“What...?” Xiao Chacha’s brain seemed to stop functioning.

“I mean, if we keep going like this, I might end up falling in love with you. Tsk. I find it strange too, but that’s probably how things would develop. I like how carefree you are. I like that you and I share the same attitude toward love. I like your wild imagination. I always run my mouth and reject you just to gross you out, but actually... our thoughts really do line up.”

“So, I think the probability is pretty high. I might become possessive of you. I might want you to be kind to me alone and never fall for anyone else. But somehow... the moment I show feelings like that, your interest in me drops by a lot.”

“Why?” Xiao Chacha began asking questions. She was always asking why, yet too lazy to think about the answers herself.

“Because you love me right now precisely because I don’t love you. It’s that simple.”

“I don’t have avoidant personality disorder,” Xiao Chacha murmured flatly.

“I know you don’t. What I mean is... I don’t have any traits worth loving. Your feelings for me are mixed with revenge against Su Yuejin, your desire for the opposite sex, and, let me think... the pleasure you get from sleeping together?”

Lin An said it with startling calm and clarity.

Xiao Chacha was left speechless.

“So, if you fall for me, it’ll be even more miserable than falling for Su Yuejin. Su Yuejin at least has hope. You absolutely don’t. I’ll end up suffering terribly.”

“You haven’t even tried. How do you know, Mr. Arrogant Lin An?” Xiao Chacha said with a cold laugh.

“I’m only talking about a hypothetical situation. But even if it’s hypothetical, the probability is high. Then there’s no reason for me to try. If I avoid the beginning, I can avoid the result. Right?”

“But you’re not even willing to try!” Xiao Chacha bristled, sounding slightly angry.

Lin An reached out and gently pinched her cheek.

“So what? Do you want me to try? Do you really want that, Xiao Chacha?”

His voice was utterly serious.

For some reason, Xiao Chacha felt as if her heart had stopped. She couldn’t say a word.

A second later, she gathered her courage.

“I do.”

Her answer still sounded simple and carefree. But Lin An’s serious expression made her breathing slow. His hand gently caressed her cheek, just like a scene from a romance novel.

Xiao Chacha felt as though the living room had suddenly fallen silent. All she could hear was the chaotic rain outside the window.

Then she saw Lin An’s lips move.

“I love you.”

Xiao Chacha’s heart stopped.

“Are you willing to face the future with me? Are you willing to spend the rest of your life with me? I’ll love only you, but you’re only allowed to love me. You’ll have to listen to me and fulfill my demands. Your life will gradually become ordinary, because I’m not very fond of thrilling things.”

“You’ll be bound by me. I’ll influence your taste in clothes. I’ll be biased toward your opinions. I’ll want us to adjust to each other properly and face the future together.”

“Even so, do you still want to be with me? Do you want to face a long life—a dull and tasteless one?”

Xiao Chacha’s breathing grew somewhat rapid. She was certain she hadn’t missed a single word.

She wished the rain outside would never stop.

After a little while, Xiao Chacha lifted Lin An’s hand from her face.

“If you’re truly serious about what you just said, I... might seriously consider it.”

“Your eyes are darting away.”

“That’s because you suddenly confessed! Wouldn’t you be embarrassed too?!”

“Huh? I only said it casually. Why did you take it seriously?”

Xiao Chacha raised her hand. She looked like she really wanted to slap him.

She felt deceived and humiliated by Lin An. Furious, she nearly lashed out.

Lin An was still being as shameless as ever.

“Don’t get so worked up, Chacha. Why don’t you first think carefully about your true answer when I said all that?”

“I told you. If you were serious about those words, I might agree to date you.”

“...I’m guessing you didn’t think about it at all.”

Well, Lin An had guessed correctly.

Xiao Chacha lowered her hand again.

“I don’t know, Lin An.”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t know what I’m thinking. I’m so confused... What you said really does make sense. So what do you think I should do?”

“Huh? Aren’t you doing fine right now? What do you need to do?”

“What do you think I’ll become if I keep going like this?”

“Aren’t you doing fine now? There’s no problem. Who knows what you’ll become? If you know what you want to become, then work toward it. Why ask me? I’m not your life coach. I’m a useless wreck.”

“...”

Xiao Chacha was rendered speechless.

“Then, after you and Su Yuejin break up at the end of the year, why don’t you try dating me?” she asked casually.

“Ah... this.”

Lin An felt that he needed to think it over carefully.

“We’ll agree from the start that it ends after a set period. You’ll pay me a fixed fee every month, and you’ll cover all our expenses while we’re dating. The term will be... one spring? We start in spring and end when summer arrives.”

“That sounds like a decent proposal,” Lin An said thoughtfully. “Let me think about it.”

“No thinking allowed. I order you to agree right now.”

Xiao Chacha slipped an arm around his shoulders.

“Say yes.”

“No. I need to think about it.”

“If your heart’s moved, then it’s moved. I don’t care.”

“...Fine. If you and Su Yuejin really break up by then, and you still feel the same way, then we’ll try it for three months.”

Lin An hooked his little finger with hers, sealing the agreement.

Xiao Chacha suddenly smiled. She looked incredibly happy.

She simply overlooked the condition attached to Lin An’s words:

“If Su Yuejin and I have broken up by then.”

“Talking has made me thirsty. Su Yuejin’s asleep anyway. Why don’t we play around in the room next to hers for a while?”

Xiao Chacha tilted her head. Her fingertip lightly toyed with the strap resting on her fair shoulder.

“...?”

Lin An froze.

“Hehehe.”

The little witch smiled slyly.

“If you make that much noise, she’ll wake up. Then we’ll both be dead.”

“I can keep quiet.” Xiao Chacha gave a little hum, though she didn’t sound very convinced herself. “Then you can cover my mouth so I don’t make any noise.”

“Oh, give me a break.”

Lin An rejected the suggestion without hesitation.

“I really want to crack open your skull and see what goes on in your head all day... Why are you so obsessed with messing with Su Yuejin?”

“No, it’s just fun. Think about it. I used to love her so much. Now you’re half her boyfriend, and you’re right next door while she’s asleep and knows nothing.”

“The man she loves is having fun with her best friend... Isn’t it exciting just to imagine?”

“It’s a real shame you never dyed your hair blond.”

Lin An rolled his eyes.

He felt that Xiao Chacha was simply hopelessly improper. She had some bizarre obsession with cheating on Su Yuejin.

“Come on, tell me, Miss Xiao Chacha. What would feel best to you if it actually happened?” Lin An asked calmly.

“That would be interesting... Let me think.”

“When you and Su Yuejin are truly in love, and she’s filled with happiness, believing that you love only her, she suddenly comes to your house. Then she opens your bedroom door and walks in.”

“I’m sitting on top of you, doing squats. You’re still calling my name. Our clothes and tissues are scattered across the floor.”

“Tsk. If she could see that scene sometime in her life, wouldn’t it feel absolutely incredible? Just imagining it would be enough to make me explode with excitement!”

“And what happens afterward? You and Su Yuejin are finished.”

“No. I could invite her to join us.”

“...”

Lin An had always said that nobody could understand the way Xiao Chacha’s mind worked.

“Just imagine Su Yuejin agreeing. The hatred and humiliation she’d feel, along with her desperation to prove in front of you that she’s more seductive... The way she’d throw herself into it.”

“Wouldn’t that be interesting?”

“I think there’s a better chance of her grabbing the cleaver from the kitchen and chopping me to death than agreeing.”

“Then you don’t understand Su Yuejin well enough. I can give you at least three ways to train her into that.”

“Stop. Shut your filthy mouth.”

Xiao Chacha ground her teeth in anger, but there was nothing she could do about it.

“Everyone has a desire to control and be controlled. Which one are you, Xiao Chacha?”

“The latter. Just like Su Yuejin, I want to be controlled.”

Xiao Chacha answered with a faint smile.

“I’m looking forward to the feeling of being controlled by you, too. Making me fall in love with you willingly... Just that alone would excite me.”

“...”

“Actually, when I found out what you and Su Yuejin do together at night, I felt strangely excited too. No, not excited. Humiliated. No... Anyway, it was a very strange feeling.”

“...”

“So, next time you and Su Yuejin do it, can you record a video for me to watch?”

Xiao Chacha was starting again.

“Are you trying to die, Xiao Chacha?”

“Or we could record one ourselves and let Su Yuejin see it by accident.”

Lin An gave her a light, though not entirely gentle, smack on the head.

Xiao Chacha obediently shut up.

The things this woman did had absolutely nothing to do with normal human behavior.

“Although all those scenarios are impossible now, just thinking about you and Su Yuejin breaking up after the New Year, then me taking your place and holding your hand while telling her that you’re my boyfriend... That would feel amazing too.”

“Would it really feel amazing?” Lin An suddenly asked.

“What else would it be?”

“It’d be painful.”

Lin An’s words sounded illogical, yet Xiao Chacha couldn’t respond.

“It would be painful. For both Su Yuejin and you. But that pain makes you feel perversely happy. When you get right down to it, you’re a masochist too. You hid it so well that I never noticed.”

“I’m not!”

Xiao Chacha seemed desperate to prove herself.

“Mm, sure. If you say you’re not, then you’re not.”

Lin An watched her with an openly teasing expression.

For some reason, that teasing made Xiao Chacha’s face flush. Her heartbeat began to quicken uncontrollably.

Her voice trembled slightly.

“You... You’re not thinking about making me feel sad, are you?”

“Not exactly. I just think exploring this side of things could be interesting for both of us. So, Chacha, would you like to try next time?”

“Try... what?”

“You obviously know. Are you pretending to be innocent?”

Lin An stared into her eyes.

“How am I supposed to say it out loud...?”

“If you don’t say it, you won’t get the chance to try.”

“I... I... I’m not... No, that’s not it. I don’t even know whether I am or not. I’ll have to try before I know... Lin An... Lin An...”

Her voice carried a faint breathlessness.

Lin An was about to continue when the door suddenly opened.

Su Yuejin stood there in her nightdress, rubbing her eyes. Then she called out sleepily,

“Chacha? Are you still here?”

Xiao Chacha pulled the strap back onto her shoulder almost instantly.

Lin An withdrew his hand and put on an utterly proper expression. He picked up his water glass and took a slow, unhurried sip.