The girl beside him was hot and cool at once. Lin An didn't even know what was cool. Maybe it was the tears dripping onto his collar.

Xu Qinghuan held him tightly. The slick touch of her skin against his was especially subtle. She was like a child, her skin so soft and smooth. Lin An said nothing. Xu Qinghuan hugged him and pulled the blanket tighter.

“Go to sleep. I’m holding you, so no moving around. You can touch me. If you really want it, I’ll give it to you.”

Her voice was soft, but with a slightly loli-like sweetness. She leaned close to his ear. Lin An only held her gently. The exhaustion on his face finally seemed to ease. He looked like a silly little kid who’d just been given candy, smiling without even realizing it himself.

What he wanted was actually something very simple. Xu Qinghuan suddenly understood.

“I don’t want that. Just hold me. Just hold me.” Lin An murmured it twice. Held by her like this, he felt strangely at ease. It wasn’t desire. It was just pure warmth.

“Okay, I’ll hold you. But you’re not allowed to move around. And I’m going to kiss you too.”

Xu Qinghuan moved to his neck. Like a kitten drinking water, she stuck out her tongue and licked him.

…………………………

Xu Qinghuan fell asleep, and Lin An’s mind finally returned to normal. But at that moment, his expression was anything but normal.

The smile at the sleeping girl’s lips was sweet. But the tears she’d shed just now had been real too.

But you forced me into this, didn’t you? I didn’t want it to be like this either. I didn’t want to act all wronged and pitiful just to make you feel guilty.

But you kept stringing me along and tormenting me. You wanted it this way. So you can’t blame me, right?

If you hadn’t come to coax me tonight, I really would’ve fallen for Su Yuejin. That woman really does have some strange kind of magic. But I knew you’d come. You love me.

You can use my love for you to control me and hurt me. I can do the same. The only difference is who loves more, isn’t it?

Lin An gently stroked her hair. In the darkness, the girl’s skin glowed with a faint pale sheen. But Lin An really didn’t want to do anything to her. He knew that if he slept with her now, maybe she’d turn into a foolish woman too, someone even easier for him to manipulate.

But he didn’t want that.

Because I really do love you, Xu Qinghuan.

………………………………

Lin An hadn’t imagined a morning like this in a long time. Lying in bed, watching her sit up, wearing white lace-trimmed underwear and fumbling clumsily with a clasp she couldn’t fasten.

Lin An reached out and fastened it for her. Xu Qinghuan turned and looked at him with disgust all over her face. “You’re getting more and more skilled at fastening bras, huh?”

Lin An just scratched his head.

He watched Xu Qinghuan climb out of bed. Her delicate backside was especially fair. She ran off quickly, back to her own room to put on her camisole, then a white shirt and a pale moon-white plaid skirt.

She’d gotten it before while promoting for some JK uniform shop, and the store had gifted it to her. Most of her skirts didn’t go past the knee. It was a height thing. If they did, she’d look too short.

She was full of energy. Leaning closer, she spotted the two hickeys on his neck and lightly tapped his forehead. “Should you take the day off?”

“It’s fine. I’m completely better already.” Lin An sat up too and threw off the blanket. But Xu Qinghuan stared at his completely naked body, and her cheeks flushed for a moment.

“Then I’m heading to school first?”

“Mm. Okay, go ahead.”

Lin An smiled and waved at her. Xu Qinghuan did too. Their gazes met in midair, as if building some kind of bridge.

After Xu Qinghuan left, Lin An got out of bed, got dressed, washed up. It was like nothing had happened. Just another brand-new day.

But he knew something had quietly changed. On the surface, everything still looked the same.

At the very least, the hickey in the mirror proved it.

Lin An washed his hair, dried it, then headed out. He was actually pretty early for school, but what he didn’t expect was that someone had arrived even earlier than him.

The class monitor was wearing the autumn uniform. It was pretty, the kind with a skirt. A light gray blazer, a light gray pleated skirt, and black calf socks wrapping her lower legs, making them look long and slender.

But the moment she saw another hickey on his neck, the way she looked at him was like he was trash.

“After school today, come to the back garden. There are some things we need to make clear, Lin An.”

“Okay. I’ll wait for you.” Lin An nodded lightly and walked toward his seat. But he seemed to vaguely hear a girl’s sigh.

“You’ve changed.”

Lin An didn’t turn back. His voice was low too. “What if this is the real me?”

In the end, Luo Shuishui said nothing more, and neither did Lin An. More and more students filed into the classroom. Lin An started doing morning reading with everyone else, mouthing the words as usual.

…………………………

Luo Shuishui was Lin An’s girlfriend.

She was the class monitor of Class Three, second year. Lin An didn’t know much about her family background, but it definitely wasn’t bad. Her parents weren’t busy and had plenty of time to spend with her. Her mother was a very gentle and proper person, so Luo Shuishui had been raised well too, just as gentle and proper.

She became Lin An’s girlfriend a month before summer vacation last year, after he launched his pursuit. The way he chased her actually wasn’t that hard. He just had to show that he liked her and treat her well.

There was no need to deliberately attract her, no need for repeated push and pull, no need for any suspension bridge effect. Their first stirrings of affection came from the comfort they felt when they were together.

So when summer vacation began, Luo Shuishui accepted his confession. They chatted on their phones, went out on dates now and then, and held hands on those dates. On her birthday that summer, Lin An made her a cake by hand and gave it to her. That day, he got his wish and tasted the cream at the corner of the girl’s lips.

But in the past month, Lin An had only grown more intense toward her. Yet that intensity was greed. It was taking. It was the impatient possessiveness of a teenage boy.

He wanted to hold her. He wanted to kiss her, French kiss her, let his hands wander restlessly over her while kissing her, make her hold him through the night as they slept in each other’s arms.

But for Luo Shuishui, everything was happening too fast. She was the conservative, proper kind of girl, someone who hated premarital sex. But she had once believed Lin An was someone she could spend her whole life with.

Yet lately, on every date, she had seen the desire in Lin An’s eyes. A desire like he wanted to swallow her whole.

So she got scared. She started distancing herself from Lin An, hoping they could both calm down. But Lin An didn’t calm down. He kept talking about what he wanted, what he needed. His values were completely at odds with Luo Shuishui’s.

So Luo Shuishui refused. She had no choice but to put this relationship on hold, and kill it.

She was afraid that one day she really would waver, and then be abandoned by Lin An.

Because she could finally sense it clearly now. Whether it was the old Lin An, gentle and proper, or the current Lin An, chaotic and urgent, neither version of him seemed to have anything like love for her.

She didn’t know why she thought that. But her intuition told her that was just how it was. Lin An would give her gifts on her birthday, tell her goodnight, care for her when she needed it. But she still felt that Lin An didn’t love her.

Girls’ intuition really was scary.

So there were things she needed to say to Lin An. She had thought about these words for a very, very long time. She had to bring this relationship to an end.

………………

At lunch in the cafeteria, Lin An got chicken leg rice this time. The chicken leg was six yuan. He got one serving of rice and one bowl of soup, then sat in the corner as usual. But this time, he saw someone walk into his line of sight, then sit down across from him.

Today, Su Yuejin was wearing a white shirt, a gray pleated skirt, a tie, and a ponytail. Her face was cool and clean. Her skirt hem sat a little above the knee, but it wasn’t short.

Because her legs were long.

So she looked pure and cute.

But on top of that, she was wearing white calf socks with her black leather shoes, making the girl’s already perfect lower legs look, for some reason, a little more seductive.

“Let’s eat together.” Su Yuejin smiled at him and reached out, using the back of her hand to check his temperature.

Then she touched her own forehead too, comparing. “Your fever’s gone?”

“Much better.” Lin An nodded lightly.

Su Yuejin took a crispy cumin chicken wing from her tray and placed it into his bowl.

Her brows curved, her eyes smiling, as if she’d really fallen in love.

Lin An didn’t move it back. Not because he wanted to eat it, but because passing food back and forth like that felt awkward and embarrassing. So he just silently ate his own meal.

About two or three seconds later, Su Yuejin instinctively looked at his neck, waiting to see her exclusive mark. And she did see it. But on the other side of Lin An’s neck, she also saw a small pink mark.

She didn’t remember kissing him there yesterday.

“Who kissed you?” Su Yuejin’s eyes instantly turned cold.

Lin An looked up and smiled at her. “I told you already. I’m not a good person.”

Su Yuejin held his gaze for several seconds. The coldness on her face slowly turned into grievance, the kind that said if Lin An said one more thing, she’d cry on the spot.

“No doing that next time,” she said.

“What gives you the right to control me?”

“Because I like you.” Su Yuejin’s voice was open and direct, and a little louder too.

A lot of people had already been watching this side, since Su Yuejin drew attention wherever she went. And now some of them had heard her too. Lin An frowned slightly.

“Want to go see a movie tonight?”

“I’ve got something to do at home.”

“It’s fine, it’ll only take a little over an hour.” Su Yuejin seemed to ignore the mark on his neck again and looked into his eyes, full of expectation.

Lin An was silent for a few seconds. “There are some things that need to be made clear.”

“I’m not listening, not listening, not listening. Are you going or not?”

“I’ll go.” Lin An nodded lightly, and a smile bloomed at the corner of Su Yuejin’s lips.

Someone was watching from the side.

Luo Shuishui’s expression was complicated, her face cold and unreadable.

Xu Qinghuan was grinding her teeth, creak, creak.