Chap 8: "Who Nova crush is?"

"I really like you! Can you go out with me?"

How could a person say such words so easily, how could those words come out of their mouths.

Which love is real, and which love is fake? I wish someone could invent a love-testing machine like the lie detector but for the heart.

"Ah… sorry."

The first time Cupid heard that was on a sunny afternoon when he and Nova were walking home from school. That was…a few years ago, right? When he and Nova were about to graduate from elementary school.

They stopped at a convenience store, Nova waited outside, and he went in to buy ice cream for both of them, he liked melon ice cream, and Nova liked chocolate ice cream.

"I…I really like you! Can you go out with me?"

As Cupid walked out of the shop with two ice cream bars in his hands, he heard a girl confessing her love. Looking over to where Nova was sitting, he saw that girl standing opposite to Nova, her face full of curiosity, eager to hear Nova's response to her confession.

Uhm…Cupid thought for a while and then decided to stand aside and listen. This wasn't his business so…

"Uh…I'm sorry but…"

"I like you! Please, please."

Cupid frowned. He ate his ice cream first, but the cold taste of the ice cream still didn't help his heart sink any easier.

"I…I'm sorry…"

"Please…just this once…" the girl keep on begging

"…just this once?!"

Taking a hard bite of the ice cream, Cupid stepped forward, blocking the girl's path.

"I'm sorry, but…can you go away?"

But never mind, if there wasn't a love-evaluating machine, Cupid would become one.

Because Cupid's confident in his observational skills.

Because… Cupid had already observed a lot of things, with his own eyes and his sharp ears. He could see through those lies, and hear those harsh truths.

"You… made a bet with your classmates, right? Whoever got the lowest score would go confess to the person they were interested in." It was just that, Cupid was a man of words, he didn't like to talk much. Lies, truths, if they didn't harm Cupid… no, if they didn't harm Nova, he wouldn't bother: "Please, don't do such things like this ever again."

Humans, truly are creatures who don't think when it comes to love…

-o-

"Hey, hey, hey, hey" Heos bothered Cupid again, because Nova had been busy preparing for the gifted student exam these past few days, so Heos would rush to ask Cupid every time he saw him standing alone admiring the scenery: "How's it going, is everything settled? That girl…"

"That girl…" Cupid quickly interrupted: "Melon milk."

"Huh?"

"Buy me melon milk, I'll tell you."

"O…okay!" Heos immediately ran down to the canteen at the last minute. Making Cupid freeze…just kidding, but he actually did it…well, since it's already happened, let's buy him something another day…

"Here you go!" Handing the milk box to Cupid, he stood next to him, excitedly listening.

"Uh…you're really…honest."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. If you want to hear it, I'll tell you but don't go around telling anyone else about this alright? This is someone else's love story, it has nothing to do with you, understand? If you tell anyone else about this, I'll smash your head into holes."

"Huh…uh…yeah…" Heos was a little scared after hearing this, but could he really be that fierce…

"It all started on a very normal day, that girl, Yunne couldn't remember which day it was…"

"Oh…"

"Nova was going to the student council to help when Yunne burst out of the room and dropped all the documents on the floor. Then Nova helped to rearrange the documents, some of the documents had incorrect data, so Yunne had to fix them, Nova also helped even though he still had work to do at the student council."

"Wow…it's so easy to get a girl to fall for you…"

"That's not all…that was just the first time. And that time Yunne only felt embarrassed because she owed someone else."

"Uh…there's more?!"

-o-

"That's all for today's review. Remember to do all the homework, I'll correct it for you in class tomorrow, remember to do your homework proactively, the exam is coming soon."

"Yes, teacher." All the students in the class greeted the teacher in unison before starting to pack up and dismiss the class.

Nova quickly packed up to run out to find Cupid, hoping he wouldn't keep Cupid waiting too long. Then another student came out of the other exam room and walked in the same direction as him in the school hallway.

"Oh, you're from A section too?" The student asked quickly, immediately taking out a lollipop to nibble on as soon as he left the room: "Um…Nova, right?"

"Yes. It's Nova." Nova quickly smiled: "You look so familiar, what subject are you planning to take the gifted student exam for?"

"Physics"

"Oh"

As soon as they reached the classroom door, Nova and that guy stopped.

"Oh…Cupid…" Cupid was standing and talking to an A-1 student…someone Nova knew…why is he here…

"Heos…" the other friend whispered with a lollipop in his mouth.

"Uh…" standing there for a while, Nova quickly shook his head. No, that's not it. He shouldn't think about such nonsense, Cupid definitely wouldn't interfere in Nova's love life, Nova told Cupid not to interfere in that matter, and Cupid would definitely listen: "Let those two talk for a bit more…"

"Does it bother you?" that friend asks. 

"Huh?" Nova refused and said: "It's okay, wait for those two… to finish talking…"

"Uh…ok…"

Standing there for a while, the other friend turned to ask: "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes? What's the matter?"

"You and Cupid are…"

"Uh…um…ah! What's our relationship, that what you want to ask, right?" Nova scratched his cheek and thought, to be honest, he wouldn't be surprised if someone asked, the two of them were so close, of course at first glance it would seem like they were best friends or maybe… even better than best friends, but no, the two of them were nothing more than friends: "Cupid is like a brother to me, but like… I don't know who should be the younger brother, or who should be the older brother…. But the two of us treat each other like family, I've been to Cupid's house so much that Cupid's mother has gotten used to it, and told me to come over whenever I want to."

"Oh really..."

"Yes?"

"Nothing."

"Yes...?"

"He said he... ah, it's too troublesome to say, I don't even know if he'll let me say it..."

"Uh... okay, it fine if you don't?"

"My name is Liu, A-1. Oh, and remember to keep an eye on Cupid."

"Y... yes???"

Liu then walked over right when Cupid turned to leave, only to grab Heos by the collar to drag him back to class, to ask him if he was planning to participate in the excellent student competition or not, and why he kept causing trouble for people in other classes and also…something about, "...how was it?"...

"Ah... Nova." Cupid then nodded, throwing the empty milk carton into the classroom trash can: "Let me go get my bag."

"C…Cupid…you made a new friend…" Nova laughed nervously: "I thought you were going to be alone until the end of the semester…"

"What…jealous?"

"Uh?! No! You…you're good with me, but you should…get more friends if you can..."

Standing in front of the empty classroom door, when most of the students had gone home, Cupid decided that he might as well expose Nova here, no one would see, so he moved closer to Nova, putting his mouth close to Nova's ear.

"The person you like…is Heos, right? A student in class A-1, good at math and sports."

"A…a…ah…" The books in Nova's hands suddenly fell to the floor, his eyes widened, and he stared at Cupid.

"To be honest, I don't see anything good about him, but I'll indulge whoever you like."

Nova bit his lips, he wanted to scream out loud because he was embarrassed but this was school! School! No, he had to hold it in! He couldn't scream! "Uh...h!"

"Your face is as red as an tomato... Oh well, I won't ask anything, I hope you'll have a happy love life~" Then he picked up his bag and left, but didn't forget to clean up the bag for Nova who was standing frozen in front of the door before holding the hand of the tomato-red statue, both hands covering its face, and dragging it home.