Why are you always thinking about dating me?

Su Yuejin's lips curled up happily, her undisguised joy blooming on her beautiful face like honey.

The two ate their meal in small bites and chatted quietly, just like a couple deeply in love on campus, tender and inseparable. But in reality, their relationship was distorted and twisted, like a lake with shimmering surface but turbulent undercurrents.

It will probably freeze over as winter approaches.

Thinking this, Lin An ate lunch and returned to the classroom with Su Yuejin. Xiao Chacha's previous seat was now empty. After parting ways with Su Yuejin, Lin An glanced at Luo Shuishui.

Luo Shuishui happened to be looking at him. Lin An paused for a moment, read the meaning in her eyes, and then walked to her side.

“Those who climb over walls aren’t good kids,” Luo Shuishui said.

"...?" Lin An thought to himself, "How did you know that? Did you smell the cement from the wall on me?"

"Don't overthink it, I'm just guessing," Luo Shuishui replied softly.

"I see."

"Oh, one more thing, a new bubble tea shop just opened next to the school. Want to go get some after school this afternoon?"

"why me?"

"Because going to a bubble tea shop alone is like going to eat hot pot alone; it's never really suitable to go alone," Luo Shuishui replied.

"Hmm, Su Yuejin also invited me to go together, so... shall we go together?" Lin An asked tentatively.

Luo Shuishui stared at his face for a second, then shook her head.

"No, I don't have any plans for that yet."

"What are your plans...?"

"Guess?" Luo Shuishui replied casually, and Lin An rolled his eyes helplessly.

Chapter Sixty-Three: Foolishness

When Lin An returned to the classroom, Xiao Chacha was clutching her stomach and gritting her teeth, looking like she had a stomachache.

"Get me some hot water." She squinted slightly, her voice a little weak.

"The cup is here, go get it yourself." Lin An has a good temper, but that kindness has been worn away by Xiao Chacha. Many people are just too nice; they like to do good deeds, either because they have a people-pleasing personality from childhood and can't refuse, or because they use it to satisfy themselves.

Lin An doesn't fit either of these criteria.

"Please help me... My stomach hurts so much, I don't have the strength to move." Xiao Chacha's voice became soft and delicate, as if she thought that Lin An would listen to her, after all, he had been stubborn in the morning but still went to buy medicine for her.

"This guy is a gentle person," Xiao Chacha thought, but Lin An didn't move an inch. He put on his headphones and planned to refresh Bilibili to catch up on today's anime content and check out the cool electric baton bag. He was a long-time anime fan.

"Lin An... Lin An..." Xiao Chacha's voice was slightly breathless, as if her voice had become a little hoarse. She shook his arm, but Lin An only gave her a look.

"Calling me is useless, do it yourself."

"Can't you be a little more considerate and accommodating towards me?" she grumbled resentfully, but Lin An took off one of his earphones.

His eyes and voice were cold.

"I told you this morning not to squander other people's kindness. I saw you were feeling unwell this morning, so I kindly went to buy you medicine, and then you insisted on bringing it up in front of Su Yuejin, trying to set a trap?"

Xiao Chacha was speechless, because she suddenly realized that Lin An's expression was particularly serious, so serious that it made her feel a little uneasy.

“I advised you this morning not to smoke during your period, and I also advised you at noon not to eat spicy food during your period. It’s your own fault for not listening to me, and this is the consequence. I am not responsible for this.”

"you……"

"I?"

"You, you're just trying to persuade me... Couldn't you have stopped me?"

Lin An probably wants to slap this woman right now.

"One word of advice is enough. A dog learns to obey after being hit once. Can't you learn that? You didn't listen to my advice and now you're in pain. Who's to blame? Who do you think you can boss around? Am I your servant? I'm just your deskmate, or at most a classmate. I don't have that noble spirit of helping each other, and I certainly don't have the hobby of throwing bones to a dog that bit me."

"You called me a **?!"

"You said it yourself, I didn't. I was just using an analogy, and you applied it yourself." Lin An was somewhat knowledgeable about sarcasm.

Will you help me or not?

"Instead of talking to me, why don't you just start a fight yourself? You're not disabled." Lin An glanced at her, his tone no longer as gentle as before.

He didn't want to be a nice guy. He would always try to maintain some goodwill towards strangers or people he had just met, including Su Yuejin and Xiao Chacha. But if someone was shameless and insisted on showing off their noble status as a young lady, Lin An would rather they die sooner.

Lin An became even more convinced that she was more foolish than Su Yuejin, and he did not think that Xiao Chacha had any malicious intent.

Anything that can be understood as foolish doesn't need to be understood as malicious.

So in Lin An's eyes, Xiao Chacha became a fool. But Xiao Chacha gritted her teeth, seemingly unaware of her mistakes. Or rather, she was aware, but after being insulted, she lost her temper. At such times, people are unwilling to admit their mistakes.

"If you won't help me, someone else will, I..."

Xiao Chacha's expression changed slightly, her smile became gentler, and she gently poked the back of a girl in front of her. The girl turned around, seemingly surprised.

"Excuse me, I'm not feeling well. Could you get me some hot water? I really can't walk anymore, could you..."

The female classmate was taken aback for a moment when she saw Xiao Chacha's ingratiating, polite and obedient appearance, but she quickly nodded. After all, it was just a small favor. However, Lin An took the cup back without hesitation.

Xiao Chacha was taken aback and looked at Lin An.

“My cup.” Lin An smiled at her.

This might seem like a petty, narrow-minded, and uncouth thing to do, but Lin An really enjoyed it.

"you!"

"I?"

"I don't want to drink it anymore!" Xiao Chacha seemed a little frantic. She looked at the girl in front of her and smiled lightly, "No need, thank you."

The girl seemed to want to say something more, but in the end she didn't get involved. After all, she was just a new classmate, and they weren't familiar with each other yet.

Lin An carefully wiped the rim of his cup with a tissue, then closed the lid. Xiao Chacha sat there, sweating profusely, one hand covering her stomach. She took off her school uniform and threw it back at Lin An.

"Here you go!"

"okay."

Xiao Chacha's eyes were fixed on his face, but Lin An didn't feel any burden at all. Wearing the headphones was like entering a new world. And let me tell you, Gigi's Lux was doing a great job.

Xiao Chacha stared at Lin An for five minutes.

Lin An laughed out loud while watching the video. Xiao Chacha, for some reason, perhaps because of the pain, her eyes became redder and redder, everything in front of her became more and more blurry, her eyes became watery, and then suddenly her nose tingled and she burst into tears.

But coincidentally, Lin An wasn't the type to be unable to bear seeing a girl cry. So what if she cries? Why doesn't anyone comfort men when they cry? We can't apply double standards to men and women. Besides, Lin An felt he hadn't done anything wrong.

How can you not retaliate against disgusting people?

Xiao Chacha just lay on her desk and started crying. Lin An silently turned up the volume on his headphones, even though Xiao Chacha's crying was silent.

Lin An glanced out the window; the misty fog had dissipated.

Lin An never expected that this guy would cry for the entire lunch break.

Fortunately, he didn't disturb the other students' sleep. Lin An was thinking about all sorts of things when the lunch break ended. He got up to go to the toilet. Xiao Chacha noticed the noise. Her eyes were still blurry with tears, but she reached out and grabbed Lin An.

"Speak." Lin An looked at the tear stains on her cheeks, unmoved.

"It hurts so much." Her voice trembled, and she must have cried all her tears.

"Oh, and then?"

"sorry."

Lin An was taken aback.

He scoffed, "You actually think about apologizing?"

Xiao Chacha seemed to have suddenly become a different person. "I've figured it out."

"what?"

"Because I just arrived in this new environment today... the only people I know are you and Su Yuejin, so I want to rely on you. There are so many men here... I'm scared, so I habitually reverted to my old ways... bossing men around and wishing they would stay away from me and hate me..."

“I’m afraid of men… but I want to rely on you, Lin An… I’m sorry, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have said those things. I should have listened to you. I shouldn’t have bossed you around…”

Xiao Chacha spoke haltingly, her voice hoarse.

Lin An was indeed stunned for a few seconds. Seeing Xiao Chacha's earnest apology, his anger dissipated by more than half.

It's not that he can't empathize; this guy is indeed afraid of men. Today, he suddenly found himself in a strange new environment, so he wanted to rely on someone and subconsciously depended on him. However, because of his strange possessiveness towards him, he wanted to make Su Yuejin jealous and create some rift in their relationship, which is why he said those things.

However, in her panic, tension, anxiety, and physical pain, she overlooked the fact that Lin An was not someone who could be easily managed.

She doesn't actually like ordering others around because she knows that only equality between partners can ensure a lasting relationship.

"I understand, then forget it, it's okay." Lin An nodded.

Xiao Chacha hummed in agreement, wiped her tears with the back of her hand, and seemed to have lost much of her worry and panic. She looked at Lin An pitifully and asked, "Can I use your cup now?"

"Use it."

Lin An left the classroom because he really needed to go to the toilet.

With permission, Xiao Chacha took Lin An's thermos and slowly walked towards the water dispenser. Her menstrual cramps were really quite severe, and her lips had turned pale, but she just wouldn't learn her lesson.

It's not that they don't learn from their mistakes.

Because she had come to a completely unfamiliar environment, and there were many men her age here, she harbored a deep-seated fear. So she wanted to smoke and eat spicy food; these were sensory stimuli that could make her feel less afraid.

She wasn't ignoring advice, but she was genuinely scared.

Xiao Chacha filled the water container, found the brown sugar in Lin An's drawer, poured it in, carefully stirred it with a straw, and then sipped it. When Lin An returned to the classroom door, Luo Shuishui was standing there again.

It's like this guy is an NPC; every time Lin An passes by the classroom door, he always wants to interact with him for a bit.

"You're pretty impressive. You made a girl cry all afternoon, and then she tugged at your clothes and apologized pitifully."

"...You pay way too much attention to me."

"After all, I heard the crying too, it was hard not to pay attention," Luo Shuishui replied playfully, sticking out her tongue.

"So you've become even more gossipy lately."

"Because it's about you, you can be one of my key people to observe in this class." Luo Shuishui said this without the slightest bit of shyness.

"Alright, whatever makes you happy."

Lin An smiled helplessly and returned to his seat. Xiao Chacha was sipping brown sugar water, and wisps of steam rose from the cup. Her expression became timid and soft. When she saw Lin An return, she said softly, "You, you're back?"

"Ah, yes." Lin An nodded.