Chapter 1

The boy sitting across from me clutched the note so tightly that even his knuckles had gone pale with nerves.

[I’m sorry. I must have disappointed you.]

[I didn’t tell you I was mute because I wanted the chance to meet you.]

[I’m sorry. Please don’t be angry.]

His naturally fair complexion had turned even paler from anxiety.

I stared at the blue sticky note, then at the beautiful boy across from me.

Meanwhile, floating comments streamed endlessly above his head.

[I’m dying. Two idiots have finally found each other.]

[The male lead is something else. To avenge the female lead, he’s playing both the villainess and the supporting male character for fools.]

I blinked and began analyzing the comments frame by frame.

Today was the day I was meeting my online boyfriend in person.

I had been bored over summer break when I met a funny, charming guy online. Somehow, almost before I knew it, we started dating.

He said he would transfer to my school once classes began, and then we could finally meet.

But even after the new-student military training had ended, he kept making excuses and refusing to see me.

Only when I threatened to break up did he agree.

The comments kept rolling past, and at last I pieced together what had happened.

The “female lead” they mentioned was my roommate, Tao Nian.

The “male lead” was Shen Ci, the newly transferred campus heartthrob and Tao Nian’s childhood friend.

And the boy sitting stiffly before me was the campus heartthrob’s younger brother.

I had no idea what I had done last semester to make Tao Nian recruit Shen Ci for this prank.

Maybe it was because she had refused to take out the trash again on the last day before vacation, and I had snapped at her.

But their little scheme was painfully clumsy.

They actually thought I would feel humiliated because my online boyfriend was mute.

Looking at that face across the table, I could barely keep from grinning.

Wasn’t a mute boyfriend even better?

When I teased him, he could not even string a sentence together. How exciting was that?

My silence seemed to make him even more restless.

He pulled the sticky note back, rose awkwardly, bowed, and turned toward the door.

I reached out and caught him. His lips were still pressed into a tight line, and even the corners of his eyes had reddened.

“I don’t mind, baby. How could I ever mind?”

He clearly had not expected the pet name. Surprise flashed across his face, and then the blush spread from his cheeks to the tips of his ears. Still, he obediently sat down again.

[Really?]

[But I can’t speak. I’m sorry.]

He lowered his head and wrote carefully on another note while I propped my chin on one hand and watched him with a smile.

The comments exploded.

[What is going on? Wasn’t the villainess supposed to feel deceived, curse out the supporting guy, and storm off?]

[Then she was supposed to see the perfectly healthy male lead at school, cling to him while claiming she was his online girlfriend, and get publicly denied and humiliated so he could avenge the female lead. How did the plot go this far off the rails?]

Shen Yu had beautiful handwriting. He watched my expression with exquisite care.

It felt as though the slightest trace of disgust on my face would make him search for a hole to crawl into.

I folded the sticky note several times in my palm and handed it back to him.

“Boyfriend, do you know what an online couple is supposed to do when they finally meet?”

He looked at the sticky note, now folded into a heart. His lips pursed, then slowly curved upward.

At my question, he blinked and picked up his pen again.

[I looked it up. It said we could go to a movie together…]

A movie? Forget the movie.

Exasperated, I cupped his face in my hands. His devastating good looks had been knocking the breath out of me since the moment he walked in, and now my heart began racing all over again.