Why are you always thinking about dating me?

"Mmm." Lin An nodded gently, following behind Xu Qinghuan. This was the first time the two of them had walked into the school together, and in fact, they were both already late.

Lin An caught a whiff of Xu Qinghuan's faint fragrance, which mingled with the sweet scent of osmanthus blossoms from the osmanthus trees planted at the school. The delicate fragrance was refreshing and pleasant. Lin An suddenly felt a strong urge to say more, to say more to Xu Qinghuan... Then, he suddenly remembered something and chose to remain silent.

Often, men who cheat become more attentive and caring towards their lovers as a form of moral compensation. This is why they tend to be talkative and attentive. Lin An had just realized this, so she chose to keep quiet.

If he behaved strangely, Xu Qinghuan would definitely notice something was wrong. Although Xu Qinghuan wasn't that angry about Su Yuejin's matter last time, it was because she knew that Su Yuejin had been keeping Lin An hanging for too long, and it was normal for Lin An to make a mistake.

However, Xu Qinghuan hasn't been keeping him hanging like that lately. If Lin An makes another mistake... then Xu Qinghuan will really get angry.

The two walked a short distance on the playground, which was deserted. Morning reading had already begun in each classroom. Lin An and Xu Qinghuan walked together into the corridor and then parted ways at the classroom door.

Lin An gently knocked on the door.

The classroom door opened, and he looked at the teacher's face, saying somewhat awkwardly, "I overslept this morning, I'm sorry, teacher."

The teacher simply told him to be more careful next time and didn't say anything more. After all, his grades were pretty good, so he had some exemptions to a certain extent. After getting to his seat, Lin An was a little dizzy from the noise of the morning reading class. He was very sleepy, but he pinched himself hard a few times to make himself more awake.

It's not that he can't sleep; the teacher won't bother him. But Lin An needs to learn a lesson. He has to admit his mistakes and face them honestly. This isn't a contradiction; it's that he understands he can't let himself become an incorrect person.

Lin An has always hoped that he could be a right person.

So Lin An didn't sleep all morning, reflecting on his mistakes from the previous night. Finally, he made peace with himself, realizing that he had made a mistake and could not repeat it.

He then fell asleep without eating lunch, leaving the classroom empty except for him.

He was sleeping soundly.

..............................

When Lin An woke up groggily, his first feeling was that he was starving. He usually ate very little at each meal, but he had been eating normally. Suddenly, he had missed two meals, and his stomach was growling.

Lin An glanced at the time. He had slept for forty minutes, but he wasn't sure if there was still food in the cafeteria. He tried to stand up and walk toward the cafeteria, his face a little pale. But just as he reached the classroom door, he saw Luo Shuishui standing by the railing in the corridor, looking at the playground.

Luo Shuishui's eyes were always so gentle, yet somewhat empty.

And it's raining.

Clear raindrops fell one by one, the sky was gloomy, and a gentle breeze was blowing. The wind blew Luo Shuishui's hair slightly. She turned her head and looked at Lin An's profile. Her empty eyes became focused. She gently reached out and grabbed the hem of his clothes.

"you're awake?"

"Hmm, ah, I'll go to the cafeteria to see if there's anything left to eat."

"The cafeteria is almost sold out, and it's raining outside. Are you planning to go like this?"

"Yeah." Lin An nodded blankly again, and Luo Shuishui gently patted his shoulder. "Wait for me a moment."

So Luo Shuishui went back to the classroom. When she came out, she had an umbrella in her hand. It was a transparent umbrella, just big enough to cover the two of them. She looked into Lin An's eyes and tilted her head up slightly. "Let's go, I'll go with you to take a look."

"I'll go by myself..."

"Hmm? Then I'll go with you."

"Let's go then." Lin An nodded with a wry smile. His face was still a little pale, probably because he hadn't slept well. Luo Shuishui opened her umbrella and sheltered the two of them. There weren't many pedestrians on the playground. The rain was slanting and dense, and it felt cool on their faces.

"Which girl did you sleep with last night?"

When Luo Shuishui was almost all alone, she suddenly blurted out this joking remark.

Lin An was stunned, but he subconsciously thought that Luo Shuishui was joking, just like last time when he said that she had lipstick on her face. So Lin An was about to give a casual reply when Luo Shuishui's voice became calm and clear.

“You smell like a different girl; that girl isn’t Su Yuejin.”

Her voice was firm, as if she was certain that this was the truth. When she said those words to Lin An, it seemed to silence the entire rainy world.

He turned to look at Luo Shuishui in surprise, then subconsciously asked without thinking, "Are you a dog?"

"..."

Luo Shuishui's eyes widened, as did Lin An's. He only realized the implication of his words as he spoke, and quickly added, "What I meant was, your sense of smell is just too..."

"My nose has always been quite sensitive since I was a child, so I can smell it. But if I could, I wouldn't want to. It seems... you really did something strange last night."

Luo Shuishui and Lin An had arrived at the school cafeteria, but as expected, the cafeteria had sold out. Lin An was about to turn back when Luo Shuishui grabbed his hand and led him to the cafeteria window, where she gave the cafeteria lady a sweet smile.

"Aunt Chen, could you make me another serving of shredded pork with green peppers?"

The cafeteria lady clearly knew Luo Shuishui, so she nodded and immediately agreed with a smile, telling Luo Shuishui to just wait quietly. Lin An was a little stunned. When did the cafeteria lady become so easy to talk to?

“That auntie knows me. She used to be a nanny at my house. Later, when my family didn’t need a nanny anymore, my dad helped arrange for her to work in the school cafeteria.”

"Your dad arranged this...?"

"Yes, this school is owned by my family." Luo Shuishui said calmly, uttering words that were terrifying to the core.

"what??"

“Otherwise, how would I have the right to prevent Su Yuejin from transferring to this class?” Luo Shuishui shrugged, found a quiet table with Lin An, and sat down. She rested her chin on her hand, her eyes wandering aimlessly around the cafeteria. She pursed her lips slightly, then shifted her gaze to Lin An’s face.

"So, what naughty things did you do last night?"

She seemed to be eagerly awaiting Lin An's answer, but Lin An shook his head. "Can I not say?"

"Sure, but you seem to regret it. If you tell me, I might be able to offer you some words of comfort."

"I...regret it? How did you know?"

"Because when you came in this morning, you looked really sleepy, but you didn't sleep at all. I secretly watched you several times. When you were about to fall asleep, you would torture yourself and not let yourself sleep, as if you were thinking about something. That probably means you didn't sleep well last night. You also have a girl's scent on you, but now you're like this. What else can you call it but regret?"

Luo Shuishui smiled gently; this simple reasoning was indeed obvious.

"That's true, but I've figured it out, so I'm much better now. I won't tell you anymore," Lin An replied.

"Is that so? Okay, okay, then I won't ask anymore. But if I ever have the chance to see that girl next to Lin An in the future, I might be able to smell her. But don't worry, I won't cause any trouble."

"Luo Shuishui, are you a puppy?"

Luo Shuishui's eyes held a hint of anger as she murmured resentfully, "If I were really a puppy, I would bite you to death right now."

The two chatted quietly for a while. Soon, the stir-fried pork with green peppers that Luo Shuishui had ordered was ready, along with a bowl of rice. Luo Shuishui brought it over and placed it in front of Lin An. Then, she rested her chin on her hand and looked at him with gentle, watery eyes.

There wasn't the slightest bit of anger in him.

Chapter 46 More Than Just an Embrace

Lin An was a little confused. Why was Luo Shuishui so good to him?

When Lin An first met Luo Shuishui, his impression of her was that she was just a gentle and sensible girl. However, after their breakup, Lin An saw many more qualities in her.

Two points. One is her curiosity about Lin An. This is not a desire to control, but pure curiosity, or rather, her curiosity about herself. Is it about herself or about love?

The second point is her indifference.

Luo Shuishui found it strange. She clearly had no desire for him whatsoever. They had broken up, and the love was over. So why was she so insistent on being friends with him?

Her indifference is evident in the fact that she knows Lin An has Su Yuejin, and even slept with different girls last night, but she doesn't care at all. This shows that Luo Shuishui has no feelings for her.

To be fair, Luo Shuishui treated him well. However, Lin An knew that Luo Shuishui wasn't a pushover, and he especially disliked pushovers.

Therefore, Luo Shuishui made Lin An feel somewhat wary, a wariness he had never felt towards either Su Yuejin or Xiao Chacha. Su Yuejin was too low-level to be a threat, and Xiao Chacha wasn't actually that high-level either; she was just desperately seeking love due to a lack of affection and knew a few tricks and methods.

Neither of these types of people poses a threat, because their biggest weakness is their lack of love.

Luo Shuishui clearly had no shortage of water, but everyone has flaws. Lin An habitually liked to find a person's flaws. He liked to praise the other person's strengths, but he paid special attention to their weaknesses. Of course, he would keep his flaws to himself.

Aside from the last time when Lin An noticed that Ke Luo Shui Shui was a little impatient, she has been rational and gentle all the time. This puzzles Lin An, but he doesn't like to think about these complicated things, so he can only focus on eating the green pepper and shredded pork in front of him.

The cafeteria lady's cooking was quite good; this stir-fried pork with green peppers was delicious. Lin An ate to his heart's content and then thanked Luo Shuishui.

"It's alright, it's just a matter of a few words."

Luo Shuishui and Lin An stood up together. Luo Shuishui opened the umbrella, but Lin An took the umbrella from her hand and said, "Let me do it."

Luo Shuishui stood obediently under his umbrella, seemed to sigh softly, and then looked at Lin An's profile, her eyes flashing with emotions that Lin An could not understand.

"Lin An".

"Ok?"

"It seems you've figured it out, so I don't need to say anything more. To be honest, I don't really know you that well, but I still want to remind you of something."

"what?"

"Although we have different personalities, I still have a vague feeling that you have a flaw."

"Flaws? Like... being too awful?" Lin An asked, half-jokingly and half-probingly.

"To me, being a jerk isn't really a flaw. My intuition tells me that your flaw is your desire to be loved, which is why you always make fun of yourself as a jerk."

"My desires?"

"You are a very contradictory person. You want to be a good and gentle person, but your desires are at play, making you do strange things. So sometimes you want to escape those desires, but you never admit it, whether you believe it or not... Actually, you are also lacking love."

Lin An remained silent.

"You should have the ability to love, but what you lack is the ability to be loved. When you are loved, you will feel helpless and do not know what to do. This makes your heart tilt towards the direction of your lover, so you will try and make mistakes, you will want to find answers, and then you will fall into a whirlpool."

Lin An found Luo Shuishui's words somewhat convoluted, and he couldn't quite understand them at first. He tried hard to analyze them, but found that he couldn't grasp anything.

"Of course, I'm not your savior, and I can't save you. I also have my own problems that are troubling me, but my advice to you..."

Luo Shuishui's smile was gentle.

Lin An awaited her reply.

Luo Shuishui gave her answer after a moment.

"There's no need to be so conflicted. Love is love, and not loving is not loving. Do what you want to do, and don't regret it afterward. People can only look forward. You once told me that selfish people can find happiness, but that's not entirely true."

"No one can be completely selfish. When you start to take care of the other person, you can also gain some comfort from the process."

"So, the 'scumbag' you keep muttering about, the real scumbag is someone who uses you and then dumps you. Can you do that? You can't."

"So what if you're a jerk? You keep denying yourself, yet you still crave to be loved. So why not just be pure and simple? Why keep denying yourself?"

In Lin An's sight, Luo Shuishui seemed to be radiating light, like an angel who had fallen to earth in an instant. This made him somewhat dazed, and he asked blankly, "Then what is your flaw, Luo Shuishui?"

"me?"

Luo Shuishui raised her head and glanced at the gray sky, seemingly feeling somewhat lost.

But she quickly lowered her head again, turned to look at Lin An's profile, and smiled gently and beautifully.

"Me... do you want to know my flaws so you can conquer me?"

"I think there's a high probability I can't do it," Lin An replied with a wry smile.

"That's not necessarily true. After all, I'm a girl too, and girls are always more emotional. Like before, didn't you manage to win me over?"