“Lift your arm a little higher.”
The school beauty followed the instructions, raising her arm significantly until her wrist and shoulder formed a straight line.
“Too high.”
“Oh, okay~”
Liu Shuyao responded and lowered her arm dramatically.
Then she tilted her head to sneak a glance at Xiang Ran’s expression.
She secretly thought to herself:
Shouldn’t he notice?
“Stop! Just hold it at the spot from earlier, a third of the way.”
“......”
After several attempts, Liu Shuyao still couldn’t find the right position.
Xiang Ran, looking a bit anxious, reached out and half-held her delicate wrist, guiding her to lift the basketball to the proper position. He then quickly tried to pull away.
But Liu Shuyao leaned into him slightly, playfully like a little kitten:
“Can you show me how to shoot one?”
“Really?”
Xiang Ran felt his mind buzz. The girl in his arms was soft, and her voice was too!
Her words made his right hand tremble; he tightly grasped the school beauty's wrist, feeling like it could snap with just a little pressure.
Maybe it was the basketball court's air conditioning, but he felt his temperature rising rapidly.
“Keep your wrist natural, follow my movement.”
Xiang Ran spoke softly, his voice carrying an unnatural tone. He raised Liu Shuyao's wrist slightly and accurately shot the ball into the hoop.
Liu Shuyao watched the ball go in, her almond-shaped eyes widening in excitement:
“Wow! You made it in just like that!”
Then she bounced and turned, giving Xiang Ran a hug.
What started as an intentional but light touch now turned into a full embrace.
Liu Shuyao tilted her head back to look at him, her eyes bright like they held a galaxy. Her smile was sweet, her small hands wrapping around his waist without letting go, her voice filled with admiration:
“How are you so amazing~”
It was just a regular shot, but to Xiang Ran, it felt like he saw the entire world reflected in Liu Shuyao’s happiness.
Half of Liu Shuyao's weight was on him, and he instinctively wanted to wrap his arms around her tiny waist but hesitated, finally settling for her elbow to steady himself.
“Want to shoot again?”
Xiang Ran asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
“Hmm~~~”
Liu Shuyao tilted her head in thought, then nodded:
“Let’s shoot two more!”
After saying this, she dashed under the hoop to retrieve the basketball.
Suddenly feeling empty, Xiang Ran watched her bend over to pick up the ball, momentarily dazed. He frowned slightly, his arms still instinctively in a protective position around Liu Shuyao, lost in thought.
Later, the school beauty learned a couple more movements, managed to shoot a couple of balls, then playfully declared she was done practicing.
“Shooting like this is boring!”
“Let’s do something competitive instead!”
“I want to play with you!”
“Really?”
Liu Shuyao insisted on playing a 1v1 game of offense and defense.
Yet, facing Liu Shuyao, who barely reached his shoulder, the usually dominant Xiang Ran found himself at a loss.
Liu Shuyao ignored any rules, and before long, the ball vanished, and she ended up in Xiang Ran's embrace.
Offense and defense were futile.
“You fouled!” Xiang Ran said, cornered.
“I know~”
“Are you going to penalize me?”
From his vantage point, the school beauty looked quite confident, her eyes glinting mischievously like a cat’s.
...
After playing basketball, they returned to the dorm.
“Brother Ran, you just got back, and now I have a big announcement!”
Qi Dong looked at Xiang Ran as he entered and put his phone down, shouting.
“When is your big presentation?”
“Friday.”
“So if all goes well, we’ll be free this weekend?”
“Yeah.”
“Then can we go out on Saturday? I booked a super popular escape room.”
“Escape room?” Xiang Ran raised an eyebrow.
“I thought we’d just have a picnic in the park or something.”
Then, the chubby guy poked his head out from the bed.
“Brother Ran!”
“You don’t get it; picnics are so dull. A bunch of people sitting around, eating, and not knowing what to say.”
“For someone like Brother Dong, who wants to advance things, we need something exciting like an escape room.”
“And in a dark, mysterious setting, adding some puzzle-solving challenges gives Brother Dong a chance to show off his boyfriend skills. That’s how love blossoms, right?”
“Don’t you think so, dorm leader?”
Wang Hao nodded, agreeing with this point.
Xiang Ran didn’t really understand this, so he just nodded and went to wash up.
...
That night.
Xiang Ran had a dream.
In the dream, Liu Shuyao stood adorably under the basketball hoop, her eyes slightly upturned as she held the basketball, gazing quietly at him.
Her expression was full of unspoken temptation.
The school beauty slowly walked toward him, the distance between them narrowing as if drawn by an invisible force.
His gaze was magnetically drawn to her milk-soft skin.
As their bodies drew closer, his palm slowly rose,
Finally resting on Liu Shuyao's delicate waist, feeling like he was touching a soft feather~
His fingertips seemed to want to delve deeper,
She tried to resist but pulled him in even more...
Eventually, the only sound left in the basketball court was the “thud” of the ball hitting the ground...
The scene in the dream felt incredibly real, leaving Xiang Ran momentarily captivated.
After a jolt, he suddenly woke up, his mind blank. After a moment, he realized it was just a dream but couldn’t shake off the lingering feeling.
Amid the sound of his roommate snoring, he groped for his phone.
6:00
The screensaver with the three main characters was still there, and Xiang Ran frowned.
He looked out through the curtains and saw that it was already bright outside.
Closing his eyes, his mind was filled with the image of Liu Shuyao from the dream, turning over and over in his thoughts, unable to let go.
He decided not to sleep anymore, quietly got out of bed, took his clothes to shower, changed into some fresh pants, and tried to calm down.
7:40
When Wang Hao and the others began to wake up, they found Xiang Ran sitting at the table, staring at a paper on Turing, lost in thought. Breakfast he bought was spread out on the table.
Qi Dong woke up reasonably early, casually grabbing a bun from the table, shoving it into his mouth, his eyes barely open, his hair all over the place.
“Letting my uncle bring breakfast is truly my son’s unfilial act!”
Xiang Ran shot him a glance but didn’t say anything.
As Qi Dong passed by with the bun, he felt its temperature and mumbled,
“This thing is practically cold; you didn’t buy it at 7 AM, did you?”
Looking back at the screen, he saw the familiar title “Computability and λ-Definability.”
“Is it really this competitive now?”
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