Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Having buttered up the wrong person, I grew even more terrified and became even more deliberate-sometimes consciously, sometimes not-about trying to curry favor with him.

Though so far, I couldn’t say I’d seen any improvement.

But heaven rewards the diligent.

Six months later, I finally passed probation and officially became a member of the secretarial team.

The weekend of the week I became a full-time employee, I decided to treat myself to a proper break. With one grand, lavish wave of my hand, I topped up fifty yuan’s worth of reading coins and resolved to stay up all night finishing every single story by my favorite author.

My beloved author, my light of life, my fire of desire.

I lay on my side in bed, switched on the bedside lamp, and made sure my phone was fully charged.

Starting from Chapter One, I read every word without skipping a single one, all the way to the final “Author’s Note.”

After finishing the main story, I went to the author’s Weibo account to save the extra images, mirror them, flip them, then turn my phone upside down.

The pure, flawless glow of my phone illuminated the sparkling excitement in my eyes.

Oh~~

Now this was life.

The spiritual nourishment my author fed me was just too delicious.

I clacked away at my keyboard, immediately writing a hundred-word long review to express my gratitude.

“Hiss hiss hiss~ [lecherous emoji] α is alpha, β is beta, γ is gamma, Δ is delta, з is my dear author’s little mouth~ Author, take me away! How am I supposed to live without you?! Without you, I’m like a fish out of water, mwah mwah mwah~ Write more, more more more, this is my favorite thing to read hehehe [super lecherous emoji]”

-“Teacher Dandan, you’re here again.”

-“If a bookstore doesn’t have Teacher Dandan’s masterpieces, it deserves to be smashed.”

-“The person above is right. If a bookstore doesn’t have Teacher Dandan and Hot Water’s masterpieces, it deserves to be smashed.”

…

Grinning, I greeted my fellow fans. At the same time, I half-jokingly replied to the last person:

“Boohoo, don’t go too far, you guys. You keep harassing my wife again and again. I didn’t say anything before because I didn’t want to expose my identity and cause trouble for her, but as her husband, I can’t stand it anymore. I’m the real husband of Hot Water [crying]”

“Drink More Hot Water: (⊙o⊙) Everyone seems to have misunderstood! I’m a man!”

“Drink More Hot Water: Also, I-I-I want to share something with everyone. I think I have someone I like! ( ˊˋ ) From now on, I’m going to ‘turn over a new leaf’ and only write clean stories!”

“No!!!” I shot upright in bed and slammed my head hard against the bedside table.

My hand slipped, and as a result, I sent a string of [lecherous greedy] and () emojis, making me stand out spectacularly amid the flood of blessings like “Good luck” and “Hope you get out of singledom soon.”

“Drink More Hot Water: Dandan, nooo, ( )シ my body belongs only to the person I like. No one else is allowed to cuddle up to me~”

Powerless, I flopped back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling, so speechless I could have cried a thousand rivers.

My favorite author.

That pure-hearted author who got shy even when readers praised him.

That author whose complaints were super adorable.

Was actually a man.

I kept sketching out his image in my mind.

Mm, he was probably the kind of boy who wore a soft, fluffy wool cardigan, black-rimmed glasses, bangs covering his eyebrows, very thin, even a little pale.

Herbivore type.

Definitely herbivore type.

The more I imagined him, the more Drink More Hot Water started overlapping with the new intern in my mind.

The intern had only arrived a few days ago. He was a junior in college, a bit dazed, and didn’t talk much. When I was teaching him how to use the copier and accidentally brushed the back of his hand, he blushed in silence.

So similar. Far too similar.

I was still letting my imagination run wild when my phone suddenly buzzed.

“Drink More Hot Water: @Two Dandans Are Just Right. Dandan, can I borrow your comment from today?”

“Two Dandans Are Just Right: Use it however you want! Author… ah, no, Teacher Hot Water, use it however you want!”

Regretfully, I stroked Teacher Hot Water’s profile picture.

Perhaps this would be our final conversation.

Wuuu-