Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I took a deep breath.

My fingertip hovered over the screen.

It was like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over my head.

The cold seeped from the top of my head all the way to the soles of my feet.

So that was it.

Those looks from those people.

Those snickers.

Now they all had an explanation.

Before my eyes could even move away from those ugly words,

my vision suddenly blurred.

A dense barrage of comments burst into view:

[Here it comes, here it comes! Checking in for the iconic scene!]

[What happens next is that the sweet, oblivious girl finally catches on while helping the female side character as her strategist.]

[And our aloof male lead doesn’t feel even the slightest bit of attraction toward the female side character. He rejects her completely, with his whole heart firmly set on the sweet girl.]

[The two cuties keep up their ambiguous flirting with the female side character stuck between them, and in the end they head off to their happy ending together~]

[Damn, now that you put it that way, the female side character really does feel like Unit 001.]

[Seriously. Durable, useful, and thrown away the moment she’s been used up.]

I must have looked too awful.

My two roommates glanced at me a few times.

Then, hesitantly, they spoke:

“Wen Liao, Fuling’s expression just now was really scary.”

“We think their relationship isn’t ordinary. You should stay out of whatever is going on between them.”

How could I stay out of it?

My dignity was a one-time consumable.

My sincerity was just seasoning for their little flirting game.

They were waiting to watch me make a fool of myself.

To burn myself up so I could light the way for the leads’ romance.

By now, I couldn’t break free that easily.

Only a fire fierce enough to burn everything down

could win me true freedom of mind.

If Song Fuling wanted to test how sincere I was,

then she needed to know this:

Sincerity

can change in an instant.

My roommates lowered their voices again.

A little awkwardly, they relayed the rest:

“Fuling also muttered something under her breath.”

“She said secretly taking pictures of people when they aren’t paying attention is trashy.”

“And she said you look like some man-starved creep. If you’re that itchy, go smack yourself with a slipper.”

“First of all, it wasn’t really a secret shot…”

I let out a soft laugh.

Then I slowly leaned back in my chair.

Those few days in the library.

His seat had been directly across from mine.

On the first day, we nodded at each other.

On the second day, he picked up the pen I dropped.

On the third day, I gave him a mint candy in return.

And today, when I ran into him downstairs outside the dorm,

I stood off to the side hesitating for a long time.

Should I take the picture or not?

Would it be too rude?

I was still agonizing over it,

when he seemed to sense something.

He turned his head.

Then leaned against the tree trunk,

struck a lazy pose,

and curled his lips slightly.

He looked my way.

The usual coolness in his expression softened with warmth.

“You’ve been staring for a while.”

“Do you want to take a photo with me?”

My face burning red, I waved both hands over and over.

In the end, with a soft laugh and his permission, I hurriedly snapped that photo.

I switched back to the chat window.

And deleted the message I’d typed, one character at a time:

“Fuling, I think I’d better stop pursuing him.”

Then I started typing again:

[Okay, thanks, Fuling!]

[I definitely won’t fail to live up to your expectations.]

[Definitely.]

[I’ll definitely win him over.]

[When that happens, you’d better not mind~]