Chapter 45: Music Class (Part 2)
After finishing her sound check, An Ran'er looked at Li Nuo, who was still standing stiffly beside the platform.
She noticed that his face had turned pale, his head was lowered, and his body was trembling slightly.
Then she looked at their classmates and heard what they were saying.
As if realizing something, she stood up and said to the music teacher, Xiao Ying.
"Teacher, can I take Li Nuo outside for a few minutes? I want to talk to him."
"Hmm? Sure, go ahead."
Xiao Ying agreed without hesitation.
After getting permission, An Ran'er walked over to Li Nuo. In front of the entire class, she grabbed his hand and led him out of the classroom.
The moment they left, the discussion inside the music room grew even louder.
The students immediately started gossiping.
"No way, no way. Don't tell me my goddess actually likes that kind of sissy guy?"
"So Classmate An likes that type? A weak and submissive boy?"
"What's so surprising? I guessed it from the beginning."
A girl wearing thick glasses said proudly.
"No—!! My goddess has been stolen by a pig! I can't accept this! It hurts! It hurts so much!"
The chubby boy covered in acne let out a heartbroken scream.
However, by the time the two of them reached the lawn outside, they could no longer hear any of the voices from the classroom.
Being led by An Ran'er's hand, Li Nuo's heart was racing.
Although this was not the first time they had held hands, they had never done so in front of people they knew.
His face became bright red. It almost looked as if they were a couple.
The people in the classroom probably think that too, he thought.
After reaching the lawn and making sure no one could hear them, An Ran'er finally let go of his hand.
In a calm voice, she asked, "There's no one else here now. Can you tell me what happened back there?"
"Huh? What do you mean? N-Nothing happened. I'm fine. Haha..."
Li Nuo knew that she had noticed how weak and frightened he looked on stage, so he pretended not to understand.
"Stop pretending. There's no one else here."
An Ran'er stared directly into his eyes. Her tone was cold. Then she realized she sounded too harsh and softened her voice.
"I just want to know if you have some bad memories related to this. If you do, tell me. I'll do my best to help you."
"Huh...? I-I don't have any bad memories. You're overthinking it, An..."
Unable to meet her gaze, Li Nuo scratched the back of his head and looked away to hide his embarrassment.
"You're lying!"
An Ran'er suddenly raised her voice.
"I-I'm not..."
Li Nuo jumped in fright.
"Then stop looking away. Look me in the eyes and tell me you're not lying."
Over the past few weeks, An Ran'er had already noticed that Li Nuo was terrible at lying.
Whenever he lied, his eyes would wander around, and he would unconsciously bite the thumb of his left hand.
And right now, he was doing exactly that.
He was biting his thumb while avoiding eye contact.
Seeing that he still refused to talk about the burden in his heart, An Ran'er stopped pressing him.
Instead, she said, “If singing one song in front of your classmates is enough to scare you this much, then I think you should quit the band."
"What!?"
Li Nuo froze. He had never expected her to say something like that. His voice trembled.
"If I quit... then the band..."
"The band will disband."
An Ran'er replied calmly.
"Weren't you the one who said this band is very important to you?"
"It is. Very important."
Then she grabbed both of his arms and continued,
"But if the lead singer of the band is someone who becomes afraid even when singing in front of his own classmates, then maybe disbanding early is a good thing."
"Being disappointed now is better than falling into complete despair later."
After saying that, she lowered her head and quietly muttered,
"If you're already scared in a situation like this... what will you do when the band holds concerts in the future?"
Li Nuo felt terrible after hearing those words. But he still did not know what to say.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
Finally, Li Nuo broke the silence.
"I understand. I'll tell you."
In the end, he decided to tell An Ran'er about the dark chapter of his middle school years.
………………………………
Three Years Earlier
A middle school in a small town in S City.
Inside a boys' restroom far away from the teaching buildings, a delicate-looking boy with short brown hair that reached his ears was desperately pounding on a restroom door.
As he knocked, he cried out,
"Please... stop playing around... Open the door... Please open the door... Sob..."
The boy's voice did not sound like a typical middle school boy's voice.
It sounded more like a girl's voice. Soft, gentle, and delicate.
Toward the end, it even carried the sound of tears.
Outside the stall door, two delinquent-looking boys laughed.
"You deserve it, you sissy!"
"Didn't we tell you to use the girls' restroom from now on? But you wouldn't listen. Since you like the boys' restroom so much, stay in there!"
Hearing them, the boy trapped inside cried out,
"I'm not a girl! I won't use the girls' restroom! I'm not a sissy! I'm not! Sob... Please let me out!"
His voice gradually became weaker. Eventually, only quiet sobbing remained.
When the two boys noticed that he had stopped shouting, Boy A spoke to Boy B.
"This is boring. Let's go."
"Sure."
Then Boy B suddenly thought of something.
He walked to the end of the restroom hallway, grabbed a mop, and wedged it against the stall door to make sure it stayed shut.
Only then did he leave happily.
As they walked away, Boy A shouted,
"Just stay in there for now! We're going to play basketball first. We'll let you out later!"
Hearing this, the boy inside immediately panicked.
"Stop messing around! Let me out! Please!"
But no one answered.
The only thing that responded was the echo of his own voice inside the restroom. That boy was Li Nuo during his middle school years. It was a physical education class.
Because he needed to use the restroom, he had gone to a remote restroom in the school to avoid attention.
But despite trying his best to stay away from others, he still could not escape the people who bullied him.
And the reason they bullied him was incredibly simple.
His voice sounded too much like a girl's.
Everything had started because of a school performance event. The school wanted to create a student choir for the performance.
To do that, they needed students with pleasant voices and some singing ability.
During music class, the teacher had each student sing a short piece of a song to select choir members.
That was when the entire class discovered that Li Nuo's voice sounded like a girl's.
The music teacher praised his voice and selected him for the school choir.
But from that day onward, his nightmare began.
After hearing him sing during music class, many boys in the class started mocking him as a sissy.
They deliberately teased him, isolated him, and made fun of him.
Some went even further.
They spread rumors throughout the school, telling everyone that he was a sissy.
They mocked him for being a boy with a girl's voice and even called him a monster.
At school, he suffered bullying and insults from classmates.
At home, things were not much better.
After his parents passed away, he lived with relatives who were responsible for raising him.
Instead of supporting him, they often mocked and ridiculed him as well.
Back then, there were many times when he thought about ending everything and starting over from scratch.
But he always gave up on that idea.
Because he could never let go of the dream he had once proudly told his parents about when he was little, the dream of becoming a musician.
The sudden death of his parents had also taught him how precious life was.
After all, nobody knows whether tomorrow or an accident will arrive first.
No matter what, the things that happened during middle school changed him deeply.
He gradually became withdrawn and insecure.
And his dream of becoming a musician was buried deep inside his heart, where he never dared to bring it out again.