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.

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLpbXCvpf2Z

My phone buzzed.

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI1G9RPg0N8

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFXZcA64P2I

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsN2QeoBCrT

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk9D3cMtXeF

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

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFLvq9mkxaQ

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgu6R18cl9U

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKKDpWnaIL

Me: *"..."*

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5B3wu4yFgH

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRFTzsJm9S

---

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXpaeAcV4c6

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmO45bKdv8m

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0pvmeVBLKG

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡusWnp6ErpX

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ivlxenTGJ

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw4kO3qhaBl

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxzkkLNouH1

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3NsYgWLu8k

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCkaDGjYup1

My fingers froze.

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzW2GgQzsb4

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB9OULWjkrS

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’*."*

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP5glTrGv2k

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLuNyzzPuw

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOYUt2FjfT8

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGcSlXsnH02

Me: *"..."*

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrgXt37Vry

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPSixZGtiA

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0sHnYe17U2

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoAy5MOcmnL

*"That *‘li’* account. A friend?"*

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTzxUuwYlm

*"...You know them?"*

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjvTupdIMVD

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9t5L2CBTkd

My lips parted. *How* to explain?

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlEtpcjsoNI

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyC4X9q3jfy

Yet I *never* replied.

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2HZ3Ur0hM7

---

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6PvS5oBRZ2

10 PM. I updated as usual.

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqoySV7NKY3

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqb1WHN1ViP

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbgKuPMfkVI

Posted. I refreshed the comments.

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVlsorvVs0W

**[li]:**

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡscWrzqNJQT

Me: *"..."*

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Ffqmn9BH8

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXV3q5I5i0v

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU08dFPF2yp

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

332Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRwcIu1hTZA

He’d look *exactly* like Lu Huai.

ns216.73.216.253da2

Reading Theme:

Font Size:

Line Spacing:

Paragraph Spacing:

Load the next issue automatically