Oh no! My yandere school beauty is so clingy!

Lin Anran stayed in the living room snuggling up to Shen Yu for a while longer, until waves of drowsiness washed over her and her eyelids began to droop. Only then did she reluctantly climb out of his arms.

Lin Anran left a goodnight kiss on Shen Yu's face before returning to her bedroom to prepare for sleep.

She burrowed into the soft blankets, wrapping herself up tightly, leaving only half of her face exposed.

The lights were off in the room, and the rain was still falling. She listened intently to the sound of the rain, and a sense of peace and sweetness slowly settled in her heart, turning into a deep sleep...

With a satisfied smile on her lips, she quickly fell asleep...

Shen Yu read for a while in the living room until he also felt sleepy. Then he gently closed the book, turned off the light, and lay back down on the sofa.

The living room was plunged into darkness. He closed his eyes, and all he could hear was the rhythmic white noise of raindrops continuously pattering against the glass, like a soothing lullaby.

As the day's fatigue gradually set in, he soon drifted into a light sleep.

Time flowed quietly through the rainy night.

About an hour later, the rain seemed to intensify, and the wind picked up, whipping the raindrops against the windows...

Just then! A blinding bolt of lightning illuminated the room as bright as day, then vanished just as quickly...

Almost in the next second...

"Boom—!"

A deafening clap of thunder suddenly rang out outside the window.

In the bedroom, Lin Anran, who was fast asleep, tensed up the moment the lightning flashed.

Immediately afterwards, a thunderclap that nearly shattered her eardrums pierced directly into her dream!

Dreams are fragmented and distorted...

A dark stairwell, flickering lights, a woman's suppressed, desperate sobs, a man's furious roars, and the dull thud of heavy objects hitting the floor...

Broken glass, shards of porcelain flying everywhere...

There was also the cold, sharp touch on my wrist and the spreading bloodstains...

The thunder in my dream overlapped and amplified with some more terrifying roar from the depths of my memory...

It turned into the sound of the man smashing a bottle, then into the mother's final, piercing scream... swallowed by the thunder...

"Mother..."

Lin Anran groaned unconsciously in her sleep.

His brows were furrowed tightly, a fine layer of cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and his body was curled up in a ball under the covers, trembling slightly.

Outside the window, after a brief silence, another flash of lightning streaked across the sky, followed by another terrifying rumble of thunder rolling across the horizon!

"boom--!"

"what!"

Lin Anran was jolted awake from her nightmare, her heart pounding wildly in her chest as if it were trying to break free.

Cold sweat instantly soaked through the back of my pajamas.

Before me lay the familiar, dark bedroom, but the fragmented, suffocating images and sounds from my dream...

And the fear of thunder, almost etched into her soul, left her mind blank, filled only with intense panic...

She immediately buried herself deeper under the covers, covering her head tightly, curling up in the corner of the bed, shivering.

Each distant rumble of thunder outside the window struck her taut nerves like a hammer blow, making her tremble even more violently...

However, the darkness brought by the blanket did not bring her a sense of security; instead, it reminded her of even worse feelings from her nightmares.

The fragmented and terrifying images and sounds still linger in my mind, and the only thing that can dispel them...

It's Shen Yu!

Her mind was now filled with nothing but Shen Yu's image...

She needs him.

It's not "wanting", it's "needing"!

The thought suddenly became clear to Lin Anran, and with trembling hands, she abruptly pulled back the blanket covering her head.

The icy air rushed in instantly, making her shiver.

She stepped barefoot onto the cold floor and tiptoed out of bed.

She gently opened the door and went out.

The living room was also pitch black. Shen Yu lay on the sofa, covered with a thin blanket, seemingly asleep.

Lin Anran walked to the sofa and, by the faint moonlight, quietly looked at the profile of his sleeping face.

Seeing him seemed to soothe some of the turmoil of fear in my heart.

She wanted to wake him, but was afraid of disturbing his good sleep.

She just wanted to be closer to him, maybe... to sit on the floor beside the sofa, leaning against the sofa.

Does listening to his breathing make me less afraid?

She was still hesitating, her fingertips unconsciously tugging at the hem of her pajamas...

Sudden--

Another pale bolt of lightning tore through the night sky without warning, instantly illuminating the living room with an eerie light that cast distorted shadows of the furniture.

"boom--!"

The thunder that followed was closer and louder than the previous one.

"what!"

Lin Anran let out a short cry of surprise. Before her brain could react, her body had already acted before her consciousness could.

She practically lunged at it.

She hurriedly pulled back a corner of the thin blanket covering Shen Yu, then quickly slipped inside, pounced on him, and hugged him tightly...

The movements were so swift that she didn't even have time to react.

"Um?!"

Shen Yu woke up abruptly, startled. She opened her eyes, then pulled back the covers, only to see Lin Anran's slightly trembling body...

"...Lin Anran?"

He was fully awake, his voice still hoarse from just waking up.

He looked down at the fuzzy hair on his chest, his pale half-face pressed against him.

"What's wrong?" His voice softened unconsciously.

"Did you have a nightmare? Or...?"

Thunder rumbled outside the window again. Although it wasn't loud, Lin Anran's body visibly trembled, and she hugged him even tighter.

Her voice, thick with nasal tone and trembling, came from his chest:

"I'm afraid...afraid of thunder..."

Those few words made Shen Yu understand what was going on...

He didn't ask any more questions, but reached out and patted her soothingly.

He raised his other hand and held her slender back, pulling her closer into his embrace.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid..." he whispered soothingly, his voice softer than ever before...

"I'm here, don't be afraid..."

He patted her back gently with one hand and stroked the back of her head with the other.

He repeated simple words of comfort, hoping to soothe Lin Anran's fear.

Lin Anran was initially very tense, and every slightly loud rumble of thunder made her flinch.

But gradually, amidst Shen Yu's steady heartbeat, gentle pats, and soothing whispers, the fear began to subside.

The warmth in Shen Yu's arms dispelled the chill brought on by the nightmare and cold sweat.

Especially the scent emanating from Shen Yu, which captivated her, made her feel even more at ease after she inhaled it...

She stopped trembling and simply lay quietly against his chest, her ear pressed against his heart, listening to its steady, powerful beat.

The thunder outside the window gradually turned into a muffled rumble, while the rain continued to pour.

Lin Anran shifted slightly in his arms, adjusting to a more comfortable position, and rubbed her cheek against the skin of his neck.

She remained silent in his arms for a long time, so long that Shen Yu thought she might have fallen asleep.

Then, he felt her lift her head slightly, her lips almost touching his collarbone.

In a very, very soft voice, he pleaded:

"Shen Yu..."

"Um?"

"Can I...sleep with you tonight? I'm really...a little scared..."