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.

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ8JsvFCzGn

My phone buzzed.

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGJoV5uNNyX

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHUfGKRrwpT

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6LJCzjT2v2

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkmGJVIpXrP

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

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKIDpRKuHbo

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGY1UkRqv8Y

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSH4YFFOh1P

Me: *"..."*

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ82mBNbm15E

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8JeYWRQhKD

---

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4wbEdHRlUb

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jRZkmEKwC

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡedZPjaeA9k

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡylJOteQ0U6

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTdxdr9gQF

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsFDLkruwew

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH6ulo2D1MY

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLUMqK9xYyC

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡux2yLuSeHv

My fingers froze.

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUua56ccT3i

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡejnsqebgRR

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’*."*

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt7iR2fDRDT

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtn9HrlM10W

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHdTfQZVbeU

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMITFiSnRZl

Me: *"..."*

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Vo5FcP0jp

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5igcNLO1UI

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6up6qC9oxb

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnFomSQsGYM

*"That *‘li’* account. A friend?"*

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Ad7sxOK8C

*"...You know them?"*

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlpkhk68x1F

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZg9keEuOjp

My lips parted. *How* to explain?

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjjTdHvhveZ

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNYVF639XGg

Yet I *never* replied.

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJW1OEOHniv

---

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnGBAnanemq

10 PM. I updated as usual.

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxgws6oVdE3

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwIXJ6net8o

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv1MeFCo7Nh

Posted. I refreshed the comments.

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ypebXaHAL

**[li]:**

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotQFZ2Lrhq

Me: *"..."*

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyHdarKQTyB

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCe6RxxoP0I

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQJ3U33aMog

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

32Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDiKmEuCH0W

He’d look *exactly* like Lu Huai.

ns216.73.216.18da2

Reading Theme:

Font Size:

Line Spacing:

Paragraph Spacing:

Load the next issue automatically