantasy of Su Bin’s words about “holding the fate.” He had all sorts of wild thoughts, his face turning red… as if he believed that having control over someone’s fate was a great feeling…

This… this shameless guy, not only is he in the same group as Cheng Ang, but he also seems more excited about it than I am. It’s really disheartening!

While Su Bin was thinking about whether Cheng Ang would abuse his power and not send him an email, leaving him clueless about the meeting location, he heard someone call his name from behind.

“Michael, right?” Cheng Ang held a piece of A4 paper and, with an expressionless face, spoke to Su Bin in English. “We will meet at the library, room DR-233, at 3 PM this afternoon.”

Su Bin: “…”

Sun Yujie once again looked at him with envy… without any hint of hatred.

Su Bin watched Cheng Ang’s departing figure and silently criticized, “What a hypocrite, pretending not to know me!”

In the afternoon, Su Bin arrived fifteen minutes early at the fabled Discussion Room. Seeing that the door was locked, he couldn’t help but start to imagine if Cheng Ang had given him the wrong room number, intentionally making it difficult for him to find the group.

With an anxious heart, Su Bin approached the front desk and asked the attending teacher, “Excuse me, why is DR-233 locked?”

The teacher asked him to wait for a moment, checked, and said, “This room has already been reserved for use from 3 PM to 4:30 PM.”

Three o’clock? Wasn’t that the time Cheng Ang mentioned for the gathering?

Su Bin asked again, “Do we need to reserve the discussion room?”

“Yes, because the library has limited discussion rooms available, it’s best to reserve them half a day to a day in advance with your student ID. Especially during the final review period, if you don’t reserve in time, it’s difficult to find an available room,” patiently explained the teacher. Then they asked Su Bin, “Do you need to reserve a discussion room?”

Su Bin shook his head and said, “My classmate asked me to meet at DR-233 at 3 PM. I think that room should have been reserved by him.”

The front desk teacher replied, “The person who reserved the discussion room has already registered the names of all the users. Can you tell me your name? I’ll check for you.”

Su Bin provided his name, and the teacher read his name, “Bin?” with a smiling expression, then found the corresponding key for him. “Yes, you’re on the user list. There’s no one in the room now, so you can go in and wait for them.”

Su Bin took the key and successfully entered the discussion room. He was the first one to arrive.

It seemed that Cheng Ang was reliable after all. He hadn’t lied to him and had fulfilled his duty as the group leader promptly… Should he let go of his prejudice? Perhaps the other party didn’t actually dislike him.

As Su Bin sat there lost in thought, a foreigner he didn’t know looked at the door number, walked in, and asked, “Are you the A-1 group from the Finance Department?”

“Yes!” Su Bin quickly stood up, shook hands with the person, and introduced himself. The person’s name was Brian.

After listening to Su Bin’s self-introduction, Brian tilted his neck and couldn’t help but laugh as he asked, “Your name is Bin?”

Su Bin replied, “Yes…” What’s wrong with that?

“B-I-N? Bin?” Brian spelled it out and raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never seen a name like this before! Chinese names are… Interesting~!”

Su Bin was about to say that he could call him Michael when suddenly a thought flashed in his mind…

“Bin” in English seems to… mean “trash can”?

…Oh my god! No wonder the librarian earlier had that expression on her face when she heard his name…

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