12

 Xiang Ran fell asleep easily, and in this environment, he quickly woke up.

The boy’s eyes were still a bit hazy. After a moment, his mind began to clear.

He instinctively glanced to the right,

their eyes met.

In Liu Shuyao's bright gaze, Xiang Ran only saw himself—intense and pure.

"You came?"

He turned his head away, no longer looking at her. His voice was a bit hoarse.

"Sorry, I was busy late yesterday. You could have just woken me up."

Xiang Ran, trying to hide his nervousness, was anxious to find his phone, especially when he just woke up to see someone staring at him!

He looked down, searching for the printouts from yesterday, not noticing how Liu Shuyao was flustered as she hurriedly put away her drawing paper, nor did he see the familiar features sketched on the paper.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Liu Shuyao cleared her throat and pretended to be calm as she stuffed the paper into her bag.

"It's fine, I just got here."

In fact, when she had walked in a moment earlier, she noticed the dark circles under her boyfriend's eyes, probably from staying up late, which made her want him to sleep a little longer.

Xiang Ran didn’t say anything more and started looking for the documents he printed yesterday.

The table was cluttered with drafts, calculation sheets, and all sorts of materials thrown together. He only found two sheets; he had no idea where the other one went.

Seeing Xiang Ran busy searching, Liu Shuyao picked up the paper next to her with “Art” written on it, waved it, and said,

"Are you looking for this?"

Only then did Xiang Ran look up and nod.

He reached out his right hand to take it, needing to rebind it so he wouldn’t lose it again next time.

"Give it to me."

Perhaps the late summer heat had faded, Liu Shuyao looked at his slender fingers.

In that moment, she was a bit enchanted,

even though she was holding a thin sheet of paper, she found herself placing her hand in his palm...

The sharpness of the paper was quickly replaced by a soft sensation, causing Xiang Ran to freeze, not expecting Liu Shuyao to be so bold.

The paper quickly fell from his hand.

Liu Shuyao’s small palm couldn’t fully cover his hand, ultimately just grazing his pinky.

Her delicate knuckles turned slightly pink from the pressure.

The corners of her eyes were lit orange by the sunset, and she smiled innocently, looking harmless.

She softly asked,

"Don’t you want it?"

Time seemed to freeze.

Xiang Ran felt that her words made the air in the room feel thinner.

Is this happening again? Am I being taken advantage of?

Before he could react,

the chubby guy next to him woke up, yawning and complaining,

"Ouch, my neck..."

Still dazed, he saw the person in front of him and thought he was hallucinating.

"Oh, it's Liu Shuyao!"

In the next moment, he noticed their hands intertwined, scratched his head, and looked at them with a clear, naive expression,

"What are you two doing?"

"Just saying hello."

Xiang Ran quickly withdrew his hand, then leaned forward to grab the remaining sheet of paper, turning to head toward the printer at the back.

Faced with Liu Shuyao's gradual advance, Xiang Ran's mind remained in a state of feeling taken advantage of yet having no way to protest.

After all, who would believe that Liu Shuyao was taking advantage of him? It felt like he was gaining benefits while pretending to be the victim!

Liu Shuyao felt a sudden emptiness in her palm and was quite dissatisfied, her eyes narrowing as she watched Xiang Ran's back, her demeanor shifting back to a colder expression.

The chubby guy, noticing Liu Shuyao still made him a bit nervous, forgot to think about the strange position the two were in and just gave Qi Dong, still half-asleep, a hard shove.

Xiang Ran hadn't come to his senses yet when Qi Dong, who had a bit of a friendship with Liu Shuyao, nodded at her as a greeting and then instinctively glanced behind her, not knowing what he was looking for.

"Ying Ying didn't come today."

Liu Shuyao caught onto Qi Dong's gaze and explained.

Who knew this statement was like stepping on Qi Dong’s tail? He shook his head, forcing a smile:

"I don’t care whether she comes or not."

His gaze was erratic as he spoke, and after finishing, he quickly shouldered his bag and prepared to leave.

"I’ll head out first. I have plans to eat with some freshmen."

If Qi Dong hadn't made that odd comment, Liu Shuyao wouldn’t have thought much of it. But combined with Zhao Ying’s familiarity with Qi Dong during yesterday’s observation, it seemed like things were developing in an interesting direction.

Liu Shuyao smiled slightly; after all, who doesn’t like sweet romance?

But then she recalled her own relationship with her boyfriend, which felt like it had retreated a thousand steps, making her heart twist with worry.

When would her boyfriend stop being angry?

When could they get back together?

Thinking about this, she glanced at Xiang Ran’s back as he was binding his documents and sighed.

She felt so much pressure.

Comforting someone is hard...

The chubby guy, who fancied himself bold and meticulous, noticed Liu Shuyao’s emotional shift. Connecting it to Xiang Ran's earlier behavior, he began to suspect.

Could it be that his buddy had been disliked by Liu Shuyao to this extent?

Just looking at his back made her sigh?

How could they collaborate smoothly in the future?

Thus, in order to ensure their upcoming collaboration went well (mostly worried that Liu Shuyao might demand a change if things didn’t improve, shattering the dream of being together),

the chubby guy cautiously opened his phone—some chat app.

He typed carefully:

How to win Liu Shuyao’s favor?

In his view, Xiang Ran was a likable person and generally got along well with others. Could it be that he was just too nervous in front of Liu Shuyao and failed to express himself, leading to misunderstandings?

As Xiang Ran’s close friend, he was determined to take on the role of peacemaker between them.

While he brainstormed how to take that first step, Xiang Ran pointed to the small conference room door, signaling for him to start the projector.

But before the chubby guy could move, he saw something flash by in front of him...

Liu Shuyao had been watching Xiang Ran closely, so she noticed any movement he made. Now she was tidying up in the small conference room.

The chubby guy entered belatedly and found that Liu Shuyao had already tidied everything up. The previously messy table was now organized, with materials neatly set aside.

"Yang Ping, are you sitting over there?"

Liu Shuyao pointed to the only cleaned-up chair far from the door, behind which were some disorganized items crammed in the aisle, not very convenient to get past.

When she was cleaning, she had thought about wanting to sit with her boyfriend.

Although the chubby guy fancied himself a pure-hearted warrior in love, in reality, he was oblivious and couldn’t recognize anything.

As soon as Liu Shuyao spoke, he eagerly scuttled over to the chair.

He didn’t have any doubts.

So when Xiang Ran entered, he found the spot closest to the door had opened up, which was perfect for presenting and convenient, with the only downside being Liu Shuyao sitting next to him.

He pondered for a second but decided to ignore the spot and signaled for the chubby guy to scoot back.

But the chubby guy didn’t catch on to that cue and comfortably leaned back in his chair, urging Xiang Ran to start.

"Brother Ran, hurry and sit down!"

Just as he finished speaking, the sound of a chair being pulled came to Xiang Ran’s ears.

“Creak~”

From his perspective, Liu Shuyao was looking up like a cat, her innocent almond eyes blinking with a hint of hope, her small hands gripping the chair's armrest tightly, waiting patiently.

Xiang Ran didn’t look too long; he stood for a moment.

In the end, he awkwardly squeezed in next to the chubby guy...

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