Luo Chen glanced at An Jinchu behind him, opened the door, then handed her Luo Xi’s slippers.

He quietly watched as An Jinchu bent forward slightly, one hand on the doorknob while the other untied her shoes. Her slender foot, wrapped in black stockings, slipped out of the canvas shoe and into a white bunny slipper.

Then An Jinchu looked up and realized Luo Chen wasn’t looking at her chest at all anymore. He was staring at her legs instead. She glared at him, her cheeks turning faintly pink.

“Why’re you looking at me?” She tried to keep her expression under control.

“Because you’re pretty,” Luo Chen replied frankly.

“What’s pretty about me?”

“Long legs. You fit all my expectations for a pretty girl. I just wish your chest were a little smaller.”

“You can say something that perverted and embarrassing without feeling even a little guilty?” An Jinchu folded her arms over her chest, but Luo Chen turned around, grabbed a towel from the rack, and handed it to her.

An Jinchu didn’t take it.

“All right, all right. My bad. I shouldn’t run my mouth.” Luo Chen sounded genuinely a little apologetic. He stepped closer, draped the pink towel over An Jinchu’s head, and gently dried her hair.

An Jinchu was just about to step back when Luo Chen pressed a hand to her shoulder first. “Don’t move around.”

“You…”

“What about me?” Luo Chen didn’t seem bothered. After drying her hair, he set the towel aside, found the hair dryer, and handed it to her.

An Jinchu didn’t take it.

“Come on, you can dry your own hair…”

“Why?” An Jinchu gave a cold snort.

“Your dress is wet too. I could help dry that for you.”

“Get lost.” An Jinchu took the hair dryer.

“You got it.” Luo Chen promptly flopped onto the sofa and turned on the TV.

………………

Luo Chen wondered why An Jinchu, from several years ago, was almost no different from the An Jinchu of the future.

Aside from the friction between them because they hadn’t known each other well, there was hardly any difference… She even still liked walking in the rain.

Come to think of it, Luo Chen and An Jinchu had first met on a rainy day, too.

………………

“Hey, classmate! You’re not using an umbrella…?”

A boy came running toward her through the rain. An Jinchu glanced at him from the corner of her eye. The tear tracks at the corners of her eyes were still wet, but she ignored him, looked away, and kept walking.

But the raindrops no longer fell on her.

An umbrella had opened above her head. The person holding it didn’t say a word, just followed her like a ghost she couldn’t shake.

An Jinchu stopped. She was already in a bad mood, and the irritation boiled over. “Get lost.”

But the boy across from her didn’t change his expression at all. His voice was even calmer than hers. “What, get dumped?”

“No man could ever dump me.” As if she needed to prove something, she actually answered him.

“Oh.” Luo Chen nodded and fell silent, simply holding the umbrella open.

An Jinchu frowned. “This has nothing to do with you. Go away.”

“It’s pouring, and it’s winter. You’ll get a fever,” Luo Chen explained, still refusing to give up.

“Are you trying to pursue me?”

To her surprise, the boy rolled his eyes. “I have a girlfriend, and she’s way prettier than you, An Jinchu.”

“You know who I am?”

“Among the freshmen in our year, only you and Shui Qianmo are this famous. It’d be hard not to know you.” Luo Chen shrugged.

“Oh. Go away. Stop bothering me. I want to get rained on.”

“You’d have to be seriously out of your mind to do that…” Luo Chen muttered. “Did you have a fight with your family?”

“I told you, it’s none of your business!” Luo Chen’s words seemed to remind An Jinchu of some unpleasant memory, and the anger on her face deepened.

“It’s just a stranger being nice,” Luo Chen explained. Her reaction told him he’d guessed right… But there was no need to pry. A lot of the time, digging into someone else’s business only made them resent you—or even hate you.

“I don’t need it.”

“…Fine, fine. I’ll get going, then.”

Luo Chen added, “Go ahead and get rained on, then. Just remember to take some medicine.”

“Medicine?”

“For your brain.”

Luo Chen had already turned around when An Jinchu suddenly grabbed the hem of his coat. He looked back and saw her break into a smile.

“Well then, classmate stranger, could you show me another bit of that kindness and give me your umbrella?”

“……”

“……” Luo Chen’s mouth twitched. He really did hand her the umbrella.

“Remember to give it back. It’s my only one.”

The rain was coming down harder, and there was nowhere nearby to take shelter. As soon as Luo Chen finished speaking, he ran off.

“What’s your name?”

“Luo Chen.”

His figure disappeared into the rain.

…An Jinchu held the umbrella. She felt nothing in particular; she just murmured, “What an interesting guy.”

In the end, she still didn’t use the umbrella.

…And that left Luo Chen running all the way home in the rain, too.

The next time An Jinchu saw Luo Chen, she’d casually asked around for his name and waited for him outside his classroom until class ended.

Then she saw Luo Chen looking pale and sickly.

“You have a fever?” An Jinchu asked casually.

“Yeah…” Luo Chen’s voice was weak.

“Great.”

“…I regret it. Could you try being a decent person for once? Where’s my umbrella?”

“I lost it. I’ll pay you back.”

Luo Chen froze for a moment, then fell silent for a long while.

“…Dumbass.”

Luo Chen glared at her, then walked straight past her.

……………………