In the dark, the boy and girl stayed in that strange position, swaying with the rocking bed, up... and down...

The atmosphere suddenly turned especially ambiguous. All they could hear was each other's breathing growing heavier, and then...

“Uwaaaaaah—!”

The girl panicked and hurriedly shoved Gaoliang away. Gaoliang also quickly reached out and turned off the rocking bed.

The clunking sound stopped. What remained was a girl with a face red from embarrassment, and... Gaoliang straddling the blanket.

Thank goodness there was a blanket.

Ahem...

Gaoliang hurriedly got off the bed, then helped the girl untie the towel blanket wrapped around the quilt. As the blanket flopped open, the girl was finally freed.

Lin Lin sat up, then looked at Gaoliang with a wronged expression. She looked like some pitiful innocent girl who'd been thoroughly victimized. Gaoliang coughed twice awkwardly. Yeah... he really might've gone a bit too far.

But mainly, it was because the way Lin Lin had looked just now was way too smug and punchable. It made people want to bully her a little.

No, he had to find something to talk about and ease this awkward atmosphere.

“Come to think of it, uh...” Gaoliang turned to look at the wall. “The soundproofing in this hotel is kinda bad...”

Hearing the faint noises from next door, the kind that were a little too easy to get worked up over, Lin Lin only felt her face getting hotter and hotter. She lowered her head and quietly said,

“Let's go.”

“Huh?” Her voice had been too soft, so Gaoliang didn't quite catch it. But in the girl's eyes, that seemed almost deliberate. She raised her head and shouted again, embarrassed and annoyed,

“Let's go! I'm going home! The tutoring's over anyway! We're done!”

“Oh...”

Seeing that she wasn't in a good mood, Gaoliang felt a little apologetic. He nodded, understanding that he'd probably made her mad. He didn't say anything more. He packed up his bag, and the two of them walked out of the room one after the other.

When they got to the elevator, the girl still had a gloomy look on her face. Gaoliang was silent for a moment and was about to apologize, but the elevator arrived all of a sudden. The girl hurried in, and Gaoliang could only follow.

He pressed the button for the first floor. The two of them stood a bit far apart, and behind them was an adult couple, watching them with obvious interest.

Mm...

Feeling the interested gaze of the woman behind her, Lin Lin quickly lowered her head, a little embarrassed.

This...

Why did this feel kind of like...

Relief?

After a while, the elevator slowly stopped on the first floor. The four of them walked out. Lin Lin had been stared at so much that even her movements turned awkward. The couple walked past them, leaving behind a few soft, teasing remarks.

“They look like high schoolers, right? Kids these days really mature early~ Looks like they even had a little lovers' quarrel. Wonder if their first time didn't feel that great, pfft~”

“Man, weren't we the same back then in that little grove? That didn't feel too great either~”

“Don't say weird stuff...”

Uh...

Lin Lin stood there blankly, watching the couple's backs as they walked away. A lot of feelings she couldn't quite describe welled up inside her...

She'd... she'd been mistaken for getting a room and doing that kind of thing with her archenemy.

The girl lowered her head in frustration. Actually, she didn't really understand why she felt a little upset. She just raised her head and shot Gaoliang a resentful look.

Gaoliang helplessly shook his head and said awkwardly, “They mistook us for a couple, huh...”

“You bastard, you were actually hoping to see something like this, weren't you?”

The girl puffed out her cheeks and walked ahead with tsundere pride. Gaoliang hurried after her and started explaining.

“No, no. This time, I really didn't think things through. Lin Lin, I owe you an apology.”

“No need...” The girl shook her head. “After all... I was the one who asked you to help me with tutoring. I left all the arrangements to you. It's not like I'm dissatisfied or anything. Anyway... not many people know.”

“Mm...” Hearing her words, Gaoliang's heart suddenly tightened.

Why did it feel like Lin Lin was about to run away?

No... don't.

“Lin Lin, do you know why I wanted to tutor you?”

He suddenly threw out that question. Lin Lin froze, then suddenly recalled all the “experiences” she'd gone through during this tutoring session. Her face reddened, and she turned her head away.

“Mm... i-it was to enjoy bullying me, right?! You pervert! Hmph, I've really seen through you this time!”

“Ahem... n-no, it's not like that.” Gaoliang waved his hand a little guiltily, then quickly explained,

“Actually, it's because... you're always so quiet in class, Lin Lin. You're always by yourself, and you look really lonely. I've always wanted to talk to you, but I didn't know how to get close to you. Haha... those little jokes were just my way of having more interaction with you.”

“Mm...”

Hearing his explanation, Lin Lin couldn't help recalling how pitiful she'd looked back then, running around class asking people for help. Then she looked at Gaoliang. Aside from those weird requests, he'd always been very attentive when explaining problems to her. She suddenly felt a little moved.

Even so, the girl still refused to back down.

“Mm... do you think we, the People's Police, would believe your nonsense? Hmph!”

“Pfft. Well, anyway, I want to be friends with you, Lin Lin. Can I?”

Gaoliang smiled at the conflicted girl.

Mm...

B-becoming friends and all that...

But this guy was her archenemy.

But he had helped her a lot this time too.

Ugh, so annoying. She'd originally planned to dump this guy for good once the tutoring was over, but now...

In the end, the girl still raised her head and spoke with a complicated expression.

“Th-then... fine... but just normal friends, okay!”

“Mm, normal friends!”

“Normal friends my ass!”

Right at that moment, a boy suddenly burst out of the bushes by the hotel entrance. He rushed over, yanked Lin Lin behind him, planted himself between the two of them, then pointed at Gaoliang and stammered, “Y-y-y-y-you...!”

Lin Lin froze. Only after seeing who it was clearly did she cry out, “Little bro?!”

Gaoliang stared blankly at Lin Yu's finger, then heard him shout, “Do you know this is illegal?! My sister's IQ is only in the single digits! She has no capacity for independent action!”

Then he turned around and looked at Lin Lin with heartbroken grief.

“You too! If you needed money, you could've asked Mom and Dad! Did you really have to go into escort—”

“Escort your ass!” The girl lifted a leg and kicked her little brother away. “You idiot! Why were you squatting here?!”

“Ugh, you were acting suspicious, so I followed you. Then I saw you two go into a hotel. If I knew which room you were in, I'd have barged in ages ago...”

Her little brother crouched on the ground, looking a bit aggrieved. Lin Lin slapped a hand to her forehead and shouted speechlessly, “We were just tutoring, tutoring!”

“Uh, Lin Lin's right. We were studying math...”

Gaoliang awkwardly took out the practice paper and showed it to him. Lin Yu clutched his stomach and stared at it blankly.

Were there props now that could disguise themselves as exam papers too? What kind of bizarre demand was that...

“You...” Lin Lin sighed. “And besides, my IQ is at least above 20, okay? Enough already. Stop embarrassing me. We're going home!”

Lin Yu awkwardly stood up and moved to Lin Lin's side, earnestly advising her, “No matter what, you still can't be getting hotel rooms with boys already. It's too dangerous. Hey, wait for me!”

Gaoliang held his car keys and smiled helplessly as he watched the girl's back.

Well, he should head home too.

...

But none of them noticed.

In the darkness, a figure silently put away a camera.