Don't pretend you don't know me - Do you want to chat for a moment?

**I sat by the library window,** notebook open, steaming lemon tea at my elbow.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhtNU2Rd1O

My phone buzzed.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvvhlpj5RYQ

**[Lu Huai]:** *When are you free?*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWocHXSDzfe

...Since when did this STEM robot learn to text?

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlcSI6Kynm9

I’d pegged him as the *read-immediately-but-never-reply* type. This initiative was unsettling.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBr9r9GrFiV

**[Me]:** *Now?*

**[Lu Huai]:** *Library entrance.*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPkR3foz1j

I looked up. There he was beyond the glass doors—that familiar face, distant as a painting amidst the crowd and wind.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBgcL864Twd

He approached, tone frostier than my iced tea: *"Team meeting. Now or never?"*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLEXsPqSspm

Me: *"..."*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFi1grfiqIm

*I’m the hypocrite here*—I’d mocked him for *"ghosting texts,"* yet *I* was the one stalling?

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrHtYg1a6Fs

---

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJgPzkHpvpl

We settled in the library’s deepest corner, shelves shielding us.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsUXMdDpBQf

Lu Huai cracked open a physics elective, pen scratching across blank pages. I drafted our proposal, keyboard clattering.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJcBruolFeb

Silence. Only the whisper of pen on paper and my relentless typing.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2fXdszijCJ

Ten minutes in, I yawned, gulping tea: *"Must you overachieve *here*?"*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6EObwV6rkm

He didn’t glance up. *"Or you’ll draft alone while I loaf?"*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCcQmABGcC

*"Loaf away. You’re *naturally* gifted at it."*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPL6UeqMoy

*"...Does your novel’s male lead talk like this?"*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjfLGb0Pxoh

His pen halted. The question drifted past like a breeze.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB3VsojNevt

My fingers froze.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZEJf13PZXb

*"...What novel?"* I feigned innocence.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkMCcdOgqA

Still not looking at me, he flipped a page. *"Bottom-left of your desktop. A doc titled *‘Ch.16: Male Lead Stands Outside All Night’*."*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgmx8lmCSs

I slammed my laptop shut, coughing. *"Since when do you *snoop*?"*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlRl88z9Czq

Finally, he met my gaze. His amusement glimmered like post-rain puddles—clear, unreadable.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4jSzOoj6M1

*"Just noting,"* he said, *"your prose outshines your banter."*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOd00G4UA2T

Me: *"..."*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwQlcFm6pDZ

*Thanks, Lu Huai. Even my fictional characters can’t retort to that.*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQNfy1gKib

Worse—he resumed writing, utterly unbothered, as if he’d merely commented on the weather.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhRf3Glz1t8

I *tsk*ed, vowing silence... until he spoke again:

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa8HottXXyq

*"That *‘li’* account. A friend?"*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrutZRnpXyi

*"...You know them?"*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57I72SyiiA

*"No."* A pause. *"But you *stare* at their comments post-update."*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKheXezcwsO

My lips parted. *How* to explain?

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhYhr0PTElg

True—after each chapter, I’d scroll straight to *li*’s eerily perceptive remarks.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqjSFLHUJOS

Yet I *never* replied.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFxigPxLIxd

---

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsltD5IKkqB

10 PM. I updated as usual.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg8XzsoXEPb

This chapter: Lu Huai’s character helps the female lead organize files—terse as ever, yet meticulous.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7YtI9pYDW

Mid-draft, I hesitated... then added: *"He’d known all along she hated noise."*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWj4CbsX7FO

Posted. I refreshed the comments.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Ux5LXILq8

**[li]:**

*"Guilty conscience *finally* cracking you open?"*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡONMBmKNHtq

Me: *"..."*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3l9D66vGM

*I’m *begging*—who *is* this person?! They *get* me better than I do.*

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrXyUNQIoAJ

I hovered over the reply box for ten seconds... and chickened out.

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDxKwncJcBr

Wind whispered past my ear. If my novel’s male lead materialized now—

73Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡon3P6Zw8Is

He’d look *exactly* like Lu Huai.

ns216.73.216.252da2

Reading Theme:

Font Size:

Line Spacing:

Paragraph Spacing:

Load the next issue automatically