The next morning, the sun rose over Shenghua Academy with its usual amber warmth, but for Lu Huawei, walking onto the campus grounds felt like entering a battlefield. She had pulled her school hat incredibly low over her eyes, clutching her leather-bound notebook flat against her face like a shield.

Her mind was stuck in an agonizing loop thinking about yesterday's library disaster. 'He saw the umbrella line,' she thought frantically behind her notebook. 'He actually read it. Now he thinks I’ve been daydreaming about sharing an umbrella with him!'

Yue strolled casually beside her, sipping a juice box and thoroughly enjoying her friend's misery. "Lu, hiding behind a book doesn't work when you have bright purple hair. If Chen spots you, he is definitely going to bring up that contract."

Huawei mumbled defensively through the leather cover. "If I don't look at him, he doesn't exist, Yue. If he doesn't exist, the conversation never happened."

Just as they stepped into the main courtyard, the bright morning sky suddenly betrayed them. Without a single warning cloud, the sky turned a heavy gray, and a freak, violent downpour slammed into the school grounds.

"Kyaaa! Rain!"

The courtyard instantly erupted into absolute chaos. Dozens of students scrambled in every direction, frantically pulling out umbrellas or lifting blazers over their heads to run for cover. Huawei froze like a statue right in the center of the walkway. She frantically whipped out her tablet to check the weather forecast. The screen mocked her with a flat 0% chance of rain.

She stared at the digital screen in horror. 'Are you kidding me? A sudden rainstorm right after I accidentally wrote about an umbrella trope in my notebook? The universe is actively messing with me!'

Before she could even open her own perfectly functional umbrella, a sudden gust of wind sliced through the courtyard. The gale ripped the handle straight out of her grip, sending her umbrella tumbling into a thorny rose bush ten meters away. Huawei stood entirely defenseless in the pouring rain, getting soaked.

Within a fraction of a second, a secondary crisis triggered. Every single popular boy, sports club athlete, and upperclassman nearby instantly locked eyes onto the beautiful, drenched school idol. To the male population of Shenghua Academy, a gorgeous girl trapped in a sudden downpour wasn't a weather problem—it was their ultimate, once-in-a-lifetime chance to act like a romantic hero.

"Lu Huawei! Use mine!" a track runner shouted, sprinting forward.

"Step aside! Huawei, my umbrella has way better coverage!" a student council rep barked, lunging forward with a massive black canopy.

"No, use mine! It matches your uniform!" a third boy yelled, skidding across the wet pavement.

In a terrifying, synchronized rush, a wave of over twenty high school boys charged toward her location, their eyes burning with intense determination. They practically created a wall of plastic and fabric, desperately competing to see who could share their umbrella with the school’s top beauty.

Huawei watched the incoming human stampede, her ruby eyes wide with genuine panic. 'Oh no, they’ve all read the same romance stories!' she realized in horror. 'They’re trying to force a cliche moment on me!'

Before the wave of desperate classmates could swallow her whole, a firm, heavy shadow dropped over Huawei's head. The relentless pelting of water against her uniform jacket vanished instantly.

Huawei blinked, looking up. Blocking out the chaotic rain—and effectively cutting right through the charging crowd of boys—was a single, massive black umbrella. The canopy held completely steady, creating a perfect, dry circle around her.

She turned her head. Standing right beside her was Chen. He was holding the handle, his sports bag slung over his shoulder, entirely unbothered by the storm or the thirty furious stares from the boys he had just effortlessly beat to the punch. He looked down at her with a bright, enthusiastic smile.

"Hey, Huawei!" Chen laughed softly, his voice completely relaxed. "I guess the weather didn't read your contract either. Let's walk to class together, friend."

The charging boys skidded to a dead halt, their jaws dropping as they watched Chen effortlessly pull off the perfect romantic move right under their noses. They slumped their shoulders, utterly defeated.

Huawei's face burned a dark, furious pink. Her brain completely short-circuited under the intense weight of his close proximity. Her notebook stayed forgotten in her bag, and her throat felt completely dry. For the first time in her life, she had absolutely no logical explanation or funny excuse to push him away. She was just a flustered girl trapped under a shared umbrella with a boy who looked way too happy to be there.

But before the romantic tension could overwhelm her completely, a chaotic pink blur disrupted the entire moment.

Yue suddenly jumped right into the narrow dry space between them, squeezing herself aggressively directly between Chen and Huawei under the umbrella. She hooked her arms defensively around Huawei's shoulders, pulled her close, and playfully stuck her tongue out right at Chen with a childish 'Bleh!'

"I can't let you have my best friend that easily!" Yue declared loudly, her eyes sparkling with pure mischief as she held onto Huawei like a prized trophy.

Chen stopped dead in his tracks, his bright smile instantly collapsing into complete, utter bewilderment. He held the umbrella up, blinking down at Yue in total confusion as his smooth romantic moment got completely hijacked by her high-energy intrusion. "Uh... what? Wait, I'm confused..." he stammered, his arm twitching as he tried to figure out what just happened.

The heavy, romantic atmosphere vanished into thin air, replaced entirely by pure comedy.

Huawei’s face was still bright red, but Yue’s physical barrier gave her a desperate chance to catch her breath. She looked at Yue, then at the thoroughly confused Chen, her fingers tightly clutching her wet bag.

Mutely, the three of them began walking in an incredibly awkward, cramped triangle toward the main lockers, shuffling together under the single canopy. Huawei stared straight ahead, her heart thumping loudly against her ribs, completely unable to process how a simple morning walk to school had turned into such a chaotic disaster.